Love was Enough

 I was as usual sulking and up to much naught to attract my mother's and granny's attention.  I had messed up some of the empty tins that my mother and granny had collected for making the "sticky gooey glutinous cake' for Chinese New Year.  I took them and made do as cooking utensils in my game of "House" with my imaginary friend. I put sand and leaves into them and pretended to cook in them.


As I was being reprimanded, I saw Ah Peng across my house.  She had walked all the way from her new house with her younger sister.  I could hear her granny yelling at her, scolding her for making the trip there.  I ran out to greet her. Both of us chatted incessantly and at the end of the conversation, it was finalised that I would follow her home later.  My mother permitted me because she did not know when she could have time to bring me there.  She made me promise that I was not to go anywhere except her house.


I was truly happy that day.  As the three of us headed towards Ah Peng's house, we talked , teased and  played with each other.  There was not much traffic those days and it was very safe for us to walk on the roads.  It was a long walk and I half wished that I had not wanted to come.  I kept on asking Ah Peng and her sister whether their house was near yet and they kept pulling my legs.  I was very angry at one point when they played a trick on me.  At a junction, there was a small convenience store at which Ah Peng pulled a trick on me.  She made me believe that it was her father's store and the extended back portion was her  home.  She made me run towards it and because I was so tired , I wanted to quickly find a place to sit down.  When I reached the shop, I saw an unfamiliar scowling face.  The man at the store asked if I wanted to buy something and he looked so fierce that I was too scared to speak.  I could hear the two girls laughing behind me. 


If you make fun of me, I am going to walk home now, by myself.  I don't want ever to come to your house again.  Seeing that I was hurt, the two girls quickly apologised and suggested to race to their house which was within sight.  I was very happy to see it.  Finally we were in the house, panting breathlessly after running up the slope. Don't bother to take off your slippers, Ah Peng said as I was about to remove my slippers.  At that point I realised that the floor was the same as the ground outside except that it was drier, more compact and smoother.  I felt odd because  I would definitely  be scolded by Ah Peng's granny if she ever spotted my dirty feet  when I was in her house .   Ah Peng announced that she was going to cook dinner.  Very cleverly, she measured the amount of rice she needed to cook and she poured into the big pot the measured amount, washed  and then  put  the pot over the fire which she had very quickly made in the very primitive looking stove.  I observed how she had made the fire.  I was full of admiration for her.  It was no wonder my mother used to sing praises of her.  My mum used to say that I could not measure up to her.  She was seven and could do many household chores.  When the pot of rice was boiling, she took out some of the burning wood and put into another hole of the concrete fire place(stove) and over this fire, she placed a wok.  After that she closed with a lid  the pot of rice, which had stopped boiling but instead it was just simmering, and told me that in a while, the rice would be ready.  How clever! I tagged along with her as I observed her ' performing her feats'. The wok was getting hot and Ah Peng summoned me to get seven eggs from the basket nearby.  Quick, quick, she said and I darted to the basket to get the eggs, hoping to be as useful as I could be.  Ah Peng started to fry all seven of the eggs and after they were done, she poured some soy sauce on them. 


The girls announced that they were going to take their baths.  Do I want to follow them?  Where?  I asked.  They brought me to the front of their house and pointed to somewhere below their house.  I saw a pond and a well nearby.  How?  I asked again. They explained and as they did so, they tried to control their giggles.  What?  You mean, I had to bathe there semi-naked.  Out there in the open, where there may be someone passing by any time. No, I said as I surveyed the place and I could see there was always someone walking past the place.  Don't you have a bathroom? Where do your mummy and daddy bathe?  Oh yes, of course we have one but it is so troublesome to carry water in the pail and climb up here.  Sorry, I am not going to bathe there.  It is okay, I will bathe when I get home.  Just as I said that, Ah Peng's mother came in and she was happy to see me.  Oh , no, how can you go to bed without taking a bath?  Ah Peng, go and carry a pail of water for your friend and put it in the bathroom. 
Ah Peng obeyed her mother.  She took a big pail and went down to the well.  I saw her taking water from the well and filling up the big pail with water.  She was a genius, and what really moved me that day was Ah Peng carried that heavy pail of water from all the way down there to the bathroom.  At some points she almost slipped and fell but tough as she was, she just laughed it off.  I felt so uneasy to see her struggle with that pail of water.  As I washed myself with the water Ah Peng had carried for me, I felt so sorry for Ah Peng.  I never had to do such difficult tasks and even though the water was very cold, I did not dare breathe a word about it.


While I was having my bath in the makeshift bathroom which had a lot of gaps and holes, I could hear the two girls squealing and laughing from the well.  They seemed to be having a lot of fun.  When I was dressed into one of Ah Peng's pyjamas, there was laughter again and the other siblings who were back from work or neighbours' houses  were already busy preparing themselves for dinner.  Ah Peng's brother was getting the kerosene lamp ready and her mother was busy cooking some more dishes.  She was happy that Ah Peng had got the rice cooked and the eggs fried.  I saw on the table that Ah Peng had prepared my bowl of rice and her mother told us to start eating.  Though the dishes were simple, consisting of fried eggs, fried long beans and fried 'choy sam', it was the most delicious meal I ever had.  After dinner, we sat on the mats laid on the floor.  Now and then, I could see a gecko or two running across the floor but I tried not to show my fear of the animals.  There was also the croaking of frogs in full gusto from the pond down the slope and the sound was so loud that night that Ah Peng's mother was very sure that it was going to rain.  True enough, it rained cats and dogs that night.  Ah Peng and her siblings ran to the kitchen all together as if cast by a spell.  I was baffled but soon realised that they were running to get some pots and pans to collect water that was dripping from certain parts of the roof.  Soon, there was an orchestra producing the strangest piece of music I had ever heard.  Very tactfully, I sat down without making a fuss, hoping they had not noticed my very surprised look. 
We proceeded to play a game of 'Shadows'.  We used our fingers and hands to form shapes of animals-the usual dog, rabbit, bird or snake shapes, laughing hysterically as we played.  Ah Peng's mother had to tell us to lower our voices .  All of us had to almost shout when we talked to each other because of the loud noise the zinc roofs made as the rain beat down on them. I noticed Ah Peng's father and two elder brothers were not back yet.  Ah Peng told me that they had to work outstation and would be back only at the end of the week.  We were told not to drink too much water before we went to sleep.  Nobody liked getting up in the middle of the dark night to go to the toilet.  It was pitch black outside.  Everybody had to go to bed early.  We continued to talk as we laid on the bed and before long, one after another fell asleep in the quietness and darkness.

Loneliness

The worst experience that I had when I was a child of five or six years was when I had to stay at home with adults only, who would not bother to entertain you but just shooed you away like you were a 'pest' of some sort.  It was an agony when you had to walk up and down the aisle of the old fashioned house of a Chinese immigrant, pretending you had an imaginary friend to accompany you as you did that,' playing with' (actually it was leaning on) the thick cardboard partitions that divided the house into cubicles called 'bedrooms'. (I had caused one of them to collapse, much to the annoyance of my mother.)  Sometimes I would mumble to my 'friend', in various tones depending on what mood I was pretending to be at that time. I would be so preoccupied with my 'friend' that I would not hear or notice the others around me sometimes.  I would be scolded for knocking into the very busy adults or could not hear them when they asked for help.
It was a period when every family in the neighbourhood was in a competition called 'Shifting House'.  It had seemed like every one was moving away and Ah Peng was one of them.  I was broken hearted when I knew about it and Ah Peng had grown so 'remote'.  Each time when I saw her at the corner of my eyes, I could see that she did not bother to look over at my house, what more to drop by to say 'hello'.  I was indeed very sad and I did not understand why she had acted like that.  Many years later, she told me that her family was going through a 'crisis' and had to move out of her granny's house.  The 'crisis' was that her youngest uncle was going to marry and her granny wanted her father to shift to their own house as their family was getting too big.  Ah Peng had seven siblings.  She was the fourth in the family.  Her father had long ago got himself a piece of land but had not the money to build the house.  Then, he and his wife had to work doubly hard to save the money to build it.  Being the eldest son, it was very hard on him especially when he had so many children.


My feelings were all mixed up then.  I was sad and at the same time, I was jealous too.  Why, mummy, why aren't we moving house too?  I was jealous that Ah Lui and Ah Peng were going to be neighbours in their new houses.  And those two brothers down the lane were going there too.  There was much excitement as they talked about their new neighbourhood.  I felt left out and when my brother came home with tales about the new neighbourhood , it made me even more curious.  I demanded that my mother bring there immediately.  No, dear, it is not within walking distance.  Wait, wait till Ah Peng's mother invite us and we can go there for tea.  We can't just go like that.  They will think I am just being a busybody! Remember don't over stay, and  say 'No' when they ask you to stay overnight. Why can't I stay overnight?  Because you will not get used to staying there.  There is no tap water and  no electricity.  You have to go to a well to get  water for your bath  and you can't do that. You don't know how.
That made me yearn even more.  I wanted so badly to go to Ah Peng's house.  Day in and day out I was thinking of all kinds of ways to get there.  I had a rough idea where it was  situated,according to my brother's description.  I had imagined myself walking down this road and that road, and I had even imagined myself reaching Ah Peng's house.  Ah Peng was at the door of her house(the house of my own imagination , based on my brother's description) and she was happy to show me her bathroom, the well and everything.

Uncertainty

News that the Japanese were near, brought terror and everyone's face was down fallen that morning. The radio announced that Southern IndoChina was being taken over , and very quickly ,people were already at Ah Hia's provision shop queueing up to buy rice, canned food and other dry foodstuffs. Ah Hia's wife and his eldest son, who were rarely seen at the shop , were busy that morning helping out. There was much haggling as prices of commodities had gone up. Stocks were also running out and as a result, there was much pushing and shoving around. Ah Hia's wife, in a shrill voice, reprimanded some of the men as if she was a headmistress scolding a bunch of naughty boys. She threatened not to sell them a single item if they did not wait for their turns and sheepishly, those grown-ups lined up in an instant, one behind another.

Sang's wife and mother were indeed thankful that they had the cash to get what they needed. They did not buy very much though as they were still uncertain about many things. The last time they left China had them giving away many things they could not bring along with them. As Berapit Village was far away from Penang , the possible entry point if there was to be an invasion, they felt somehow safer but nobody could exactly tell what was going to happen at that moment.

Sang's mother prayed that they would not have to move away. Even if food supplies had run dry, she could still rely on the tapioca, sweet potatoes or vegetables that she had planted on the plot beside her house. She had specifically instructed her daughter-in-law to cook sweet potatoes together with the rice so as the rice could be eaten for a longer period. They were afraid that one day they would have no more rice to eat. True enough, when the Japanese made their way into Malaya through Kota Bahru and then Penang, the country was in a state of emergency. Even one who had swaps of money could not buy anything without having to go into much trouble,  as most shops were closed for business. The only way was to buy from someone who was willing to sell at a very high price. An enterprising man made lots of money hoarding foodstuffs and selling them later at exorbitant prices. However, his wealth soon vanished as the Japanese invaded his house and took all the British notes away, only to turn them into ashes! It was later discovered that his life was also taken that very day.

Now, rice cooked with sweet potatoes was often cooked even after the war. It was at first queer to eat rice in this manner and Sang's younger brothers refused to down the porridge with the sweet potatoes in it. After a few meals of going hungry because of their stubborness, they finally had to give in. Not long, they had developed the taste for it and had grown to love it very much. After the war, they would often request rice to be cooked this way!
　

Japanese Invasion

The year was 1937 and at that time, newcomers from Southern China often brought tragic news of what was happening in the Northern region especially Manchuria. Suddenly, the other states located in the south became more populated with the northerners. Scraping for a living was already hard and now they had to share a piece their cake with the notherners. Fights, quarrels and a lot of bullying by locals towards the newcomers were often seen. The well-built and stronger northerners were not to be intimidated. Situation back in mainland China was really bad and that was why more and more left to come to Malaya, Borneo or Indonesia.

News of the invasion of Nanjing by Japanese soldiers were on everyone's lips. Sang's mother was using the rosary more than usual. Her eyes had the distant look and his young wife was not any better. Apparently she was in such a daze that many times he saw her walking in and out of the house forgetting this and that. At one time she even added salt to his cup of coffee.
Yes, every Chinese man and woman who had members of the family in China was worried. Some of them had already started to come over. The other day Sang saw some fresh faces from Penang island and they must have just disembarked from the junk from Canton. They were still wearing the familiar looking attire worn by the mainland Chinese. They, like Sang and his family, had taken the cheaper goods junk to travel to Malaya. They all stayed at the lower level of the ship where bags of rice and other dry stuffs from China were kept. All the men, women and children stayed together. They did not stay in separate cabins, only the crew and the captain did. The only difference was Sang's father and his family had run away from Communist rule.
A few years passed by with news that did not get any better.The massacre of Nanjing was still in every one's mind. The atrocities of the Japanese done towards the Chinese rang horror in every Chinese ear. There were speculations of the Japanese intentions to invade Singapura and Malaya as well. It was bad news. Sang's business was at the point of improving day by day, and now, this had to happen. As if with intuition that they might not live long, many Chinese were more willing to spend a little money to buy pork. Better enjoy now than to be killed and die hungry. Not wanting to be a 'hungry ghost' was the joke amidst hard times like this.