Chapter 19 The Sugar Cane Thieves

Naughty,naughty that was the word.You name it ,and you can be sure that Fabian had a hand in it,yeah those were the good old days.I bet Tom Sawyer compared to Fabian had a lot of catching up to do.Right?

He and Bruce were a formidable pair,he fought and Bruce will be around to assist him,those were the days Fabian never knew the word defeat for there was no way he could ever lose..Fabian the shorter of the two was always the pick by bullies for a fight but to fight Fabian one had to face Bruce also,that was for sure.

Fabian will always be at the home of Bruce after school.Many a time had lunch there at the invitation of Bruce's mother.Wah,come to think back,Bruce's mother was a "Nyonya"from Kuala Kangsar and she was a marvelous cook.Her fantastic curry were always finger licking good.Just to think of it brings back nostalgia.

Both always do things together.One day they both agreed to steal sugar cane,yellow,juicy and very sweet canes from neighbor at the back of Fabian's land.They planned to strike at nightfall.

So that evening they met and went straight to that neighborhood.It was about 7.30 p.m. and slowly getting dark.They sneaked close to where the canes were planted some five chains from the house.The residents of that household were resting at the back of their house,chatting away.There three of them,two men and a woman.

Bruce and Fabian waited for a while before they struck.When the time came they slowly crept near to the sugar cane.There were five or six canes on that spot.Bruce had the pen knife and was cutting away slowly ,while another hand held on to the cane.Fabian was also at that spot keeping watch over the movements of the residents.

When the cane was fully cut Bruce held the cane aloft with both hands,and slowly allow the cane to come down flat to the ground,without making any noise.But things did not go as smooth as supposed to be,one of the resident suddenly noticed the cane moving down.

"Hey,brother -the sugar cane was moving down,I saw it".
The others looked at the spot of the sugar cane,then they shouted,"Ada orang curi tabu".(Someone stealing sugar cane).

When Bruce and Fabian heard the shouts they both leaped up without hesitation and began to run,with Bruce still holding on the cane and dragging it along as they ran for their lives.

Well.they escaped and the occupants of that house never gave chased..They stopped and panted after a short run laughing heartily over the matter.When all were quiet down,they enjoyed their sugar cane.There was no joy in stealing actually,but the fun and the excitement they endured was indeed an incredible experienced.

As of today after fifty over years,Bruce still bragged out to his children of that exploit being the "Sugar cane thieves".