Even as this blog is titled living in and around happy street, as we live this life, we all know that not everything that comes our way belongs to the happy category. This entry is a sad one. I wanted to put something down, words we can’t always articulate during the height of sadness when events like these occur.
Last week, on the morning of Monday, 21st April, whilst I was in office, I received a group chat from a secondary school classmate, informing that one of ours, Raphael / Kim Leong / Garfield, whichever we chose to call him, had passed away the night before.
I thought it was a sick joke, and called ‘Onion’ straight away. He said, ‘I only just noticed you left the group chat … I had sent this message a few hours ago and adding as many to the group as possible.’ I said, ‘I left the group last week because I was having an earlier night but got woken by you guys exchanging so many messages during Liverpool’s game which I obviously had no interest so I left so I can get some sleep lah! Now April’s fool is long gone. Tell me this is just a sick joke.’
Apparently not. Garfield had been battling cancer of the blood vessels for the last 2 years. He had kept it rather quiet and only informed a few of the closer friends amongst us. His journey in the last 2 years battling this condition was captured in an article published in the Straits Times on the day of his funeral.
I went down to his wake that very Monday night. There was a big group of us secondary school mates who gathered there. It was rowdy. Some of whom I have not seen for many years apart from the odd picture, etc., on Facebook. It’s such an irony that it took the passing of a friend to have the largest congregation of old friends in one place and time. ‘Onion’ and Vincent (Low) were buzzing around, helping Garfield’s family out with logistics and busy communicating with all of us, coming around to every one of us to get contact nos. of folks he may have left out and haven’t yet informed. While he was doing all that, Onion kept saying, ‘we should celebrate life, celebrate Kim Leong’s life!’.
While I was busy catching up and bantering with them all, images of my time spent with Garfield fleeted in and out of my mind. We were not close, but we had remained in touch as a group of secondary school friends. We met up as weekend warriors playing football after we started work, until multiple injuries caught up with me and I had to stop playing altogether. Garfield stopped shortly after me as well, as he had always had a bad knee. The world being a small place, his wife turned out to be my junior whom I oriented in CJ as part of my orientation group. The bonds of friendship had always been there, though never kept in close links. We had met up in groups thereafter for smaller, occasional gatherings. It dawned on me now why we haven’t met up over the last 2 years.
The image of us playing football together filled my mind over the next few days. I told Onion that the one that kept coming up, while I could not recall the opponents and the date, was a match at the fields at Marsiling where we often played. I started the second half as I arrived late cos I woke up late *sheepish, probably had drinks the night before*. We were 2 down and came back to 2-2, but conceded a late goal. Last kick of the game was a corner for us. As I ran across to take the corner, I glanced at Kim Leong and we gave each other a knowing look. He hung around the edge of the penalty box, the D area. I knew that if I can place the ball close to the penalty spot, he’d try to have a go at it. Not always accurate, but I wrapped that right boot well around the ball and it sailed, spot on, to where it was supposed to. I recalled Garfield running towards the penalty spot and rose between two defenders and planted a header. He looked majestic, and you could hear the thud as he connected with it. I put my hands up about celebrate the equalizer, only to turn into despair as he planted the header straight at the goalie who parried it away. Final whistle … We trudged back to the sidelines. I walked towards him and grabbed him by the head and said ‘I put it where I said I would!’, and for once, he didn’t have the usual Garfield smile and winced, ‘Can’t believe that didn’t go in …’.
Why did this image keep coming up? I guess apart from being United fans, this was the one moment we had the most connection, on the pitch, celebrating life and sports.
(This picture of Sharpe and Cantona was reminiscent of the exchange, except here Cantona scored from an inch perfect cross by Sharpe against Man City in 92/93 season. How I wish now he’d scored.)
Thursday came … Funeral. I wanted to be there to say my last goodbyes to him. Eugene had made his way back from KL while Yong Meng had flown in just in the morning from New York, to say goodbye to an old friend and were pallbearers. I made myself useful, locking the main doors, little things where I could be of use. The church of St Mary’s of the Angels is a beautiful and serene church. The ceremony was simple and tranquil. We moved to Mandai after that, where family and friends gave eulogies before finally seeing him on his final journey. Standing beside Onion wasn’t that good an idea on hindsight as onions make you tear. Grown men fighting back tears wasn’t a pretty sight.
As Onion said, celebrate life. Celebrate Kim Leong’s life. I’ll remember the good times. I’ll remember his easy going, unassuming ways, his Garfield like smile. Goodbye, my friend.
Living In And Around Happy Street 