I used to be a very naughty kid. Naughty and mischievous. The whole family have had their hands full with me. Of course when my brother moved in with us, the amount of mischief doubled.
You see, my younger brother did not stay with us for the first 4 years of his life. After he was born, the family moved from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur. Dad got a job there. Business prospect is definitely better in the city. My parents wanted to settle down in the city before bringing my brother with us. I was only 2 years old when I came to the city. I never knew I had a younger brother then.
When my brother first arrived, he cried and cried and cried. I didn’t like him then. What a weird kid! Always crying. Because my parents were stranger to him, my brother needed a lot of adjustment time. The only parents he knew was my grandparents and great-grandmother. When he finally adjusted and settled down with us, I found a partner in crime.
My brother and I were always coming up with stupid crazy stuff to do. Once our parents were out for the night. Since 4th uncle’s family were staying with us we did not need any babysitter. (4th uncle is my mother’s forth brother). After putting us to bed, my aunt went to sleep. My brother and I could not sleep. We were anxious for our parents to return home. We hate it when they leave us at home.
Now consider this equation. Two mischievous kids. In their parents bedroom. With no adult supervision. Lots of grown up stuff lying around to explore. All that equals one big headache. The first thing we went through was our mum’s dressing table. We discovered lots of facinating stuff. One thing that puzzled me was why mum keeps so many different shades of brown colour pencils and some funny looking crayons in her drawer.
Not being any wiser, my brother and I proceeded to try out the new colouring tools. Since we don’t have papers to colour on, we started with the bedsheets. The colour of the flowers on the bedsheet were a bit too dull for our taste. We really enjoyed ourselves. My brother and I have never sat still for this long before. It was a great time together. Until mum came home.
Mum was still talking to dad when they walked in. They saw us and froze. Then they saw the bedsheets. Mum’s eyes widen. Dad was gaping. Then and only then did we realised we did something really bad. All hell broke loose.
Mum was screaming. Dad was scolding. Then mum disappeared and returned with the dreaded cane in her hands. With the expertise of a swashbulking musketeer, mum wielded her cane and dealt those dreaded blows. My brother and I were running screaming all over the room. Dad guarded the door so that we could not escape. Thinking back now, it must have looked like a cook trying to catch an escaped chicken for slaughter.
Uncle and aunt woke from the commotion. Unfortunately they did not side with us after seeing the damage. I thought it was a masterpiece. The bedsheet do look better with the vibrant colours. Oh well, everyone’s a critic.
The next day mum sent the bedsheets to the laundromat. When she came back, she told us that even the lady at the laundromat said we were extremely naughty. My brother and I was only half paying attention. We were already schemeing our next mischief.
Ah… the good old days of innocence.
