My Longkang

I once met a guy who looked like my father. It was at a wedding reception in the O.X.A or O.F.A or something in Pulau Tikus. I remember it as a white washed bungalow building and possibly the name of the street was Victoria Green or something like that. Is there such a street in Penang? He was a singer and guitarist.

He was an instant sensation and the whole clan was there. His band members were stunned to see young and old coming close to have a look at him performing. It must have either unnerved him or given him much needed inspiration.

I struck up a conversation beating around the bush. It puzzled him too that I was chatting with him. Obviously he was puzzled but anxious to find out what it was all about. Together my cousin and I exchanged pleasantries with him. The uncles and aunties were on the edge of their seats eavesdropping.

Until the million ringgit question was asked by my cousin one could almost cut the air with a knife. The tension in the air was so thick.

He was unaware of the importance of the question. He responded easily telling us his back ground. Years after Ah San’s death, we had found his other ‘possible son’. Ah San who survived his ‘execution’ in the Second World War had another offspring of whom we were blissfully unaware of until that day. At the end of the function when the family wanted to exchange contacts, he had disappeared.

Perhaps it was for the best. Technically he is a half brother and some where out there in this world. He looked even more like my father than me.
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This post is getting long and rambling and getting nowhere. The reason : there has been another sighting of this same said guy in Gurney Drive last night. I received two calls from relatives this morning anxious to update me on the matter.

I have always wondered how he is doing and if he is indeed my half brother. But I really do not know how to deal with this matter. Someone told me not to reopen the whole can of worms. After all, it all happened such a long time ago. But a part of me is curious and wants to recognize him as a half brother.