Little Ladies Part 3

I have to tell you that when my marriage was on the brink, my parents divorced.  That amplifies everything. It was a family's massive destruction. Everyone and everything was falling apart.

But the girls and I had a life to live.

When they were schooling in PJ, they would take the public bus home, at the time called Sri Jaya buses, now no longer existing on the road.  At the office I would worry like hell whether did they get on the right bus, not to mention the long walk to the bus stop in the hot sun.

One day the teacher called. Nothing serious. He said, Aishah seemed very quiet in school, could he put her in the chest club?  Chest club? Of course he can. Just the thing for her. ( Now she is rather good at it).  But right away  after the call I quickly ran to the toilet because I couldn't control the tears.  Someone cared.

When using the school bus, Hajar always missed it. That time she was in Form 1. She would call me at the office and said, "I am going by cab" and I would worry like hell if she would arrive safely, is the cab driver a good man.

Mimi  in Std 1, everytime she is late to school and the prefect asked her the reason, she would  say a standard excuse  'Kakak terlewat', even when Kakak is not longer in that school.  Once I was late, the class teacher said she went to search for her in the teacher's room and sat with her.

My hair turned white before time.

We did not have the luxury of consistance and order, where someone  is there to pick the children, someone is there waiting at home, it was living from day to day as keylatch children and frenzied mum. Being a piece of a broken family, broken from ties and during when the stigma was still prevalent, as a single parent, broken too from society.

Other than the children's future, one more thing I had made sure,  that the girls are happy at home,  even when it means no rest for mummy. Read books, play games, colouring, drawing, going to the park, playroller blades, buy cartoon videos and cds (we watch every walt disney cartoon movies), go to shopping malls and spend good money on ice-cream (10rm was good money) and burgers, whatever we could afford. Sending them for tuition, even when that means no nice clothes to go to work in, just picking up the best buys and pray they match. Pink and purple will do,orange and green also can. Tuition was priority in the expenses.  Especially exam years.

Only now I can spend on clothes but close to 50 years , who would notice me?