the walking stick

was on ma way to market to buy breakfast. along de corridor bumped into an old woman with a walking stick, walking so slowly, inch by inch. as i neared her i gave ma most generous smile n greeted "good morning!"

she replied: "很重" (veri heavy).

In ma heart i wondered wat thing "很重" when i din see her carrying anything except newspapers in a plastic bag.

she den said: "报纸很重" (newspapers veri heavy).

LOL. I tot wat was so heavy. So i offered ma help to carry de papers n ma arms as a railing as she held onto mi. She thanked profusely n continued asking wat i am doing. Asked if i'm still studying secondary school. Ma goodness.

Then she said she got mani children. Mostly graduated. One is a teacher but hard work. Tat's y i'll never wanna be a teacher coz de pay is so low n yet slog like a cow.

But told mi she's living with an unfilial daughter, knowing tat she can't walk n wanted her to buy newspapers for her. then she said: "她不疼mummy" (she don't love mummy).

I can't say her daughter is unfilial coz i can't pass judgment since there might be other circumstances surrounding her family, so i juz replied: "那你真的是很困难喔 (tat muz be veri difficult on you huh).

Kept saying i'm good boy, and tat she has met some realli good people who helped her. Said tat "读到大学的，要懂得做个有用的人" (perhaps she meant tat even after we studied till a high level, we muz still remember how to be a good n useful people). Sometimes i feel tat as de more education one receives, de more he or she tends to disregard de humanity aspects of life. And perhaps tat is wat tat old woman thought of her daughter as well.

It was a long walk back to her house. Ma block is de longest block i've ever seen in singapore. Seriously. And it took us over 10 mins, n walked down 2 levels of stairs. she said hoped she die earlier, no need to worry then. I asked her how old she is, so she told mi 75. It totalli shocked mi. 75 years old yet looked like 90!? Ma grandma is now 80 over i supposed n juz returned from a taiwan trip?

Entered her house, quite decent looking n not messy. Kept wanting to give mi a rice dumpling, said it was veri nice but i refused. Immediate thought was: "wah rice dumpling muz be veri oily and makes ma belly grows big." HAHA. I made a move and as politely as melvin could say: "有机会再聊" (got chance we will chat again).

A nice encounter on a saturday morning indeed. but poor thing, not fun being an old woman. i don't wanna grow old. wanna die when i'm still able-bodied.

Off i went to buy duck porridge n popped by a bakery to buy ma favourite banana cake.