Ghosts, Spirits & Superstitions

It really takes two bouts of vertigo to convince me that audiobooks have a greater purpose in my life. And also, when my eyes swell (from allergies), listening to audiobooks can be an alternative way to keep up with my reading. The biggest drawback, it's damn slow. I read super fast. Ah well.

I set about listening to ‘They Do Return But Gently Lead Them Back’ by Catherine Lim. This is a 2021 reissue. I'm sure that I've heard Catherine Lim mention some of these stories at the writing panels that she hosts, but somehow, I’ve never read the initial book or its stories released in 1983. Weird, considering that this is a genre I’m always game to check out. 

There're 15 very short stories in this re-issue. These stories are not so much about the supernatural as they are about people's superstitions, practices, and tragedies arising from obstinately-held beliefs. Ahhh... imagine how one's life would be if it's lived according to superstitions that have become 'tradition' and practices that are just not coherent today. It's written in a, how should I put it, old-school way. I could literally hear the author retell these tales in a conversation over drinks or at the dinner table, sharing her family history, and experiences. 

The first story tickled me to no end. 'The Old Man in the Balcony' introduced the creepy idea of 'coffin knocks'. In the olden days when houses are huge, it's unsurprising to have a coffin ready in a corner for a member of the family. This family has prepped a coffin for the old patriarch who has been ill for years, but not quite ready to die. People heard knocks coming from the coffin in the nights, and said that the coffin was finally ready for an occupant. But it claimed a life before the intended occupant's. 

Ah Kum Son's son, a frail little asthmatic child of seven, had a fainting fit and was rushed to hospital. He did not die, but the whole town — which by this time had heard of the mysterious knockings at night, and which was talking about Ah Kum Soh's husband's death in awed whispers — started rumours about a small corpse being brought home, and of another of the relatives about to die, in response to the confines call.

"Why doesn't the old man answer the call?" they asked. "How many must go in his place? Ah Kum Soh, weeping, stood before the old man as he was crouching half-naked on the balcony, and began to berate him for his heinous crime. He stared at her, eyes grey and rheumy, and once or twice he looked around and called pathetically, "Ah Han! Ah Han!" for his daughter-in-law's name was the only one he could call now.

I really enjoyed 'Two Male Children' as much as I disliked the superstitions around it. It reminds me of how 'deadly' superstitions can be, and when people believe in them, it's a tough situation for those who are family. When science and superstitious beliefs collide, add in coincidences, selfish humans and entitled privileged humans, and you have tragedies waiting to happen. Two long-awaited male babies born in a family, one to the First Daughter-in-law and one to the servant to the care of the grandchildren (grand-daughters) named Ah Chan. It's of course ironic that the privileged male heir is frail, sickly and puny, and the servant's son is the completely opposite.

To her, it was the height of injustice that her baby, heir to the rubber and coconut plantations, should be sickly and underfed, while Ah Chan's baby, one of the hundreds born in her kampong every year and who would probably grow up to be a mean labourer, was robust from his mother's brimming good health.

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A flurry of consultations with temple mediums ensued; thousands of dollars were spent in gifts of propitiation and entirety to the Dark Deity of Hell, but still he would, according to the temple mediums, have Golden Dragon. However, said one of the temple mediums from his deep trance, the Dark Deity was also considering one other male child, who was born at about the same time and who was also now lying ill. If one of the baby boys died, the other would be spared.

Here was hope yet, and the grandmother and mother began to fill the baby's room with all manner of charms and amulets to ward off evil influence and deflect it elsewhere. Ah Chan came to know of the message from the temple medium but by that time, it had been distorted into an accusation. The Dark Deity of Hell had chosen Piglet to be his boy attendant but Piglet deflected the curse, which then fell on Golden Dragon. 

Ah Chan, in her simplicity, went tremblingly to her employers in the Great House to beg for forgiveness. The grandmother and the mother of Golden Dragon received her coldly. They were now convinced of the treachery of Piglet, for his mother was now frankly admitting it and asking for forgiveness on his behalf. The act of reparation was simply, according to the temple mediums. Ah Chan's milk would help restore the infant to health. 

Ah Chan was only too grateful for this opportunity to make amends; she came early in the morning, leaving only late at night when sh returned to feed her own son. During the day, a relative sometimes brought him to the Great House to be fed by his mother. But the illness had had a toll on him, and he was no longer the chubby, rosy baby he once was.