Bitter Sweet Harvest by Chan Ling Yap

her eyes. Tired as she was, she could not sleep. She pressed her fingers on her temples in an effort to reduce the tightness in her head. Her eyes grew heavy but when she drifted off to sleep, she would wake up with a start. Nelly stroked her hair tenderly.
    Mei Yin sighed. “Thank you Nelly. Remember those days when I was young and petulant and you came to my rescue. I... all of us, do not know how we could have managed without you.” Responding to Nelly’s ministrations, Mei Yin finally fell into a deep sleep.
    Nelly continued stroking Mei Yin’s hair. She was full of her own thoughts. Time went by. Finally, she left Mei Yin sleeping and went back to her bed. She laid down, pulled the duvet up to her chin and wriggled under the cover until she was comfortable. That’s what I’ll do, she decided before she too drifted off to sleep.
*****
    At the first streak of dawn, Mei Yin woke up. She reached over to Nelly’s bed and tapped her gently on her arm. Nelly grunted and opened her eyes. They were bleary with fatigue.
    “I’m sorry. Can we talk about An Mei again? We didn’t quite finish. What shall we do?”
    Nelly sat up, swung her legs over her bed and gathered the duvet around her shoulders with a shudder. “
Dong seh yan! Yow lang, yow sup!
Such cold; it kills people! Cold and damp! I don’t like the climate here. I miss the sun. I will return to Kuala Lumpur. And that, among other things, is what I’ll do. I’ll tell Ming Kong this evening.”
    Mei Yin sat up and looked at Nelly with dismay. “What!” she exclaimed, “you can’t do that. Ming Kong will be really upset. You have always helped him with his businesses. You are his right hand. How would that help him? And how will that help us with An Mei?”
    “You do not need me here. You can be his right hand. You have mastered English and you are much younger. He will need you now. I am not much use here. I can be a greater help in Kuala Lumpur. Remember we still have two stores left in KL because we could not sell them before we left. Maan
sook
, uncle Maan, is helping out in the stores until we find a buyer but, really, we should have our own people at the helm. Tek San promised to keep an eye on them, but he has his own business to run. I was always responsible for managing the stores in the past and I feel I can play a better role back home than here. I do not speak English nor do I know the English system and people.”
    She buttoned up her pyjama top and smoothed her hair down. “You, however, would or should get on fine here. You have your friend, Siew Lin. She is already charting out business contacts for you. Her family is well established in Soho. Then, you have Jenny. Both are more your friends than they are mine. Here in England, you would be a bigger help to Ming Kong than me.”
    Mei Yin looked disbelievingly at Nelly. But she was flattered. “You think so? My experience is much less than yours. I’ve managed only a small part of his business, producing and selling cakes. That is not enough surely.”
    “Yes, I think it is and it was not such a small operation,” Nelly replied emphatically, pushing her spectacles up her nose and staring at Mei Yin intently through her bifocals. “In any case, Ming Kong will be taking the lead and making most of the decisions. Unlike in KL where he had a finger in every pie and needed to delegate, he is starting from scratch here. He will definitely have to focus his energies and won’t leave you to manage on your own.”
    Mei Yin was doubtful. She looked at her hands, examining her fingers and the palms of her hands as though she was trying to read her future in them. Nelly took the hands in hers and placed them on her lap. “Think!” she said, “we are not sure how the business will develop here in England; it is such an uncharted territory for us. If we liquidate the two stores, give up everything in Kuala Lumpur and then fail here, the consequences could be dire.”
    Mei Yin pulled her hands