Aunty Lee's Deadly Specials Read Online Free PDF Page B

“And I thought you look so thin, how can you work in a restaurant if
     you don’t like to eat?”
    “Oh, I eat a lot but I never get fat,” Cherril said.
    “You are lucky. I have a Budai figure,”
    “Budai?”
    “Laughing Buddha. The fat, happy Chinese Buddha, not the thin, sad Indian one. You
     rub his tummy, it is supposed to bring money and good luck. But I don’t have to rub
     his tummy, I got my own.” Aunty Lee rubbed a hand over her own middle section, making
     Cherril laugh. “Healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
    “Well, it seems to work!”
    Aunty Lee, with all the energy she put into her curiosity and cooking, was one of
     the happiest people Cherril had met in her new life.
    Things were not as happy up in the grand Sung house.
    Mabel came out of her son’s room and slammed the door hard. Yet another maid had said
     she wanted to leave. It was the third one since Leonard’s return. They were supposed
     to take care of the housework but they all gave Leonard as their reason for leaving.
     The girls said he shouted at them, threw things at them, and tried to “hug and kiss”
     them. Mabel had tried to talk to Leonard, who said only that the stupid sluts deserved
     it. Even as a boy, Leonard had always had his moods and what Mabel thought of as his
     indulgences, but he had always kept them out of sight. Mabel knew, of course. She
     had paid his bills and settled charges with compensation money. And she had been careful
     not to give her husband the details. Leonard was a strong and charming personality,
     full of talent and potential. It was not his fault he didn’t fit into Singapore’s
     strict academic system or America’s moralistic, politically correct system. Mabel
     knew that after her son had sown his wild oats he would settle down. And with her
     support he would make her proud of him.
    But that had not yet happened. Now the poor boy was so weak she could not be angry
     with him. Instead she was angry with her husband for not doing more to save their
     son. Henry was the doctor but Mabel was the one fighting to save Leonard’s life. Mabel
     would do whatever it took to give Leonard back his health. She knew her son was not
     perfect but he was her son.
    Mabel looked at her phone screen. She had persuaded Henry, who was paranoid about
     security, to install monitoring cameras all over the house. This way she could make
     sure Leonard was cared for when she was at the office. Leonard, propped up on a chair
     and cackling gleefully, was throwing something at the maid who was changing his bedsheets.
     Mabel looked more closely. Leonard was tearing pages out of a book. He crumpled and
     smeared the papers in his soiled adult diaper before throwing them at the crying girl.
     Mabel knew that despite the pay raise she had just offered, the girl would be leaving.
     But at least Leonard was laughing.
    Mabel switched cameras to see how many people had arrived. She needed a decent number
     of classy-looking people present. Aunty Lee, the caterer, was there too. The stupid,
     fat old woman was chatting with Mabel’s guests as though she was one of them. Mabel
     Sung and her husband had been acquainted with the late ML Lee. ML had gone to the
     right schools, worked with the right people, and lived in the right district. At one
     time Mabel Sung had considered the Lee children worthy matches for her own. If only
     they had had a mother who understood the importance of good connections, Mabel was
     sure something could have been worked out, but Rosie Lee had been no help at all.
     “Leave them to work it out themselves,” she had said irresponsibly. As though children
     knew more than their parents. But at least she was supposed to be a good cook. Leonard
     had complained that their Filipina maids didn’t prepare real Singapore food. He was
     too weak to eat out and he didn’t like reheated dishes. If Mabel hurried, she had
     time before the meeting to bring Leonard something from the buffet, just to