Free The Catherine Lim Collection by Catherine Lim Page A

floor.
    “Mikey, darling, Mummy’s bought a little
present for you; see, open it and have a look,” she said brightly.
    The boy took the book with limp hands. “Open
it, darling, open it and see,” she coaxed, feeling the old exasperation rising
dangerously. He put it on his bed and unwrapped it, dispiritedly. He stopped
unwrapping when the cover was revealed and remained still, staring at the
floor.
    “Has chae-chae given you lunch?” she asked,
struggling. She left him, still sitting on his bed, his hands limp by his side.
    One of Michael’s teachers had once said to
her, “Don’t worry about Michael. He’s not stupid. He may not do his homework or
pay attention in class, but if he wants to, he can pass the tests. I’ve
observed that many times. He will pass his PSLE.”
    “Do you know if he’ll pass well?”
    “It’s possible. He once surprised me by
getting almost full marks for his Science test.”
    Angela clung to the hope.

Chapter 9
     
    They
wandered to the pond, only the two of them, in the
bright sunshine, through the tall grass.
    Funny, thought Michael. The pond is full of
clear water. And there are goldfish in the pond. I thought it was muddy and
dangerous with devils hiding at the edges to push people in.
    “Come on, Michael,” said Uncle Bock. “Let’s
get into the pond, let’s catch the goldfish.”
    “How are we to bring them home?” said
Michael. “We have no container, no plastic bag or tin.”
    “Tin,” said Uncle Bock, pulling an empty
cigarette tin out of his pocket. “Plastic bag,” pulling a big blue plastic bag
from the other pocket. “Net,” picking up a net with a handle. “Here, Michael,
catch the goldfish with the net.”
    They waded into the pond. The water was
cool. It rose to their waists, and gave them a sense of exhilaration with its
coolness and sparkle. The goldfish scattered in all directions in the bright
sunshine-warmed water, and Michael laughed. He lifted his net high in the air;
it was gold with fish.
    “Oh, Uncle Bock! Look! Look at my fish!” he
cried with joy. There were nets and nets, tins and tins, full of fish. Michael
and Uncle Bock laughed in pure happiness.
    And then they were on a tree, a big tree
with huge, strong branches that spread far and made beautiful seats in the
singing wind and leaves.
    Uncle Bock said, “See, see that bird? It’s
the bird that cries, Tee-tee, tah-loh? Tee-tee, tah-loh.”
    Michael said, “You can’t see the bird, Uncle
Bock. Grandma says you can only hear the bird, not see it. Only very special
people can see it. And that means good luck coming to them.”
    “Has anyone seen the bird?” said Grandma who
was under the tree, looking up. “Listen, I can hear it now. Listen.”
    The three of them listened. The plaintive
sounds floated in the air, as from afar. Tee-tee tah-loh? Tee-tee tah-loh?
    “‘I can see the bird! I can see the bird!”
cried Uncle Bock excitedly clapping his hands. “See, see! It’s a big beautiful
green bird!”
    “I thought it was a little black bird, but
yes, it’s green, it’s a beautiful green bird,” said Grandma as a big beautiful
bird with bright green feathers flew over their heads.
    “We’re going to be lucky, Grandma and Uncle
Bock!” cried Michael. “We’re special people! We have seen the bird that calls
Tee-tee tah-loh! Tee-tee tah-loh!”
    They laughed for pure joy. “See, Grandma and
Uncle Bock!” cried Michael. “I can fly. I can fly, like a bird!”
    And he flew in the air, swift and light as a
bird. He thought Uncle Bock and Grandma had begun to fly too, like him, but
when he looked more closely, he saw them still under the tree, waiting for him.
He ran to them, and they each held his hand and lifted him off the ground. He
moved along with his feet tucked up under him, laughing: Who would think
Grandma could be so strong as to do this with him? His daddy and Uncle Wee Nam
had done that once with him when he was a very small boy; he remembered.
    They reached