The Life of Tan Mei LinIssue #1 of 271940
1940
The Chair Beside the Bed
Tan Mei Lin, 0
newborn
Tan Cheng Huat, 32
her father, a merchant from Malacca
Lim Swee Neo, 25
her mother
1940 · page 1
A quiet shophouse street in the morning; at one prosperous two-storey shophouse the upstairs shutters stand half open; below, the shop door is open onto the five-foot way.
Swee Neo sits up in the carved bed holding her newborn baby; Cheng Huat stands beside the bed; a ledger with a green cloth cover lies on the wooden chair beside the bed.
Cheng Huat tucks a ledger with a green cloth cover beneath his arm; in the bed Swee Neo adjusts the swaddled newborn at her breast, not looking at him.
Extreme close-up: a newborn's tiny hand closed round a man's forefinger, against the white sleeve of her mother's samfu.
Cheng Huat bends awkwardly low over the bed, his finger still held by the baby, a ledger with a green cloth cover pinned under his other arm.
Swee Neo, holding the baby, looks up at Cheng Huat; he looks down at the baby, his lips moving softly.
SINGAPORE, 1940.TAN MEI LIN WAS BORNHEALTHY, INTO A RICHMERCHANT FAMILY.TAN CHENG HUAT, 32, HAD PUT HIS ACCOUNT BOOK ON THECHAIR BESIDE THE BED.Move your book.HE TUCKED IT BENEATH HIS ARM WHILE LIMSWEE NEO, 25, ADJUSTED THE BABY.HE OFFERED HIS FINGER, ANDTHE SMALL FINGERS SHUT ROUNDIT.HE STAYED BENT OVERLONGER THAN WASCOMFORTABLE.Mei Lin.Mei Lin...SHE SAID THE NAMEAND WATCHED HIM TRYIT QUIETLY.
1940 · page 2
Downstairs: an amah opens the street door to a caller; a young servant girl hurries up the back staircase with a folded clean cloth; bolts of cloth on the shelves.
Close on a ledger with a green cloth cover held under Cheng Huat's arm, a pen clipped to it, the white bed sheet behind.
Cheng Huat turns his head toward the open bedroom door and the stairs; the baby's hand slips from his finger; Swee Neo draws the baby in against her.
Cheng Huat, standing, sets a ledger with a green cloth cover back down on the wooden chair beside the bed; Swee Neo, who gave birth days ago, stays sitting up in the bed against the pillows with the swaddled newborn in her arms and glances at the book.
The newborn sleeps in the crook of her dozing mother's arm under the tied-back mosquito net; a ledger with a green cloth cover on the chair; the door open onto the stairwell, where warm light rises from below.
THE HOUSEHOLD COULD AFFORD HELP. SOMEONE ANSWERED THEDOOR DOWNSTAIRS; SOMEONE BROUGHT A CLEAN CLOTH.HIS TRADE HAD BROUGHT HIMFROM MALACCA TO SINGAPORE,AND PAID FOR THE ROOMUPSTAIRS.HE HAD STILL COME TOTHE BEDSIDE CARRYINGHIS ACCOUNTS.A VOICE DOWNSTAIRS ASKED FOR HIM. HE TURNED,AND THE BABY'S HAND LOOSENED.SWEE NEO TOOK MEI LIN CLOSER.HE SET THE BOOK ONTHE CHAIR AGAIN.HIS WIFE GLANCED ATIT.THIS TIME SHE LEFTIT THERE, AND HEWENT DOWNSTAIRS.MEI LIN SLEPT UPSTAIRSWHILE HER FATHERRETURNED TO THE PEOPLEBELOW.
The chapter in prose

1940: The Chair Beside the Bed

Singapore, 1940. Tan Mei Lin is born healthy into a rich merchant family.

The Chair Beside the Bed

Cheng Huat had put his account book on the chair beside the bed. Swee Neo asked him to move it. He tucked it beneath his arm while she adjusted the baby.

Their daughter had finished feeding. One hand lay against her mother's sleeve. Cheng Huat offered his finger, and the small fingers shut round it. He stayed bent over longer than was comfortable.

Mei Lin. Swee Neo said the name and watched him try it quietly.

The household could afford help. Someone answered the door downstairs; someone brought a clean cloth. His trade had brought him from Malacca to Singapore and paid for this room. He had still come to the bedside carrying his accounts.

A voice downstairs asked for him. He turned, and the baby's hand loosened. Swee Neo took Mei Lin closer against her.

He set the book on the chair again. His wife glanced at it. This time she left it there, and he went downstairs.

Mei Lin slept upstairs while her father returned to the people below.