Mang somehow was released and freed by the absence of Sang. Attentively, he began to wash and cut some fruit: a guava, an orange and two bananas. It was not that his reason for the quarrel was forgotten, but as if nothing was unpleasant.
The father-in-law was thoughtfully quiet, drinking tea and smoking. His pipe was hanging long in his mouth with no smoke clouding the air. It looked as if he lacked the energy to puff . The smoke seemed to be automatically absorbed by his hollow breath. He coughed every now and then. His wife, who was mopping the fl oor, seemed numb. She blindly mopped the feet of her husband. His quietness was thorough, his feet didn’t seem to feel any touch of the wetness or tickle from the bedraggled and coarse hair on the cotton fringe of the mop.