Chapter 5 Our Growing Years The Old Austin Under The Guava Tree

The New Tenants pushed to next chapter.

When we were then very young all of us loved to play in an Old car. an Austin car,left under a guava tree to rot away.Well,that car had served its purpose,it was the last ramnant of a property owned by our grandfather.It was not sold away after his passing but at that time the car was already an old,old car not much in used and nobody wanted it.

When the land along Anson road was purchased the old faithful was left to rot away behind the house.Later a guava tree grew by its side.It maybe not in used anymore but it surely served us as our play ground.All of us would climbed up and out of that junk with its door still in tact with crackling sound.Chances were they may give way anytime.The car kept our grandmother with loving memories of day that had drifted away.

The guava tree provided some shade for the old rusty car.The engine of the car had been removed together with its back seats.However the steering wheel was still hanging on there where we made belief in driving that old car like seasoned drivers.
Without the engine still sounded-of course not we were making those motor noise,much to the annoyance of the grandmother.

Without the engine we still had the anchor to make belief we can still start the car.Those days I think cars needed to be anchored to ignite its engine.Come to think of we had ample fun with it.That good old faithful.There were no peace around as we fought over who should be the driver of the old car most of the time.Small argument which were quite noise, brought the grandmother came screaming down with a long cane in hand.

That was when the guava tree came in handy and in split seconds I was already up at its very top,laughing cheekily.I was always the main culprit all those times being the elder of the two.My grandmother will make believe as if to strike me,for she was just simply making a lot of noise with the cane to frighten me.Smacking it on the tree instead of me.However sometimes accident can happened and I got the full force of the cane on my legs.

"Ooch!!!",I would cried out in pain.My sister and younger brother at the lower end would join yelling out in unison laughing at my pain,"Very good,very good,serve you right for bullying us",enjoying the moment I was trashed.We all knew she never meant to hurt me but as I say,accident can happened and I had it on me.My grandmother really loved all three of us,but of course there always a pet among the three of us unfortunately I was never the one nor my sister being a girl but my little brother.Nevertheless all the same she still loved all of us say what you may she loved us.

My kid brother usually took full advantage of this and when ever he lost in any quarrel or he wanted some thing from which I refused to part with,he would resort to his sole strong weapon against me,that was he would cry out at top of his voice to our grandmother who would response almost immediately with the cane shouting,"You naughty boy,bullying you brother again? Wait till I cane you".

Of course with her at my heels I have got to surrender everything to my brother and ran away from the spot and she cannot catch up with me.My brother would laughed at my running away very often clapping his hands.That what brother were for anyway.

I was quite hot tempered as a small boy very often acted irrationally without much considerations whether it was right or wrong,that was why my grandmother branded me while a child as "Nga Ching Leong", a famous character of some Chinese comics neither a hero but a tough guy with a huge temper.

The lovely guava tree also provided us with much fruits to eat.While not playing we would scout above the tree for ripe fruits.The fruits were quite sweet with the center full of seeds and red pulp.We had a lot of fun fighting over its fruits.Without the slightest doubt I was the one quickest to spot any ripe fruits,my young brother was never in the same league so he resorted shouting,"That is mine I saw it first""You cheat you plucked it before I could reached it".

Well,always I refused and he would cry out loud and clear.Know what?, I had no way out but to yield the fruit to him because my grandmother would be there almost immediately with cane in hand.However times were difficult surrendering does not mean I was safe,for I may soon get the canning when she arrived at the spot.So after giving up the fruit I still had to climb up high up above so that when she waved her cane it does reached me.Smart thinking?I suppose so.

As young children we never roamed all over that plot land without our parents,for the land had a number of mature coconut palms.All very tall palms with ripe coconuts on them and our parents feared they might dropped on us.Only those land nearest the house were cultivated with sweet potatoes and vegetables,the rest were quite grassy and we have seen snakes in those areas.Of course then we were only small kids.

My maternal grandmother and grandfather sometimes worked on the cultivated land and that was the only time we went along with further down the land.Because of their hard work we had ample sweet potatoes and vegetables to eat.However,our maternal grand parents did not lived with us they got their own home in Speedy Road.But my mother's youngest sister stayed with us.

She attended the local Chinese School,the Sam Min Chinese School.Those days Chinese school were marked schools by the British government suspecting them of being infiltrated with Communist spreading Communist doctrines among the student. Actually the Communists had fought along side of the British before the Japanese surrendered in 1945.They in fact had participated in the victory parade marching through towns with the British.

When they were refused recognition the whole lot went into the jungle to fight a guerilla war against the British.Those British branded the Communist members as bandits.They even suspected the Communist having infiltrated into the Chinese schools.My small Auntie was then studying in the local Chinese school.Anyway they were the main suspects those days.Our small Auntie was quite closed to all of us.

When I was about eight years old or so,a young hospital dresser always came to our house to tackle our small Auntie.Well,he won over her heart and they were married with part of the ceremony in our house.Yes.I remember those days whereby we were made to line up together with my other cousins to receive our red packet.I remember that I was the first to get the red packet and my small Auntie had found memories of that and often reminded of that day.Aha,those were the days.



to continue or rewrite in future.