A Close Friend


Tan had been my close friend for six years at St. Joseph before he got a transfer back to Kuching in 2010. I flew there several times trying to have a meetup with him but he always stood me up. Believing that he was busy, I did not harbour any hard feelings towards him. 

Last Saturday he came to Miri to discuss matters pertaining to his house with a potential tenant. The house, which he had bought in 2008, is within a walking distance from mine. As soon as I received Tan's text message, I went over to his house and was thrilled to see him. He had slimmed down a lot and looked very fit. When he pulled up the lower helm of his shirt to wipe his sweat-slicked face, I could see his six-pack of rippling abdominal muscles. I looked down at my bulging middle and felt embarrassed. He told me many things about his school - his strict principal, his competitive colleagues and his mounting workloads. 

Tan's Miri-dwelling Kenyah father-in-law was with him too. His youthful face and well-built frame belied his fifty years. He attributed all this to many years of hard work in his dusun, and it was hard to believe that he fathers five children. When our conversation touched on the forests in Sarawak, he sighed and told me that ninety percent of them had been wantonly denuded, owing to Taib Mahmood's notorious nature-plundering modernization projects. "From the plane," he said, "Sarawak seems to be filled with greenery, but actually it abounds with banausic grids of oil palm plantations."

When I mentioned Tan's daughter, pride diffused over his face. "I enjoy my new status as a father,'he enthused. "All manner of stress will be forgotten at the sight of her chubby face." I was happy for Tan, and wouldn't mind shedding a river of happy tears for him.

Comments

suituapui said…
A teacher? I wonder if I knew him. Probably would if he taught English around the time before I retired.
March 3, 2015 at 3:38 PM
sintaicharles said…
Arthur, he is a PJK teacher. One taught Perdagangan and Mathematics. Attended Etemp before.
March 5, 2015 at 4:47 AM
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