Dad has a formidable temper. I remember our childhood speckled with
memories of being disciplined with ‘specially made’ canes. Dad would get some cane suitable for hitting
naughty kids from furniture shop owners.
I remember tagging along once and he said to me “See this? This is for
when you don’t listen to me” and bent the cane to test for flexibility and swung
it around to test for durability while I stood there watching *sweat*. I remember as well being chased around the
house with said cane and locking myself in a room only to find dad climbing
through the windows…by then it’s game over.
I also remember doing something bad and the first thing I did before dad
got home was to find the cane and throw it behind the cupboard. I was right, what I did was bad enough for
the cane to make an appearance, but since dad couldn’t find it (to my initial relief), he
ended up using one of his leather belt (to my horror). I think I end up pretty normal though. I guess it’s just the way kids are
disciplined back then. Kids now are so
over protected and pampered.
Anyway, the reason why I wrote
all that was to explain how scary dad was.
Dad is so much more mellow now and obviously, the cane has retired. However, there are still times when his
temper would explode and we would cringe in silence. When he widens his eyes and flares his
nostrils in anger, everyone would either 1)stare
back in alarm trying to think if we are brave enough to be a smart ass or
2) try not to look, be silent and pretend
that everything is going to be A-OK.
That was many years back though. This
then brings me to an incident as related to me by my brother.
There was a period when dad, who
was a civil servant, had to work away from our hometown. Mum would drop him at the jetty very early in
the morning and he would catch a boat to another town for work. Either mum or my brother would then pick him
up again in the evening. They were late
in picking dad up from the jetty one day and dad called to tell them to move
it. After hurriedly dropping my sister
off for her driving lesson, mum and brother proceeded to drive to the jetty. Unfortunately, they chose that day to try a
different route and ended up getting lost.
To make matters worse, my brother left his hand phone with my sister as
she’d forgotten to bring hers, so there was no way to assauge the oncoming
storm.
Arriving at the jetty, as soon as
they saw dad’s dark face from the car, they decided to 2) try not to look, be silent and pretend that everything is going to
be A-OK. Dad was seriously
pissed. He opened the car door, threw
his bag on the seat and slammed the door shut.
Without turning back, my brother proceeded to drive away. Both mum and brother remained silent, hoping
dad would cool down in time. However, as
he’d expected at least a barrage of reprimanding from dad about time keeping,
my brother was getting really curious when MANY minutes have passed and still
there was not a peep from dad. Glancing surreptitiously
at the rearview mirror, he was shocked to see that there’s no one at the
back. Thinking that his eyes were playing
tricks on him, he turned around and looked properly. Still, there’s no dad. By then, his mind was furiously churning. Was dad so angry that he opened the door and
jumped out of the moving car? He
distinctively heard the door slam shut!
Brother turned to mum and said “Ma, pa’s not there” and mum immediately
turned around. They’re both
stumped. By then, they have almost
reached my sister’s driving school and so decided to quickly pick her up and go
back to the jetty. When my sister got in
the car, she had the hand phone plastered to her ear. She whispered to my brother “What happened?
Dad’s so angry! Here!” and passed the phone to my brother. As soon as my brother said Hello, my dad
proceeded to let loose a string of swear words.
This coming from a man who abhors crude language and had instilled
enough fear in us to never breathe any in his presence. (in his presence should be in bold..lol)
It transpired that after dad
threw his bag in, he did not follow suit as he had to go to the washroom. However, right after slamming the door shut
but before he was able to indicate to them that he’s going to be right back, my
brother had driven off without even a backward glance. My dad ran after our car shouting, but to no
avail. He had been left stranded. Ta dummmmmmm….. In the end, too embarrassed to go back to
where he was (everyone outside a café was watching), dad legged it until my
brother found him. Apparently he’d
walked many miles. When I asked what
happened next and if everyone got a tongue lashing, my sister told me that dad
was sheepish when he got into the car.
Cute. He probably had time to
cool down during the walk. Lol.
