Little sister was playing with sand on the field. Brother loved to dig up holes and piled them up onto another side. Big sister was helping mom, clearing the heavy overgrown yard beneath our quarters. I was inside the house, being an excellent watcher, observer and soon critically analysing each of the individuals I saw in front of me. Yes. Humans love to judge. So am I.
Mom moved from our hometown Long Lama to this small, almost deserted town, known as Long Bedian. As a teacher, she just followed what the government requested her to do, and yes, moving from schools to schools was no exception. I kept thinking, why do I have to follow? What's the rational for all of us to follow mom to this kind of place, so inconvenient town? No phone, no network coverage at all, and no electricity. We had to walk for kilometers in order to make a phone call to granny. Every night, when Mr. Moon soared high up in the sky, and the clock struck midnight, one of the workers will turn off the generator, assuming that all of the students and teachers were soundly asleep.
And every single night, we had wars with mosquitoes and tiny insects. Mom realised this matter should be taken in action, thus she kept all pennies and bought mosquitoes netting for us. At night, we would tied up the strings, from another ends to the other, and it almost looked like a tent. Visible tents. I used to play with my little sister, who was by that time, 6 years old, hiding and rolling inside-out of the netting. Mom would remind us to keep our voices and hustles down, not to disturb the teachers who lived just next door. There were few times when brother joined us and big sister would just sit and watch till one of us started to cry, of course it was my little sister who covered with tears, felt that she was bullied by me and brother and big sister will come to comfort her. By those times, mom was not home, either she was in the school's hall or in the staffroom.
I met a number of friends, they are so innocent and sincere, I can say, I had the whole class as my friends. They never betrayed you, and if they were, we would have a small fight and when morning came, we will be friends again. I loved to sing, play, jump and sprint together with them. Games was a BIG YES and we loved to PLAY and PLAY and PLAY. We were very active, well, they were, not me. Most of the moments, I enjoyed watching instead of participating. Some other times, they would desperately drag me to join them, but I held back tightly. Angeline, Sharonnie and Imelda. We were BFFs. I became fond with the teachers and their children. I liked it when Mr. Headmaster brought the entire class watching educational cartoon programmes in his house, and he would go for a meeting, leaving us alone there under the surveillance of his wife.
I always had been longing for the last bell of school to ring. When the bell struck twice, I ran back to our quarters, pulled off my shoes and arranged them properly on the racks and started to turn on the television. During that time, we only had antenna and it was enough for us to entertain ourselves with Mickey Mouse short stories on Brunei TV Channel. Frankly, I didn't even know Mickey was under Disney, and I disliked Donald Duck the most for he was hot-tempered. Well, that has changed. I soon loved all Disney's cartoons. Parents finally put an effort in subscribing ASTRO and finally the four of us could watch more than Disney channel. Oh..How I wish to feel, to see those moments again. Everytime I look at the blue sky during day and gazed at the bright moon and amazed by the sparkles from the glittering stars at night, I would reminisced the moments I went through when I was in schooling in SK Long Bedian. Papa, mom, big sist, brother and dearest little sister, I LOVE YOU ALL! LOVE YOU SO SO MUCH!
Yes. Childhood was always be the best memory ever. The moments were unforgettable. Netizens, you should know that those moments could not be replaced and never will repeat. Appreciate what you've experienced, learnt from it and you'll find maturity in everything you own. It's irreplaceable.
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