42

Groups of students who have been streamed into different classes are called together for a reunion one day by one girl who feels that they are breaking apart. They meet in her house where they usually had their club meetings and she tries to recapture that earlier bond with them but the rest seem to have gone their separate ways and have new lives filled with new interests. They seem to have discarded their childhood.

 

Jenny – the vain one with boyfriend;

 

Ying – one with thick glasses and concerned with studying only, disgusted with Jenny;

 

Sam – real name is Richard, becomes interested in girls only;

 

Mei Li – mousy girl whose always blur;

 

Pat – sentimental person.

 

The scene is set in a nicely-furnished living room and Pat is running in and out of kitchen carrying glasses of drinks and some tidbits and she looks at the clock each time.

 

P: Man, those people are late! They were never late before for our meetings… (Doorbell rings). Oh good, it must be them! (A rather sloppily dressed girl stands there looking at a stack of notes in her hands, looking puzzled.) Hi!

 

Ying: Oh… hi… Hey, how do you figure this sum out? How did that woman differentiate this!

 

P: (look stunned) Ying! Come in! And let me take that stack off your hands.

 

Ying: No! Give that back! Hey, do you have a calculator around? I need one right now. (Spots one and starts using it).

 

(Doorbell rings again)

 

P: Sam! Hi, come in.

 

Sam: Hello P. Mm… did some renovations here, huh? Mm… neat. Love your hi-fi!

 

P: What’s that you’re wearing around your neck? Looks like a snake.

 

Sam: Yup, the latest fashion!

 

P: Is it snakes?

 

Sam: Aha, it’s synthetic. Wanna feel it?

 

P: Uh… no. Oh, Ying is already here.

 

(Doorbell rings)

 

Jenny: How long’s this meeting gonna take? I promised Robert I’ll meet him at 5.

 

P: !!!

 

Jenny: Oh hi, Sam! Who was that girl I saw you out with last night? Bad taste, Sam. Did you look at her thick calves? Yucks! I’ll die if I ever got calves like hers. Robert hates girls with thick calves.

 

Sam: Oh yeah? What about your Robert? Did you look at his hair! Must have got it cut at some ulu place!

 

Jenny: What did you….!

 

Ying: Hey, anybody here knows calculus?

 

Sam: Who’s he?

 

(Doorbell rings)

 

Mei Li: Hello, I hope I’m not late.

 

P: Come in! Everyone just got here. Hey, do you know that this is the first time in months since we’ve last met! I mean, all of us! Here, back when we used to have our club meetings!

 

Jenny: (making a face at Sam) I hope she’s not getting nostalgic.

 

P: Well, well… I know we do meet each other at school and all but we don’t even get a chance to talk! We don’t even say ‘hi’ sometimes! It’s so hard for us to get together with Mei Li in Arts and Jenny and Sam in Commerce and Ying and I in Science. We hardly ever sit down and have a proper reunion!

 

Sam: Come off it, Pat. It’s only been 2 months since we got streamed into different classes.

 

P: I know that, but don’t you miss our group? Don’t you, Ying, Mei Li?

 

Ying: Huh? Hey people, anybody here good with figures?

 

Sam: Who’s talking about sums again!

 

Jenny: Ooh…

 

Everyone stares at him.

 

… they talk on behind?

Spotlight on P: Is this the Sam I know? the Sam who blushed at every girl and threw up on his first date. Is this the Sam I know?

 

Sam: And now you know why she’s wearing the scarf.

 

Mei Li: Wait, wait. I don’t get it. You gave a what and she what what?

 

Jenny: Oh girl, you’re still such a blur!

 

Mei Li: What’s that supposed to mean?

 

Jenny: Well, we all know that you’re the blur queen around. Remember the time when we were supposed to go for an outing from 10 to 3 and you came at 2:50 because you thought we were supposed to meet at 10 to 3!

 

Mei Li: But it was 10 to 3!

 

Jenny: Yes, 10 o’clock to 3 o’clock, dearie!

 

P: Will you two please stop it! I called everyone over to talk and maybe relive the good old times, not to argue about some farcical petty nonsense!

 

Sam: Good old times! Were there any?

 

P: I don’t believe I’m hearing this! What do you mean, ‘were there any’? Of course there were! Don’t you remember the time when all of us skipped school and went cycling? And Ying couldn’t cycle and we took turns teaching her and Jenny and she banged into me and I fell and cut myself and got this! (shows a scar) I’ll be scarred for life, thanks to you, Ying!

 

Ying: Did someone mention my name?

 

P: (grabs her books away) Could you please stop doing your work now and pay a little attention to what we’re discussing here.

 

Ying: Oh alright, but what are we discussing anyway?

 

P: Friendship, our friendship.

 

Jenny: Can you please stop sounding so solemn. I feel like I’m attending a funeral.

 

Mei Li: No wait, I think that P’s got a point. We’re talking about our friendship and I think I understand what she’s trying to say. We seem to be going our separate ways now, when just 2 months ago, we were so close and so thick! Don’t you think so?

 

Ying: W…ell, yes, I do agree we’re not as close as we were before. But we’re so busy!

 

Jenny: Exactly! We each have our own lives to live now and we can’t hang on to the old group forever! We need to expand our social circle, our social contacts, widen our horizon, gain greater insights…

 

Sam: I agree with Jenny, but just because we don’t meet that regularly doesn’t mean that we’re no longer friends.

 

P: But we no longer seem like friends – that’s the point I’m trying to make! We pass each other in school sometimes and we don’t even smile at each other! What does it mean?

 

Mei Li: Yeah, and just the other day, I was just standing behind you, Jenny, in the canteen and when I tapped on your shoulder, you turned around and what, what did you do, you didn’t even smile! Why? Just because you were with that Roland guy?

 

Jenny: (looking a little sheepish) It’s Robert, not Roland.

 

P: What a way to treat a friend!

 

Jenny: Well, I didn’t mean anything by that! I was with the group, you see, and … and … I …

 

Mei Li: You mean, you mean, you were ashamed to talk to me!

 

Jenny: No! Well, it’s… not exactly like that.

 

Mei Li: You mean, you didn’t want to be seen talking to me?

 

Jenny: W…ell, not exactly.

 

Mei Li: Not exactly! Then what exactly do you mean?

 

 

 

 

 

41

Hello, my name is Serena. I’m sixteen. People say I’ve got thick skin. Yeah, I do and all in the wrong areas! Ha! That’s supposed to be a joke, ah well… sigh. I shan’t tell you my last name ‘cos I prefer first names. They simply sound so chic! Besides, I like short names.

 

This book is about me, my life what I like and so on. You may get bored, but then, you may not. Who knows, you may feel exactly like I do. So why don’t you just read on and find out.

 

I’m in love with kids! Especially little boys in jumpers. Jumpers make kids look so active and I just love that baggy and puffy look it gives them. I love reading about precocious young kids too (JD Salinger’s Catcher). I’ve just read a book called ‘Edwin Mullhouse – Life and Death of An American Writer 1943-1954’ by Jeffrey Cartwright. It’s about the life of this young precocious guy who’s a writer. It’s absolutely charming! I love it! Another book I like is ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. The three kids in there, Jem, Scout and Dill sound real cute. I saw the show. They are indeed cute.

 

Once, at a new year gathering, my cousin slapped her son and he cried. It was lousy timing that I had to go home at that time as I badly wanted to console him. Anyway, I gave him a kiss and gave a sign to be kissed back and he did. He gave me the wettest kiss right on my cheek and you know what, it was terrific! A right smacker! I felt so wanted. Even now when I think of it, I’ll just start glowing inside with a comfortable warmth. They seem so sold and chunky to hold and I just love squeezing them. I remember once, when I was about 13, I read ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck. There was this guy in there, called Lennie or something. He had this terrible habit of crushing the mice in his pockets. I remembered laughing at that and wondering how a person could even do that but now I know. Sometimes, I feel the same way. Sometimes, I feel that I can just hold a kid so tightly that I’d crush the bones. Ain’t that terrible. Anyway, it always calls to mind those mushy scenes in the romances where they always have the line… ‘He crushed her in his steel embrace’.

 

Oh ya, I have a phobia of carrying babies. They seem so fragile and their heads just seem to loll off everywhere. I have this fear of dropping them too. Once, my cousin had allowed me to carry her baby girl but I’d refused. The thing looked so tiny! I prefer toddlers *I love hugging kids too.*

 

There are two living right across from me. Whenever I hear their voices, I’d just run and peep at them thru’ the tiny hole, satisfied just to catch a glimpse of them (my friends think I’m crazy and one has even jokingly called me ‘cradle-snatcher’. I can’t help it).

 

Talking about mushy romances of which I’d digested in abundance, it has become an unsolved mystery among my friends that the guys in there always seem to be such suave, sophisticated, rich, tall, dark, handsome hunks who own tony islands and who have lots of women falling at their feet, while the heroine is always the beautiful, alluring, irresistible, slim lady who hates the guy’s guts at first but then later falls utterly in love with him that she yearns for him like crazy. Everything  always turns out alright in the end with the guy chasing after her and saying that he loves her besides her body and wants to marry her.

 

You read one and you’ve read ‘em all.

40c

Characterized for life?

 

Psychiatrists often say that the character a child develops in his formation years stays with him for life. I find this true, yet I find that that most of the children have already developed this character by the time they come to pre-school and I can often picture the type of personality the child has and will have in his adult life and I often find myself thinking, ‘Hey, this girl will be…’ or ‘This boy is going to be a…’ But one thing for me, they’re all going to be heartbreakers – such cute and good-looking kids have no choice but to grow up into beautiful adults!

 

According to Andrew’s mother, the house would be full of his voice as soon as he wakes up. Andrew is a spritely kid with a knack for talking (sometimes too much) and some great initiative to be a potential leader. A curious child, he often started his sentences with ‘How come…?’ His mother told me that once in nursery class, his teacher had left the class for a while during which Andrew ordered all the children to keep the toys and they did! Andrew had the urge to take over the class I guess as he often dictated ‘Miss Lim, we do two more times and then we stop!’

 

Once during a ‘vigorous’ exercise session in which I had the kids do cycling in the air, stretching movements and star jumps, whereupon my hitting certain piano keys , the kids would jump up or down. I decided to test the endurance of the children and repeatedly hit the keys and had Andrew running up to me and saying, “Teacher, teacher, stop, stop, enough! So tired already!” Oh yes, he often acted as spokesman for the children. During another session, I had all the children lie down and to tease them a little, started singing ‘Rock-a-bye baby’. The children went ‘ah’ and started covering their ears. I learnt that they had a certain perversement towards that song (and thankfully, not to my voice) as asserted by Andrew, “Miss Lim, we’re not babies, we’re children!” And he also acted as spokesman for me. When I told the children to keep their toys, Andrew would run to every table and command, “Keep! Keep! Teacher said ‘keep’!”

“Andrew, go back to your place.” He would withdraw his face inwards – biting his bottom lip as if guilty and self-conscious.

 

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the first day I was with my K1 class and they were having ‘music’ with their Chinese teacher, Miss Teo. After she had finished playing a piece, I heard Andrew clapping his hands and saying, “okay, one more time!” in a funny accent. I burst out laughing at that sudden spontaneity only to invite curious stares from the kids as if they were thinking they had a loony for a teacher! His tone smacked of an American talk show host! I was to experience more of Andrew’s talk show voice about two more times during my stint there. Once happened on our way to the bird park when the can suddenly screeched to a halt at a light. Some of the kids were a little dazed and Andrew pacified them all by saying, “Don’t worry, it’s only a traffic jam.” (I did not correct his mistake. I was too busy chuckling!). Another instance was during the viewing of the last episode of ‘Alice In Wonderland’ when the Jabberwocky was about to appear. Those who had seen the show before knew what was in store and one girl, An Ying, covered her ears and looked down in fright. Andrew’s voice rang out, “Don’t worry, it’s only a monster.”

 

Remember Ming Wee whom we have earlier met with Cheryl? Ming Wee always came the earliest as his mother had to rush off to her office after dropping him off. Initially, Ming Wee struck me as a precocious child with a serious disposition as I seemed to feel his insecurity in everything I said or did. Sometimes, I even felt a sense of disapproval from his appraisal. However, in time we became better friends and he would often tell me what he had done the previous day during the time we had before all the other children came in. Once he even surprised me by giving me his amah’s phone number saying, “After school, I go to my amah’s house. You can call me there.” He also offered me his house phone number but it had only six digits.

 

“Ming Wee, a phone number has seven digits.”

 

“Okay, I’ll go home and check. I’ll give to you tomorrow.”

 

The next day, I heard him counting ‘1-2-3-4-5-6-7, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7’ and teased him, “Hey, I’ve never heard of a phone number with 1-2-3-4-5-6-7” and he smiled sheepishly and said, “No, I’m just counting how many numbers.”

 

A few days later, he surprised me with “Miss Lim, I gave you my number, how come you didn’t call me yet? After school, I’m at my amah’s house you can call me lah.” (Which I did sometime later and I could sense Ming Wee being rather stunned as he was incredibly polite! The next day, his mother told me that he was so happy and had announced to all that his teacher had called!).

 

“Miss Lim, my papa is going to buy a house. Has 3 storeys one, you know.”

 

“Really? Then Miss Lim can come and stay with you,” I teased. Upon that, his face brightened up.

 

“Would you like that? Would you like to stay with me? You can stay in my room!”

 

There was one when this charming boy tried to practice reverse psychology on me. A girl from the next class had gone off to the playground and I knew he wanted to go too, but he didn’t let me know that, of course.

 

“Miss Lim, Edwina went off to the playground. Mrs. Tay said that she can go… (pause)… I don’t want to go to the playground… so wet, the grass.”

 

I was preoccupied with preparing a lesson and pretended to be even more so and uttered a “Hmm…?” in response.

 

“Edwina went to play in the playground.”

 

“Hmm…”

 

I think he expected me to say ‘Okay, you can go and play with her’.

 

After some more silence, I guess he gave up his little psychological game and in childlike directness said, “Miss Lim, I want to go to the playground.”

 

Sebastian rarely smiled. Instead he often seemed on the verge of tears like a grenade about to explode and which had to be handled carefully. I often wanted to plunder the depths of Sebastian’s psychological soul yet upon my talking to him or questioning him, he would retreat a little and look as if about to cry. Yet his cries weren’t the loud make-a-statement type. He would cry noiselessly yet almost painfully. He lacked the carefree confidence found so commonly in many children and when he could not understand or catch up with certain instructions, those natural dark circles around his eyes would turn dangerously red in a threat of outburst. Time and time again, I would try and pacify him and explain to him that he need not cry. Sebastian, if you don’t know how to do, no need to cry. Just put up your hand and Miss Lim will come and help you, or you can come to me. Miss Lim won’t scold you. Miss Lim only wants to help you.”

(Teachers always seem to be referring to themselves in a 3^rd person manner as if in fear of ‘clouding objectivity’ by adopting the widely popular ‘I’). I must say I’m glad to see that Sebastian has improved. He doesn’t cry that much or that easily now, though his eyes still threaten. But then, he’s also showing more teeth when he smiles.

 

Zi Liang is one cute guy who is somewhat beyond my fathoms. He has that mischievous grin that just prevents you from ever getting mad at him. At worst, one can only keep a momentary straight face to chide him and quickly turn away before a smile appears. He speaks basically Chinese and when I first went there, Zi Liang seemed to be in his holophrastic (second) stage and I often found it hard to decipher his babblings. There was once when I had a toy used as a teaching aid and everyone put up their hands to try, out of the corner on the other side, I heard Zi Liang saying, ‘I goo oi, I goo oi ah!’ Huh? Then it hit me. He was saying ‘I good boy, I good boy’ and so I was to let him try. Well, his articulation has improved greatly since then, He is some resilient fellow that it gets infuriating at times. Once, when I reprimanded him for making too much noise, nodded his head while putting a finger to his lips, yet at the same time, grinning away as if he did not take you seriously. There were times when he would sway his body as you talked to him. Once, as I was chiding him, I realized that he was holding both hands close to his head and on looking closely, I discovered that he was covering his ears!

 

Once or twice, he would just run up and hug me around the waist, or he’d point to my lap and say ‘Sit’. There was a time when he would stroke my arm each time I passed him! And I believe he even kissed my hand once! It was too fast for me to decide! One day, while waiting for the bus, Zi Liang called me over and said, “I wan, I wan, I wan to kish you” and I promptly offered my cheek for his quick dry peck.

Zi Liang had the habit of punctuating his sentences with ‘lor’ which made it seem as if he couldn’t care less about anything, or as if you were so stupid that you didn’t know a thing.

“If you put your boat in your bag, it’ll be crushed. What happens if it’s crushed?”

 

“Throw lor!”

 

Pointing to the drawing, I asked, “What’s this?”

 

“”Birds lor!”

 

“What’s this?”

 

“Clouds lor!” giving the feeling as if he was thinking that teachers didn’t know even such simple things.

 

The day after he saw one girl show me her photo, he whipped two photos out of his bag and gave them to me.

 

“Why did you bring the photos to school?”

 

“Give you lor!”

 

I gladly accepted.

 

There was once, however, when Zi Liang displayed a different side. He had been engaged in a minor dispute with another boy and both had hit each other and Zi Liang cried! It was the first time I had seen him cry and he looked so vulnerable and one simply longed to comfort him. This vulnerability was only transient as minutes later, he was his usual self again.

 

“Do you want to be a good boy?”

 

Nods his head.

 

“Do you want to be a good boy, yes or no?”

 

“Yesh!”

 

But with that mischievous smile on his face, one just couldn’t be too sure.

40b

The Excursions:

 

During my second week at the kindergarten, the last days were devoted to bringing the children out on excursions. The first day was spent with the nursery children at the Crocodile farm at East Coast, after which a visit to the airport was made. We teachers didn’t get a chance to see much as more often than not, our eyes were glued to our young charges who often felt the inclination to wander away. Anyhow, there wasn’t much to see as most of the crocodiles seemed more dead than alive, basking lazily in the sun. Despite this, the children still found much excitement in pointing out the different crocodiles and practising their counting abilities. (I guess there wasn’t much else to do). They got highly excitable at any slight movement made by the reptiles and I couldn’t help but smile and admire their simplicity and indulgence in such simplicities of life.

 

We then stopped at the beach for our meals, after which we headed for the airport. Many of the children were already worn out as heads went nodding along the way. Due to lack of room, I had the privilege of balancing Zhi Xian, a cute little fellow (2^nd smallest next to Jonathan) with an impish grin on my lap. I nicknamed him Shaolin Monk because of his short cropped hair (recently cropped even closer to his head!). I refrained from making any excessive movements though my legs were beginning to feel a trifle cramped as I was afraid of jolting him awake. Holding him on my lap inspired both maternal longings and childhood memories of teddy bears.

Either way, I felt good hugging him so close to me.

As we had not pre-arranged a tour of the internal extensions of the airport, we brought the children around the viewing galleries and the various halls and they never failed to draw a bemused smile or wave from the tourists around, not forgetting overheard remarks like

 

            ‘Ooh, so cute!’

 

            ‘So adorable!’

 

            ‘Little darlings!’

 

The airplane schedule were somewhat lacking at that time and we only managed to catch a few planes located sparsely over the airfield, yet the children would go into momentary frenzy and say ‘look, teacher, look! Plane, plane!’

 

The second day of excursion saw us travelling to Jurong Bird Park with the kids. On the way there, I was sitting with Ian and Danis at the cab of the school van and Danis astounded me with his wide knowledge of dinosaurs and birds. His vocabulary was marvelous for a child his age and he even threw in a few ‘buzzards’ for good measure. Danis attracted me the moment I saw him in class. He had that fair, delicate look (and I guessed correctly his mixed parentage of English and Chinese). He spoke wonderful English and was well-liked in all aspects, above all, he had a real knockout smile. Danis was relating an incident where his brothers and him were trying to catch a lizard in their room one night when all of a sudden, he added ‘wah lao, run so fast’.

 

“Danis, what did you say?” Was I shocked! An intelligent boy who somehow failed to fully realize the semantics of my exclamation, proceeded to repeat the story of the lizard. When I asked him where he stayed expecting a certain location, instead he gave me the whole works: ‘Tampines Street… house number… even his phone number’ in one shot!

 

“Danis, don’t ever do that again, unless you know the person very well.”

 

The children enjoyed the bird parks, especially the bird show and enthusiastically put up their hands each time a volunteer was called for.

 

Before entering the house where the nocturnal birds were housed, we told the children to open and shut their eyes to accustom themselves to the pitch darkness inside. Some must have forgotten to open their eyes and they complained that they couldn’t see a thing!

 

As we tried to peer and point at the birds (owls, etc.), some of them said ‘So scary! So dark!’ and hurried us to get out. Come out in the open sunlight again, one precocious little one remarked, ‘Whew! That was close!”  Due to the shortage of time and the shortage of energy in the children, we had to give the open aviary (situated deep in the park) a miss. On the way back, all the children fell asleep, sliding over one another. It was some sight!

 

The next day’s excursion with the K2 kids proved no less exciting and amusing! They ran all over the place, mingling amongst and touching almost everything and everything they passed!

Little happenings in the classroom:

 

Discipline is very important for the children. Teachers had to have ‘fun, fair and friendly’ (Principal’s words) control over the children. Lax a little and they would love to climb over your head, yet somehow, I suppose I manage to balance sternness and approachability as many of the children often came up to give and account of what they did outside school. For instance, I know that Adeline has ballet class every Wednesday night and so and so has Sunday school, and who’s been where and when.

 

Eye contact and the ability to look without blinking for sometime was crucial for discipline as just a look long enough at a potential mischief-maker was enough to turn him or her onto the right path. Children also have the habit of looking at a teacher before embarking on a course of mischief and if the teacher catches that look at that particular moment, the child would be duly prevented. Sometimes I wondered if I carried the discipline act too far. Once the child steps into school, he’d be bombarded by ‘Don’t talk so loudly’, ‘Sit quietly!’, ‘Don’t run all over!’, ‘Don’t walk all over!’, ‘Pay attention!’, ‘Go back to your seat’. So how does the child get a chance to socialize? The children have their ‘meal’ of usually either bread or biscuits with milk for the first session and more substantial food such as rice or noodles in the 2^nd session. For my K1 class in the 1^st session, it was indeed endearing to see the different group leaders asking the rest of the table if they wanted any more food and then proceeding to me with ‘Can I have some more?’ (Smacks of ‘Oliver Twist’ without the tyranny, of course).

 

The Blue group leader is a cute little chap who always ______ his name _______ when I asked him initially. I was surprised to learn from his mother that he was bad-tempered and often cried at home. In school, he was mature and responsible. Hmm….

 

We switch off the lights after meal time so that the children can rest and once the lights are off, one can notice the automatic movements of the children as they put their heads on the table to rest.

 

Pertaining to matters of urgency:

 

One of the things that provided ______ great amusement was the children’s toilet. It had miniature sinks (up to mid-thigh) and it had miniature toilet bowls and miniature toilet seats. Before meals, teachers bring the students to the toilets so that they could release themselves and wash their hands. Yet throughout the day, one can always hear ‘Teacher, I want to go to the toilet’, ‘Miss Lim, I want to go and shi-shi’, ‘I want to pass urine’, ‘I want to go and urinate’.

 

There were, however, the less articulate ones who simply came up to you, holding their crotch (they were mostly boys) and who stared up blankly at you. I often guessed the truth and hurried them off. Some of them visited the loo every fifteen minutes or so that I got to asking them, ‘Urgent?’ only to be responded with a slight wince in the face and quick nod of the head.

 

Alas, once in a while, we would find a certain puddle beneath a child and that called for the mop (also regularly used for spilled drinks) and new set of uniform for the child. The office had a drawer full of different sizes of the shorts, skirts and blouses to loan out in preparation for children who wet themselves either naturally or not.

 

Szu Han was a rather quiet nursery boy who only came alive with Mandarin during playtime. Other than that, it was often hard to coax any words from him and he was never one who tended to wet himself. The first time he did that, I brought him to the toilet for a change. He was initially reluctant to take off his shorts but finally did so. (I focused my eyes on his face the entire time!). Then I held out the clean pair of pants and he backed a little and threatened to run out of the loo without his shorts. After a little coaxing, he got into the shorts and all was well again. He wet himself again two days later, and ever since then, we no longer took chances and took to asking him “You need to go to the toilet?” each time he came to us.

40a

It all started sometime in late March when I was getting desperate for a vacation job – desperation fed on my decreasing finance and increasing sense of worthlessness – none of the temp agencies had called back. As my fascination for children has been growing sharply the past years, I decided to try for a job in a child-related job and so I scoured the ads each day, and called up various openings only to be told that only permanent staff was required. I was thankful when some took my number down – at least there was hope.

 

About four days to the end of March, my desperation had reached a peak and I decided to do the unthinkable – LIE! I called up one childcare centre and lied for a permanent position and was required to go for an interview the next day. It was against my principle and I felt so guilt-ridden! That one lie would definitely lead to many more and would I know when to stop? Those thoughts troubled me that entire day till I got a call in the evening. It was Mrs. Yeo, the principal of Bethesda Kindergarten. I refused to lie this time and surprisingly, was asked to go for an interview the next morning. Thus, I’ve been prevented from telling a very big lie.

 

I was to work day to day till they found a permanent teacher. I was in charge of one kindergarten first and was to help out with the second session, with the nursery class. The kids were adorable. I couldn’t take my eyes off them and at times, I found myself just looking at them that I forgot I was the teacher.

 

The nursery class consisted of the three-year-olds – all tiny little creatures who looked at you in wonder that at times, you yourself wondered if they understand a single word you said. There were 23 in the class. There were 26 in my K1 class. All of the kids were very good-looking ones and some spoke excellent English. I had difficulty in remembering their names at first, but soon mastered recognition that I could even call out a child’s name by listening to the voice, which proved useful when a child got out of hand when my back was turned.

 

Marvin is Chinese but looks darkly Malay. He has this amazing perpetually stunned look on his face as if everything you were saying was heard for the very first time. His eyes would stare in wonder or puzzlement as in awe of what we were saying. This stunned look of his would often be disrupted when he burst into laughter short of hysterics that one just can’t help but laugh along. It made me feel appreciated indeed as his laughter was a bubbling froth that seemed to stem from hearing a joke that was the funniest ever heard. It was easy to make Marvin laugh. Whenever I saw that serious reflection on his face, I would try to get his attention and then a bright smile and he would giggly break forth in that wacky spontaneous manner that I can’t help but compare him to a blossoming flower in those science documentaries where the film was speeded up a thousand times.

 

At the tender age of 3, Marvin had a girlfriend by the name of Shu Juan. Miss Chang and I nicknamed them ‘the couple’. Everytime the class was asked to line up, they would look for each other even when one was sitting in front and the other behind. There was once when I caught that look that one saw in the movies where the hero and the heroine would look over the head of the crowd for each other and then came to a relieved yet climatic holding of hands when they found each other. The two were inseparable. I wonder why ‘cos they looked contrasting. Shu Juan was fair, almost pale with brown curls – the only girl with curls in class. I often wonder what caused that natural attraction between the two. I had earlier thought that they were family friends who have known each other since birth, but on questioning if their parents knew each other, the two would only stare blankly back and I left the matter there. I didn’t think it necessary to make them ‘conscious’ at that age. Miss Chang had told me that one day during Art, Shu Juan was asked to pick a colour for her paper but when she remained still, Marvin came to her rescue and said, “Take red, red is very nice!”

 

There was another instance of their intimacy when during music and movement, I’d asked the class to lie on the floor to rest. I heard giggles coming from a few of the kids and on closer inspection, realized that they were laughing and pointing at Shu Juan and Marvin who had their arms around each other, innocently oblivious of the encircling crowd. On another occasion, during lunch, Miss Chang had taught the class to dance. The ‘couple’ was split apart with different partners. I noticed Shu Juan dancing listlessly with Jonathan, the smallest boy in class and who was standing a couple of inches beneath her head. Marvin was doing very well with his partner too. So there was a switch of partners made and the two at once came alive and literally glowed with happiness as they tried to turn each other around. They were a comical sight as Marvin failed time and again to turn Shu Juan around as they were holding both hands together. It was during the course of this dance that another romance was sparked.

 

After one song of close dancing with Su Han ( who often wet his pants), Ping Zhi (a rather fair and pretty girl) was placed together with a chap who often didn’t finish his food and maintained a deliberate gruff voice. Zhi Ming was a pretty naughty fellow who loved attention and noise. However, we saw a different side emerging from his dance with Ping Zhi. The two looked romantic enough slow dancing whilst the rest of the class was dancing a tumult around them. The boy must have taken a fancy to Ping Zhi as when one ran off to class after the dance, he called “Ping Zhi! Ping Zhi!” in an almost yearning tone reminiscent of Prince Charming in Cinderella.

 

K1 class of kids one year older were pretty good-looking people and I am sure some of them will grow up to be heartbreakers. Romance, however, was not so ‘rampant’. I only know of one ‘couple’ by the name of Cheryl and Ming Wee. I stumbled upon this by chance. Edwina from the next class often came to play with Ming Wee as both of them were the earliest and I often teased Ming Wee – “Your girlfriend is here” and he would smile sheepishly and embarrassedly.

 

One morning, when I said “Your girlfriend’s here”, he said, “She’s not my girlfriend.”

 

“But why? She’s a girl and she’s your friend,” I tried to explain, thinking that he didn’t realize the different connotations. Well, he shocked me with his brash statement.

 

“Edwina’s not my girlfriend. Cheryl’s my girlfriend!”

 

My partner and Chinese teacher Miss Teo said that during the last day of last term of school, the kids would often openly declare their ‘relationship’ and even kiss one another goodbye. I witnessed this open ‘indiscretion’ one day when I was teaching the class a rhyme that ended with the verse ‘2 little eyes that shine as bright and one little mouth to kiss goodnight!’ Subsequently, Ming Wee and Cheryl faced each other and shared a quick peck on the lips! Boy, they do start young, don’t they?

How frank and innocent! I realized I had grossly underestimated children. I realized that they do understand our brand of humour after all. My K1 class enjoyed teasing me and sometimes called out ‘Bye bye, Mummy’! One day, I decided to tease them back and surprised them greatly when I said, ‘bye bye darlings!’ They all chorused ‘ah!!’ in that shocked and funny way of theirs.

 

Today’s children, with wider exposure to experiences are no longer naïve. There is this boy Jeremy who always had an excuse for not doing an assignment. Whenever I asked the class to draw something, he would say ‘but I don’t know how to draw.’ After I had guided him, he’d say, ‘next time I’ll forget!’ There was once when I had the children draw a tree and a house, Jeremy deliberately drew a huge tree right in the middle of the paper and came up to me and said, “There is no more space to draw the house!” There was another time when he drew a circle when I required an oval.

 

“Is that an oval?”

 

“No.”

 

“What is that?”

 

“A circle.”

 

“What did I ask you to draw?”

 

“An oval.”

 

“Where’s your circle? Go and rub that off and – “

 

“You imagine lah!”

 

The audacity! Yup, kids today are no longer afraid of speaking up.

 

Jonathan is the smallest boy in nursery class – a cute pint-sized little fellow who captures the heart of anyone who looks at him. He had this penchant of saying ‘banana’ but besides this, the little guy proved to be rather adept at conversing and I often found myself talking and questioning him.

 

“Why didn’t you come to school yesterday?”

 

“I was sick.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Fever, cough and then I got fem (phlegm).”

 

“How’s your sister Junah?”

 

“She sick.”

 

“Why?”

 

“I cough and then she sick!”

 

There was another instance when he told the entire class that he enjoyed fishing with his dad. I can’t picture him with a rod much taller than he is! I enjoyed watching him sing, especially at assembly when the children had to sing in reply ‘Fine thank you, fine thank you. I’m glad to see you’. Jonathan would nod his head heavily, expending his entire energy as he sang each line. Small as he is, he is not to be intimidated. I remember once during lesson time, I called some noisy kids to the front so that they would pay more attention. I caught sight of Jonathan sitting behind and fearing that he would not be able to see above the heads, called ‘Jonathan come in front!’ Expecting him to do so, I was amusedly stunned when I heard his almost defiant ‘Why?’ Poor boy! He had probably thought I was punishing him!

 

“Because you won’t be able to see from there.”

 

He seemed to weigh my explanation for a second and then moved forward. I guess no matter how exposed children are, they still do retain this intrinsic innocence and frankness. During one story time, I noticed that Jonathan was playing with a thread from his sock and asked, “Jonathan, what are you doing?” The usual response would be a guilty look at the teacher from the child and focused attention. However, instead Jonathan replied, “I’m playing with my sock” and promptly held up the loose thread!

39

I was out the other day shopping for some hand and nail cream. My nails have been getting rather brittle lately. The sales assistant at the store introduced me to what she called the latest product in nail care – Kervans – not something you apply on your hands and nails as for conventional products, but something to be taken almost as like medication.

 

Indeed, when I started looking around the shops, and noticing the advertisements in the papers, I couldn’t help but see this new trend – if you have blemished or aging skin, don’t’ try creams or facial products – try  capsules! Many women seem to have been caught up with this latest breakthrough in skincare. Progene, Imeeden, Collagen… and the choices are increasing! What’s happened to the old faithful routine of cleansing, toning and moisturizing? That is now starting to be replaced by an easier pill-popping routine. If you have split ends, forget about looking for that perfect vitamin-enriched shampoo or conditioner. Try Efamol.

 

It does seem that beauty care has now taken a step inwards through the forms of pills and capsules. Well, we all know that for decades many beauty specialists have been harping on the need to have a good diet as good skin ‘started from within’, but is this the way to go about it? Of course, we also do know about doctors who prescribe tetracycline to acned teenagers, but what do we know of these products which can easily be bought off the shelves without any guidance besides the pamphlets that come with them?

 

A number of my friends have spent fortunes each month on such products, taking them religiously as they do their medication. These products, they feel, have given their skin, hair, nails, a new lease of life. I wonder how long they will keep up their enthusiasm. Till the next breakthrough?

 

A few years ago, they were buying up what was then the latest products in healthcare: products touting names and ingredients I never knew existed – Evening Primrose oil, Starflower oil, Squaline capsules, salmon oil capsules, all of which were riding on the success of the Royal Jelly. Today, healthcare products seem to have multiplied tremendously all claiming to be fast and efficient and somewhat miraculous stress-busters, memory enhancers, well-being pills for women? Well, at least they do not make any beauty claims.

 

Then there are other products that appeared on the market with highly scientific names and technology to match liposomes, AHA acids… but these are at least true to their name. They are cosmetics to be applied, not ingested.

 

I am not saying that all these products are not effective. In fact, I am sure many women will boast the success of the new pills and capsules. What I’m saying is that more should be made known about these products that are ingested and could alter the chemical make-up of a person. I do know of beauticians who prescribe these to clients who take them diligently. They are being packaged as medication and are supposed to work from within, but their ends are ultimately superficial.

 

I remember reading an article some months back in the papers mentioning that the increase in the number of health and beauty care supplements is targeted at the baby-boom generation resisting the effects of age. This is obvious by the way any new breakthroughs are snapped up. There is nothing wrong in being young and beautiful or wanting to be so. However, let’s not be excessively obsessive about it. I wouldn’t want the young today growing old thinking that skin is all. Beauty care is not necessarily healthcare, and too much focusing on the ‘body beautiful’ is not healthy. Beneficial as these products may be, they may simply be giving an ironic new twist to the old adage ‘beauty is skin deep’, and making us forget its true meaning.

38

Hi there! I’m Serena and I’m happy and thrilled to have the chance to do this show ‘cos it’s always been a dream of mine to do my very own show, even if it’s for half an hour. I’ll be spinning some of my favourite tracks for you and I hope you’ll enjoy them.

 

Alright, let’s start off now with Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, otherwise known as Tears For Fears. I think that they are fabulous and they have become my all-time favourite band. Here’s that famous hit from the ‘Songs From The Big Chair’ album, ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’… ♪ ♪♫ …..

 

…And that was Tears For Fears. Now, do you remember the group that gave you ‘Wishful Thinking’ and ‘Black Man Ray’? Well, they’re back with a smashing single and I love it!  ♪♫…

 

Every year, new bands emerge on the music scene and ’86 has seen the arrival of the Blow Monkeys, and their great special jazzy style can be heard in this next track I’ll be playing for you and it’s ‘Digging Your Scene’. I just love that saxophone!

 

…♪♫…Tell me why…♪♫… digging your scene…♪♫

 

Now, doesn’t that sound good? Okay, let’s take a walk down memory lane. Well, I’m crazy about the 50s and 60s, y’know, rock ‘n’ roll, rockability and all that hoppin’ and boppin’. Well, there’s also a slower side to rock ‘n’ roll and I fell in love with this next song the moment I heard it. It’s Sha-na-na’s ‘Those Magic Changes’. Mm… how I wish someone would have a rock ‘n’ roll party and we can do all those dances from the past… anyway, here’s a guy, unfortunately not very exposed, but whom I feel plays great rock ‘n’ roll. He’s Charlie Sexton! And I think he’s wonderful! Sounds a bit like Bowie, though. Anyway, here’s ‘Hold Me’….♪♫…

 

The last two songs I’m playing are both from movie soundtracks. The first one is the love theme from ‘Top Gun’. Mm… yes, it’s that elusive tune that goes on and off during the entire show, and don’t you think that Tom Cruise looks gorgeous with his sunglasses on? I do. Anyway, here’s that song by Berlin, ‘Take My Breath Away’…♪♫…

 

Alright, and we now come to the last song but before I play it, I’d like to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed doing the show for you. Okay, okay, I know that all deejays say that, but you know what? We mean it! I really did enjoy myself and I hope you had a great time too. This last song comes from the soundtrack of a movie, which I feel, is the best movie of 1986 and I doubt that many would disagree. I simply love that show! I’d like to dedicate it to my family and friends, and of course, to you listeners out there. Hope the new year turns out to be what you want it to be. Here’s yours truly, Serena, signing off now… ♪♫… if you leave….♪♫…

 

37

Chip kicked at the cracks on the black tarmac. The wet tar glistened in the pale moonlight. There was a slight chill in the air and Chip wrapped tightly about himself, stuffing his hands into the wide denim sleeves. The loud cricket calls mingled with the blaring music that blasted from the clubhouse a few doors away at the end of the street.

 

Chip walked on silently. His mind was on the movie he’s just watched. ‘The Outsiders’. He loved it, loved all of it! He even cried when Johnny and Dallas died It was dead sad especially when Ponyboy read out the letter for Johnny telling him to ask Dallas to watch the sunset. Dallas was already dead, that made it even all the sadder. Then Stevie Wonder’s ‘Stay Gold’ had come on and it was brilliant! He would have sat in that cinema all day if the superintendent had not come to close up.

 

A car sped past and a spray of muddy water splashed onto his pants and shoes. “Oh hell!” He cursed and ran to pick up a stone and hurled it at the disappearing car. “Oh damn!” He could feel the wet seeping thru’ his canvas shoes and his toes squeaked in protest on contact with the water. The door of the clubhouse flung open and a burly man in a checked shirt staggered out with his arm about an equally rowdy woman in tight jeans and a tight tank top. They reeked of beer and Chip scowled with revulsion.

 

“Hey, whatcha looking at, kid! Get off now, go on, get lost!” He advanced towards Chip, waiving an empty beer bottle menacingly.

 

Chip backed off and started walking quickly away, leaving the two with their raucous laughter. How he hated this town! How he hated ‘em all! In his fit of anger, he punched his fist into the brick wall. “Ouch! Oh hell!” He heard the crack of his knuckles and felt the earring pain for a moment. Rubbing his knuckles vigorously to dissolve the pain, Chip walked on. He knew exactly what he father would say when he got home. It was always the same old story, day after day. The old man would be sitting in his chair in front of the TV, beer can in one hand, bag of chips in the other. He was always wearing that look on his face – ever since the plant closed down and they fired him. He had always had that LOOK, like he was sick of life or something. The first few days were alright. He’d gone for his job interviews and all but it always came to one big naught.

He began to lose hope and hung around the house all day, drinking beer and eating his chips. They managed to get by on the little bit the old man got when he helped out at the scrap metal business when they needed an extra hand. Chip worked at the soda shop after school everyday and earned enough to see him through the day. He was on ‘welfare’ at school and that meant he got free books and stuff like that. He hated receiving charity but in time like that, one had no choice.

 

“Hey, you guys better leave me alone!” Chip stopped in his tracks and tried to focus his eyes to look into the darkness ahead.

 

“You creep!” Chip saw two older guys advancing towards a much smaller one and what a guy! He looked no more than 12 and his face was stark white and it wasn’t from the moonlight. Yet, there was something about his treat that made him seem courageous, something wiry in him. His voice did not betray his fear. Chip could see that the two guys were drunk as they staggered unsteadily but surely towards the little guy. Suddenly, Chip heard the tough thud of a punch and saw the little one flung to the ground. Seeing that the two drunkards could kill the little one especially when they were unconscious of their own actions, Chip ran forward to help.

 

“Hey! What the hell…” one of them cursed as Chip jumped on his back and it was almost comical as they did a short piggy-back dance.

 

Chip was almost enjoying himself – he felt tough like one of those greasers in a rumble. Without warning, he suddenly felt himself on the ground and a heavy load jumped on him, gushing all air out of him. The weight on him seemed to grow heavier and heavier and Chip felt the excruciating pain in his chest. He heard the muffled cries of the little one. He had to help him! Chip caught sight of a broken piece of glass near him and managed to grab hold of it, cutting himself in the process. With one quick movement, he drew the glass across the arm of the heavyweight and saw the skin rip apart like a zipper.

 

“You bastard! You cut me! You cut me!”

 

Chip quickly got up. The other big guy had come to his friend and Chip took the opportunity and grabbed the little one’s hand. They ran off into the night.

 

“I’ll kill the both of you! You little punks!”

 

The threat resounded and echoed through the darkness.

36

I ran to the kitchen window and looked across to the block just opposite ours. He was there! He was always there, in his room with a mellow table lamp on as he looked down at the books on his table. I couldn’t really make out his face or features. All I knew what that he’d always be at his desk poring over his books every night and it inspired me to know there was someone so studious. From what I could guess, he was the decent type, after all only the decent ones would stay home night after night studying for the exams. He’s been doing this for about a couple of years now. He could have been doing this ever since his life started for all I know but I only started noticing him about a year back when I had to slog for my ‘A’ levels and one night (or morning) when I went to the kitchen for a glass of water. I noticed an orange light shining amidst a block of almost black (there were some others awake too). And there he was, like he always did – head down, eyes on book and I’d remarked to myself what a studious and serious guy he must be. I don’t know why but every night when I went into the kitchen, I had to peer across to that mellow room, like it had some fascination and emitted an eerie attraction (magnetism). He must be studying for his ‘A’ levels this year, I guess. I often wondered how he looked like. Trying to strain my eyes as far to see his room, I could only see shelves of books against bare white walls.

35

Children are life’s little paradoxes – they can be such angelic creatures, yet turning into horny little devils the very next moment, but no matter what they are, we always find them adorable little creatures and deep down inside, despite protestations form the mind, love them dearly. I, for one, am a real sucker for kids. I can just stand and look at them at work, at play, smiling amusedly to myself.

 

It all started some years back when my nephew gave me a wet kiss! Wham! It really hit me, and ever since then, every time I hear the neighbour’s door click open, I would run and look thru’ my peephole to try and catch a glimpse of their 3 little kids. Kinda perverted, you might say? But my intentions were wholly pure – I just longed to look at them, and sometimes, just to hug and squeeze them so tight. It kinda reminded me of Lenny in ‘Mice And Men’. I would laugh and wonder at his act of squeezing his little mice in his pocket. Now I know how he feels.