Sunday@FRIM

T'was the sunday that was...I was at FRIM with none of my regulars. Whirlwind was in batu Pahat, Analizer Kit probably trekked in Gasing as I was not available in the morning and newby Nat was on her way to a full moon celebration.

Oddest still was that i was there at 4pm...tea time. Sun was blazing, air was humid but i was there in support of a friend who wanted to bring his other friends to my backyard. I was wearing my JC sandals as i did not have time to go home and get my boots. This is not my first time here at this hour. Hot as it was the trail was well shaded by the trees and the air was cool with breeze shooting through the age old trees and snaking through its leaves.

I began to trail behind as the 4 friends kept chatting and continued with their labored strides. I decided to take a leisurely stroll and smell the grass if you will and see the trees for the forest, experiencing the breeze that washed over my perspiring bodice and face. I started listening to the trees and thots of my grandparents came to mind. Memories of them washed over my mind, remembering my childhood in Maxwell's Hill. Suddenly i hear the familiar...kuk kuk kuk...kuk kuk kuk, that same sound i heard when i was a child in the hills. I remember asking my grandfather what it was that made that sound. He told me it was a si bak kuk ... hainanese for squirel. Immediately I was transported to that day standing with my grandpa beside me, he in his long black trousers ironed to a crisp wearing just a white singlet neatly tucked into those pants and smoking his John Player's Classic...as we both looked down into the valley in front of us and just experiencing the beauty and music of the forest.

While the others kept on with their babble as we trekked all the way to the peak 1000ft above sea level, I, left in my own world was listening to the music of the forest while experiencing its beauty and the memories it brought me.