Here is another class essay.
Christopher was awkwardly quiet this time. Usually he was always making conversations about his law firm or about his misbehaving 4-year old son. Even Lily was silent. These kids creeped me. Usually Lily was always singing aloud or maybe even talking about how new ol fields were being found. I sat in the back seat, thinking to myself, I lead a good life, I am 60 tomorrow and I am smiling to myself, a life well spent.
We approached the Veranda Complex a majestic mansion, built over a hundred years ago by the British imperialists. My children were taking me out for lunch, we were to meet their mother, Amanda there. Strangely the gardens of the mansion were quiet, usually it was filled with people, all dressed formally, talking, gossiping and drinking tea. All the snobs. Ironically I was becoming one.
We got out of the car. My son, handed to me my cane, I took it from his archery-saw hand. I looked into his eyes, I saw the eyes of endurance and determination of a young man. I slowly got out of the car; falling off the stairs would not give good results! My daughter led me to the entrance. We walked into the refurnished mansion, there I was, Amanda. Hair white with strands of grey hair, thick half-inch glasses and still elegant just like the 37 years ago. “Bernard, why so down?”, “Where is everyone?”
“Come”.
She led me through the lobby, then we entered the dining hall. It was quiet. The four of us sat at the long table. I at the head. Then suddenly a string quartet came out on the stage and suddenly started playing. Christopher and Lily stood up. Then out of the blue, a group of similar aged people as me was flooding the entire eating hall. My eyes widened, “By good grace! Sharves, Aziz, Jia Sek , and is that Ruth?”
I was dumbfounded, these people were my classmates. We spent our last year in school together. I looked at Amanda:
“Did you do this?”
“Yes, this is for you honey,” she gave a peck on my cheek.
Vasukumar, came up to me, and shook my hand. He smiled, that crooked teeth of his, just as it was 43 years ago. He took the stage and did a toast;
“Friends, here we are together, all once again united, probably for the last time. I thank everyone of you for pulling this off party off. Bernard, we all are here, to celebrate your 60th birthday to my dear friend, my brother, Happy Birthday!”
There was a loud applause, I found myself speechless. My eyes teared, there were all my friends, it was 2010 when we were in class, all together. This class was superbly special we had all kinds of people in that class, from all walks of life and all kinds of ethnics.
Flashbacks raced through my mind, I remembered, I used to hate that class. Then over the months, we bonded together, I remembered the times when Khairi brought his acoustic guitar during Mr. Shek Kim’s calculus class and also Mrs. Thomas’s physics class and always received a long lecture thereafter.
Suddenly,I was at the other end of the room, laughing my heart out, with my old buddies. The string quartet, still playing in the background, I could see Lily and her friends whose parents were my mates. I saw Amanda, in her white gown talking to my high-school crush- Ruth. I excused myself and went to sit at an empty table. The 64-people filled hall was drowned with laughter, jokes, tears, hugs and sweet reminiscence.
I was sipping my unsweetened lemonade, then all of a sudden I felt a sharp stab in my chest. My hand was clenching my chest. The world spun round, my sight now saw legs, then funny rainbow colours. Then blackness.
“Clear the way!” The E.R. doctor pushed his way through the halls of the hospital. Amanda grabbed Bernard’s hand, walking with pace with the wheeled stretcher, they barged the E.R. room, they performed CPR on the lifeless body, connected wires to it, switched on the CRO, after minutes, that felt like forever, Amanda spotted a little beep on the machine. “He’s safe ma’am, he’ll live” said the doctor.
My eyes were heavy, I forced it open, all around me were balloons. The morning sun shone warmly through the window.
“He is awake!”, the voice sounded like Christopher’s
The room was now packed with people. The doctor came in, “Stay clear, he just had a cardiac arrest, Mr. McGrace you are lucky to survive,”. So I had a heart attack, whoa. There’s a real gift!
“I am 60! Nice, here I am 60 years old in bed right after my first cardiac arrest”. I laid there restless, but strangely talking again with my old 5 Science 2 class. The day went on, we enjoyed ourselves, by my side the entire time my family.
So this is my 60th birthday.
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