Our first car
was a Fiat, and the license plate was S899. S stood for Sibu, and 899 meant it
was the 899th car in Sibu. Margaret liked the number so much that
for one of her cars, she bid for the same number. To the Chinese, 8 sounded
like prosperous, 9 sounded like forever. 899[1] sounded
prosperous forever and ever. Was that a good omen? We did not prosper
financially, but we prospered in other aspects. The nine children who rode in
the car have college or university degrees. Two have PhDs. Not many people
could beat that.
We loved that
car; it was a Fiat 1100 and had two tones in colour. The front seat was one
entire seat across, not buckets ones like today’s cars. It suited us fine as
there were so many children. On Saturdays, everyone except Mother would wash
the car. Father was particular with the fabric we used. Old singlets were best
as they did not scratch or leave behind any lint. We polished till it shone. We
were happy washing because we were proud to be the only family in the
neighbourhood to have a car.
That car was the only car I washed
enthusiastically. The subsequent cars,
and my own cars, I never wash or care to wash. If I washed, I told my husband,
I would wash them reluctantly. I only washed my first car.
With the car,
it meant we had wheels. We went for short rides and we went for long rides. The
airport was a favourite destination, Maybe, we all thought so nostalgic of when
Father went and came back from London. We saw planes landing and taking off,
there was no aerobridge then and we actually saw people going into the plane. (In 2004, we all went to Sibu for a reunion
celebrating Father’s 81st birthday, when the rest of the entourage
went by Boeing 707, and used the aerobridge, Henry and his family flew Fokker
Friendship, so his children can experience the feeling of going into the
aeroplane.)
We went into
the nearly constructed Oya Road to the vast hinterland of Sibu, and had
picnics, waddled in a beautiful lake and climbed the mountains. We now drove to
Grandfather’s Chan and Kong’s house. It was no longer hours of noisy and smelly
petrol travel by motor launch.
We drove up
to Grandfather Kong’s house the day before the grand crossing so that we would
be the first cars to be transported in such a big boat that carried cars. We
were fascinated by the ferry at Durin near to Grandfather Kong’s house. We were
so happy to be among her first passengers during her maiden crossing. We had to
get off the cars when we were crossing the river.
Once, a car
failed to board the ferry properly and it fell into the river. In a matter of
minutes, the whole family drowned. If I
were in Sarawak, I would be the first in line to use the ferry on her swan song
crossing in 21st October 2006. It was after all, so much part of my
heritage.
[1]899 About our picnic sessions with sandwiches,
cakes, biscuits and fruits in picnic basket in Oya Road, we all crammed into
the S899 - We went during the weekends and had so many photographs taken.
People said we were so angmoh-sai (Anglophile) We
bought the number 899 for our Honda car and Father had nostalgic feeling
towards that Honda. That is why we are still keeping that car. He had his
secret number to his James Bond briefcase as 899. All our suitcases also
followed that number *** Margaret
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