PLAYING DRESSUP

For those of you who don't know, i have an older brother, Bertrand, a younger bro and sis, who are twins, Marc and Marlene, and a younger sister after that, Laura Ann. I'm eighteen and we're all two years apart. Growing up, we were each others best friends, until the realms of school, and peers hit us one-by-one andpulled us away and apart.. apart and away. Still, now one memory is all it takes to get us reminscing about the good old days, "children's meeting" on the bottom bunk of the double-decker bed with the blankets around as curtains, LASSI instead of LEGO, Marlene's feared warpaths, scribbling on the walls behind the sofa. I have never been WITHOUT the jing-bang as Jacinta once put it (i told her only i could call them tht).

A few months ago, I made the biggest decision of my life to date, and moved to Kedah to learn how to become a teacher. An English language teacher. I do not regret my decisionbut it physically ripped me away from that comfort zone, the "marlene, lend me your shoes"-"marc stop accidently wearing my shorts"-"lauraann gimme a sip"-"cheta answer the phone plese" zone that is. It was as if, there was some kind of invisible void, space, HOLE...no more silly arguments, no more sibling humour, no more borrowing shoes!!! For once in my life, I understood how it felt to be an only child. Then again, maybe not because I knew the joy of having siblings, an only child did not. What you don't know can't hurt you. They weren't missing anything, I had it robbed from me. (dramatic I know).

Coming home for term break cum Raya was nothing short of bliss for me, eventhough it had only been a month since i last came down. Just sitting around all day was enough. We didn't have to go for a fancy dinner. We did not have to go out at all, or do anything special. Just being around my siblings again was ecstacy enough. Random conversations about their life brought a quirky unexplainable smile to my face. Watching them squabble made me itch to join in..just for fun! so i batuapi-ed alot.

One day, i rummaged through my dad's old clothes and came across a smart old shirt, rejected by his own sons because it was too short. I tried it on. I liked it. Cheta came into the room and laughed. We saw a pile of papa's old jeans and held them up for size. Both of us tried them on one-by-one (there were about ten pairs). On him they were rather loose, but fit hiim perfectly lengthwise. On me, they were snug (bugger) but ruggedly baggy at the ends. Laughing harder, we tried more, and even picked out a few that would work out, with the right tops. Papa was baffled because he had been trying for two years to pass down his things to Cheta and Marc but they refused. (pat on my back). I gave the shirt i tried on earlier to my brother, who liked it (no surprise there) and that wrapped up our little dress-up session for the night. Priceless.

And so in the next few days, I will try to make time for them, as well as my friends. How? cutting coconuts open for Marlene, listening to Marc, manja-ing Laura, and hanging with Cheta. Thats all they really need. :P