Aiyah! You young people! Pak Abdul said with some exasperation. Are these modern trappings enough for you to forgo the bright sunshine that streams in through your open verandahs? Can you live without the wind and the sound of the sea? Where in this place are you going to get the smell of salt in the air?
Ma’af Datok, Sulaiman said, with deference to Pak Abdul’s age. Apologies, grandfather. But it looks like this new way of living is foisted on us. Since we have no other choice, we just have to make the most of it and I’m just trying to be positive…
“Your Cho Cho, my mother was unusually quiet. Too quiet.
I can’t walk barefoot, sinking my feet into fine beach sand here, I whispered to your grandpa George, suddenly realising the enormity of the change. Imagine living here and looking out to these other blocks and blocks of flats and more flats, instead of looking out to the sea and sky! What a horrible prospect! I will feel trapped…
What about our jobs and livelihoods? What will happen to our sampans? Where are we going to store them? How are we going to fish from these tower blocks?”
“I’m not sure if I can leave this village and go to live in a tower block of flats, my mother, your Cho Cho, finally confessed her feelings to us that very evening. I need to smell the sea and feel the wind. I will die without this…
Mak, we have no choice… I said to her.
Yes, Mak, we can’t stay here, your grandpa said to her. But we don’t have to go and live in the flat if you don’t want to. I can find us a house where you would be more comfortable. I’m a full-fledged doctor now. I’ve paid up all the loans. Maybe we can find somewhere close to the sea so you can still smell the sea…. They’re not developing the coasts near Punggol, Seletar or Sembawang yet. We can go and look for a house there and I can make a down payment. Or we can rent somewhere first to let you get used to a new area, Mak…
“I was so grateful to your grandfather for giving my mother the alternative.
That would be much better than being in an HDB flat, my mother said in facile agreement. Why don’t we do that? Rent a house first until we know if we like the area enough to put down our roots…
“But her tone was listless, as if she didn’t care one way or another. It was worrying. I knew she was as deeply unhappy as all of us were. She seemed distracted, not knowing what to pack, what to throw. She shook her head in disapproval every time we found a house for her to view. We couldn’t find any houses right by the sea, as our home was. The closest we could get to the sea was in the north, near Sembawang, which cost a lot even to rent. And even then we could not get a view of the sea or hear the waves. Only little Anthony was excited about the move, dashing into different rooms to choose his room when we went house hunting. To be honest, my heart was not in it either.
“George was in despair, knowing that the final day was looming and we still couldn’t find a place that would make any of us happy.”
Mak, I am sorry to push you but we have to make a decision soon…
But… my mother said, her voice tinged with sorrow, then pleading. But what if Hock Chye comes back? He won’t be able to find us…
“Nearly twenty years on and she was still harbouring such a futile hope. It shocked both George and myself. We had seen your great-grandmother on the verandah many times of course, looking out to sea, but as the years passed, we thought she was simply enjoying the view, not realising that she was scanning the seascape for a sighting of a familiar boat and figure.
Mak…
“I think your grandpa knew that I was going to tell my mother that it was illogical to think that my father would return, so he put a hand on my arm to stop me from saying it. Logic has no place in the storm of an emotion.
“In the end, George had to decide for us, and he put down a deposit to rent one of those black-and-white colonial houses that used to accommodate the British officers at the Sembawang naval base. It wasn’t large, probably one that was used by a junior officer, but at least it had a small garden and windows we could open. What he had hoped would convince my mother was that the house was supported on concrete pillars so that it was similar to a house on stilts in that the house was raised, and there was space underneath. This type of houses, built on the fringes of forests and jungle, were elevated to prevent snakes and other wildlife from entering the house easily. I was so proud of your grandpa. He had been very thoughtful to find somewhere for us to live in, that was a reasonable substitute for something we were familiar with.
You are a good son-in-law, my mother said.
That’s because you’re a wonderful mother-in-law, George said. I will never forget how you and Pansy supported me through medical school. As I said before I’ll always be in your debt and will do everything possible to repay your kindness…
You don’t owe me anything, she smiled for the first time since we were told about the evacuation. You’ve made my daughter happy and that’s enough for me. And you’ve given me a lovely grandson.
