Mee Sua

My mother observed our birthdays on both the Chinese and Western calenders. Our Chinese lunar birth dates and animal zodiac signs were recorded on square white pieces of cloth, inked in Chinese characters. My mother had the habit of slotting her jewellery, cash and such family documents behind her cupboards and under the paper slips lining her drawers. She rarely took those cloths out and we have never found them.

Each year, sometime close to our Western birthday, we would wake up t