Words From The Dead

This morning when I woke up, I don't know why I keep thinking about LC's dad. I always remember him as a soft spoken, kind and true family friend. He's an old friend of my family that saw me since the day I was born. I still remember him walking around at Taman Perlis and I often passed by him and greeted him "Uncle!". He always call me "Ah Siong" instead of "Ah Siang" and he called my dad "Master Yew" instead of "Mister Yew". That makes him unique! The month or weeks my parents moved away from Kangar to Penang, he dropped by my former house almost daily. He even broke down and cried a few times saying he might never see us again. Although I kept denying that, it came true when my parents told me about his death. I remember my mom told me that it's very "pai seh" for him to give my family a treat a few times within that month. I insisted on paying for it on the last meal we had together. I am glad that I could give a treat to such a nice man.

I have no idea when is LC's father's death anniversary but he came to me in the form of a memory. So I decided to write a little bit about him. I don't even know his real name but he's known as "Ngo Huat Uncle" by my sister and I.

The word that kept playing over and over on my head this morning was the word he told me when I was about to fly to England for further studies. He told me "You're representing Malaysians". To be honest, the moment he told me I was wondering what have I done to represent Malaysians, my grandmother paid for my studies, the government did nothing much to help, I was only representing myself and my family,..... Maybe Ngo Huat Uncle has something to remind me and wants me to dig deeper into my thought.....

I still feel bad that I could not bring my parents to see him when he was alive. My sister and I were worried that my parents could not take the long journey the last time we talked about bringing them to visit Kangar. I believe the hope is totally lost now based on the health condition of my dad and the death of my own mother.