I had a strange dream last night. Or was it a nightmare? I don't normally remember this sort of thing once I wake but I do at rare occasions, only to forget the whole dream 5 minutes later. I decided to pen this down quickly to immortalise this odd dream.
No laughing allowed. Dreams are seldom rational. Many a times you can't make sense out of it, maybe it isn't meant to be. I dreamt that I was back in Secondary School days, the old campus at Clarence Lane.
In the dream, I felt like a apparition. I could float and no one seemed to be able to see me. The dream began with me inhumanely high up looking down the little field between the band room and the classroom. I was facing the Long House. It was broad daylight but there wasn't a single soul and movement in the entire school. Everything looked still, and stone cold.
Then I heard singing. It sound enchanting and haunting at the same time. The singing was from the music room, not far from where I was yet it felt like echoes of voices from a faraway place. The song was "Amazing Grace", a song where every pupil of my cohort sang multiple times under the firm leadership of Mrs Hsu, the music teacher. The song was sang by boys. It got to be my classmates, we were the last batch of all-boys class in Class 1A, regrettably but notably.
As the boys yelled the song in spite of the annoyance of Mrs Hsu, I drifted across the Long House, across the Teacher's Room and descended at the Island. I never knew the school could look like this from that angle. Roof tiles and all. The view turned 180 degrees to the teacher's room. I saw the first girl whom I set my eyes on. She was from Sec 1C and was standing at the same place at the kerb abut the Teacher's Room before the small drain, wearing her St John's T-shirt looking chubby with that look. Then her image faded off just as mysteriously as she appeared. So did "Amazing Grace".
On my left outside the Chemistry Lab, a platoon of spectres appeared. I recognised them. They were my classmates in Sec 1A. I couldn't find myself among them. I knew why they were standing there, grinning. They couldn't go home whereas the rest could, again. The ghostly figures of my classmates blinked and disappeared before I could make a move. Behind me, I heard the shouts of Ms Chee, our PE teacher. I turned and saw my classmates running their 2.4km run.
I recognised that scene. It could be our first ever 2.4km test. The class was split into 2 groups. I was the in first group to run. 7.5 rounds later, I melted under the passageway where the little zebra crossing was to catch my breath. The next group began their run. By their 4th round, I recovered and observed my classmates. I saw the leading runner Isawadi, ran past me. He bothered to turn and stared at me with enlarged eyes and a idiotic grin, the same way as he did that day. Dude zipped past shortly after and figures after figures, then a robot stomped past and the rest. I remembered asking Isawadi how to get good stamina like him over a plate of Mee Goreng at Clementi Hawker centre.
He told me, "Eat oxtail and you will be as good as me."
Brother, you fucking liar.
Abruptly, my vision zoomed towards the drinks stall. Boys were inducing gaseous water sprouts with the straws in their glass bottles. My classmates. We even knew which drink did the deed best, that white nameless drink.
Then I floated formlessly up and through steel, concrete and wood and ended at the School Hall. There was a huge group of people. Old folks. On a banner, it wrote "25 years reunion, (1991-1994)" There were many familiar faces. I could name many of them. Many brought their spouse and kids. Some were in great ageless shape and some were shapeless and aged but all of them looked excited and happy. It was a great atmosphere. Familiar music were played all night from Firehouse to Bon Jovi, Kenny G to Guns 'N' Roses. It was all so 90s. There were dinner and performances, laughters and wild clapping throughout. Everyone felt young for a while.
The finale was a fellow classmate playing the guitar and singing us a song. Everyone joined in the chorus,
Those were the days my friend,Before the song ends, the singing gradually shifted from live to faraway echoes, the same as the dream began. That's all I could recall. Bizarre yeah?
We thought they'd never end,
We'd sing and dance for-ever and a day,
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
For we were young and sure to have our way.
Lalala lah lala, lalala lah lala
Those were really vivid memories of the past. I miss the old days too, life is just so much simpler back then. Hopefully, I will get a chance to stomp in Perth next year or so. You keep me updated if there are any scheduled races in perth. I am hoping to do a run there while visiting you.
ReplyDelete@The running robot: I'm totally not sure if they have these events here. Come to think of it, they might. I'll keep a look out. Be careful of the need to climatise here so dun go for v long runs here. Air feels a bit different when u are new here.
ReplyDeleteYep just start short first.Will probably take a week to acclimatise,. I did a run in Poland at 5 degrees Celsius with jacket, gloves and all. Did 3km before steam started emitting from my body. Strange sensation but good fun!
ReplyDelete@ The running Robot: lol. did u take any pictures? I saw Leonard steam through his NCC uniform before. Wasn't a good sight to be honest.
ReplyDeleteNope didnt take any picture of the steams. But you can view the route I ran over here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.endomondo.com/workouts/29388373
@The running robot : excellent. so u intend to run a small distance at 100 countries?
ReplyDeleteSo far, Malacca, Krakow, Wroclaw, Banská Bystrica, Vienna, Dubai (somewhere in the desert hence more like Oman). Very short runs, 3km and below.
ReplyDeleteAnd counting. Lets hope I can do more in the future.
@the running robot: u can do a scrap book in future! u dun have to be the man who did 100km in one country. u'll do 100 runs in 100 countries
ReplyDeletePossible, but doubt I will travel so much in future. Honeymoon was an exception, I guess.
ReplyDelete