Saturday, September 16, 2006

Today was suppose to be my swimming lesson. It was raining at that time. My mother thought it was only a drizzle. But while we were in the taxi, it began to rain cats and dogs. I kept muttering to myself, it is only a short downpour. But I was wrong. When I reached Woodlands Swimming Complex, it was raining twice as heavy. The ticketing machines were closed due to the rainy weather. People were waiting for the rain to subside. After a while, my swimming instructor, Uncle Jerry, told us that he had to cancel this lesson. Upon hearing that, I my heart sank into my stomach. I asked my mother to let me swim at least. She allowed me to do that but only if the rain has completely stopped. The rain did subside after a while. But soon it began to rain again. I was getting impatient and forced my mother to buy the tickets from the customer service. She refused because she said that it was still raining. I begged and begged her to buy the tickets but she was adamant. So I have to wait. An hour past, I was getting restless so I decided to go home instead. It was drizzling then.

While walking home, we saw a group of elderly men playing Chinese chess. I watched them play. They played as if it was an international championship. When they played, their facial expressions were very tense and every move they need to predict and contemplate. My mother played along and she predicted the move and she was right. The old man who won the game gave my mother a grin. I wanted to join in the game but the sky was getting dark so we had to head home immediately. Even though I did not go for my swimming lesson, I still enjoyed the moment at the void deck seeing the two elderly men playing chess.

posted by Yew Weng at 8:05 PM

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