17. FACES FROM CHILDHOOD

I look at this photo Loy Chong had. It was one of many his father had taken. The photo was taken in front of 257 Park St. At the centre of the photo is Loy Chong's mother, Yuen Sim (see Post 7).

These were my mother's friends - the ones whom she loved to play Chinese domino games with and gossip. I wonder why my mother is not there.

The presence of Seto Mu (back row right) suggests this photo was taken on a Sunday. Her family ran a laundry in Thorold. Sundays were the day she could get away to socialize. I don't the child whom she is holding.

The woman on the far right is Gam Foam Quon (b.1906, d.1997). My family, and I think many other people referred to her as Nga Choi Mu - "Bean Sprout Lady".

She and her husband, Bill QUON (b.1904, d.1996) lived at 572 Erie Ave. and grew bean sprouts. I rarely saw Quon Jean Mu (how I should have addressed her) when I was a child and accordingly, I think I was shy or afraid of her.

I do recall one day when I thought it was a good idea to pick my mother's green beans from her garden (without permission) and distribute them. There seemed to be so many growing up amidst the poles. My mother wouldn't miss them.

I took them over to Nga Choi Mu's backdoor: taking the old rail bed, turned laneway, between 257 Park and Eastland's Coal Office; climbing the stoop; knocking on the door; and offering up a handful of green beans.  I must have felt very pleased with myself: an act of generosity and overcoming my fear.

Later, my mother let me know that Nga Choi Mu had called. I had not been generous or brave. I had been a child.

A child's small hand held little - it must have been 5 or 6 beans - not enough to make a meal out of. My mother did not laugh. She only told me not to do that again.




To Nga Choi Mu's right is Jean Don Mu. She has her daughter, Yin Moi, in hand and beside her is her brother, Chu Doi. 257 Park St. was their home and the social gathering place for many Chinese women.

Being 11, I would have found little in common with the children in the picture. But I do recall going over there. For awhile, Jean Don Mu had a relative or boarder there. His name was Jan Fong. He was older than I was and went to high school. English being a second language for him, he struggled. He was there, and then he wasn't. Even then, I recognized how privileged I was.

The younger woman in centre back as well as the girl holding the arm of the smaller boy to the front are unknown to me.

However, to the far left, a mother, Lee Toy Mu, is holding a little girl, Betty. Immediately in front and to the left are her son, Bailey, and daughter, Grace. They are the Toy Lee family. I recognize them but I do not remember much about them. Fortunately, they have shared some details and appear in the next post.

The reason for my mother's absence from the photo in and of itself does not matter but the fact that she is not there bothers me.

The women and children have gone indoors: the women to try their hand at dominoes and the children to play.

August 1963 . . . we would likely have moved to my parents' restaurant on St. Paul Avenue for the summer holidays so my mother did not have to travel back and forth to work alongside my father.

I was 11 and my brother 14 then. We were old enough to spend the day on our own. After all, I had been coming home after school to an empty apartment since I was six: a latchkey child before the term came into common use. My brother arrived home a bit later. He, too, had his own key.

Summers, though, we could all live and work at the restaurant together: a matter of convenience and supervision.

1963 . . . was about the time my parents were replacing the old restaurant building on St. Paul Ave. I don't remember exactly when the new one was finished but it was around then. That may be another possibility why my mother wasn't in the photo.

Still, I am sad that she wasn't there. My mother had to miss out on so much to give my brother and I a future better than her present.