It means wife

December 2002

For the next couple of weeks, I had to report to the hospital on a daily basis. The specialist prescribed me Warfarin, but until it took effect, I had to have a blood thinning drug injected into my stomach. I was unable to drive long distance, fortunately though my company had an office near to my home that I could use temporarily. I had several calls from colleagues, trying to find out what was wrong with me.

My thoughts began to turn to planning another trip to Hong Kong. I thought I could use the impending financial year end as my justification. So I started sending emails to Henry on that subject, as before he seemed more than willing to support me. It meant though, that I could not tell my company the truth about my ailment, if they knew what was wrong with me they would not allow me to fly.

Maggie and I reverted back to our long distance relationship. But everything had changed. Now we talked of our love, of how long it would be until we could be together. She wrote to me; 'it has never been my style to stay over night with a guy in the past, but with you, it was love at the first eyesight, so I wanted to make the relationship work'

Several weeks earlier, she'd asked me to call her by her nickname 'lo paw'. On many occasions, I'd asked her what it meant, but she had always refused to tell me. So I asked her again 'what does lo paw actually mean'

She laughed, 'I can't tell you, it is just my nickname' 'But it must mean something. I won't laugh'

For a while she was silent, and then she laughed again, 'ok' she said, 'it means wife'