Transparency
Chapter One
THE OLD GENTLEMAN
As a young girl, Agnes was often embarrassed by her father. Her
family lived on the compound of a girls' high school in Taipei where
her father worked as principal. On Monday mornings, after the flag
had been raised and the national anthem sung, he liked to give
speeches to the students assembled in the main courtyard. To get
their attention, he stood with silent, aggrieved humility, his arms
dangling at his sides, his limp suit already wrinkled from the humid
weather, the front pockets stuffed with his reading glasses, a
spiral notebook, a pack of cigarettes, and a well-used handkerchief.
When he opened his mouth, he did not immediately speak, desiring
that slight pause, that moment of breath in which everyone's
attention was fixed on him alone. He quoted regularly from Mengzi,
but his favorite writer was Cao Xueqin. "'Girls are made of water
and boys are made of mud,'" he declared. Or "'The pure essence of
humanity is concentrated in the female of the species. Males are its
mere dregs and off-scourings.'" He clasped his hands behind his
back, his eyes widening a ... read full excerpt from: Transparency: Stories ebook
