:52:00
she fell off her stool.
:52:03
I rushed over to lift her up,
but the neighbors told me not to.
:52:06
They said when an old person falls,
they should get up themselves.
:52:11
She got up real quick.
:52:13
She finished combing her hair,
then said to me...
:52:17
"Tienlu, take me to the bed."
:52:19
I wondered, "What's going on?"
:52:21
She was okay just then,
but she wanted to lie down.
:52:24
So I took her to her bed.
:52:25
She laid down and stayed down.
:52:28
She just slept there all day...
:52:32
for a total of ten days.
:52:34
We called a Western doctor...
:52:36
who said nothing
was wrong with her.
:52:39
He told us to buy her
whatever she wanted to eat.
:52:42
I didn't believe she wasn't sick,
so we called another doctor...
:52:46
and he said the same thing.
:52:48
So I went and bought pork kidneys
and cooked some shredded ginger soup.
:52:53
She wouldn't eat a single shred.
:52:56
One day an old man
from the valley came.
:53:00
He had always been nice to me.
:53:02
He took a look at grandmother then
took a look at me and said...
:53:06
"Tienlu!"
:53:07
He said, "We could just sit here...
:53:10
staring at her
until this time next year...
:53:13
but she would still be the same."
:53:16
I said, "How come?"
:53:17
He said, "If you wait out the year,
then she will immediately die."
:53:22
Shit! What a thing to say.
:53:23
He said, "Lucky for you, you
were born under the Kwai Star.
:53:27
If you weren't...
:53:28
your grandmother
would have caused your death."
:53:32
It so happened on...
:53:35
October 31 of that year...
:53:38
on the day that theJapanese call
the Emperor's Day...
:53:42
theJapanese police chief
asked us to perform...
:53:48
at the precinct
in honor of the Emperor's birthday.
:53:52
I traveled to the precinct...
:53:56
to find the chief waiting there
for me.