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CHAPTER 5 BRIDGING MEMORIES:TERABITHIA RECLAIMED

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SANGEETHA KAMATH

                          This is a reimagined version of the classic tale---The Bridge to Terabithia. It's a part of my NaNoWriMo or Novel Writing November exercise.


                           CHAPTER 5

   RIFTS,REBELLIONS &REPERCUSSIONS 

The next morning, Madam Wong was up early. Leonie tried to ignore her, focusing on her own breakfast. But Madam Wong wasn't having it. "Leonie, don't you think this porridge is too thick?"

Leonie gritted her teeth and tried to remain calm."I think it's fine, Nai Nai.Just eat it. I have no time for small talk in the mornings. I'm leaving to meet my study group at the library"

Mei who was trying to make sure everyone was comfortable, could only hang her head in deference, apologizing profusely.

 "Mother Wong, let's just enjoy our breakfast, okay? I'll prepare Salted Egg Buns and Kaya Toast for your elevenses."

Leonie saw the strain on Mei's face, the tired lines on her forehead and her dull, sleepless red eyes. She reached out, putting a hand on Mei's arm. "It's okay, Ma. We'll get through this." Mei smiled through her tears. 

As soon as Leonie stepped out of the house, Madam Wong's curiosity got the better of her. She began to snoop around her room—her eyes scanning the bookshelves and desk for any sign of Leonie's personal secrets.

Her gaze landed on a stack of old diaries on Leonie's nightstand, and her eyes lit up with interest. She quickly began to rifle through the pages, her fingers scanning the words with a mixture of fascination and disapproval.

"Ah ha! So Leonie has been keeping secrets, has she?" Madam Wong muttered to herself, her eyes scanning the pages with glee.

As she flipped through the diaries, Madam Wong's expression changed from curiosity to shock to outrage. "Leonie is so reckless! Why would she write about these things?"

Mei walked into the room just in time to see Madam Wong holding up one of Leonie's diaries, her face red with indignation. "Mother Wong, what are you doing?! Those are Leonie's private diaries!"

Madam Wong looked up, her eyes flashing with defiance. "I'm just trying to understand my granddaughter, Mei. She's hiding so many secrets from us."

Mei sighed, trying to calm Madam Wong down. "Mother Wong, please. You can't just go through Leonie's things like that. It's not right."

But Madam Wong was undeterred, her curiosity still piqued. She continued to scan the diaries, muttering to herself about Leonie's "wild ways" and "lack of respect".

Leonie walked back into the room to retrieve a calculator just in time to catch Madam Wong holding up one of her diaries, a look of horror on her face. "Nai Nai, what are you doing?! Those are my private diaries!"

Madam Wong looked up, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I'm just trying to keep you in line, Leonie. Someone has to!"

Leonie's eyes flashed with anger as she strode towards Madam Wong, her voice low and furious. "Nai Nai, how could you? Those are my private diaries! You had no right to go through them!"

Madam Wong looked up, a mixture of surprise and defiance on her face. "I'm your grandmother, Leonie. I have every right to know what's going on in your life."

Leonie's laughter was bitter. "You think just because you're my Nai Nai, you can just invade my privacy like that? I'm not a kid anymore. I deserve some respect."

Mei tried to intervene, "Leonie, calm down..."

But Leonie shook her head, her eyes never leaving Madam Wong's face. "No, Ma. Nai Nai needs to understand that she has crossed her boundaries with me.”

Madam Wong's face reddened, her voice rising. "How dare you speak to me like that! I'm your elder, and I deserve respect!"

Leonie's voice was ice. "Respect is earned, Nai Nai. Not demanded. And you lost that right the moment you decided to snoop through my diaries."

Mei looked worried, unsure of how to defuse the situation.

Madam Wong's eyes narrowed, her voice dripping with venom. "You're getting too big for your boots, Leonie. You think you can just talk to me like that ?”

Leonie's eyes flashed with anger, but she stood her ground. "This is my home, Nai Nai. And I won't be spoken to like this by you anymore."

Madam Wong's words cut through the air like a knife, leaving Leonie reeling. "You? Your home ? You are a foundling! Yeah!  Foundling! You're a mystery, Leonie. God knows who you really are."

Leonie's face went white. She felt like she'd been slapped, the words striking a deep gash.

Mei's face fell, her eyes flashing with anger. "Mother Wong, that's enough! How could you say something so cruel?"

But Madam Wong’s voice was dripping with venom. "I'm just telling the truth, Mei. She is a foundling, isn't she? It's time she learnt the truth.”

Leonie felt like she'd been punched in the gut, her anger and hurt boiling over. "How dare you, Nai Nai," she spat, her voice shaking with rage. "You think you're so perfect, so pure, but you're just a toxic, bitter old woman who's poisoning everyone around her with her words."

Leonie turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. The sound echoed through the house, a stark reminder of the explosive tension that had only been simmering under the surface.

The rift had brimmed over with lava! Leonie had had enough of Nai Nai's high-handedness, refusing to be a pawn in the family's game of power and prestige.

****

After a very uncomfortable dinner that night, Madam Wong adamantly began to outline the terms of the marriage with the Langs, her voice firm and authoritative. Leonie's parents, caught in the middle, exchanged worried glances. Mei, almost at the edge of a breakdown, placed a gentle hand on Madam Wong's arm pleading. "Mother Wong, perhaps we should discuss this later, when emotions have cooled?"

Madam Wong’s expression remained unyielding, but she nodded smugly, acknowledging Mei's words. 

Meanwhile, upstairs, Leonie had flung herself on the bed worn thin by a mule headed crone! She felt trapped, suffocated by the weight of Nai Nai's expectations. She hadn't expected this about-turn of Nai Nai’s personality. 

Madam Wong, still seething from her confrontation with Leonie, sat rigidly. The dinner, what was supposed to be a fond Lunar Reunion and family bonding, now lay in tatters, a forlorn season of conflicts that had erupted within the family.       

*****

Leonie went about her day, caught between defiance towards Madam Wong's plans and a growing unease about her own identity. The word "foundling" lingered in her mind, sparking more questions than answers.

The tension in the Lang household had been simmering, like the slow build of steam in a pressurized kettle, ever since Madam Wong's explosive announcement about Leonie's arranged marriage to Zhen Wei. 

The air was thick with unspoken words and veiled glances among the family members. Leonie, fuming with a mix of anger and confusion, found herself avoiding the common areas of the house, her footsteps rushing on the stairs as she retreated to the sanctuary of her bedroom.

It was a late afternoon on Sunday when Jinli knocked softly on her door, entering with a tray bearing a pot of steaming Osmanthus tea and delicate freshly baked almond cookies and tiny cubes of peanut cakes.

“Xiao jie, maybe talking things out with Nai Nai would help?" she said gently, setting the tray on the low wooden coffee table by the window.

Leonie shook her head, her ruffled dark hair swaying with the movement. "Jinli, you know I can't do that. She won't listen. She just wants to control everything." Her eyes drifted to the window, looking out over the neatly manicured garden below, where shadows were lengthening with the approaching dusk. The rim of the horizon behind the Magnolia trees was afire with the dipping sun. 

Jinli poured a cup of tea, handing it to  Leonie. "Have you talked to your parents about it? Maybe they can—"

"They wouldn't dare confront or contradict the matriarch," Leonie cut in, her voice sharp but tinged with frustration rather than anger now. "Pa’s trying to be the peacemaker, and Mom... I think Ma’s scared of Nai Nai too."

The two women sat in silence for a moment, Leonie nibbling unenthusiastically on the cookie.

Outside, the birds had gone silent except for a few chirring crickets and croaking toads in the garden pond.

Night descended upon the neighborhood bringing a strained dinner gathering. Madam Wong was still in town and tonight was her sendoff dinner. Her presence dominated the room, her words flowing like a carefully orchestrated authority discussing arrangements as if Leonie were a pawn in a grand game. 

*****

To Be Continued...

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