Mr. Lace : Okay.. Okay It’s just a piece of cake. In fact they are like my parents also. I’ll call them Mom and Dad. I arrived into this wonderful world because of them. I was born as a birthday present that Mom gave to Dad. But they were not married then. Mom was a University teacher, Dad was an Engineer. Mom worked in a big city but Dad had to work in a remote country side. They wrote letter to each other all the time but got a little chance to meet each other.
Mr. Simple: That house wife? Ex-University Teacher? Unbelievable…
Mr. Lace: Of course, yes! Now she looks shabby. But she was graceful and shining as a new penny in those times. The lace around me was her hand-made. She had created me. On one occasion, she gave me to Dad as a birthday present. Dad also adored me. He kept me properly in his suitcase. Once he arrived into his little room of the barrack of the engineers at construction site, he used me as his pillow case. That night … while Dad was sleeping on me, I missed my Mom. I remember wishing Dad also miss her and dream about her.
Mr. Simple: How romantic you are!
Mr. Lace: I missed my Mom very much. But I could not have the chance to see her again until she followed Dad to his little room one summer. They seemed to have just married.
Mr. Simple: What a luck! Come to the best part of the story in no time! So you witnessed everything. Just tell me all about the honey moon couple.
Mr. Lace: Great Snake! Though your design is plain, your mind is not the same… You should know I am a gentleman. I am not cut out for such dirty talks. If you are interested only in those subjects, I gonna keep quiet.
Mr. Simple: Oh please… please don’t be angry. Some gentlemen sometimes say dirty things, you see? If you are not that type of person, please forgive me. It’s a rare chance to talk to each other. Anything you tell me will be of my great interest. Please proceed whatever you have in your mind.
Mr. Lace: OK… I will continue the story.
==================================================================================
Mr. Lace: To cut short, after their marriage, a family they raised and got three sons in one decade.
Mr. Simple: Oh you are cutting too short, man… I am still curious about how a graceful University teacher could change into that shabby looking house wife in the first place.
Mr. Lace: So you are asking about Mom’s life. It was a sad story indeed. I really don’t want to tell about it. Because she is my creator and I loved her so much, it can cause my heart ached if I have to tell all about it.
Mr. Simple: Oh I am sorry. Please don’t tell if it is such shameful.
Mr. Lace: No………….. No…….. no……. please don’t think that way. I feel sorry only because I loved as a Mom. As a matter of fact, it could be a normal life of a woman. After her marriage, she transferred from University to the Laboratory of the Petrol Chemical Plant where Dad was working. She worked there until the second son was born. After that she no more went to work. She stayed home caring children and got another baby.
Mr. Simple: It doesn’t sound sad at all. Why are you feeling sorry?
Mr. Lace: I feel sorry because Dad had been unkind to her. She scarified almost everything… a faithful, hardworking and selfless person. But in return, Dad never gives her what she deserves. Mom used to feel so sad about it. I was stained with her tears as a witness.
Mr. Simple: hmm … if it is the case, I also know that you are telling truth. But I think of her only as a housewife who enjoys gardening so much. If she is not taking care of her sons, she is taking of her plants. She seldom looked sad.
Mr. Lace: You are right. Their marriage seemed to work somehow. Mom’s garden is flourishing too. Now she is getting a small income from the produce also.
Mr. Simple: But excuse me Mr. Lace. I am afraid I am getting bored with the subject.
Mr. Lace: In that case, I will offer you an excitement. I remembered the time when you were born…
Mr. Simple: (Embarrassed) okay okay… I will listen to it.
Mr. Lace: It was when Mom got the news of her relatives visiting us. She needed standby bedding accessories. Mom took out some clean white cotton sheets which had been used as baby diapers once or twice and sewed them into pillow case. That was your origin!
Mr. Simple: (Laughing) So you know the truth. But I never regard myself as a diaper any more. Now I have got the pillow case standard, haven’t I? But since you are telling lame facts about me, I’ll also tell fun about you in return.
Mr. Lace: I won’t mind my friend. You are just playing fair. But what is it?
Mr. Simple: When the time youngest son was just an infant, he sprouted his urine. He was lying on his back in the bed. The urine went straight upward. And returned downwards right upon you. Then you were soaked with urine all the way over, weren’t you?
Mr. Lace: Aye.. aye … you knew too well…. In fact, both of us are in trouble now. Those three monkeys never give peace to us.
Mr. Simple: Yes, they treat us as their toys. Sometimes like weapons to hit one another… sometimes like horses to ride upon… I’ve got a sinking feeling….
Mr. Lace: Oh, ssshh.. sssshh.. I hear they are coming back!
- - -
- - -
It was all silent in the bedroom.
The family who set out for an early outing was arriving.
Soon the children were entering into the master-bedroom.
There were three of them altogether.
But here on the bed were only two pillows.
The eldest grabbed Mr. Lace fast.
Mr. Simple was grabbed by the younger two.
They tried to pull it into their arms as bad as they could…
As a result, acting by the unequal forces in different directions, Mr. Simple was
*T----O-----R------N*
( Mr. Lace was feeling very sorry for his friend )
The news of a pillow case torn by the children reached to the housewife very quickly. In no time she showed up to examine Mr. Simple. She looked at Mr. Simple for a brief moment and put it down making a remark,
“after those years, the material is already worn out” …
After that Mr. Simple had to mingle with the other clothes for laundering.
Being washed and dried, he became one in the group of clothing needed to be ironed.
A part-time helper whose name was Aye Sein came and ironed the clothes in an expert manner. The turn of Mr. Simple soon arrived. But…………..
“Don’t bother to iron this one, Aye Sein. It is just a rag.”
Mr. Simple was shocked hearing the remark of the housewife.
Aye Sein put aside Mr. Simple, and proceeded to other clothing.
“A rag””A rag” “It isn’t what I am. I am still a pillow case, in need of repair only”
“Hey you……….. Mom or housewife, whatever we call you, you are a lazy unthoughtful woman. You can mend me and use as a pillow case. I don’t want to be a rag.” Although Mr. Simple tried to yell at the housewife, he could find no voice at this time.
But the voice of the housewife was heard again.
“Oh mine……….. there is a spill of water on the floor of the shrine room. Maybe caused when we changed flower pot water.”
Before Mr. Simple could realize the overall situation, the housewife came and took him away with her.
Then she cleaned the spill of water rubbing the floor by making use of Mr. Simple, the rag.
Now, Mr. Simple was in great anger and despair. He hated the woman who lowered him into a rag-class. At last, as a revenge, he tried to make a spell on her. “ You pushed me into an inferior class of a rag, so you are bad. May you never be a high class woman again. May you never get the liberation from the life of a poor housewife, who has to scrub the floor.”
The housewife could not hear the spell. But coincidently, she was making a wish, in connection with the liberation from the sufferings of life as follows:
“ According to the good deeds of cleaning the shrine floor with a clean ex-pillow case, may I be liberated from the life of ………………………… hmm. It is about time to send away the part-timer, is there any work needed to be done the garden?”
If ever Mr. Simple could hear her unfinished-wish, he might be probably amused. But at the moment he had some other kind of thought. He was thinking over what Mr. Lace had said in the morning. “Mr. Lace told that the value and status of life does not depend on ranks and class. The only things that matter are the wisdom gained from life and usefulness of oneself to the good of the world. It can be true……………. I am still alive. I still have the chance to gain the wisdom from life and I am now useful for the good deeds too. So there could be many positive things coming ahead.”
By contemplating this way, Mr. Simple became calm and peaceful. He was ready for the challenge of life.
What about the housewife?
She also was in need of such contemplation.
If she failed to save her soul, she would be in the danger of leading a miserable life similar to that of “a cow bound to a turntable” .
THE END
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