It seems to happen a lot now. And it's very disturbing.
Either the local Chinese have EXTREMELY BAD EYE-SIGHT.
Or they think that I'm some kind of venerable scholar.
Venerable, my fanny.
I had barely gotten on the bus when a woman who cannot have been more than seven or eight years younger, EVEN if you assume a hard life which put wrinkles on her face prematurely, demanded to give me her seat.
Fortunately I've been well brought-up. So I refused.
I have hardly any skin-age. I've still got all of my hair, and most of it is still a vibrantly dull pale mousy hue. Yes, streaks of white here and there, and my beard resembles a bleached toilet brush it has so much silver in it.
But I still look very young. Not only in the mirror and my own estimation, also compared to my contemporaries. Why, the other day a customer came in who looked over a decade older, and I found out he had just celebrated his fiftieth birthday. Good lord, what a fossil!
I do not look elderly.
And I do not have a stomach.
I am so completely un-decrepit it's amazing!
Heck, compared to half of the yuppescent office drones riding the number one California Street bus line, many of whom are significantly younger than me (and sitting down), I look trim, handsome, and remarkably un-fat.
Fit, even.
Yet every bus ride over the hill, if I'm standing, some Cantonese woman of an age near my own (只有55歲) if not already long past it, will try to insist that I have a seat. And truly, I appreciate the courtesy, it's very kind.
But I'm only "old" if you're looking up at the beard.
My forehead is virtually unlined, I have no jowls, and my eyes, though deep-set, are fiery and alive. My hands are unwrinkled and unspotted.
This old cock is staggeringly full of piss and vinegar, and if you don't watch out, I may end up courting your daughter, auntie.
唔使客氣,你坐你坐!
I am not old.
I refuse.
Sit!
我不老人家,我還是春年的。
阿伯有健康 、能力,也是個倔强固执的老鬼!
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment