june and me…=p
May 3, 2007
i was out jogging last nite when i jogged past a granny walking with a heavy trolley across an overhead bridge..i stopped in my tracks n offered to help..i knew who she was cos ive helped her b4 n she stays near me..i stopped my jog n accompanied her across e overhead bridge dragging e trolley along..she thanked me for my help n chit-chatted with me..abt her life..abt her increasing aching feet n knees…all e while hunching over cos she suffers from a crooked spine..
we walked along e pave n she stopped for her usual routine of feeding a few cats…who recognize her when she approached..stooping over she unwrapped several plastic sheets filled with rice n meat for them..she even has a 1.5l bottle of water which she uses to change fresh water for e cats…after 2 stops to feed e cats n 2 stops to catch her breath while walking..she asked for my name..i told her i was “fengling” n she told me her name..ill call her aunty june…she said her memory is failing her…so i think she might have forgotten me from b4..
we walked to e staircase under her blk n she sat down..so we sat just next to each other..n she started telling me abt her life story, tearing while speaking…seeing her tears just drop with each sentence she utter…all i could do was to put my hand over her shoulder n give her e little warmth i hope i could offer…her lamenting abt her life…her son…her dead husband..her evil daughter in law…her looking after her stroke-bound husband for years carrying him up e stairs, causing her to suffer from back prob now…giving her attention to cats to distract her from life…her waiting to die…how she put her 15 yr old cats down to sleep cos they were suffering…her pain her anguish her helplessness in life…she told me if she showed me her pic when she was young i wouldnt recognize her…she wanted to show it to me…i offered to help her carry her trolley up e 3 flights of stairs..
she led me into her house…a house tt wasnt left behind by her husband but one she bought for her mum with her hard earned money…she forewarned tt her house is v dirty but what i saw was a pretty neat living rm with neatly stacked up piles of newspaper n boxes…i sense her loneliness….seeing her black n white photo, she did look diff but her pretty features are still apparent on her face now..just tt mayb…events have aged her a little…shes 70+ but she looks younger…
she gave me her no n asked me to call her next time when im free…so we exchanged nos n i told her to call me if she needs anything…mayb ill bring aunty june for a meal next time…seeing her smile n wave byebye to me when i left made me feel slightly better..i hope she sleeps well tonight…
i left with mixed feelings in my heart… life has many unpredictable twists…we shd live life with no regrets…n looking back, we shd realise how lucky we are at times..
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