Love and Jealousy

During the summer holidays, English students went oversea to visit their parents, relations and friends. Every summer, many of them came to Singapore, their favourite destination. Ann and Susan, aged 18, arrived at Changi Airport together. Ann came from Durham and Sue from Briton. While in Singapore Ann and Sue liked to swim in the sea at Punggul beach. They said it was nicer than the swimming pools. David, a typical Singaporean, knew the first time he saw Sue, he loved her. It was for this reason that he came often to the beach to do sketching during the holidays. One morning Sue was swimming in the sea, David approached and greeted her: “Good morning." “Good morning," Sue replied. “It’s a lovely place, isn’t it?" “That’s why we come to swim often. I’ve seen you with the sketchbook often, are you an artist? " “No. It’s only my hobby." They went over to the penaga tree to pick up the sketchbook. The first page was a picture of an aeroplane flying off from Changi, with many ships in the sea. Sue turned from page to page, her face was full of admiration. David looked over her shoulder, entirely lost in his own dreams. The last page was a sketch of Sue. It was well done. “That’s me. Can I buy this sheet from you?" “You don’t have to. I’ll give it to you. What’s your name?" “Susan. For short people call me Sue." David separated the sheet and wrote: To Susan. He paused and asked: "Your surname please? " " Tulip." “Why do you like the sketch so much?" “It’s the best sketch of myself anyone had ever done." “What’s your father doing?" “He’s a mechanical engineer stationed in Loyang Offshore Supply Base." “I wish to be an engineer too." At 5 pm, Susan’s mother came to pick up the girls. David invited the girls to swim there on the following day. He cycled home happily. To David’s surprise, Sue could swim as well as he could. “When did you first learn to swim?" David asked. “At the age of five. My mother taught me" “You were lucky. When I first learned to swim, I had to go secretly. My parents objected to my going swimming. There were some others with me. We just walked into the sea and practised. I was lucky to be alive today. Otherwise I would not be here." "Who knows your soul may be here," Ann joined in. “Your believe in souls?" David asked Ann. “I don’t only believe in souls, I admire them. Just imagine how helpless humans are. We had to get into a plane to be carried to Singapore. A soul can fly to any place it wants to. What’s your religion, David?" “I’m a Buddhist. But I respect all other religions. It has never occurred to me that the non-Buddhists will go to hell." “We’re both Roman Catholics," Ann remarked. “Does a Buddhist believe in Heaven?" Sue wanted to know. “Yes I do. To me Heaven is a place where good people go after their deaths. It is not a Buddhist or Christian Heaven. Please don’t be deceived by people who simply cooked up lots of stories about how superior their religions are. Some of the clauses in those holy books are obviously written by the bandits and the pirates, if you know what I mean. They have tons of dogmas and theories which are not able to withstand scientific investigation." David intended to talk about Nirvana. But the human language is not adequate to describe it. So he preferred not to mention it. So he went to his bicycle to take a buah tarap and asked the girls to share it with him. After eating that tarap (artocarpus odoratissimus) Ann wanted to know why tarap was not readily grown in Singapore. David went on with the story: There was once a black raja who ruled from Singapore to Kelantan. He had only one son and no daughters. One day his son was traveling in the forest and he came to meet one boy who was eating tarap under a tree. He mocked and scorned at that stranger saying he was very greedy. That poor guy said he was hungry and the fruits in the forests were his only source of food. That prince said those fruits belonged to the king who was the only owner of this nation. No one must take anything from the land without the permission of the king. That raja said the boy committed a crime and must be executed. He took out his bow and arrow, and was shooting at the boy. That boy used a tarap seed and a slingshot and aimed at the eye, blinded him on the spot. So there began the story of one-eye raja who destroyed trap trees from Singapore to Kelantan more than 2000 years ago. That boy who blinded him could not be traced, even in Singapore. So the termination of tarap trees was also carried out in Singapore 2000 years ago. If you are the descendant of this one-eye raja, then you can still claim this kingdom. I heard one of the descendants was called maha crocodile. One day this one-eye raja came to a river side when he was out on hunting trip. It happened his supervisor who looked after the 1000 goats also brought the herd to drink water at the river. By chance an Iban lady was washing clothes at the river, called Sungei Kaling. The raja approached her and wanted sex with her. She refused on the ground that she would commit a sin. “There are no such thing as sins. Who are the ones telling you all these rubbish?” he wanted to know. After lots of persuasion he successfully got the permission to have sex with her on condition that she would have the 1000 goats after that. So the collusive raja told the supervisor to go home and push the lady on the grass and started to fondle her. He removed her sarong and pushed one inch of his dick into her and started to suck her tongue. After about two minutes he stopped kissing her and pulled out his dick. He pushed it in again after few seconds, only less than two inches. “Please go deeper,” the lady begged. “No, why should I? I am enjoying it now. I know now that you have very unnatural sex urges.” “ But I don’t enjoy it.” She relaxed and looked steadfastly at the evil face of the raja. “Then you may go off, and I cannot give you the goats.” “OK, please go deeper, you can have all the goats again.” Another Iban villager has been deceived. Three of them laughed heartily and went home. One Saturday night, David took Sue and Ann to a dance organized by the Paris Ris Sports Club. “Do you like the dance?" Sue asked. “Not actually liking the dance. But because of your company I shall enjoy it." Sue suggested that they should go to the beach which was near by. The wind was blowing softly making a sweet rustling sound as it moved the leaves of the trees. The sound was enriched by the sound of the waves striking against the seashore. David pressed her tightly to his body. He turned a little bit with his left hand round her waist. He then took Sue into his arms. Sue could feel the pressure on her lips. The dance music could be heard coming from the club. In the dim light a figure could be seen approaching them. It was Ann who was tired of dancing. David called a taxi and sent them home. Days passed happily. But one night at another club troubles began. Edward, who was a former classmate of David, with some of his gang members, were after the two foreign girls. “Hello, girl, let’s dance," Edward asked with an evil smile. To be polite, Sue danced. As the music stopped, Edward took one of the empty seats at David’s table. Edward proposed for anther dance. This time he embraced Sue so tightly that David was getting impatient. Sue, Ann and David made an excuse and left the place. Just as he was about to walk out of the hall, Edward struck him on the face. Before Edward could land the second blow, David punched him on the nose. The guards from the Bar stopped the fight. David and the two ladies walked out, the curses from Edward could still be heard. Edward who always badmouthed David was trying to sabotage David's relationship with Sue. He wanted to make sure that this time David and Sue will break up and the relationship will be irreparably damaged. Oddly enough, a week later Edward and his gang members were also at the beach. Edward approached David accusing David of puncturing his bicycle tyres. He said he saw no other people at the beach except David and the two prostitutes. “I did not even know that you came here by bicycle," David tried to clear the accusation. “Bastard, try to insult me yeh? You think I can't buy a car? I cycled over because I needed some exercise." “Do you think you have five guttersnipes here that I am afraid? If you think a fight is inevitable, let’s start now." At this instance Edward kicked David on the head. Before David could hit back, the other five got hold of him and beat him up. They only ran away after Sue and Ann came out of the water trying to help. David was hospitalized. Wouldn't it be better if he could walk away calmly? During the period David was in the hospital, the two girls went to swim in the sea as usual. One lonely afternoon, the two girls swam over to Pulau Ubin from Pungol Beach. While they were swimming in the sea, Edward and his five members rushed out from the bush and dragged the girls out of the water into the bush, with shinning knives pointing at their backs. Edward took Sue and forced her to strip. When she refused, he tore her swimmimng-costume and forced her on the ground. The poor girl had no chance to fight back. When the animal tension was released, Edward asked whether he or David was better in sex, but received no reply. The other five ruffians took turns to find satisfaction on Ann’s body. There was no one else near by. The shouts for help by Ann have not been heard. The rapes were reported to the police and all the six rapists were locked up by the police pending full investigation. It was obvious that they would be behind bar for many years and also to be caned many strokes. The best lawyers cannot help. However, a priest came along, after the parents of the rapists begged him to help. That priest was able to influence the O.C.P.D. to release all the six blokes after that priest assured him that as a priest, he would be fully responsible for any wrong doings committed by these six persons within the next five years. He allowed the six persons to remain in his church every day except the time when they had to attend their respective classes at school. Hooliganism was a serious issue. It was indeed horrendous when a pastor was allowed to interfere with many of the crimes committed, just because the criminals had friends at high places. All good things must come to an end. The two girls went back to England to continue their studies. They were badly hurt because the priest said they might be partly responsible for the rapes. David sweated to prepare for his "A" levels and eventually was successful in getting into a British university. His only reason of going there was to be together with Sue, not that he thought local university was not as good. One local girl asked David whether the white horse was better. David did not answer but asked her whether she was better than any of those girls using the Pasir Ris buses every morning. The girl blushed and walked away. End Poh Tiong Ho (2054words) Copyright © 2014 by Poh Tiong Ho