“Penelope Sews at the Kopitiam” by Vinessa Vincent Rajah

Penelope walked into the kopitiam, followed by her maids and a crowd of suitors. She carried a large bundle of gold Kanchipuram silk in her right hand and a small needle in her left.

A group of aunties ran the stalls. They looked at the incoming group and let out loud sighs. Their woks, pans, and skillets hissed when vegetables, rice, and dough met the hot oils. The aunty at the beverage stall started to mix the orders of coffee, and her metal tablespoon clanged inside the metal cups. The tingly smell of chili from the belacan entwined with the jasmine scent of the incense sticks burning at the mini altars of the gods. The aunties had installed the statues of the goddesses Kwan Yin and Athena for good luck, and Kali for protection. After a lightning bolt almost incinerated the kopitiam, the aunties installed a large statue of Zeus. They still grumbled every time they passed by it.

When they saw the suitors, Kwan Yin folded the petals of her lotus flower and Kali’s jaw tightened.

Penelope marched up to the statue of Athena. “When is he coming back home?”

Athena huffed and turned her face away.

Penelope felt her throat start to constrict, but she had no tears left. She glared at Athena and walked to sit at a table.

“She’s wearing a saree just to come to the kopitiam?”

“Just listen to her anklets, clong clong clong like the bell at a funeral.”

“Eh, how long more she’s going to sew that cover for that old man’s coffin, ah?”

“Walao eh, he never even die yet and she’s already preparing for his funeral?”

Penelope straightened a stretch of the fabric and started to stitch with her needle, but a shadow fell on the silk. She glanced up.

“Babe,” Eurymachus drawled, flashing his crisp white veneers, “that’ll take forever. So here, I brought you a gift! Aren’t I just the best?” He plunked a large Singer sewing machine onto the gold silk, creasing the fabric. Its side was emblazoned with the words “EURYMACHUS + P” in gold.

“Eh, how many things you think they bought for her?”

“Waa-a-a-hah, that can pay off my rental debt ah.”

“Yeah lah, stupid suitors increasing the cost of everything.”

“Aiya, surely all the money is going to her as gifts, lah.”

The aunties’ whispers died out when Eurymachus pressed his hands on the silk, crumpling it. He raised his voice. “I’m never one to keep thanks when I owe them. So, a big thank you to your maids, who informed us how you were cheating us!” The table of suitors hooted, and Eurymachus leaned in towards Penelope. “You should be done in a couple of hours, right?” His eyes followed her collarbone, exposed by the saree blouse that her parents had commanded her to wear. “Then you can choose me, ah, I mean one of us tomorrow?” He winked and flashed a smile, displaying his pointed teeth, then sauntered off to the table of suitors and clapped Antinous on the back.

The aunties eyed the suitors. Several glanced back at Penelope.

Penelope glanced at her maids, who were filming a new TikTok. They giggled when Antinous flexed at them. Penelope rolled her eyes and dragged the sewing machine closer to her. Its loud whir faded into the background when the suitors started to laugh.

“Oi, oldie!” Antinous yelled at the beverage stall owner. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Two Heineken, for me and my bro Eurymachus!”

The auntie slowly walked over to the table, her fists clenched around the necks of the bottles. When she passed by, Penelope heard her hiss, “cheapskates.” The auntie set the bottles in front of Eurymachus and Antinous, then returned to Penelope’s table, palm held out. Penelope sighed. While she reached for her credit card, Eurymachus and Antinous unscrewed their bottles with their teeth. As soon as they opened the bottles, the brown liquid shot up and sprayed them in their faces until the bottles were empty. They sputtered, and sunlight glinted off the three statues at the altar. The rest of the suitors laughed, pointing at Antinous and Eurymachus, while Penelope’s maids fussed over the stains on their shirts.

The other aunties hid their smiles while they brought plates of food to the suitors’ table. The suitors dug into the soft, steaming rice, bright green broccoli glistening in oil, crispy fried pratas, crunchy cumber slices, and spicy mee rebus peanut gravy.

“Wah, they never even offer anything and they’re eating already? Siao!”

While the suitors were chewing, Antinous glanced around the table. Then he leaned forward, and the sunlight caught on his chain. When he made sure all the eyes were on it, Antinous cleared his throat.

“Oh this?” He fiddled with his chain, then tuned his head towards Penelope. “700 grams 916 gold. It’s nothing,” he said, raising his voice. “Just one of my faves I wear on the daily.” He lifted a shoulder and let it drop.

Penelope never lifted her eyes from the silk, but she heard his huff and felt his eyes catching on her arms like MRT doors slamming shut on a hand. Out of the corner of her eye Penelope saw him lick his lips and start to fiddle with his chain. But he drew his hand away in a hiss. Within five seconds, his chain became tarnished, then turned black. The suitors began to laugh at him, but their jewelry and accessories turned black too. Penelope inhaled and breathed in the scent of lotus flowers.

The aunties started to whisper again, several of them gasping. “Siao liao. They’re finished already.”

Penelope’s maids clasped the suitors’ arms. “Oh, you poor things!” they exclaimed, and the suitors pouted.

Penelope glanced at the aunties, tilting her head at the maids and shaking her head. The aunties stared back at her for a while, then they turned their heads towards each other.

“Eh, you think she’s happy those suitors are going to be gone?”

“Please lah, she’s going to hate not having all the attention…well, maybe she won’t miss that, but confirm plus chop she’s going to hate not receiving all the gold from our taxes.”

“Yeah lah!”

Nods.

Penelope let out a breath through her nose. Then she looked at the altar, searching the goddess’ faces.

A light breeze blew through the kopitiam. It smelled salty and carried a faint metallic tang. Flames licked Kali’s body. Blood poured over her thirisoolam, coating it from its three pointy tips to the bottom of its long handle. It spilled onto the suitors’ table, covering the suitors like chocolate fondue, sticking on their skin and weighing down their clothes. Eurymachus caught Penelope’s eye and flashed another smile. His teeth gleamed like the leftover bones from a cremated body. Antinous puckered his lips, and his body deflated like an embalmed corpse.

Penelope blinked and the blood was gone.

She looked around. The suitors were laughing with each other and clapping each other on the back. The aunties were chatting while they cleaned their stalls, her maids giggled while they braided each other’s hair. Penelope’s eyebrows drew together, and she looked at the altar.

Kali smiled at her, then stared at the suitors. She tightened her grip on her thirisoolam while a small flame sprang at her feet. Penelope let out a breath and felt her shoulders drop a little. She returned Kali’s smile, and resumed sewing the shroud.

Vinessa Vincent Rajah is a Senior at Oakland University, with an English major and Creative Writing minor. She was born in Singapore and is residing in Michigan. Her writing explores her lives in both countries and her Tamil heritage. Her fiction and creative non-fiction pieces were published in Echo Cognito: An Anthology of the Human Heart (2025), Castorcene: A Digital Wetland (2025), and Swallow the Moon Volume 16 (2026). Besides reading and writing, she loves to take walks and spend time with her family.