Everything seemed fine until one evening when Ah-bing returned and Father mistook him for you. He called out your name and embraced Ah-bing. He seemed to have lost his mind. We expended much effort explaining to him that Ah-bing wasn’t you, but he wouldn’t believe us; he really seemed to be going senile. This really alarmed us and so we decided that we had to take him to the hospital. What we were not expecting, however, was that when Ah-bing returned to the living room after having changed his clothes, Father seemed to recover his senses – he no longer thought that Ah-bing was you. This was the first time we had ever seen Father ill. But it was a strange illness, something we could never have imagined.

The doctor at the hospital believed that Father’s illness was the natural beginnings of senility, a common ailment of the elderly, and nothing else. He instructed us to ensure that Father got plenty of rest and avoided excitement. Naturally, we ceased looking for go opponents and began to administer a mild sedative to him. Without the game I feared that Father would be unable to bear staying at home. I thought of Ah-bing and his impending graduate studies, but I was thankful that for now at least his work unit was being incredibly considerate by allowing him to take extended leave to look after Father. Every day when I returned home from work I’d see the two of them sitting at the table playing go. I would ask if Father had won any games and Ah-bing would always shake his head. Father’s skill with the game was growing increasingly erratic; even if we tried to lose it wouldn’t work.