WONG WINSOME DUMALAGAN
Blanks in the Pictures 照片的空白
2023
小時候一家人和爺爺嫲嫲住在鑽石山，爺爺總是把頭髮梳得整齊企理的，穿著西褲恤衫去位於新蒲崗工廠大廈的理髮店工作。由於嫲嫲中過風，我小時候她已經行動不便，加上她和家人都甚少提起她有關工作的事情，所以我好像理所當然的覺得她一直以來都是家庭主婦。直到近來問到，才知道她曾經也在工廠打過工，也帶過膠花等回家穿。我驚訝的是嫲嫲常常跟我說話，甚至重複著某些故事，但我卻從來不知道她這個過往，而父親和爺爺對於她工作的過往大概只能描述工作性質、工作地點以及為何轉了工作等。幾年前嫲嫲過身了，而這段過往也某程度上留了一點空白。至於現在九十多歲的爺爺，即使已經退休多年，依舊把頭髮梳得整齊企理，也會穿西褲恤衫，好像依舊留著他曾經的專業的痕跡；即使他聽力退化，我還可以跟他聊天。
我不太知道可以如何填補這個關於嫲嫲的過往的空白。父親和爺爺能夠描述得最清楚的好像就是她工作的地方 – 位於鳳凰村、慈雲山、新蒲崗那一帶，好像離我成長的地方很近卻對我來說有點陌生。於是我想先由走一遍有關爺爺嫲嫲以前工作的地方開始，然後透過與爺爺翻看在他和嫲嫲家中的家庭照片，看看還可以填補甚麼關於他們的空白，而無可避免的空白又是甚麼。
When I was a kid, my family lived in Diamond Hill with my grandparents. Grandpa would always comb his hair neat and nice, and would wear shirts and trousers to work in the barber shop located in San Po Kong. Ever since my grandma had a stroke, her physical mobility was limited. And as she and our family seldom mention anything about her work, I seemed to have taken it for granted that she had always been a housewife. It wasn't until I asked recently that I found out that she had actually worked in factories and had brought plastic flowers to assemble at home. I was surprised that I never knew about this piece of her past even though my grandma often talked to me. Meanwhile, my father and grandpa could only describe the nature of her work, why she changed jobs, where she worked and so on without a lot of details. Grandma passed away a few years ago, leaving behind a certain void in her past. On the contrary, grandpa, now in his nineties and retired for many years, still combs his hair neatly and wears trousers and shirts, as if he’s still keeping every trace of his profession. And even though he hears less well now, I could still chat with him.
I’m not sure how to fill in the void about my grandma's past, but my father and grandpa are the most clear when it comes to the locations where grandma worked - Fung Wong New Village, Tsz Wan Shan, San Po Kong and more – all near where I grew up yet seem unfamiliar to me. Thus, I would start by going through the places where my grandparents used to work, and then look through the family photos at my grandparents' house with my grandpa to see what else I can fill in regarding the void about them, and meanwhile what is the inevitable void lying there.
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