Melancholy... ...

My uncle passed away in a car accident. I’m not very close to him but I do feel a sense of loss. He did not look like himself at the wake. I heard from my cousins (his children) that the impact was so great, his face and chest area were “fractured”. “Fractured” was the term the police used and none of us wanted to know more.

I don’t really know what to write about this. I don’t know if I would be revealing too much unwittingly. I don’t know if I’ll get too emotional and soppy. I could not help feeling the tears well up in my eyes when I saw his face,yet I could not cry out. I bursted only when I saw my mum broke down. She shares the same birth date with that uncle.

I feel sorry for him and his family, as they did not get to see him alive for the last time. The police tried calling his home through his handphone but nobody was at home as they had all gone to my cousin’s house two blocks away. Nobody answered the door when the police came knocking. They only managed to get the oldest cousin at daybreak. By then, my uncle has already passed away.

I thought it was all right if the police had difficulty finding out whom his family members are, from the names in his address book when they only managed to call my cousin a few hours later. But there were only these entries in his contacts: Home, my aunt’s name, and his 3 children’s names. The police claimed they called all the numbers but none of their handphones showed any missed calls. This added to their anguish.

On my part, I feel a sense of loss as I just saw that uncle last Tuesday when he came over to hand my dad some forms. He is one uncle who would occasionally drop by to hand some forms to my dad or to give us some fish which he caught. That day, I did not pay much attention to him as I thought it was just another day. With my Simba trying to run out of the house, I just hurriedly took the form and asked if he would like to pass any message to my dad. He handed some notes saying this was what he owed my dad and he would slowly pay the rest when he had the cash.

Apparently, he owed my dad some money throughout the years but my parents being not very well to do themselves could understand his plight and did not press him. It was just bad timing when my family was in dire need of money that my mum finally decided to ask him to try to return some. He said with much pride that he has been working as a taxi driver at night to supplement his low income and would return some soon. Two days ago, his taxi crashed into a tree.

To all my friends who drive, please drive carefully. To all those who jay-walk, please look out for traffic. Please be careful in whatever you do. Please be nice to whoever you know as you will never know, that might just be the last time you see them.