thinking of childhood....

as a lil kid growing up in serangoon, i only played with boys, not because coincidently, all my neighbours are boys, but its more on the reason that i was too rough to play with girls. i remember i had a VERY next door neighbour called ah huay,(i nvr knew his real name) whom i would fondly refer to as ah huay gor-gor, as he was one year my senior. we weren't on very good terms with each other. but, as i will mention later, no matter how much we hated each other in an instant, we still share a childish liking for each other, no matter how big a fight we would get into.

ah huay gor gor was a GREAT show-off. everyday, he would flaunt whatever "precious treasures" he had from beyond the gate that kept us from murdering each other, like a toothbrush, or a comb, or a toy. he would bring it proudly to the gate, hold it high in front of me, and say:"see? i have but u dun have." being younger, i would amulate after him, no matter what he did. so seeing these actions, i would follow suit by picking up another item, and repeat what he said to me, not only to spite him, but also serving as a reminder to him to watch his actions because he had someone to set an example to. when times were bad, we would quarrel, often ending with me closing the door on him and him following my action. but the moment we were separated from each other by that huge wooden barrier, our wrath would be instantly forgotten, and we would open the door again, slowly, to see if the other was doing the same too. if he was, we would then slowly poke our heads out from behind the door and smile shyly at each other. then, after gaining enough confidence and trust, we would open the door wide enough, heaving a sigh of relief after realising that we were both not angry with each other, and we would continue our games.

besides being a BIG show off, ah huay gor gor loved to challenge. not love challenges, but love to. he would set ridiculously stupid dares for me, and challenge me to them. afraid to lose face, i would take them on gallantly without complain. one of the ridiculous dares was to challenge me to swing on my television set. i was a little taken aback by this challenge, but nevertheless, i turned to ah huay gor gor and said:"of course i dare lah! watch arh..." and i walked to the television set. with all my might, i jumped and clung on to te top of the TV, and swung happily, looking at ah huay gor gor's open mouth and feeling proud of myself. but my happiness was not to be. for long. as i was about to swing my last swing and get off before my granma comes and gets a heart attack at seeing her precious granddaughter killing herself on the TV, the ENTIRE television fell from where it was sitting comfortably on the cabinet/table/(what ever u call it) before i disturbed it with my horrendous rocking. and apparently, it was not my lucky day
the TV fell ON ME. how amazing is that? and the best thing? I SURVIVED. i escaped with a few bruises here and there, a huge lump on my head, and lots of tears. of course, poor ah huay gor gor was so shocked that he ran into his house to alert his mother(of course he didn tell her he dared me to do it) who in turn alerted my grandma, who was half deaf. (apparently she didn hear my wailing). so its was quite a SCENE. my mother rushed home from work, and i got a huge scolding abt disturbing comfortable television sets, and u can guess. ah huay gor gor nvr dared me to do anything again. wahaha!

saying goodbye was the hardest thing. we often bid each other goodbye during the day to take short breaks, or for meals. but at the end of the day, when its time for bed, we would often stand at the door for a long time, not sure of how to say goodbye, for real. at least for the next 9 hours or so. thus, we would often stone at the gate, then one of us would pluck up the courage to close the door, saying bye at the same time. the other would follow, reluctantly. but the moment both doors are closed, they would open immediately again, and we would see each other's smiling faces. thus, for 10 minutes or so each night before bed, we would open and close the door, before one of our parents, (usually my mummie) would come and pluck us off the door knob. but what surprised me was, when i moved away to tanglin road, i didn even remember saying goodbye. and i didn complain. when i woke up in my new home the next morning, i didn cry or scream, asking for ah huay gor gor. and i dun think he did too. =)


Blogged @ 6:33 PM