旧爱重温 [recapturing that old lovin' feeling ]

the time was 1950s. the place was shanghai.

it was a night after she had put her daughter to sleep, she decided to tidy up the letters which had been scattered randomly on the make-up table for as long as she could remember. inadvertently she saw a letter with faded yellowish stains, which carried a stamp of malaya, with handwriting so familiar it was uncanny. it took her a few seconds before she realized it was his writing which she was so used to. he used to write at least 4 times a week when he was working as the sailor for a shipping company in malaya. he used to tell her all the things he saw and he ate in the foreign land of malaya. he said he wanted to earn a lot of money to afford her a good life back in shanghai. he would always end his letters with the words: "wish you were here".

tears ran down from her cheek as she recalled how one fateful morning a telegram from afar brought the news of his sudden death when the ship had a major collide. she broke down and cried and cried. she didn't break the news to her then 2 year-old girl. when asked why papa didn't come home for the longest time, she just told her "papa is very busy. he will only come back to see us once he has finished all his work".

it has been almost 5 years since that day. for the past year, she had been living a life of solitude with her girl. she never sought new partner in her life for she believed he had never left her in spirits, eventho' physically he wasn't with her. some nights, she would play the slightly out-of-tune upright piano in the living hall, which he used to serenade her with songs of zhou xuan and lee xiang lan, nights after nights of loving romance.

tonight, her memory flood gate is wide open, she is again overwhelmed with the memories and longings of her man. she slowly proceeded to the piano in the living hall filled with darkness, except a dimly-lit lamp shade next to it, and started singing those favorite tunes that both of them cherish so much.....

this is the sound.....