i digress. AGAIN.

haha. apparently someone called cyclops (not yanhan or slow, i think) doesnt like my poems very much, but yanhan wants more, so i shall compromise and write a story.

This story is for ppl out there who just had a terrible fight with Dad and wish that he never existed. Well, all i can say to u is, look on the bright side. There're others who are much more worse-off than u. Some of them have a dad who ran away, some of them never knew who their dad was.

Happy fathers' day.

~

It was an uneventful Sunday morning. Xiao Zhang walked briskly towards the provision shop, clutching tightly in his palm the two one-dollar coins his mother had given him. Even as beads of prespiration rolled down his forehead, he continued walking at the same, fast pace, oblivious to the tormenting heat. As his feet were on the road, his mind was somewhere else, mulling over his mother's words.

"Boy, come downstairs and help me!" Xiao Zhang's mother hollered from the kitchen. Xiao Zhang immediately turned off his X-box, afraid that she would suddenly pop her head through the door and give him a lecture for being lazy. He stood up, deciding that obeying Mother this once wouldn't hurt one bit.

"Come come! What took you so long?" Mother shoved two one-dollar coins into Xiao Zhang's hand.

"Go quickly to the provision shop and get me some milk. Remember, you must but the Marigold brand, not the other one in a yellow package! And it's Ah Seng's shop, not the Cold Storage shop that is nearer to our house okay? And don't you dare drop by at your father's house! If I find out that you went to see that good-for-nothing...."

Xiao Zhang gently closed the door behind him. He wondered why Mother was so particular about which provision shop he went to. What was with the milk brands anyway? To him, they all tasted the same. Besides, all the milk brands get their milk from the same animal. But what puzzled him the most was Father. Why was Mother always looking down on him? Why did they stay away from each other for few weeks on end? Why was he prohibited from seeing him?

Father was such a nice man, Xiao Zhang thought. Every time Father came home there was always some present waiting for him - a toy aeroplane, a lollipop, more pocket monster cards to play with. Father would then bring him out for long walks in the park to try out his new toy. When Xiao Zhang grew tired, Father would amuse him with stories about the Monkey God and his two sidekicks. However, good times did not last long. One day, Xiao Zhang returned home from school and found his father, suitcase in hand, outside his house.

"Papa!! Where are you going?!"

"Boy, I...I am going to work, and I must stay somewhere else because of the work I'm doing. Here, this is my address. Come visit me if you can okay? It's just across the road. Don't tell your mother!" With that, Father turned his back towards Xiao Zhang and walked away, leaving Xiao Zhang at the door, dumbfounded.

That was a month ago.

Recalling the incident, Xiao Zhang stopped walking. Still clutching on to the two one-dollar coins, he reached into his pocket and pulled the sheet of paper containing Father's address. He had been warned by Mother, but Xiao Zhang's compulsion to see his father once again was too strong. He took an abrupt turn to Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, block 213.

Xiao Zhang took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes, a man finally answered the door. Xiao Zhang was shocked. The man was unshaven and had puffy, yellowish eyes. His dirty brown shirt clung on to him like rags. He reeked of alcohol. And yet, the man was his father.

"Who's there, darling?" A woman's voice echoed from the inside of the apartment. Soon, a figure of a woman emerged. Scantily clad, she put her arms round Xiao Zhang's father and leaned against him, while staring at Xiao Zhang. Xiao Zhang could not believe his eyes. He felt shocked, cheated, furious and hurt. Father had lied - he had left for another woman. Xiao Zhang's world collpsed. The walks in the park and the toy aeroplanes were reduced to nothing but false hope. False hope of Father returning home, false hope of everything going back to normal again. Father had lied, and nothing could change that fact.

With tears streaming down his face, Xiao Zhang ran home. He had forgotten about his two one-dollar coins, he had forgotten about the milk. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He ran away, far away from the aching truth.

27 october 2005
3:23pm