There were about 400 guests at the Chinese Wedding in Mandalay
and Caleb and Paul were literally sitting at the head table as honoured guests. Paul felt like there were 800 eyes watching him. He felt conspicuous at the best of times, and this was hardly one of those!
Everyone but the dog was getting toasted, and Paul was getting
drunker by the minute. Somehow Caleb did not seem to be affected,
but Paul was in danger of embarrassing himself once again. Everyone
had a small bowl put in front of them and when the different courses
came out, the guests simply put the food into the bowl, ate that
course, then used the same bowl all night for subsequent courses.
Paul was not that hungry, especially seeing eyeballs and all of the
other “delicacies” he considered inedible. As the honoured guest, he
was given the greatest delicacies of all, which were placed in his bowl
even before any of the elders, such as the father of the bride, were
served. He felt that everyone was watching him eat.
He was sure he was not supposed to eat the bones, but the bowl
was incredibly small and the portions just kept coming and coming.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do with the damn bones,
and getting drunker and drunker he was having a difficult time figuring
it out. Finally, he just started to throw the bones underneath the table
and hope no one saw him!
and Caleb and Paul were literally sitting at the head table as honoured guests. Paul felt like there were 800 eyes watching him. He felt conspicuous at the best of times, and this was hardly one of those!
Everyone but the dog was getting toasted, and Paul was getting
drunker by the minute. Somehow Caleb did not seem to be affected,
but Paul was in danger of embarrassing himself once again. Everyone
had a small bowl put in front of them and when the different courses
came out, the guests simply put the food into the bowl, ate that
course, then used the same bowl all night for subsequent courses.
Paul was not that hungry, especially seeing eyeballs and all of the
other “delicacies” he considered inedible. As the honoured guest, he
was given the greatest delicacies of all, which were placed in his bowl
even before any of the elders, such as the father of the bride, were
served. He felt that everyone was watching him eat.
He was sure he was not supposed to eat the bones, but the bowl
was incredibly small and the portions just kept coming and coming.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do with the damn bones,
and getting drunker and drunker he was having a difficult time figuring
it out. Finally, he just started to throw the bones underneath the table
and hope no one saw him!
Paul, an American, came to Mandalay at the age of forty to find a woman. He was told by a friend of his that all Myanmar women were gorgeous, which turned out to be true, but unbeknownst to him, his friend was gay and obviously never tried to take any woman out. Paul ended up teaching with Ha Thuy and Rosa in Mandalay but never went out with a Myanmar woman since no self respecting woman would ever consider going out with a stranger their family had not known for generations, Would Paul ever find a woman and would his affinity for alcohol keep him alive long enough to marry one if he was lucky enough to find one?
If you want to find out if Paul ever met any woman, or one woman in particular, I am afraid you are going to have to buy the book and read the story. Please write and let me know how you enjoyed the story and especially the character Paul who many find to be the most sympathetic character simply because he was so pathetic!
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