1998. Claire D. was one my senior students and a member of the Spirit Questors. When her maternal grandfather passed away, her mother, Emily, invited me to lead a Spirit Quest outside their family mausoleum in the Chinese cemetery. Emily went out of her way to consult me on various issues since then. She was a lonely matron. Her husband, a traditionalist businessman who was frequently away from home, gave her little affection. She resorted to confiding her innermost feelings to Ruben, her husband's Filipino assistant--though an underling known to snooty Chinese as a "Juan-Ah-Kang". Their friendly relationship verged on becoming an illicit affair.
In the course of Emily's consultations with me she would pick me up from work, then at the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center on Buendia Avenue, take me to lunch at a nearby restaurant, and drive me back to work again. She also began showering me with gifts--simple ones at first, such as concert tickets, and then very expensive ones. It was then I realized that the story of Ruben could have been a mere rehearsal for a prospective relationship she wanted to have with me; either that or she wanted both of us.
I very carefully extricated myself from the situation. It made me very wary of meeting my students' parents. Looking back now, I should have not mistaken Emily for a sincere friend and should have seen, early on, where she was heading.
There are times, like now, when I suddenly remember Emily, and I shudder at the thought of almost falling into a quagmire I would have regretted the rest of my life.
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