"As time goes by" 
Bonnie and A Chai

ual55

We note that A Chai has been reunited with Bonnie. We congratulate them from the bottom of our hearts, and wish them all the best.

A Chai and this lighter had been in the same class for three years back at PC. He was a solid student known for his love for athletic activities, a active member of " twilight events", and his particular preference in using pencil in taking math exams (especially in classes taught by Mr.Wong Yat-Chiu). By the time we went up to "Go Sam", we had become good buddies. He sat a few seats 
behind me to my right ( west side) of our classroom. I sat facing the podium up front, to my immediate right sat Juliana Shaw who would give me funny and stern looks whenever I misbehaved, which was quite often.

A Chai played " Go" with " Dai tau chai ---Lum Te-man" often and even during lectures. He also loved to play the card game " bridge". On occasions that I bought candies from one of the partners of " the three-friends company" during lecture, he passed them on to me from the back, and often " taxed" me. A Chai was fun-loving and a most loyal PCer.

After graduation, A Chai went to attend the National Taiwan university majoring in EE, with a number of Lighters and PCers. After NTU, he went to Kansas for grad school.

One day in the mid 60s, A Chai showed up in Berkeley and told us that he finished his master's degree and was applying to work for the US Coast Guard in the San Francisco office.

At the time, Tony Kwok and I were roommates in Berkeley. Tony went to CCAC in Oakland ( California college of arts and crafts). We rented a one bed room apt at the corner of Euclid and Hearst on the Northside, facing La Vals ( a beer and Pizza joint with four small artsy movie theaters). A Chinese restaurant was just below our apt, and we ate there often. Tony had the bed room, I had the fold-up bed in the " living room" behind a door ( I don't remember how and why Tony got the bed room). Eventually A Chai moved with with us. He slept on the couch in the " living room", but appeared to be perfectly happy. We had a truck load of fun together, we rarely 
stopped laughing.

One day " Dai Tau Chai " showed up. DTC is the nickname for Lum Te-Man to this day. He just came back from Germany. DTC got drafted after graduating from Berkeley in Math, and was sent to serve in Germany ( as it was for Presley). DTC's favorite drink was " southern  comfort".( If you have not had it before, give it a try. It was not all that bad). DTC would come to our apt in the evening, sat on a chair and started sipping "southern comfort". He told us his " interesting adventures " in Europe. We had not been to Europe before and longed for the adventures there. Some evenings he would sit there all night long, sipping his drink, the other three of us would be fast asleep. DTC just sat there, staring into the night, in deep thoughts about something ( ???), as if the burden of life for all fun-loving and laughing lighters fell his shoulders, and he had to bear it for all of us. His favorite statement at the time was " there is no need to go to school, one can learn everything from reading the  newspapers". We often wondered if he learned his stuff from reading the HK " Red-green Daily". DTC eventually went on to Law school, and is practising law in Oakland. His law degree did not come from reading the newspaper, however.

We went to parties often. Tony had many artsy parties for us to go. Some of the artsy girls were quite liberal. This was the bay area in 60s after all. Some of the parties organized at CAL were not so " artsy", I regret to say.

At one of the parties one evening in Berkeley, A Chai took Bonnie and another co-worker there. This was the first time I met Bonnie. It must have been in the mid-60s or so. Bonnie was a pretty and lively girl.

She worked for the Forest Service in the same Government building where everybody shared the same cafeteria on the second floor. That was how they met. I guess A Chai was pretty slick in this sort of  things, I am sure he did not acquire the skill at PC.

Bonnie came from Oklahoma, daughter of a minister. I think she probably knows the Bible better than many if not all of us Lighters. She was not what one would expect of a girl from the South, although not from the deep south. She was care-free and liberal. In time I would discover that she was one amazing and remarkable woman, and  played such an important role in Chai's life.... to be continued.

[ This article was first sent to A Chai for accuracy and permission to upload...55].