The Mysterious Mother

We don't sleep, says Terence.

Never mind, says Katherine. Don't leave your recliner.

We'll tell stories, says Jinjing. Until the morning.

As long as you tell them quietly, says Katherine.

She puts in her ear plugs, and turns away.

Me first, says Terence. Once there was a boy who lived in a palace. He fell off, and someone caught him before he got broken. Happy ending.

It is, says Jinjing. But how did he fall off the palace?

He dived, says Terence.

And who caught him? asks Jinjing.

Himself when he got older, says Terence. Although he said he wasn't. And Arthur said he wasn't, because I was Spanish.

That's a very good story, says Jinjing. And I like how Arthur was in it.

I was in it, says Terence. And Sweezus was in it.

Ah. The mysterious other, says Jinjing.

She wasn't in it, says Terence. She just watched.

Who? asks Jinjing.

The mysterious mother, says Terence. Now it's your turn.

Okay, says Jinjing. This story too is about a mysterious mother, who also just watched.

Are you copying? asks Terence.

No, this is a Hong Kong story, says Jinjing. A girl fell in love with a fisherman. One day he was lost at sea. She stood on the clifftop with her baby, waiting for his return.

What baby? asks Terence.

They had a baby, says Jinjing.

You left it out, says Terence.

No I didn't, says Jinjing. I said with her baby.

But you didn't say where it came from, says Terence.

It came from HER, says Jinjing. Did I interrupt YOU?

Yes, says Terence. Now where were you up to?

A god noticed her waiting, and turned her into stone, says Jinjing.

And the baby? says Terence.

And the baby, says Jinjing.

That was lucky, says Terence.

Yes, says Jinjing. But the after a year, the fisherman returned, and saw what had happened. He cried and he cried.

Why? asks Terence.

Because his wife and baby were hard and unresponsive, says Jinjing. What do you think?

I don't get it, says Terence.

That's because you're made of cement, says Jinjing. Stone is different.

Is it? says Terence. What about...

Just listen to the story, says Jinjing. The god took pity on the fisherman and as his tears fell on his wife and his baby they came back to life.

Was it the same god? asks Terence.

Yes it was, says Jinjing.

What a dickhead, says Terence.