Other people’s lives in little alleys
Hoa took me to a hidden vegetarian cafe for lunch. It was in a narrow Saigon alley off a busy street. I can always rely on her to show me such places.
There was a house next to us. The door was open and we could see three women and a man sitting around and talking. They were all in their late fifties. It appeared that two of the women and the man were siblings and one woman was the man’s wife. They had large suitcases around. Some of the suitcases had an Austin, Texas address pasted on it. Looked like they were ready to leave on a long journey.
They were recalling past events and teasing each other, mostly teasing the man. Pretending irritation, but enjoying the taunts, the man got up, stepped out of the house and started pacing the little alley.
A young woman arrived on a motorbike, followed by a taxi which waited a little distance away as this part of the alley was too narrow. The group rolled the suitcases up to the taxi. A grandma emerged from the house, the young woman held out her hand to support her. Together the granny and the young woman followed the group to the taxi. Some more banter and hugs later, the taxi left. The young woman and granny quietly walked back. Granny went in and closed the house door. The woman rode her bike out, perhaps to rush back to work before the lunch hour ended. The last few days, must have been so happy in that house.
The best part about inner alleys is that most neighbours’ doors are open, letting us eavesdrop on their lives. Hoa and I often create our own backstories for the people we observe. We imagined the young woman when she was a little girl. Her Texas uncles and aunts must have showered her with cute Disney pencil boxes and colourful books whenever they returned to Vietnam. Her classmates must have been so envious of her. These days, the uncles and aunts would be hard pressed to find something novel for their niece, she can buy almost anything on the shopping sites. Perhaps they brought news about Viet Kieu (Vietnamese American) boys, hoping to match make her.
Few days later, Hoa was in Singapore and we went to the Raffles hotel. We didn’t get much time for fictional backstories of the tourists we saw. I had to become the unofficial photographer of Hoa for her Instagram fans.
