Commonwealth Essay 2008: Blue

"The Blue Scar has been a great hit among the public. The touching plot had captivated the hearts of many. It had hit sales of more than 18, 000 copies." As he read the headlines of today's news, what he felt was not exhilaration but of deep unhappiness.

A fair, smooth face that would have been ravishing, was smeared by a blue scar. Mrs Lim used her hand to wipe her sweat off her forehead. She looked up and saw a long line of students queuing up at her stall in the canteen. With a heavy sigh, she continued serving drinks and tidbits to the hungry and thirsty students.

"Yes?" she asked as politely as she could. Even under the shade of the school, her sweat just would not listen as they kept dripping down from her brow. All she needed was a well-deserved break, but it never seemed to come.

"A bottle of ice lemon tea," the boy in front of her snapped, as if she was supposed to read his mind and give him his drink immediately.

Mrs Lim hurried to the back of the stall to get one out of the refrigerator and held it out for the boy in exchange of a dollar. The boy grabbed the drink from her, threw a dollar on the counter and stomped away haughtily. Sometimes, the people were more polite, other times, it was worse.

She was already very tired, and the least people can do for her is to be polite. Sometimes, she thought of quitting her job. But that would defeat her main purpose in working in her son's school as a canteen vendor. When her husband died nearly three years ago, she had vowed at his deathbed that she would take care of their one and only child. If anything untoward happened to her son, how could she answer to her husband and live her life as per normal? She would never forgive herself for that. Being in the vicinity of her son gave her the assurance that she could look after him.

Presently, she glanced at the clock. Four-thirty, it read aloud. It was already so late and why were there so many students still in the canteen? Suddenly, it hit her like a boulder. The Ordinary Levels examinations are starting tomorrow and those were secondary four students, who preferred to study in the school with their friends than in the comfort of their home. Between orders, she surveyed the canteen for the familiar features of her child. There he was, in the midst of his friends in a far corner, chatting and laughing together with his friends, his textbook thumbed at a particular page.

"Well, it's about time to go home," Mrs Lim thought. She pulled off her apron and washed her hands. She slung her small black but beautiful bag over her shoulder and waved goodbye to her colleagues. She made her way to her son and said, "Let's go."

Andrew quickly packed his bag and waved goodbye to his friends, who gave him a high-five. He caught up with his mother's lead.

"How many times must I tell you not to show yourself in front of my friends?" he burst out. "How many times must I tell you not to embarrass me?"

Mrs Lim only nodded and grabbed her bag for comfort. "As long as Andrew is happy, I don't mind doing anything. What's the use if he grows up, but is unhappy?" she thought.

"Tomorrow," Andrew continued, making sure to contain his anger in his voice. "You do not need to come to school to work, right?"

Without even a glance at his mother, much less waiting for a response, he continued.

"So, I don't expect you to be anywhere near the school!" he spat out, emphasizing the last few words.

Mrs Lim did not respond, but instead continued walking to their small three-room flat.

The next day, Andrew made his way to school to take his first examination paper. On the way to the examination hall, he noticed his friends were waiting for him and he propelled himself towards them, striking up a conversation immediately.

Five minutes before the examination started, they began to enter the examination hall. The teacher in front of the hall asked for their Identity Card. Andrew flipped open his wallet and stuck his hand in for his Identity Card. He took out ... nothing.

"Don't panic," he told himself. But that only made himself more anxious. He tried again on in another compartment but drew up a blank. He repeated the same process several times, with his wallet, and his pockets, bag but to no avail.

At last, he sighed. "Okay, panic," he thought. The examination hall was almost full with only four minutes left to the start of the paper! He eliminated his choices. No way was he going to run back home and collect his Identity Card-there was not enough time.

Three minutes left.

Andrew started to pace up and down the corridor.

"What's wrong?" One of his friends asked him.

"My Identity Card-I forgot to bring it!" Andrew shouted out breathlessly.

A chorus of "How could you do that" and "Oh my God" started.

Just then, he heard some footsteps. His mother appeared beside him.

"Wha...What are you doing here?" Andrew whispered uneasily.

His mother just held out his Identity Card. She saw Andrew's eyes widen in surprise, but he made no effort to thank her. He snatched it from her and joined her friends in the examination hall.

"Who is that?" One of Andrew's friends asked.

"Yeah, she's so ugly, don't tell me she's your mother?" Another friend egged on.

"She ... she's my m ... maid," Andrew managed to force the word out.

Unfortunately, Mrs Lim overheard the conversation. Her tears started streaming from her face as she flew down the stairs. Without looking where she was going, she ran across the road. A magenta Mercedes appeared out of the blue. The driver behind the windscreen pushed the center of the steering wheel. But Mrs Lim did not hear the warning sound.

Bang!

It was as if an explosion had occurred.

"Mother!" Andrew exclaimed, hoping against hope that his mother would not be involved in whatever that has happened. He joined a bunch of students at the railing and saw what he did not want to see.

"Call the ambulance! Someone call 9-9-5!" Andrew exclaimed, hysterical. He sprinted out of the examination hall and dashed to his mother.

"Wake up... Say something... Anything...,"Andrew allowed his emotions to overrule him.

As if on cue, the unmistakably sound of an ambulance rang out.

"Quick... Quick," Andrew pleaded. He saw his mother being put onto a stretcher, loaded into the ambulance and saw it drove away. He hailed an empty cab to follow the ambulance to the hospital, all the time praying that everything will be all right.

At the hospital, he flung open the double doors and allowed the smell of medicine wash over him as he headed for the emergency room just in time to see a doctor exit the room. He rushed forward and cried "How's my mother?"

"It's Code Blue, if you know what I mean," the doctor in white replied calmly. "She's in critical condition, we'll promise to do everything we can to save your mother."And with that, he walked away, leaving Andrew alone.

Never in his life had he ever experienced this. He understood the term "Code Blue"-he had learnt all the codes used in the medical field by heart last December when he was an internship in Tan Tock Seng Hospital. It is a medical emergency in which a team of medical personnel work to revive an individual in cardiac arrest, and that, Andrew thought, did not point to the positive side at all. But what could he do? He could only wait. All this time, doctors and nurses entered and exited the room. Praying hard, Andrew felt a rush of anxiety swept over him like a wave again and again.

After what seemed like an eternity, the red light above the room went off and a doctor came out.

"Are you a kin of Mrs Fiona Lim?" he asked.

"Yes, how's my mother?" Andrew said breathlessly.

The doctor bowed his head low. "You can see your mother now. We have done all we could."

Andrew burst inside the room to see several tubes poking into various parts of his mother. At that moment, a dull monotonous tone sounded through the room.

"No...,"Andrew cried. "W...Why must this happen to y... you..."

Presently, a tear welled up in Andrew's left eye. He blinked. It unwillingly left the comfort of the eye and rolled down his cheek, smudging the word "Scar".