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| Sunday, March 01, 2009
Pink Kisses by Yang Ming (A Play Excerpt) Writer: Yang MingJen, a sophisticated fashion designer, returns home after spending nine years in London but everything she used to know has changed. The people, culture and place are different from the memories she holds. The only thing that hasn't changed is her beloved father, Soon, who longs for her return. When Soon proposes handing over his aquarium business to her, she finds herself torn between responsibility and self-fulfillment. This short excerpt is from Act I, Scene 5 of the play. JEN: (Stunned) What? SOON: Why? You don't look happy. JEN: No... yes... But why? I don't understand... SOON: You don't like the arrangement? JEN: I don't have any... I wouldn't know anything about running the business. SOON: I won't just hand it over to you like that, Jen. I'll still be here to guide you. And you will have Lee as well to help you. JEN: Pa... SOON: It's a legacy. A family tradition. Your grandfather started this business when he first settled here. When he died, he passed it to me because I was the only son. Some years later, I changed the name to Soon Aquarium because I knew it was a time of change but deep inside this shop, the roots and the history never change. This is something that you can carry on and make this family proud. I thought you wanted this. JEN: Pa, you don't... SOON: You don't want this business? JEN: (Silent) SOON: You don't want it. JEN: It's not like that, pa. SOON: Then take it. Take the business. (There is a long silence) What is it then? JEN: Yesterday I received a call from my office in London. They are offering me a promotion to be a head designer, a position I have wanted ever since I first stepped into the office. SOON: You took the offer. JEN: It was the best phone call of my life! I wanted to tell you tonight but... that is something that I've dreamed of, Pa. I would have done everything for it and I want to do this. SOON: And what I give you is not important? JEN: That isn't true, Pa. You know that. You are important to me. All of you are. SOON: Then will you obey what I say? Will you respect my wishes? JEN: I respect your views... SOON: That is not my question. JEN: I know... SOON: Why... How... JEN: What about Lee? Auntie Ling? Or Uncle Bob? SOON: If I wanted, I wouldn't have asked you. JEN: Please listen Pa... You told me that my happiness was what really mattered. And I believed you, Pa. I truly did and I still do. So then I went to London, I got a job which I always wanted, I made new friends and I created a home there. I live there, Pa. I love London. That is my home now. SOON: (Silent) JEN: Pa, I will bring you with me. You can spend your golden years there. It's your opportunity to be with me in Europe. SOON: This is your home, Jen. This is our home. You and I belong here. JEN: I was born here and lived here for some years. But I have spent the most important years of my life maturing over there. SOON: Our home is here. JEN: Pa, you are not helping. I can never understand the life here and you cannot put me in this society the way you want it. Remember the fishes I had in primary school? One day my fish bowl broke mysteriously and the whole floor was wet with fish water. My guppies were gasping for air and you thought of a way to save them by transferring them into a bucket. But the next day, all my guppies were dead because they were not used to that environment. SOON: Those were fishes... JEN: It's tradition that I want to give up! I hate this routine. I can't live like this. I can't adapt to this environment - not anymore. SOON: You are willing to sacrifice this tradition? For your new life? JEN: Pa, I've never liked tradition. You know that. Ever since I was young, you heard how I complained and said I would get out of it one day. But you always laughed it off, even when I told you I was serious… SOON: Jen, don't you want to own this business... be successful? JEN: I am successful in what I do! There is nothing more I can ask for. But here... things are different now, you know that. Apart from my friends, there is nothing here that holds a good prospect for me. I have no future here. SOON: You will have if you run my business. What's so bad about building back your memories and making them into reality? You will meet new friends, make new contacts, and set up a new life here... JEN: I just don't think it will work out for me.
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