Safe Houses
Terrazzo in Suburbia
by Ping Yi Yee
The white fan strobes, inviting dust to dance across the floor: its slivers of grey and chips of green. I press face to cool slab and seamless grout – the princess with her pea slept well here. Glazed eyes see specks and dirt, nose stuffy from inhaling motes and mites. That vacuum salesman broke down, trading his sob story to make an unfair sale – we’re not rich! Our terrazzo bequeathed by colonial masters quitting these streets with Celtic names; we know our station in life. Radio dishes out ditties about migrant poets carrying orchids without bloom – freedom asleep in China post-war.
The wok crackles, embracing wings in batter, showering blessings on newspaper spread below Mum’s stove. Oil plume pervades everywhere but the study, its faux walnut door shielding heirlooms and used books. My face turns the other side, equal opportunity cooling; salivating over crunchy honey chicken with bootleg ketchup. Cars screech outside, surfing the new speed hump, mocking my nap, while nocturnal geckos snooze out of sight.
I swing back up and cross my legs; homemade starch and Mum’s fabric shears at hand, cutting out the news for school. The scissors glide through wafer print, each snip crisp on hard floor. I live inside the terrazzo, plunging beneath liquid tile, winding paths round its miniature boulders and caves. If I were an ant fleeing a lizard, I’d never leave this stone haven. And the ant’s mum hollers, “Chicken’s ready!” Her brood swarming to the kitchen, the fan waltzing news sheets around the drying glue.
Ping Yi writes poetry, short fiction and creative nonfiction. After a three-decade detour in public service, he resumed his lifelong interest in speculative, humour and travel writing. His work has appeared in Orbis (nominated for 2025 Forward Prize), Litro (Editor’s Pick), The Stony Thursday Book, London Grip, Meniscus, La Piccioletta Barca, Harbor Review, Vita Poetica and Eclectica, and is forthcoming in The High Window and The Bangalore Review. Ping Yi lives in Singapore with his spouse and their son.