Chapter 5 Surveyng In The Ghettoes

They were meet by his Contractor friend at the New York International Airport.It was after a frantic search that his friend found him wandering around aimlessly at the airport,as the plane arrived much earlier then schedule.You know New York Airport was so huge running round itself was so laborious yet to look for some one new to that place is even harder.

In the end his friend found them and took them back to his house,where they were supposed to share with a host of other workers,all drivers of his friend.One thing all the drivers were males from Malaysia therefore not convenient with a female around.Anyway they temporary stayed until they could locate a more suitable place to stay.

In reality you know what happened at that New York International Airport.The airport was so damn huge and with so many people of all races racing around the Shorty was shocked till he turn blue black.After a long walk around he told his tired wife to sit on the luggage at corner while he ran around to find his friend who was supposed to be waiting for him.

Well,he was away for quite a while,leaving his poor wife looking very forlorn at a corner.One dark rugged looking gentleman took note of her presence and after sometime approached her.

"Hi ma'am,waiting for some one?',he quipped.
She looked at him a bit scare and therefore kept mum.and allowed him be.
But that tough guy was persistent,"He!ma'am,do you need any help",he asked.
Finding no reply he said,"He,Are you deaf?".
Again she looked away frightened for she had not talked to black guy before,horrified at his huge size.The man stretch his hand to help her up.At this she jumped up and screamed for help,drawing a lot of attention around with people looking at them to see what is happening.

"Don't touch me,you big ape",she shouted in fright,pulling herself together."Look ma'am,I was trying to help,that was all",he said."No.no you want to molest me,you black ape",she again shouted.Fortunately at that moment Shorty came back with his friend.

The black man told them what happened.Finding that there was a misunderstanding they apologized to each other and the matter was settled.
The Contractor friend who was also from Malaysia took them to a traveling food stall,where they ordered a couple of hot dogs and warm drinks.

Residing with the rest of the workers where they were the sole married couple around was definitely no good,but Shorty Chong got to sort his job first.He soon found out that his driving license although International from Malaysia was not recognize by the Authorities there.

So they confiscated his driving license and made him re-sit for the driving tests there according to their requirements.It did not take place immediately for they issued him an appointment date for it.Without their approval he cannot drive around there.Instead of sitting around doing nothing waiting for the appointed date for his test his friend made him to travel with some of the drivers to get acquainted with the roads,road signs and the conditions in the states.

For that he was paid only a daily allowance by his contractor friend.In the meantime his wife moved around a little by herself and soon got a cheap flat where they can stay separately from the others.It was a small two room flat in the Ghettoes of black neighborhood.Many other races were among their residence.It was a stone throw from the China Town of New York.

The small flat was never impressive at first glance,very dirty and full of rubbish.The wife did not seem to be too bothered with those at least they had a better place to reside in away from all the other workers.Those drivers when having nothing to do will gamble all their income away,and that is something she would want her husband to avoid.

Without any hesitation they rented that flat and have cleaned and duly washed.Washed and rewashed they did and cleanse that place ridding off all the rubbish.No attempts to repaint the rooms as paints were costly and they had neither the cash to waste.

With ready they shifted in almost with immediate effect.The Contractor was agreeable to his move as it was rather for a married couple to reside with a host of bachelors.As they were new there they did not have much furniture for a start.So they stayed there as simple as possible.They only other things were newly purchased cooking utensils and some plates and cups,sufficient for their own used only.

When they moved in there she announced to him that she was two months pregnant.That news made him very happy and happily replied."Why so quick??? Come to think of it it is almost two months since we first made love"."Yeah",she replied.Within her she knew that could never be his baby.

Their immediate neighbors were mostly black people and other non white people,many of them immigrants from Mexico.One thing in common for every one understand English or dashes of English and depended on sign of hands and body languages..Meantime that Shorty Chong went about with his job and was out daily.His wife soon got to know the neighborhood better and went around with them looking for odd jobs which were plenty.

A Spanish accent woman one day took her to her employer in China Town.That new friend was working in a super market,She took her to the Proprietor for a job.The Proprietor was a Chinese ,a second generation Chinese Migrant from Hong Kong.The Super market was established by his late father.

The Proprietor was in his forties and assisting him were a few workers,mostly colored people and Mexicans.He took a long hard look at Mei Zie."what is your name?",he asked."Mei Zie,Sir and I am Chinese from Malaysia",she replied."Where???? Mallaaaaysia,what kind of place is that?'he asked ignorantly.visibly shaking his head a bit.

"It a country next to Singapore,Sir,"she replied."Singapore? Oh I think I know but I was told that people there lived on trees',he said."Where ? No Sir.We are quite like you all here only not so rich as your Country"."Never mind,so you want to work here - do you have a work permit?",he asked.

"No,no work permit",she replied."No permit cannot work here",he further replied.Starring at her,secretly admiring her good looks,"Maybe you can work here on a daily basis inside my store,help me unpack and packed some goods or so.When Authorities come along you pretend you were buying something but remember to tell them nothing".

"I know how to do accounting also,sir"she said."Oh,is that so? Very Good you can also help our account clerk sometime",he replied."Should you be good,I employ you as my clerk and then I will apply for your work permit.For a start you prove to me that you are efficient,okay",he quipped.

Looking at her fondly he again said,"I do not like your name,to make it easier for everyone let me think.................................yes I will re-name you Mary.Yes Mary had little lamp,how nice.That's it I call you Mary",he said."Up to you Boss",she replied joyfully.

She started work almost immediately as the super market was short of hands to help around.Business there was actually excellent.Therefore she was kept busy almost the whole day until the supermarket closed for the day.The happy Boss gave her $50/= for a start.That made extremely happy $50/= American money that means she got almost $ 150/= ringgit for per day's work."Wah !!! so much,should have come to America much earlier".


With that she brought some food home to prepare for the Shorty.He was not back then and she took her own time tom prepare a nice meal for themselves.When the Shorty came home later he was surprised at the food she had prepared."How come you got money to buy so much food??",he asked. "Oh,you think you can only earn money in America?I also can,I just got a job at the supermarket",she replied,"with almost a day's work the Boss just gave me $50/=,just imagine".

She was damn optimistic the Boss will apply the work permit for her,for she knew she had attracted the Boss attention towards her.So every day she dressed beautifully to work with make-ups and all to make herself looked good.Well.she impressed her Boss alright . She continued to work there every day and she proved to be an asset to the Boss doing all the odd jobs etc.,much to the pleasure of the Boss.The Boss's wife also had a good impression about her work,pestered her husband to apply a work permit for her.


Her husband on the other hand went for the driving test and passed it.Then he began driving around delivering goods every where,but an attendant had to follow him initially. His helper was a young black man.That young surely knew his way around.

Poor shorty was so stingy that he refused to give the lad following even a drink on the way,so that young man played tricks on him. At times he would misdirect him taking a long distance to deliver his goods so wasting a lot of precious time.Despite all these he was relentless and remained stingy.


Well,that worked against him because he was not delivering his goods on time and running less trips.In any case he was paid as per trip basis. The Contractor knew what had transpired and advised Shorty not to be so stingy. "Sometimes you got to be good to your attendant otherwise he will play tricks on you and when that happened you be the ultimate loser,think it over".


With that he came to his senses and bore with that lad until he is well acquainted with his roads. While performing their delivery of goods to far off towns ,many a times they had to return empty without goods to transport.On the way they would come cross many rubbish dumps.

My goodness these dumps at times had many useful items still in good conditions. So he stopped to check on those items.By such he collected a sofa for two and some chairs.He also collected a second hand mattress which was still serviceable.Only thing was he had to have them clean and slightly repaired.

There after he had a comfortable set of furniture,and completely free of charged. One thing lingers in his mind,that is was were those furniture haunted???.Oh no,no ghosts,but poor people were never afraid of ghosts.In fact ghosts scared them most. Anyway he had never seen an American ghost it would be good to meet one anyway.

At such dumps he also noted many Americans scavenging items for re-cycling and inquired to one them asking,"How much can you can scavenging through these dumps?"."Well ,it all depends what these dumps yielded,at times on a good day we can make about two to three bucks a day,and at times a hundred bucks",one replied.