23. Planning to Have a Family
My job appeared to be on a solid ground,
So thinking of a family was a thing I should do.
I was almost a forty-year-old man,
And if I waited too long my sperms would get weak and old.
Looking for a wife is not an easy task.
Wanting a young wife, she would tell me no thanks.
For an older one who is thirty something,
The ones with too many summers, I will have to pass.
But suddenly fate ushered me onto a new path,
I could avoid a watermelon peel, I stepped on a coconut shell.
One day I saw the woman of my fate
Not knowing only months later, she became my mate.
She had a pretty face, good looking,
Wearing tight pants and long black hair, smiling.
I waited for her to cross the street;
She told me she came to my office every week.
“I submitted my application here for a job,” she said.
Classroom Assistant, waiting for them to call.
She smiled, asking if I remembered her.
“A Khmer Classroom Assistant candidate,” she was.
She said, “You and another American, two of you
Interviewed many candidates in a room.
Seeing you, I thought you looked handsome,
Looking like the man I met in the Thailand refugee camps.”
“Are you Cambodian?” I asked,
“Are you Chinese?” she asked. That’s how we met.
“No I’m Vietnamese,
Maybe my eyes makes me resemble a Chinese man”
“Here’s my business card,
Call me whenever you want to see me.”
I wanted to impress her – a mistake or a game of luck?
The next day she called and I was stuck.
I invited her to my office,
Wanting to know her better.
After our first meeting, we said let’s meet again,
So we could talk more about our feelings.
###
