She Writes
Saturday, December 30, 1995
My Childhood Friends
Zhiyun and Wanqi were my childhood friends. Our parents did business in this market near my flat. Zhiyun's father sold coffee and some kitchenwares. Wanqi's family sold gold jewellery. My mum was a tailor and also sold fashion wear.
The three of us would come to our parents' shops during the weekends and school holidays. This was how we got to know one another. My friendship with Zhiyun was deeper than Wanqi because we met more often.
The three of us would play together... but the most memorable of all was with Zhiyun ...
We would think of script or acted a few scenes from the TV shows. Our frequent play was the "Mistress and Maid". Zhiyun loved to pretend that she was a mistress and I was her slave. She was a unkind mistress who always bullied her slave.
I remembered very well how she would give me "chicken bum" while she had the best part. Our feast table was a few utensils and cutlery (meant to be sold) from Zhiyun's father shop. Then we imagined lots of good food and pretended to have a feast.
It seemed that Zhiyun loved the evil character and got to play this role more often than me. Perhaps, we knew that in real life, we would never be that bad person.
In real life, Zhiyun was my big sister. She took care of me very well. She would treat me for lunch everytime after we played. Sometimes I would get candy and chewy gum too. As she helped to tend her dad's shop, she would only have lunch in the late afternoon when there was less customers.
By that time, the only food stall that still operated in the market was selling mix pork soup. She would order 2 bowls of rice and one medium size soup. Zhiyun ate pork and salted vegetable in her soup only. The rest of the ingredients such as pig blood (that comes in a cube), liver, intestine and other organs were mine. All right, you might say this is disgusting, but I was too young to realise I was eating these. I just put everything in my mouth. Anyway, they weren't taste bad!
That was our lunch everytime and I don't understand why she don't get sick of it!
Besides acting, we loved to hide in our mini "house" and shared thoughts. It was built using the cradles meant to contain fruits. On top was stacks of cloth. Our door was covered with a cloth so that no one would know we were hiding there.
Because I was shorter and smaller size than Zhiyun, I felt more comfortable in that mini "house". She could only folded her legs towards her chest in sitting position and bend down slightly to avoid hitting the "ceiling". As the years passed, our house got "smaller" and one day, Zhiyun no longer fancied the "house" as she could not fit in.
What the growing Zhiyun looks like? She was tanned like me but looked more healthy. I was a malnutritional figure despite I had most of her ingredients in the mix pork soup. She had slit small eyes, straight nose, wide lips and neat teeth. I think her best assets are her teeth and long silky shiny thick hair at her waist. I believed that was something she was proud of.
Once, I found Zhiyun in a corner. She had her head covered, her eyes were red and watery. She didn't want to talk to anyone. I realised her strand was gone and she looked like a boy to me. I was told by her mum that she brought Zhiyun to the hair salon and had her hair cut. Since then, Zhiyun had been crying for 2 days and didn't talk to anyone. She was too upset and very embarrassed with her new crop.
It took Zhiyun a while to be a sunshine girl again. And our play time continued ...
(to be continued)
The three of us would come to our parents' shops during the weekends and school holidays. This was how we got to know one another. My friendship with Zhiyun was deeper than Wanqi because we met more often.
The three of us would play together... but the most memorable of all was with Zhiyun ...
We would think of script or acted a few scenes from the TV shows. Our frequent play was the "Mistress and Maid". Zhiyun loved to pretend that she was a mistress and I was her slave. She was a unkind mistress who always bullied her slave.
I remembered very well how she would give me "chicken bum" while she had the best part. Our feast table was a few utensils and cutlery (meant to be sold) from Zhiyun's father shop. Then we imagined lots of good food and pretended to have a feast.
It seemed that Zhiyun loved the evil character and got to play this role more often than me. Perhaps, we knew that in real life, we would never be that bad person.
In real life, Zhiyun was my big sister. She took care of me very well. She would treat me for lunch everytime after we played. Sometimes I would get candy and chewy gum too. As she helped to tend her dad's shop, she would only have lunch in the late afternoon when there was less customers.
By that time, the only food stall that still operated in the market was selling mix pork soup. She would order 2 bowls of rice and one medium size soup. Zhiyun ate pork and salted vegetable in her soup only. The rest of the ingredients such as pig blood (that comes in a cube), liver, intestine and other organs were mine. All right, you might say this is disgusting, but I was too young to realise I was eating these. I just put everything in my mouth. Anyway, they weren't taste bad!
That was our lunch everytime and I don't understand why she don't get sick of it!
Besides acting, we loved to hide in our mini "house" and shared thoughts. It was built using the cradles meant to contain fruits. On top was stacks of cloth. Our door was covered with a cloth so that no one would know we were hiding there.
Because I was shorter and smaller size than Zhiyun, I felt more comfortable in that mini "house". She could only folded her legs towards her chest in sitting position and bend down slightly to avoid hitting the "ceiling". As the years passed, our house got "smaller" and one day, Zhiyun no longer fancied the "house" as she could not fit in.
What the growing Zhiyun looks like? She was tanned like me but looked more healthy. I was a malnutritional figure despite I had most of her ingredients in the mix pork soup. She had slit small eyes, straight nose, wide lips and neat teeth. I think her best assets are her teeth and long silky shiny thick hair at her waist. I believed that was something she was proud of.
Once, I found Zhiyun in a corner. She had her head covered, her eyes were red and watery. She didn't want to talk to anyone. I realised her strand was gone and she looked like a boy to me. I was told by her mum that she brought Zhiyun to the hair salon and had her hair cut. Since then, Zhiyun had been crying for 2 days and didn't talk to anyone. She was too upset and very embarrassed with her new crop.
It took Zhiyun a while to be a sunshine girl again. And our play time continued ...
(to be continued)
posted by Samantha at 4:00 PM
