Mr. Wang--Dad's "old" friend

Mr. Wang--Dad's "old" friend

Yenlin Ku

I knew Dad had a good old friend, Mr. Wang. Every time Dad came back to Taipei, he would arrange to see him and sometimes had a meal together. Mom told me Mr. Wang is a Hakka from Hsinchu and sometimes brought Dad tea from his hometown.

Last Sunday I picked up the phone and the caller asked for Uncle Ku. Then Dad told me his friend, Mr. Wang, would invite all of us to dinner in a nearby Hakka restaurant for us to meet his family. It would be the first time for Mom and me to see his two daughters. "He has a son." I said, remembering the call I just received. "No, that was Mr. Wang himself." For almost twenty years, I have assumed that Dad's friend must be about his age. But Dad told me Mr. Wang was about my age.

We had an enjoyable evening. The food was good. Mr. Wang has two lovely daughters, younger than Joan, my neice. They are used to call Dad Uncle Ku and seemed to know him very well. Mr. and Mrs. Wang had visited our home when I was not there. Wang said Dad taught Hsiao-Wen, the older daughter, math in their home. Thanks to Dad, Hsio-Wen has had a good record in school and is now a graduate student at Tai-ta, majoring in hydraulic engineering. Hsiao-Chuan, the younger one, said she did not have the chance to learn from Dad, so she is an English teacher in a children's English school and doesn't have her sister's academic achievement. The two girls were a bit embarrassed for not being sure whether they should call Dad Grandpa Ku or call me Big Sister now. Then I mockingly called Mr. Wang Uncle Wang.

On the way home, Dad told me he met Mr. Wang , an importer-exporter, at an exhibition, where Mr. Wang had a booth of some kind of machinery. Dad discovered some errors in the product pamphlet and volunteered to re-write it. Their friendship started then and went on. The family really admired Dad. And Dad seemed quite comfortable with them.

This is one side of Dad that I did not discover before. After stepping down from my previous position, I'm glad to have more time with parents and get to know Dad better.