129
when she became very ill, she married the girl to Uncle, thinking that she could be a companion for Mother, who at that time was 14. Aunt Jong's version was that Lum Gin had wanted to marry my Mother, but Grandmother would not consent to it. Regardless of the reason, her two nephews became angry and left without repaying their indenture and the family relationship was severed. Lum Gin later married and settled in Hecia where he had a small country store, but the strain continued. In 1901, Uncle married Wong Fung. On 16 March 1903, my Mother, then not quite 16 years old, was married to my Father.
Farm life was rough. The adults had to work hard and diligently, but rice farming did not prove profitable. There seemed to be constant worries if it was not the unpredictable weather, it was the depressed price of rice. To add to the family's problems, Grandmother's illness became more serious. A herbalist tried unsuccessfully to 'burst' a growth in her abdomen which he had diagnosed as a 'turtle'. There was much bleeding and intense pain. She probably was suffering from cancer. It was during her terminal days that I fell off the porch of the farm house onto broken glass, and sustained a cut on the top of my head, a scar I bear to this day. Grandmother died on 5 December 1907. Although I was only two at that time, one incident during the wake stands out in my memory, Mother and Aunt sitting on the floor in front of the bier, joss sticks smoking and flickering candles burning, as Uncle poured wine into tiny cups and ordered us four girls to empty the cups and kowtow before the coffin. Because we giggled during the ceremony, Uncle gave each of us a hard rap on the head with his knuckle. Grandmother was buried on the farm. Her remains were exhumed about 10 years later, stored temporarily at our Broad Road home until they were taken to China by Cousin Gum Chin for final burial.
It was not until my paternal Grandfather Chan, who was a partner in the Iwilei Rice Mill, offered to mill the grain and sell the rice in California at a better price, that Grandfather Jong was able to realize a profit. With savings of about 1,000 dollars, he returned to Shekki in 1909 when he was 55 years old. I remember being with Mother to see him off at the pier, which was located opposite the Oahu Railroad Depot not far from our Iwilei home, and observing tears in her eyes as we stood beside the s. s. Manchuria. The next year Grandfather married a widow with a young daughter, who was later to become the wife of Pong Fai,