:53:00
He had always been nice to me.
:53:02
He took a look at grandmother then
took a look at me and said...
:53:06
"Tienlu!"
:53:07
He said, "We could just sit here...
:53:10
staring at her
until this time next year...
:53:13
but she would still be the same."
:53:16
I said, "How come?"
:53:17
He said, "If you wait out the year,
then she will immediately die."
:53:22
Shit! What a thing to say.
:53:23
He said, "Lucky for you, you
were born under the Kwai Star.
:53:27
If you weren't...
:53:28
your grandmother
would have caused your death."
:53:32
It so happened on...
:53:35
October 31 of that year...
:53:38
on the day that theJapanese call
the Emperor's Day...
:53:42
theJapanese police chief
asked us to perform...
:53:48
at the precinct
in honor of the Emperor's birthday.
:53:52
I traveled to the precinct...
:53:56
to find the chief waiting there
for me.
:54:00
He said, "Li...
:54:02
do you have a grandmother?"
:54:04
I said, "Yes."
:54:05
"She died."
:54:07
You figure it out.
:54:09
"I stay home, she doesn't die."
:54:11
I go to Chinkei,
she dies immediately.
:54:14
I told the chief,
"My grandmother has died...
:54:18
so I have to go home
to take care of things."
:54:21
He said, "What? If you go home,
who performs?"
:54:25
I said, "But who will take care
of my grandmother?"
:54:27
He said, "Go. Get Ko Onglai.
:54:28
Go get Ko Onglai
to take care of things."
:54:31
So I asked Onglai to go back
to take care of things.
:54:35
By the time I got home,
after the performance...
:54:39
her body was stiff.
:54:41
It was well after midnight when
I started cooking rice for offerings.
:54:46
Then, slowly, I straightened out
her stiff body, still lying on the bed.
:54:52
I thought, "It's so late...
:54:55
let's wait till dawn
to worry about the funeral."