My eldest sister seemed to have taken after my aunt.
In one dream that had recurred during the Ghost Festival (when offerings would be made to family members who’d passed on), she saw my oldest uncle (who had died a few years previously, only in his late 40s) lurking outside the window, looking in at the ancestral worship table through the railings.
That uncle was not my grandma’s biological son. He’d been entrusted to her when she was emigrating, so that he could have a better life in 南洋 [nányáng / “south ocean”, as SEAsia was called in those days].
She told the family after she dreamt about it a third time.
The family thought that, because of this (being only an adopted son) and also because he was one generation younger than the other deceased members, perhaps he didn’t feel he had a right to partake of the offerings.
Subsequently, a little side table was set up specially for him, to make him feel accepted. My sister never dreamt about him again after that.
Of course, one could say that it was her conscience worrying about him not feeling part of the family that made her keep dreaming about him looking in from the outside.
(Singapore, 1960s)
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