stale mates
- a short story set in the time irls in a boat sat facing each other on . cups of tea stood on the lo ling， irls as“miss.”
miss chou glared at him through her ne shell at him. her glasses had round black rims and perfectly flat lenses， as she hted. the year lasses irls lasses order to look like girl students.
each of the men sat irl because the little boat balanced better this irls sat side by side. the pale green gestion of lingering fragrance like a basin of irls for high school in those days ressive es flocked to the primary schools. miss chou typical of the ne a little， her face a slim pointed oval， her long hair done in tlossy black side knobs. she old fountain pen tucked in her light mauve tunic. her trumpet sleeves ended flaring just under the elbo men go ht in the same school as e and taught school in hangchoning beauty. the four had been meeting almost daily for more than a year. they o out on the lake， have dinner at one of the restaurants along the store， and go boating again if there irls held hands of love. the girls interminably bet each other the girls’carefully their calligraphy， analyzing their personalities from the hand- . love lotus leaves， the large green plates crunching noisily against the boat. then there hter on their oars， letting the boat drift. no sound as if it had a piece of candy in its mouth.“going home this et out of it this time，”lo ans.“my mother has been complaining.”
she smiled. the mention of his mother did not alter the fact that he oing back to his increasingly guilty about going home， at her. then， ht take years.”
she had turned a and unfurling it. actually she did not agree to his getting a divorce until days later. but that evening， ed and dedicated. all the out on a long hard journey on a cold night. the restaurant ly place reasy old furniture. the song chant. lass dome soya sauce doy yelloht miss fan looked flushed and happy and did not seem to mind at all. lo did not go home until the saturday after that. the journey took t a short blue overall of a silk tunic sho underneath it. she had not been sure that he . he spoke to her that night about divorce. she cried all night. it e ht， he knening her to dishonorable e on being told. she cho home altogether. his mother got his uncle to go up to hangchoed to persuade a cousin to go and talk to his family. it took infernally long to negotiate through relatives peacemakers at heart， especially e is a cardinal sin that automatically takes ten years off a man‘s given life span. lo got a laly s， boiled over e. did he think his s e themselves on the faithless man unless his herself on his lintel. that rascal in the ancestral temple.“family laging. miss fan and lo continued to see each other in the company of hted and exhilarated by the courage of this undertaking- though it did put h the s that couldn‘t be helped. lo hter- in- laan to get on each other’s nerves. there for a parent- in- laot the idea that her daughter- in- laer otiations had not gained much ground in six years. miss fan‘s family never did approve. no her that at t an old maid. soon she —room filler， a to have her on his o to get a divorce. possibly alimony block. there h his long absence from home， ed . if he didn’t depend on his job for a living， n？
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