– Chinese proverb
Yesterday morning, a kind neighbour touched my heart. I had just emptied the household trash into the wheelie bin outside the house and was talking to his eight-year-old son when he approached me.
The 50-year-old soft-spoken man carried a can of grease in one hand. I only noticed the can after he told me he was going to help me grease the bearings on my gate.
“Yesterday morning, I saw you had a hard time closing the gate. I think it is time to grease it,” he told me.
“Yesterday afternoon, when I wanted to do it, your big dog was very fierce. It kept barking and growling at me and refused to let me stand near your gate.”
Surprised by the kind offer, all I could utter was “Thank you, thank you very much.”
Then I quickly added, “Oh, when I am not around, beware of my big dog. He is very protective. He may bite you.”
I did not tell him that I had phoned my son immediately yesterday morning after I had trouble with the gate.
I told him to come over to the house and look at the gate whenever he was free.
Instead, he told me to get a can of lubricant spray from his room in the house and apply it to the gate. I did as told but there was not much improvement.
Later, after much pulling and pushing, the gate finally moved, albeit slowly. Since it was late already, I quickly locked it before rushing off to work. In the office, I had no time to think about the gate.
Unknown to me, my kind neighbour had witnessed what was happening to me and my gate. He saw how hard I had pushed and pulled it.
When I came home, I found that thanks to the lubricant, it was slightly easier to open the gate.
“I guess I have to wait for Pat to come and look at it when he’s free,” I told myself.
Yesterday morning, I was surprised by my neighbour’s amazing act of kindness. It really made me happy.
After applying the grease, he asked me to move the gate to and fro. I did as he instructed.
I was happy to note that now in my hands, the gate seemed to dance like a ballerina. It was no longer groaning like an old lady.
This kind neighbour and his small family live in the single-storey house directly opposite mine. We have been neighbours for over 30 years.
We moved in as children and grew old as the years went by. In that period, he lost his grandmother and parents while I lost my younger brother and parents.
Because of work, I never noticed the man before but I’ve learnt he is slightly older than my nephews who used to live in my house as they were growing up.
I do not know when he got married or when his son was born. But suddenly, he had a wife and a son.
But my late mother was close to his parents. Maybe it was because they were of the same age and also because my mother was friendly to everybody who lived in the neighbourhood.
I learnt that when my niece, Ah Hong, was small and still schooling, the kind man used to give lifts to her and my mother from our house to the city centre.
I only befriended the man, who is young enough to be my son if I had married very early, not so long ago.
In fact, I became close to his eight-year-old son first before I talked to him and his wife.
Whenever I weed or water my pots of plants in front of the house, the boy will be there. You see, he loves to come over and talk to me.
We usually talk about my dogs, his school and his hobbies. With him, I practise my Mandarin, a subject I learnt in primary school but rarely speak.
Whenever I go shopping, I try to buy him snacks for him. He has a Chinese name but I usually call him “Di Di” (little brother). Meanwhile, he calls me “Po Po” which means ‘grandmother”.
Because it has been raining lately on my days off, nowadays, I seldom touch the pots of plants in front of the house. Still, the young boy will call out “Poh Poh” from his house whenever he sees me in front of my house.
The polite little boy reminds me of my grandson, Raidon. They are good friends. Di Di likes skating and has even presented a small cute toy in the form of a skateboard to Raidon.
“Please give this to your grandson. Tell him it is from me,” he told me one day as I was getting into my car.
Raidon was jubilant when he received the skateboard toy. So far, the two boys have not met again because they are both busy with school.
I consider myself blessed to have good neighbours. When you have good neighbours, I guess three is enough.
Although I live alone with my dogs and cat, I don’t feel lonely. I know my kind neighbours are keeping a watch over me and they care for me. Thank you, God, for them.
