梁文福的左手...

Extracted from 梁文福的"左手的快乐" (a collection of short fiction)...

A friend works at the Singapore History Museum collecting exhibits. Those he collects, are from the last century, that is, artifacts before year 2000. Everytime that I go to his office to join him for lunch, there would be a tray on his table labeled "Rejected". From which, I can always find something interesting.

This day, I have again found two items of immense interest.

The first item is a invitation card, on which this is written:

On 19XX, X Day X Month, the cheque, as usual, will be offered with veneration to you, mother.

We await your presence.

Location: XX Restaurant

Invited by: Mr and Mrs XX

The second, is a letter of advice from a law firm:

Mr. XX,

With regard to the procedure for acknowledging your son's monthly maintenance cheques, please note the following:

1. Kindly retain the consistency in your signature. Otherwise, it would be difficult for the administrative staff to be accountable for the cheque.

2. Kindly refrain from writing, on the acknowledgement slip, messages such as "I miss you much".

Thank You.

So I ask my friend what they are, and he replies:"Oh, just some unwanted stuff" After which, with his arm around my shoulder, we depart for lunch.

Translated from Chinese by mrdes