The Most Expensive Jewellery Box

It did not seem like yesterday when I first knew Lynn. It seemed like decades. We were classmates since Primary One, but we hardly noticed each other in the crowded class of 55 students. I knew Chin Howe, Lynn’s neighbour who happened to sit beside me from Primary One until Primary Three. I knew Chia Mei, the girl who had been in the same kindergarten class with me. I knew Shaw Cheng, the boy who never gets tired of picking a fight with me. I knew Keelan, the Australian-Chinese mixed boy who was also my kindergarten classmate. I knew a lot of people, but not Lynn.

The first time I noticed Lynn was in Primary Three, when she got to be one of the top three students in the class. I was in top five. We still didn’t talk much to each other and I could only remember her as the tall girl in class who always wore a Minnie Mouse hair band. Oh, there’s something else about her, her dad drove the Classic Mercedes Benz back then.

In Primary Five, we got closer because she was sitting in front of me. I was not happy with the teacher’s arrangement, as Lynn was taller and so sometimes she would block my view. That time, she still wore her Minnie Mouse hair band, which made her head bigger and blocked more of my view. Never in my life have I disliked Minnie Mouse so much.

One day after recess, I was accused for simply throwing rubbish in the class. Cleanliness was like the top priority in our Chinese school, so the teacher was very mad at me. Using her cane, she threatened to beat me if I refuse to admit my mistake, but it was not my fault. The whole class was very quiet, except of the voice of the teacher shouting at me and me denying it. Then all of the sudden, both of us went quiet. It was not because the teacher had gotten the idea that I right, or that I had been forced to admit it, it was because Lynn cried. I knew Lynn did not throw the rubbish and she was not the one who accused me, but she just cried. Somehow her crying did its magic on the teacher and I was forgiven.

“Why did you cry back then?” I asked her after a few years.

“I don’t know. I just felt like crying,” she replied. No matter what the reason was, that incident did make our friendship stronger, though it was from that day onwards too, Lynn had been crowned ‘The Crying Baby’. She would cry for anything, a simple story, a simple card, a simple sentence, … She could win every time in our lame Who-Can-Cry-The-Fastest competition.

Before Primary Five ended, Lynn gave me an invitation card one day. It was folded like a letter, with a Hello Kitty in Kimono printed on the corner where the stamp supposed to be. In the center, it was written ‘Dear Connie Tang, Holiday ‘MOVIE’ing at Riverside Cineplex’. Below it was a pair of Hello Kitties in blue and pink. Inside was the detail of the event, even the dress code was written on it. That was the first thing Lynn gave me. I can still recall the details of the card because I still keep it nicely in my drawer now. Since then, giving each other birthday presents has been our yearly ritual, sometimes we have Christmas presents too. Handbags, earrings, necklaces, purses, cosmetics, cards, handmade decos, books, …

This year, Lynn made me a white furry jewellery box before she went back to her university. I’m using it to put some of my earrings.

Thanks Lynn. I know friendship hardly last forever, especially when I’m the engineer and you’re the dentist; it’s like the chicken talking to the duck when we’re trying to tell each other what we’ve learnt in our universities. But I do hope it will last until the day when we get bored of each other. You know I always envy you for your fine hands? Even though I do like art crafts like you too, I can hardly do anything as fine as yours. I think you got the gift from your mother, since she can bake one of the best cheese cake and cheese sticks I’ve ever tasted.

Oh ya, by the way, you’re right…The fur does come off easily. I think you know I have allergy right?