...."My Ah Bah feels no shame whatever!".....
His forefinger and thumb feeling expertly through the red paper, Ah Bah could tell immediately how much was in the red packet; his heart would sink a little if the fingers felt the heard edges of coins, for that would be forty cents or eighty cents at most. But if nothing was felt, then joy of joys! Here was at least a dollar inside.
This year, Ah Bah had eight dollars notes. He could hardly believe it when he took stock of his wealth on the last day of the festive season. Eight new notes, crisp, still smelling new, and showing no creases except where they had been folded to go into the red packets. Eight dollars! And a small pile of coins besides. Ah Bah experienced a thrill such as he had never felt before.
And then it was all anxiety and fear, for he realized that his father knew about his ang pow money; indeed his father had referred to it once or twice,and would, Ah Bah was certain, be searching the bedding, cupboard and other places in the house for it.
Ah Bah's heart beat with violence of angry defiance at the thought. The total amount in his cigarette tin was seventeen dollars and twenty-five cents, and Ah Bah was determined to protect his money at all costs.Nobody was going to take his money from him. Frantically, Ah Bah went to the cupboard, took the bundle of money from the cigarette tin and stuff it into his trouser pocket. It made a conspicuous bulge. Ah Bah didn't know what to do, and his little mind worked feverishly to find a way out of this very direful situation.
He was wandering about in the village the next day as usual, and when he returned home, he was crying bitterly. His pocket was empty. When his mother came to him and asked him what the matter was, he bawled. He told her, between sobs, that a rough-looking Indian had pushed him to the ground and taken away all his ang pow money. His father, who was in the bedroom, rushed out, and made Ah Bah tell again what had happened. When Ah Bah had finished sniffling miserably, his father hit him on the head snarling, "You Idiot! Why were you so anxious to show off your ang pow money? Now you've lost it all!" And when he was told that the sum was seventeen dollars and twenty-five cents, his vexation was extreme, so that he would not be contented till he hit the boy again.
Ah bah's mother cleaned the bruise on the side of this face where he had been pushed to the ground, and led him away from his father.
"You are a silly boy," she scolded. "Why did you carry so much money around the house with you? Someone was sure to rob you!" And feeling sorry for him, she felt in her blouse pocket and found that she could spare fifty cents, so she gave it to him saying, "Next time don't be so silly,son"
He took the coin from her, and he was deeply moved. And then, upon impulse, he took her by the hand, and led her outside their house to the old hen-house near the well, under the tree, and he whispered to her, his heart almost bursting with the excitement of a portentous secret successfully kept, "It's in there! In the cigarette tin, behind that piece of wood!" To prove it, he squeezed into the hen-house and soon emerged, reeking of the hen-house odours, triumphantly clutching the tin. He took off the lid and showed her the money inside.
-to be continued-
!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!!!!
Please take note that the story is
not mine in any ways. Credits
goes to Catherine Lim
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