|
Jian was the class joker. He liked to play practical jokes on his classmates
and teachers. He had instigated the class prank which saw their English
teacher, Mr Deva, being led to believe that he had won the lottery. Jian had
devised the elaborate plans for the ploy. These included a phony phone call
from a supposed lottery authority. He also enjoyed playing the fool with his
classmates, squirting them with invisible ink and scaring the girls with
bloody body parts he made himself. He was a lot of fun but unfortunately he
sometimes went too far. Eng Kee was extremely short-sighted. He wore
specially prescribed spectacles, and his classmates joked that he was blind
without them. They remembered one day that he had forgotten to bring his
spectacles to school. He had spent the whole day walking into cupboards and
doors. His eyesight was so poor, he had even mistaken one of his teachers
for a classmate.
One day, Eng Kee was washing his face after a physical education class.
He left his spectacles on the sink. Jian noticed that Eng Kee's spectacles
had been left unattended.
He began to think how hilarious it would be to watch Eng Kee in action
without his spectacles. Urged on by such crazy thoughts, Jian seized Eng
Kee's spectacles and ran off with them.
Soon, the final bell rang and everyone dashed off to pack their
belongings and head home. Eng Kee was furious but he had to wait for Jian to
come back. In the meantime, Jian's school bus was leaving. Jian jumped on
it, completely forgetting that he had Eng Kee's spectacles. Eng Kee saw him
boarding the bus and rode his bicycle off in anger.
Almost a mile from the school, there was a large pothole on the road. Eng
Kee rode his bicycle into it. He was thrown off his bicycle and fell on the
road. Fortunately there were no cars passing by. However, Eng Kee fractured
his right leg and sprained his right wrist.
The trial examination for the SPM was underway and there was no way Eng
Kee could sit for it. Everyone felt very sorry for Eng Kee and were furious
with Jian when they found out that the accident could have been caused by
Jian's stupid act.
Jian himself felt very depressed. He knew that Eng Kee was depending on
his trial examination results to apply for a scholarship. It was a lesson
Jian had to learn. It took a long time for him to forgive himself. |
