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River Delta where the women were useful and did not bind their feet. They had met in the nui yan uk, the Girls’ Home near their village. Such homes were found only in the Pearl River Delta, a region of China where women refused to be slaves, Ah Siew boasted. They came one by one to Singapore, meeting each other off the boat, living together in their rented fong until employment was found.
    The sisters rushed to make Mei Lan comfortable, chattering excitedly. A box was found for her to sit on; a cake filled with bean paste and a small tangerine were given her to eat. They stroked her hair and examined her hands; there was debate about her birthmark. Mei Lan hung her head, ashamed, trying to hide the hated mark of which she was always conscious. She had once overheard her mother discussing it with her mah-jong friends; it was a sign of ill luck and because of it few men would want her for a bride. Already, it seemed her fate was sealed. Yet Yong Gui, who the sisters said knew about these things, was not of this opinion. She lifted Mei Lan’s chin with a finger to observe the birthmark better.
    â€˜A little nearer the mouth and it would denote greed, a little further away and it would bring ill luck. Instead, it is aligned exactly beneath the eye. This means it is a lucky mark; a mark of protection,’ Yong Gui decided.
    The sisters laughed, and began to prepare some tea. Mei Lan returned her attention to the tangerine, filled with relief to hear her birthmark might not be a stain on her life. She began to eat the cake, holding it carefully in her palm while the sisters sipped tea, exchanging memories of their homes in China.
    â€˜Each month we ate different vegetables. In March long beans, in August taro, sweet potatoes in September. Onions were all year round,’ Ah Ooi remembered.
    â€˜Our house had mud and reed walls and a patched roof that disintegrated whenever it rained. We froze in winter; every year someone died,’ Yong Gui recalled.
    â€˜Father bought silkworm eggs.’ Ah Siew spoke suddenly with a smile. ‘They hatched into worms as thin as a hair, I picked mulberry leaves for them. Once the cocoons were sold in the market, the worms were fried, dipped in batter as a treat.’
    â€˜My sisters and I all wished for bound feet and the good marriages this brings, but we were needed for work in the fields. Now I am glad; our ugly feet have given us independence. Where would we be without them?’ Yong Gui joked
    â€˜Kwantung and Kwangsi were always at war. The soldiers came and killed our pigs and chickens. They took our men away as pack-bearers and raped the women. We had no means to resist,’ Ah Ooi remembered.
    â€˜There were fifteen of us,’ Ah Pat croaked hoarsely; because of the swelling she could only swallow liquids. ‘Each New Year my father would line us up to count how many of us were still alive. The numbers in the family were always changing. However bad times were, my parents resisted selling us girls.’ Ah Pat gave a sigh and fell back exhausted upon her pillow.
    For a moment the women were silent. Memories washed through them as water passes over rough pebbles. Mei Lan returned her attention to the last of the bean cake; some crumbs still lay in her palm. Transferring them to her mouth upon a wet finger, she followed the progress of a cockroach negotiating the string of a hanging basket. From the road the call of hawkers, the trundle of carts, the barking of a dog and the screams of a baby rose up to her. A rat scuttled past the door of the cubicle. Such sounds were not heard in Lim Villa where there was only the silence of the garden filled with the whirr of cicada and the swish of the gardener’s scythe.
    â€˜They say it is better to raise geese than girls.’ Ah Siew began to speak. ‘In our village there were always floods and famines. My father sold two of my sisters to agents scouting for brothels in Nanyang; he got three silver