Cool On The Exterior, Warm Within
Ah Kong
Friday, April 27, 2007 @ 12:10 AM
I suddenly miss my ah kong.
Those rough, callused hands, that hearty laugh and his usual greeting in Teochew when I open the door, 'Jiak ba buay?' To which, we would chorus, 'Ah kong, jiak ba liao!' My ah kong spoke only dialect and my brother and I being dialect-illiterate, couldn't really communicate with him except for those standard phrases. But we looked forward to his visits coz he would bring us either tubes of M&Ms or Sultana raisins. And my brother and I would almost always fight over the golden raisins.
There was once when my bro was still a little boy, ah kong playfully pulled my bro's pants and it slipped down over his knees. My bro howled instantly, much to the surprise on everyone's faces. That was a really classic memory. I still grin when I think about it.
One of my favourite childhood pics is that of ah kong balancing me on his thighs, with one hand cradling my tiny baby head and looking down at me. I was clinging to his shirt with one arm, with a look on my chubby face that spoke volumes of my confidence in his baby-handling skills.
I didn't shed a tear when he passed away. I still don't know why. Back then, I understood that he was gone but everything seemed so surreal. The entire clan gathered around the hospital bed cradling his lifeless body, sobbing. Ah kong, dressed in his black suit and lips etched in red, looking so still in the coffin. Us watching from a distance, as the coffin was pushed into the incinerator and his body reduced to grey ashes.
I didn't get to say goodbye to ah kong. When he was hospitalised, the adults didn't allow us to go visit initially. Germs, they say, and little kids have weak immunity. I was there with the rest the day his heart stopped. One by one, we went over to hold his hand and talk to him, as he lay there unconscious. Then, there was that fateful long beep from the life-signs monitoring system and the howling began.
There is one question which I've thought about long and hard . If there were to be a fire, the first thing I would grab would be my childhood photo album. Coz that is where all my most precious memories are. That is where I can flip back in time when my memory fails me. That is where I can show my kids, this was ah kong with mummy on his lap.
Labels: Memories
