Old soldiers never die, they only fade away... (General MacArthur). I chanced upon an ex-soldier of the Malaya army. The old man approached me last night and asked if I knew what his keys were for. Raising my defences, my immediate thoughts were that he was going to ask me for money, not an uncommon ploy for people to sponge of others. Then the look of confusion in his eyes brought shame to mine. I recognised the signs of someone aged with half a memory and at once took pity on the dimunitive old man. He introduced himself as Abdul Jalil and confessed that he had been wandering around for several hours wondering how to get home.
He claimed to have come from Puchong and showed me his identity card to prove it. As if to atone for my misjudgement, I offered to send him home, which he willingly and gratefully accepted. So on we set off literally house-hunting. AJ's poor recollection of landmarks only diminished my hope that he knew where we were heading, but drive we on did. After an hour we found the house, empty. It seemed that the old tenants had shifted months ago and yes, they recognised the old man, but did not have a forwarding address or contact.
Stunned, he asked me why his family would move without his knowledge. I knew at once that logic played no part in this. Here was a confused individual and all I could think of was to assure him that all would be alright and that he should rest while we made our way back to the Kelana Jaya police station. We arrived at the station past midnight and even the police were amazed that no missing persons report were made at this hour. After much trying, we obtained a contact number - Julee, his daughter. Our call was rebuffed as the female on the other side of the line directed me to call her sister instead who lived nearby. I remember thinking to myself, "if this was my father, I'd be there in 2 minutes." Next we called Ros and true to form, she began complaining that AJ was a stubborn old man and sounded reluctant to attend to her father.
Here I was at 2am in the morning, a complete stranger minding AJ while his 13 children debated between themselves whom should take the responsibility of picking the poor fella up from the police station! Coincidentally a couple of busted VCD traders were around and ironically, they had little good to say of the ingrates! Finally at 3:30 am, Ros showed up with an accusing husband who made little effort to thank us and instead demonstrated his ire towards the old man. The officer in charge pulled him to one side and presumably gave him a piece of his mind, while I spoke only kind words towards AJ, in part wishing him all the best in an uncertain future.
Well, uncertain is probably not the right word, because as things stand, the poor chap will probably be sent to an old folks home soon...
I drove off convinced of the need to be a better man, and I hope a better son.
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