The Oddfits (26 page)

Kay Huat continued. “We’re like brothers, you and me. I would never want to hurt you. But this is
my
Quest. This is for me. You know me. I’ve spent all my life preparing for this chance, waiting for my big break. It’s finally come. Don’t you understand?”

Wiping the tears from his friend’s face, Murgatroyd then wiped his own and shook his head. “No, I don’t, Kay Huat. Goodbye.”

Kay Huat sputtered. “But what about me?”

Murgatroyd replied in a small, quiet voice, “This isn’t about you.” He turned to Ann and nodded, and turning their backs on Kay Huat, they walked towards the jetty.

Murgatroyd heard Kay Huat’s voice call out after him. “Fine! Go on your precious little Quest! See if I care!” It was the shriek of a wounded eagle. Glancing back over his shoulder, Murgatroyd could see Kay Huat stalking away, clutching his injured arm. Turning around once again, he set his eyes on the faraway horizon of the sea. Ann and he were now on the jetty, walking towards it.

“Murgatroyd.” Her voice almost bordered on gentle. Almost. “I didn’t tell you before, but I’m glad you made it.”

“Me too,” he said, and gave her a half smile.

“That’s some friend you have there.”

“My
best
friend,” Murgatroyd said defensively. “He just saved my life.”

Ann nodded in respect, and they walked on in silence until they reached the end of the jetty. Ann noticed that the sea around them had gotten a little more restless in the last few minutes, lapping more vigorously against the concrete supports below them, sending up ocean spray into their faces. But never mind that now. Resting their elbows on the railing, they watched the cargo ships floating on the horizon.

“Ann, can I ask you a question?” Murgatroyd blurted out.

“Yes.”

“What happened to your eye?”

“The missing one or the one that’s still in its socket?”

“Erh . . . the missing one.”

Ann’s expression almost grew soft. Almost. “There’s not much to tell, really. When I was asked to go on the Quest, my mother refused to give me her permission. I told her I was leaving. She was furious. She was holding a pair of very sharp scissors.”

Murgatroyd gasped. “Your mother attacked you?”

“Actually, no. I was so exasperated that I grabbed the scissors from her, gouged out my own right eye, gave it to her, and left. If I couldn’t live up to her idea of what a good daughter should be, I figured at least she’d know I made
some
sort of sacrifice for her.” Ann reflected. “In hindsight, it was a rather silly and unnecessary thing to do.”

They lapsed into thoughtful silence once more. A swell of water surged up surprisingly high and licked Murgatroyd’s toes. He didn’t notice; he was mustering up the courage to satisfy his curiosity on another point.

“Ann? How come your left eye is green?”

“Contact lens.”

“Oh.”

Silence again. But filling the silence was the ambient roar of the ocean, louder and closer than it had been a few seconds ago. Murgatroyd asked a third question.

“What now, Ann?”

A wave broke against the jetty’s edge, soaking them from the waist down.

“We start walking.” Ann gestured out towards the ocean. “That way.”

“Where to? We’ve reached the end of the land.”

“No, we haven’t.” She fiddled with something on the railing. “Aha. There we go.”

Something clicked and a portion of the railing swung open like a little gate, leaving a narrow gap to walk through. Beyond that, Murgatroyd could only see the edge of the concrete platform, and the churning, angry water below.

“Are you ready?” Ann asked.

Murgatroyd nodded. Another wave—this time strong enough to have swept him off the platform entirely if he hadn’t been hanging onto one of the railings.

“Don’t let your eyes deceive you. Just keep your eyes on the horizon, keep walking, and think of leaving here and getting to go home.” She motioned towards the horizon.

Murgatroyd nodded again. As he stepped towards the gap, he staggered a little. A sharp pain shot through him. He remembered waiting tables for Shakti Vithani. He remembered all the good times with Kay Huat. He remembered his father and mother. He did feel homesick, but for what lay behind him, not what lay ahead.

He legs felt weak. Ann grasped his elbow to steady him. She looked up. In the distance, she could make out a wall of water moving towards them, gaining height and force by the second.

“Ann?”

“Yes, Murgatroyd?”

“I feel terrible.”

“I know. It’s normal. Come on, let’s go.”

And so they went.

THE END

(and THE BEGINNING)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo © 2015 Leah Diprose

T
iffany Tsao was born in San Diego, California, and lived in Singapore and Indonesia through her childhood and young adulthood. A graduate of Wellesley College and the University of California Berkeley, where she earned a PhD in English, she has taught and researched literature at Berkeley, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the University of Newcastle, Australia. She holds an affiliation with the Indonesian Studies Department at the University of Sydney. Her works include short fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and translations and have been published in
Transnational Literature
,
Asymptote
,
Mascara Literary Review
,
LONTAR
,
Comparative Literature
,
Literature and Theology
, and the anthology
Contemporary Asian Australian Poets
.

Tsao currently lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and son.