Chapter 12 Shifting Again.

Business of Fabian's father was a total failure and before long were forced to shift away from that house leaving behind a lot of memories.

His mother got a job in a rubber plantation namely Ratanui Estate,about two miles from town along Changkat Jong Road.By then Fabian was about fifteen years old thus becoming a teenager.

At the Estate there were filled with activities and met numerous good friends,notably were the Yap brothers and sisters.They were children of the estate's building. contractor.

They shifted into a one room quarter,only one person working so not entitled a bigger quarter.So all five of us cramped in that small room.Our father slept behind near the kitchen where there was space.Poor sister was doing her senior Cambridge Examinations and had to burn midnight oil under a dim kerosene light because in estate all lights out by ten o'clock at night.

Fabian was in Form three.The change did on environment did not trouble him for he had new friends to play with.They had no river to swim so they swam in irrigation canals and water gates.Fabian tried diving in these canals and landed on a buried sticks which hurt his head slightly with every one laughing at him.

Here he learned to fish in this irrigation canal with a short stick or bamboo as rod and short piece of twig as float.Once Fabian,his brother and the Yap brothers blocked up both side of an irrigation drain with mud and began bailing out its water.

When most of the water were bailed out they began catching fishes in the muddy drain.At first they were excited in catching some fish and than suddenly Fabian caught hold of some thing big.He yelled out," here I have a very big one,I think it is a very big Haruan (snake head) and it is very strong".

The thing was wriggling strongly and as he pulled up the "fish".Every one watching shouted,"No,no not Haruan, Snake,snake".That frightened Fabian for it was a meter long python wriggling and struggling hard on his hand.Immediately the horrified Fabian flung and hurled the poor snake away into the air,on to dry ground.The Yap brothers quickly climbed up and captured the damn snake with sticks without hurting it.

The snake was kept captive in an empty fertilizer bag and firmly blinded up with a strip of scrap rubber from the nearby rubber tree.Then they went on to catch other remaining fishes in the drain and laughing and making jokes on poor Fabian."Very big Haruan ,ah?,stupid.It was a snake".

Fabian chuckled with a hearty laugh, joked back,"What to do,that snake liked me".

The fishes caught were shared among themselves,at least they had some fishes for dinner.Well the snake was sold to someone by the Yap brothers for a few dollars.

In this estate Fabian and Francis had a much bigger play ground.Of course here they again have many new friends mostly estate workers' sons.Here they do not roamed the streets but ventured all round the rubber plantation.Using catapults to shoot monkeys and birds plus fishing.

Here Fabian cycled to school so was his sister.Francis being the youngest had to go by school bus.Life was never a bed of roses,for here Fabian had to collect dry rubber wood as firewood after school.

It was really tough job collecting firewood,for he had to travel quite a distance for them.Well little brother came along so were the Yap brothers.Then collecting firewood can be fun,hell lot of fun.Climbing rubber trees an shooting birds with their catapults.Those were the happy days.