Black Water Sister

“Maybe that was what true love meant: a bitterness that stayed on the tongue when everything else faded.”

“She can’t be a medium,” said Mom. “She graduated from Harvard!”

“You can bargain with anybody, spirit or human. All you need to know is what do they want and what are they scared of. That's all.”

“What a thing a bad death was. It made a mythology that caught up in its wake old trees and young women alike, the violence of it reverberating through the years.”

“Ah Ma doesn’t want a girl as her medium,” said Jess. “She says they’re useless. Every month you have to take a break and can’t do anything for a few days.”“Ma, you must be more modern.” Ah Ku was talking directly to his mother, as though Jess wasn’t even there. “Nowadays, men and women, there’s not much difference. A boy who is not reliable is useless every day of the month. Isn’t it better to have a reliable girl?”

“It figured that she'd avoided getting nagged to go to law school, only to get nagged to become a vessel for the dead.”

“She was a walking nothing—a hole in the universe, perfect for letting the dead through.”

“Their approach to religion was to leave the gods alone, in the hope the gods would return the favour.”

“A boy who is not reliable is useless every day of the month. Isn’t it better to have a reliable girl?”

“He looked forlorn, but also a little annoyed that she wasn’t letting him restore his self - image as a good person.It gave Jess a petty pleasure, but it was also a reminder that she needed not to push it. Sherng feeling he owed her something was good, but it could morph all too easily into him resenting her for not forgiving the debt.”

“She reached for power and it came to her hand, flowing into her smoothly—the destructive power of the unforgetful dead.”

“She was a hole punched out of a sane world, a channel for the sublime - or the horrific. Through her, the unthinkable was made real.”

“When the gods talk to you, you listed.”

“You’re like Ah Ma, she said. You’re clever at being angry.”

“Then there was the incident with the uncle with the Rolex. It wasn’t like Jess was able to distinguish a Rolex from any other watch; she only knew the uncle had a Rolex because he talked to Kor Tiao about it for the entire duration of his visit. Jess hadn’t known it was possible to have so many feelings about watches.”

“Maybe that was what true love meant: a bitterness that stayed on the tongue when everything else had faded.”