|
 Reflections
Continued
With that,
Kirpal fisted Juk on the shoulder, catching the little boy
off-guard. The surprised Malay boy landed a jab in Kirpal's groin. He
couldn't hit anywhere else; he was too short. That started a
free-for-all fight in which even timid Kai Ming got involved. It was
three boys against one. But all that was seen was one big ball with
sticky legs, arms and heads rolling on the floor.
But the boys
were no match for big Kirpal who "chiak bak" most of the time.
This time round, Kai Ming got the worst! A punch on his nose from Kirpal
while
he was grabbing hold of Kirpal's neck caused blood to ooze from his
nose- non stop. The brawl ended just as quickly as it started as Kirpal,
realising the seriousness of the whole thing, ran back home. Home to him
was two storeys down, in the corner flat. By now, Kai Ming's shirt had
been blotted with blood and the other two boys were at a loss. It was
the first time they had seen so much blood. They were frightened. Kai
Ming was equally shocked and stood dazed, with his fingers smudged with
blood.
Juk at last
tore off to Kai Ming's flat on the fourth storey and knocked
the door. Kai Ming's mother, who was in the kitchen, washed her hands
and opened the door.
"Quick, Auntie.
Something's happened to Kai Ming. There's blood all over
him."
He brought her
to the landing where Kai Ming was.
"Aiyo.
What have you done this time, so much blood?"
Kai Ming could
not unzip his mouth. Still screaming with shock and
disbelief, she took him home.
The other two boys made themselves scarce. Back home, Kai Ming's mother
placed Kai Ming sitting upright, with his head bent
backwards to stop the blood from flowing. It took some minutes before
the blood stopped oozing out. But it took all afternoon for his mother's
mouth to stop her scolding. That was Kai Ming's first nosebleed. It
wasn't his last. He would soon find out his nose had a propensity to
bleed equal to his propensity to get into mischief when he was with his
two "kakees", Choon Huat and Juk.
After an early
dinner, Kai Ming brought out his home-made "layang" and
sauntered to his favourite spot on the landing. The three boys had
earlier planned to rendezvous for an evening of "layang"
flying downstairs in the open field. The sun had set but the concrete
frame of his block still felt hot. However, a little breeze had found
its way from the south to the surrounding area as there were no blocks
of flats in front of his block to hinder its movement.
Kai Ming
greeted his two friends who were spread on the floor with the
"glass" string laid out. Both were winding the string onto a
short thick stick.
"There you
are. We thought you were not coming," said Choon Huat.
"How's
your nose? Did you eat "kway teow" just now? Let me look at
your
legs," stuttered Juk.
Juk had been
worried all afternoon. He felt he had let Kai Ming down by
disappearing so soon and leaving Kai Ming to answer to his mother.
Kai Ming could only smile. He couldn't let out that his mother was all
noise but no action, that his mother had fawned on him as he was the
only son, that she would rather starve than let him starve- all things
said, she wouldn't bear to cane him.
"I see you
and I know you are all right. Quick, hand me the "layang","
said
Choon Huat eagerly.
"There's
not much breeze now, the "layang" may not go up far. We have
to
hurry," he continued.
While the two
boys were fixing the "layang", Kai Ming let his eyes
wander again. There were dried blotches of blood on the floor near where
he had squatted. The afternoon's happenings vividly came to his mind
again.
"Don't
worry, we'll find a way to fix that bully," Juk volunteered.
"If I get
another chance, I will "humtum" that bully like this, and this
and this," Choon Huat boasted.
But the other
two boys knew Choon Huat was only blowing his balloon
again. They knew Choon Huat was only good with his mouth, and nothing
else. Having spent so much time together, each boy knew the other two's
strong and weak points only too well.
"Time to
go fly our "layang," said Juk.
The group
clambered down the flight of stairs and ran out into the
field.
"Not
enough wind," observed Juk.
"Still can
try. No point waiting," said Choon Huat, pointing to his
right. Some boys were already flying their "layangs", though
the "layangs" had not got very high yet.
"Quick!
Quick! Let me hold the "layang"," said Choon Huat
impatiently.
He grabbed hold
of the layang from Kai Ming's hands and proceeded to run
along the field till he was about fifteen metres away. Juk who was
holding on to the stick slipped an old glove in his right hand. He
didn't want to be cut by the "glass" string again. He waited
for Choon Huat.
"Okay.
Ready," shouted Choon Huat excitedly.
Kai Ming looked
on as Juk, having felt a sudden change in the strength
of the breeze, signalled to Choon Huat to let go of the string.
Juk tugged at the string, and with a series of tugs and releases, he
managed to get the "layang" into the air.
The "layang" was now about six storeys high up.
"Wow. Look
at it, isn't it a beauty?" exclaimed Choon Huat.
He wasn't eager
to take over the tugging and the releasing of the
"layang" string. He knew Juk was the only one of the trio who
could keep a "layang" in the air. Kai Ming was content with
just watching the thing soar higher and higher till it was no more than
a tiny dot in the sky.
The threesome didn't get a chance to test their "glass"
string. There were only three or four "layangs" in the air and
their "layang" was too far away from the other two.
Choon Huat
spied another one which was so far up in the sky it made their
"layang" look like a rookie.
"Hey,
Juk.
That's your brother's "layang"," said Choon Huat.
The boys turned
back their heads to their block and saw Ali perched
gingerly on the parapet of the fifth storey corridor. He was enjoying
himself. "Layang" flying had been his passion and it was he
who had taught Juk the finer points of "layang" flying.
Juk knew he was outclassed. The breeze died down almost as quickly as it
had come and their "layang" looked as if it had run out of
breath. It was panting heavily and even with Juk's skills, he could not
get the
"layang" to stay in the air. Their "layang" crashed
into a tree some
thirty metres away.
"Alamak!"
screamed the boys in unison.
They ran to the
tree. Alas, there was no hope for their "layang". It had
torn itself on a branch high up. There was no point in climbing up the
tree to retrieve the "layang". The boys were in despair. They
made their way back to the block, heads hung down and legs kicking out
at anything that got in their way. Behind them, high up in the sky,
prancing to its master's whims was Ali's "layang". But they
paid no attention.
Nobody said a
word as they filed up the stairs. Kai Ming left first, as
they had reached the fourth storey.
Without a word, he moved down the corridor, went into his flat and piled
himself on the floor in the living room, ignoring his mother's commands.
"Kai Ming.
Kai Ming. Go wash your legs. Why are your slippers in the
living room? Did you hear me?" chanted his mother.
Kai Ming lay
there for quite a while. When he got up to look at the
clock, it was already ten o'clock. He had been glued to the spot for two
whole hours.
That night, Kai
Ming couldn't sleep. It was too hot to sleep. He tossed
and turned in bed, thinking about the happenings of the day-the
nosebleed, the torn "layang", everything. Finally, he got out
of his bed, which was actually a foam mattress placed on the cement
floor. His mother was snoring away by the window. The fan was droning
away, beating the hot humid air. Big Sister's bed was empty. She was
still working at the cinema and would not be back till past three
o'clock.
He sidled into
the living room and opened the front door. The air was
cooler outside in the corridor. Loud snoring interrupted the night. It
came from his neighbour's flat. Mr Samy was sleeping on the floor in the
living room. The flat's front door was open but there was no grille
gate. Anyone could just walk in unannounced. But nobody did when Mr Samy
was around. Kai Ming didn't know why. Perhaps, it was Mr Samy's size
that put thieves off. He was
over-towering and his waist could fit in three Kirpal Singhs. Mr Samy
was
a driving instructor by day but sometimes doubled up as a bouncer at a
night club along Serangoon Road. But, tonight, he wasn't at work. Kai
Ming liked Mr Samy. Perhaps it was because Mr Samy had a television set
in his living room and every now and then Kai Ming would invite himself
into the flat to watch television. He didn't mind what programmes were
showing. In fact, most of the time, only Tamil programmes appeared on Mr
Samy's television screen.
Kai Ming was
happy just to be able to watch television. There were few television sets in the country at the
time. A television set was a luxury few could afford. The
television sets then only showed black and white programmes. Colour
television
had
not quite found its way into Singapore yet.
People
who were fortunate to have neighbours with television sets often crowded
themselves
into the rooms where the television sets were. Many children who were not
privileged to have such neighbours had to content themselves with just
listening to the sounds emitted by the television sets in nearby flats
on other
floors. These children were huddled together in the corridor, below
the window just outside such flats with television sets. They had their ears
pressed to the wall. But it was common practice then and no one felt out
of place. The children outside had their bit of entertainment, albeit
incomplete,
and the occupants of these flats with television sets, knowing
perfectly
well there were people outside in the corridor, relished the pride
of
having owned such a luxury.
Kai
Ming liked Mr Samy for another reason. Mr Samy often took him out in
his
car, a Morris with signal lights on both flanks which flapped
up
to indicate left or right turns which Mr Samy was making. Kai Ming had
on occasions also accompanied Mr Samy's family when they went to the temple
to observe Thaipusam and other Indian religious festivals. Kai Ming
liked these occasions for their riot of colours and the strange practice
of sticking needles into body flesh.
"Kai
Ming, what are you doing out there?
"It's
already one o'clock. Why aren't you sleeping?"
It
was his mother again. She had awakened to answer nature's call and
found
his bed empty. Reluctantly, he turned in for the night.
The
loud scolding he had suffered that day didn't get forgotten so
quickly.
The next day, Kai Ming and his mother visited Uncle Chiam. Uncle
Chiam was his father's third cousin and represented the voice of Kai
Ming's father when he was overseas. Kai Ming didn't like him a bit.
Uncle
Chiam was Mr No Nonsense and an authoritarian. Even his children
feared
him. The family lived in a three-room flat two roads away up on a
hill
in one of three sixteen-storey blocks along Commonwealth Close. Kai had
once got a glimpse of the young crown prince of Japan, Prince Akihito
when the prince was visiting the three sixteen-storey blocks, then
an attraction in Singapore. Kai Ming could not understand why anyone would
want to visit the place. He always hated coming to Uncle Chiam's flat.
Not only because of his fear of Uncle Chiam, but also because he knew
that many people had come all the way from different parts of the country
to these three blocks to commit suicide by jumping off from one of
the blocks. These three blocks, at the time, were the tallest in the country,
even surpassing the old Cathay Building in Dhoby Ghaut.
Everyone
in Singapore knew where Tanglin Halt Sixteen Storeys was. Kai
Ming
didn't care about the popularity of the place. He was afraid of ghosts.
He
felt there were many lost souls wandering in the area and he did not want
to run into any if he could help it.
"Kai
Ming, Kai Ming," called his mother.
"This
boy is always daydreaming."
She
wrapped him in her arms and poured out what had happened to him
to
the relatives, Amid the "Ohhhs" and the "Aaahs" she
splashed some scolding
in his face, together with much of her saliva. Kai Ming didn't like
his mother to embarrass him in front of others.
"Mother
will never change her character," thought the boy.
His
mind wandered off again.
The
End
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