15 July 2006, Saturday

The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late. ~Charles Caleb Colton

After the previous sleepless night, I had difficulty waking up in the morning. I forced my lethargic body to respond to the screaming alarm clock. Shoving Angel beside me, I surreptitiously hoped that she wouldn’t budge and I’d have an excuse to stay in bed for another five more minutes. To my dismay, that little imp shot up like a bullet, so unlike her normal self.

Nonetheless, I stayed sprawled in my bed while listening to the excited bee buzzing around the room getting ready for her big day.

“Mummy, do I wear the costume or my uniform?”

“Mummy, need I wash my hair?”

“Mummy, shall I go to the shower now?”

“Mummy…”

Oh bother! She’s worse than my alarm clock! I scrambled out of bed reluctantly and gave her instructions as to what to do and what to wear.

The rest of the day proceeded monotonously.

We went to the school.

Rachel went ahead to attend the National Day Parade Preview which was opened to all Primary Five students nationwide.

I helped Angel and the other three Chinese dancers with their hair and makeup.

We waited for the school bus to arrive.

We headed to the Asian Civilisations Museum.

We reached the destination which was flocked by armies of people.

We proceeded to the second level where the kids were supposed to perform. That was when things started to sizzle.

We were informed that our performance will be due in thirty minutes time. The kids chattered nervously while waiting for their turn. Angel was the only Primary One kid in the entire dance group elected to perform for that occasion. She was also the only one without prior performing experience. As proud as I was of her, I worried that she’d lose her nerve too.

The time finally arrived. I squeezed to the front to catch the clearest view of my precious gem. Her rigid smile on her face nearly tore my heart, thinking of the panic she was going through. However, when her petrified eyes fell upon me amidst the crowd, the corners of her mouth lifted into a brilliant smile. I caught the gleam in her eye and couldn’t help but feel so proud of her. I may have forgotten to mention that she had managed to learn the dance steps within a week for this showdown!

Just as everything seemed to be sailing smoothly, it happened. Angel forgot to move into her position at a cue of the music. The dance instructor managed to remind her from the side of the performing ground. But the damage was done. The lights in her eyes darkened. Her smile froze. Her mind seemed to turn blank as she had to peek at her partners for the next few actions. Her panic was so palpable it made my heart ached.

Then came the last part of the performance, where she had once told me was her favourite part. She immediately picked up the tempo again and ended the performance with perfect closure.

I was overwhelmed with emotions. There was this uncontrollable grin that stretched across my face; there was this tears that threatened to spill any moment; there was this excited leap of heart which caused me some light-headedness.

The crowd went wild too. It’s hard to imagine since they were a batch of grandpas and grandmas. But they were most probably won over by the few adorable little ones amongst the dancers.

Just as Angel was tailing her dance-mates back to the resting room, two amiable grandmas stopped her with their outstretched hands and shower her with “oohs” and “aahs”.

“Girl, how old are you?”

“Girl, you are in primary what?”

“Girl, where do you live?”

“Girl, you are so nice!”

Angel was temporarily stupefied by the attention directing at her. But she managed to answer the questions and melted the Grandmas’ hearts.

Losing the other dancers in the crowd, I had no choice but cut short the “interview” and bade the well-wishers farewell.

I was so proud of my girl!

We reached my in-law’s place at around 6pm. After dinner, I lose consciousness for a brief two hours, woke up, removed Angel’s makeup and shower for her, and headed home.

The day hadn’t ended. I still had to fetch Rachel from the school at 11.45pm. We took a twenty-minute walk back home as the bus had ceased service by then, or so I had deemed. Poor Angel almost blacked out along the way.

We managed to reach home at around 12 midnight, when all the magical powers were lost.

We shed the fanciful layers off our worn-out bodies, and slump our limp carcass onto our beds. For once, I did not have problem falling asleep.