Life may not be a bed of roses, toiling the earth in deep jungle. As for me, I am not the one to complain. I have Ma all to myself and as for friends, there were children of other settlers that we met occasionally especially when adults had to meet over work or social matters.
I remember a real nice neighbour whom we addressed as Tok though they were only of my father's age then. Two of the children were slightly older than me and the youngest younger (than me). The father was Tok Semail, the wife Tok Sepiah and the grandpa Tok Yak'kok. According to my elder brother, Tok Sepiah is still around. The eldest boy was Abe Lah to me while the sisters were Yoh and Yah. Time that I look them up the next time I balik kampung. Seemed that Abe Lah (now known as Pok Lah in the neighbourhood) is a successful farm entrepreneur.
Though a neighbour, the family's house was more than a calling distance away. Ma would be busy with housework or helping father in the farm. It was not always that she be available to accompany me to meet my friends at the neighbour's. So visiting my friends would mean having to make the journey all by myself. When frightened you tend to 'see' things and living in this jungle settlement was no exception. It was not that I imagined things, but when a millipede can be a foot long and an inch across that can be very frightening to a small child. In need of companionship your ingenuity got the better of you. I closed my eyes and ran all the way (to the neighbour's)!!! The path must be well trodden that I did not knock into trees or get entangled in the bushes.
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