Grandfather Story

This week, my mom once again brought up reminiscences about her dad, who is also my maternal grandfather, a man whom I never knew because he died a week before I was born. Among the things that he is remembered for is the following situation.

Now, my grandfather was a loner. He detested large company, and during chinese new year, had been known to flee as soon as he got wind that visitors were coming. As someone who kept to himself, there were some times, when out of the blue, he would disappear from home without anybody's knowledge of him leaving. It remains a mystery how he is capable of such stealth that no one, not even my grandmother noticed when he packed at the crack of dawn and left the house, not to be seen for the next few days.

The only time he left a note, it was to remind my mother to water his plants.

While my grandfather never disappeared for more than a week each time, my grandmother would fret each day until he returned, laden with the booty from neighbouring countries. Once, he even brought back what looked distinctly like Thai souvenirs, including a nude sculpture of a female dancer. This figurine soon had its modesty recovered when my grandfather made a Tarzanesque outfit out of some furry and spotted material that he found. The dancer was also simultaneously equipped with a mini dagger at the hip, perhaps against would be molesters and pervs.

And, my grandmother would greet him with a mixture of relief and anger, and demand, "Where did you go? Why didn't you tell anyone you were leaving, you had me so worried." To which, my grandfather would retort, "What's there to worry about? If anything happened to me, you'll hear from the matah (police)." And that would be the end of the matter.