虚擬你 *1

我想起你總在瞬間。那時我置身在廚房忽然看見外面的花瓣凋零墜下我熟練的炒菜動作忽然變得緩慢猶豫起來。原來轉眼夏天就可以離去原來轉眼秋天可以到來。我將菜炒好端上餐桌一個人配飯咀嚼着,咖啡香從杯子溢出遊滿大廳的空氣。我想起你會不會也在另一端的城市同樣舉着咖啡杯。你總是在路上,你什麼時候回來。

我從大廳踏出去一隻狗跑來舔我的腳。我輕輕將它抱起它好像有些恐懼,它溫熱的身體在顫抖。我放下它開門出去,走入一條街,你說過的一條富有詩意而浪漫的街。賣報紙的老爺爺頂着微醺的陽光在對我微笑,一位妙齡女郎在向我兜售着她籃子裡的花束。我踏入那條街道左邊的百貨市場,門口的冷氣灑下一位保安人員在打瞌睡。我走入文具類的部门想找出與你上次送我的明信片能相匹配卻不太張揚的。那時候百貨公司的音響播放着不知名的曲子我隨着節奏哼唱。我替你買了新的黑色墨水筆。我握着筆仿彿預見你握着筆,寫下一兩首隨意的詩。

我逛了一會兒從百貨公司毫無眷戀地踏出。我從懷裡掏出明信片寫下地址然後找個咖啡館的位子坐下,筆頭頂着唇邊思索該給你寫下什麼句子。你會怎樣想像現在的我呢?我的生活似乎完全凝固而膠着了,我漸漸地習慣日復一日。你能想像布丁嗎?我的生活承受不起一絲重量不然它會散裂開來。我看到遠處遊樂場裡因日光而灼人的鞦韆,我聽見孩童的尖叫和歡樂。你在哪裡?你在做些什麼?我想起你總在瞬間而瞬間又如此凌厲了。

我將明信片投入暗紅色的郵箱然後站起走出去,陽光如金粉撒下在我身後留下暗黑細緻的影子,如你離開後停留在我記憶中的遠影。

其實我曾經以為那樣的膠着會令我無所適從,我努力將三合一的包裝咖啡換成了自己親手研磨的咖啡豆,我開始在後院種了一些花草。這樣你回來以後會發現大廳的陽光多了起來,後院花圃裡滿是醉人的幽香。我拂掉窗簾打開窗戶,對面的籃球場上的少年在迅速地躍起然後投籃,籃球在框上滾了滾然後掉下來。

說起來我是無時無刻都在想念你而非僅僅一個瞬間了,想念已成我生活中唯一的流動,從凝固的狀態中拔出。我很想你可我也害怕重逢,也許你很難理解我的害怕,我已經很久沒寫作了,我讀不懂現在的小說,我總是四處溜達無所事事。我曾經如此寒冷墮落,儘管躲在陽光的臂彎裡我也會瑟瑟發抖。你不知道吧。今年你生日的那天我做了一個兩人份的蘋果派,因為你曾經如此喜歡蘋果派,那蘋果派熱了很多次也冷了很多次,直到午夜了星星掛上夜幕他們閃爍得如此驕傲。我倚在牆上不知所以地大哭起來。我忽然意識到我平凡的幸福裡也有哀傷,如你離去那天手掌心散發出的溫度,清冷得令人無從逃避。

You were a vision in the morning when the light came through,
I know I've only felt religion when I've lied with you,
You said you'll never be forgiven 'til your boys are too,
And I'm still waking every morning but it's not with you.
——Halsey

於是你變成了一幅掛在牆上的名畫了,看似透明卻有隔閡,我們中間橫着的保護膜,玻璃和防盜系統讓你的影像模糊不已。但我一次又一次翻閱你的相簿和筆記本我又看到了許多屬於你的痕跡。你到底是怎樣的一種存在呢我不禁問你。撫摸著你的字跡皆是我能想起你的每个瞬間,很多回憶與你的臉龐會驀然把我淹沒,然後我一直讓自己沉下去,好像用思念裹住自己成為一顆不會產蝶的蛹。

我一直暗暗期待你哪一天回來了可以帶回我們都愛吃的蘋果派,我憧憬着你陪我一起整理花圃,然後我們互相拿出之前買好的明信片、依照順序編在一起甚至編成一個不中斷的故事。那個故事擁有着所有離這裡極近的我和你的遠方。

別再讓我寫下去了吧,再寫下去或許我就會和其他人一樣沉溺在自身的快樂中了,其實我好像還沒告訴你我很喜歡你送的那只藍色的表,還有你曾經為我寫的詩。這些都無關緊要了。等你回來以後我會仔細地和你分享這裡所有的一切,包括下午的陽光如何漫進屋裡,它又如何像你一樣慵懶地賴在大廳久不離去。

我最近開始學做提拉米蘇蛋糕和學調焦糖摩卡咖啡,味道還不錯呢。對面搬來了新的鄰居,他的日常代步車是保時捷911 GT3,挺神氣的。我又再次趴躺在沙發上,像一條擱淺的鯨魚——也許我們會在夢中再次相遇。

我就這樣捲縮在夢中了。烤箱, 花圃和桌上剛沖泡的咖啡頃刻沒入黑暗中,我是想念你的,我花了好長的一段時間才得以坦然地說出來。你過後會給我寄來什麼樣的明信片呢我想。我輕輕牽起嘴角將頭埋進柔軟的枕頭,埋得更深一些仿彿被你擁抱。我就這樣沉湎在那種空白中

久不醒來。

#1

This is an essay, a #throwback post I've posted a very long time ago in my previous blog and it's been published in Stuff@school. So this is a copy-pasted version. Hope you'll enjoy reading this story.
 
There is an old Indian woman in our school. She is probably in her mid-60s. She has always been seen strolling in the school compound, talking to other parents and teachers, reading newspapers or stare blankly when she is bored. She's been here everyday for nearly 5 years. However, she is not a teacher nor a school cleaner.

Who is she? What is she doing inside our school everyday? These are probably a few of the questions most of the students here thought of.

I did not really care about her existence or who she is until I started to talk to her two years ago. It was our Physical Education class when my friend and I decided to skip the class because the weather was just too hot. We sat on a bench nearby the the field and started to chit chat happily. I remembered when she walked towards us, I gave her a wide smile. However, I do not remember how we started the conversation with her. In order to be more familiar, she wanted us to call her ‘Pati’ which means mistress in Tamil.

When I asked her why she was here, she told us that she has a grandson who studying in this school. However, he's unfortunately diagnosed with an unknown illness that makes him disable. He is unable to do any basic tasks such as eating, walking properly and carrying heavy school bag. Because of that, she started to follow him to school regardless of the weather and her own condition ever since he was in primary school so that she could take good care of him.

Everyday, she needs to feed him during the recess time, helps him to carry his heavy bag and provides him with assistance when he wants to go to the toilet. She's also there to prevent him from being bullied by his friends. It is not an easy tasks especially for someone her age.

Then we asked her, “Don’t you ever feel tired or frusfrated with this kind of life?” She answered with the edges of mouth slightly lifted, “No, I don’t. Maybe it’s because of the power of family love that gave me the strength to move on,”. We are deeply touched by those words and we really admire her selfless sacrifices to do anything for the sake of her family members. Her story also makes me realise about my parent’s sacrifice to raise my family. It almost brings me to tears thinking about it. After she shared about her life, she taught us some common yet simple Tamil words. We laughed at each other because of our inaccurate pronunciations. Our ‘Tamil class’ did not last long because the Physical Education class was only 45 minutes. However, we did learn a lot of values from her.

From that day onwards, I started to give more attention to her existance in school. I noticed that she will be looking quietly at her grandson who's studying in the classroom from outside, accompany and comfort him when he seemed to be jealous of other students who are enjoying themselves running and sweating in the field during the Annual Sports Day or Cross Country event. This shows how great his desire to be involved in it. Sometimes, I felt pity for him.

This shows that family is much more important than wealth. Our family members will always be there to help us when we face difficulties or in trouble waters, and no one will get left behind or forgotten. Lastly, blessings from me to that big boy of Pati and “Dey, don’t let her worry about you anymore, okay!”

*
This is an outdated post, as I said. I met Pati in school during this past holiday when I went for my Library duty and she gave me a heartwarming hug. She shaked my hand, thanking me for writing an article for her and accompanying her during my leisure time in school and chatter about just anything. I love every moment seeing her delighted expression when she talked about her beloved grandson. There was once my Malay classmate told me that 'Mr Grandson' confessed to liking her and gave her strawberries. I then told Pati about this incident and she got really nervous and insisted that he won't do that. In the end, it was verified that it's actually a misunderstanding, it was his friend who asked him to do that. From this I can see how much she loves and pampers him. 

I've known her for 4 years, and she's gone through too much. Her husband's just passed away in a few months ago, and she's recently been diagnosed with heart disease. Eventually she can take a long rest after he finished his SPM examination. His dad is also a kind person. He was always smiling at me when he's in school waiting to fetch them back home.

I'm touched, can't really describe the fuzzy sentiment in my mind. But what I'm certain is that it inspires me to take the initiative to become a better person, to reach out and help more people. I'm on my way to spread more positive energy. I'm a girl on mission now, gambateh : )