Long Lost Friends

I am thinking about my friends.  I mean, long lost friends who meant a lot to me during our school days.  I don't mean that we really hanged out together like what other kids do.  After school we just went back to our own homes and lived our own lives.  It was only during school hours that we kept each other's spirits up during bad times and cheered each other on during the challenging times.  We shared our agonies and triumphs.  Stories about what happened at parties, dates and family and girl-friend problems.

 

One of them was SK P'ng.  He once sat in front of me in class.  One day our Moral teacher was reading aloud from a book and he made an error.  I remarked sofly that he should change his specs.  Somehow he heard that remark, looked fiercely at SK, strode straight towards him and raised his book high above his head.  He was big sized.  Without thinking I stood up and said I was the one who made that remark and I immediately apologised.  He glared at me, said something which I can't remember and walked back to the front of the class.  That was a close shave.  I learned to keep my mouth shut after that.

 

After we left school, I used to drop by at his place and we'd discuss what we'd do with our lives.  The subject just went round and round with no progress.  One day we decided to pay a visit to our former Art teacher.  We rode around looking for the house until we located it.  We discussed the pursuit of Art as a future.  He showed us some of his art works.  His wife was baking some crabs and they were getting ready for lunch.   He started to drop hints that we should go somewhere else.  I guess they didn't have enough crabs for 4 so they didn't invite us to join in.  We bade goodbye and left them to enjoy their lunch.

 

I lost SK P'ng when he was in the final year in University Sains Malaysia, Penang.  He was on a motorcycle when a bus reversed into him, and then ran over him.  I wasn't aware of his demise until I dropped by at his place on Chinese New Year day as I always did before.  When I asked for him, his mother came out of the house and told me what happened to him with tears in her eyes.  I left the house in a daze and rode my motorcycle to Prai to look for my other friend, Jimmy Ooi.  He already knew as he had read about it in the papers.  We both felt lost.  We were supposed to be celebrating.

 

Now, I keep wondering about Jimmy (photo above).  We used to keep each other updated on our progress with life and work after we went out the school gates for the last time.  He left for Singapore to join the Police Academy and last I heard, he was in the anti-narcotics unit. The last time we met was when I went to work in a plywood factory in Kranji.  He took time off to visit me at our living quarters in Sembawang area.  However, my time in Singapore was over when I returned home a few months later.  We managed to keep our communications line open for a while after that.  The last time we corresponded was in 1975.  After that there were no more replies from him. 

 

Jimmy Ooi Khoon Beng, if you're still around somewhere and happen to be reading this blog, just leave a message.  

 

Just hoping......