Another mistake

January 2003

She stopped. And I was expected to answer. I couldn’t answer, I was lost somewhere between Taipei and Vietnam. I stalled; ‘Do I need a visa for any of these places?’

‘Let me check tomorrow, honey’ she replied, ‘but what do you think? You decide’
‘Let me think. I will tell you tomorrow.’ What else could I say? I just hoped she didn’t notice how little I had taken in. Next time, I decided, I would try to write some of it down.
There was nothing more to say, so she changed the subject.

‘Honey, I was thinking I may need to work for one or two days when you are here. Otherwise I will use too much of my holidays. I want to save some for when we get married, so we can have the honeymoon. You want that too, right?’

I wasn’t really happy about this. ‘Do you want to change the plans?’
‘Of course not honey. Do you think I would spend so much time talking to the agent, if I wanted to change the plan. I just have to think about the holiday. I only get fifteen days a year, plus government holidays. I have to work the weekend before you come too, so I can get the Chinese New Year as holiday.’
‘You don’t get much holiday. Don’t you even get the new year off?’
‘Only by working the weekend. So you see, I need to be careful. If I use all the days now, I cannot take the honeymoon with you. You know I think the honeymoon is much important. Agree?

‘Ok babe, do what you have to’
‘Maybe you could go to work too’
‘I doubt that, there is nothing left for me to do in Hong Kong. All the work now is in Shanghai.’

Before I’d even finished speaking, I new I’d made another mistake.