YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WALK HERE

I was struggling with my bag, figuring out where to go when I bumped into her.

I looked up. Perplexed. It was a long corridor. I had walked some ways & the bag was heavy.

She was in a blue skirt & white top.

I looked back at where I had come from. Someone there had directed me this way. I didn't say a thing. I gingerly took a step forward. Her right arm shot out like a barrier in a carpark.

It was too early in the morning for a confrontation like that. I was sleepy & the breakfast of half boiled eggs, toast & milo was starting to make my tummy churn.

"I'm looking for Mrs Lim in room 1A"; I meekly said.

"No one is allowed here now.." ; she replied. Her face blank & her arm still out like a scarecrow.

I looked at her for a few seconds then turned and walked back to the tuckshop.

1975

That was my first encounter with Joanna. I was in primary 1 in Margaret Drive Primary School.

We had just moved to the Margaret Drive area. Staying in a 4 story block of one room flats. (I recently visited the place one night. It's all been torned down. I stood there looking at that patch of grass that used to be my home. Looking up into the sky searching for Orion.)

I met Joanna again in class. She was a bossy little girl. Getting people into a line. Telling us to keep quiet. Moving us around like a herd of sheep.

Every kid had a partner. And you had to hold hands as you walked. Joanna was my partner. We held hands alot. Well, she had an iron grip on me rather. Pulling me along as she shouted instructions to everyone.

I like a strong woman but this was abit much.

We would walk hand in hand from the flag-raising to the classroom every morning. Then held hands again when it was recess time to the tuckshop. We squatted next to each other after recess brushing our teeth together before holding hands again to head back to class. My hand were sore & swollen by the end of every day.

I enjoyed my time there though (We moved to Woodlands 6 months later). My teacher, Mrs Lim was beautiful. Slender, a warm smile, long straight hair that she kept out. She walked with a limp. I never knew why.

She kept specimens of leaves and fruit on display at the back of the classroom. We had a tortoise slowly moving about, a bunny that went anywhere it wanted but always returned. And a box of white mice. The place always smelled like a natural history museum to me.

When I left for my new home a few months later, I remember feeling out of sorts. I had made some friends and gotten used to the place.

And I missed holding hands with Joanna.

I hope she found someone new, someone stronger. Maybe she missed me abit too.

...

I am #ʙᴇɴᴛᴇʜ, #IMakᴇItMakᴇSᴇɴsᴇ & I run the #LBFalumni. I regularly have #ReflectionsWithCoffᴇᴇ