HeLLo GoD, MaY i SPeaK To My SoN, PLeASe?: Call 71 : RED DRESS

Hello Son,

We're clearing the kitchen - laundry area a bit today.

Dad found two school bags, which are still quite new ...

two because if You remember, Grandma would buy You and Jus new bags every year when You both were in Primary school, and new because, well Dad has kept them well.

Dad also came across your large FISHER-PRICE pirate ship, which we bought for You on your birthday. Not sure which, but quite sure You were below 3 years old.

Here's the ship, still looking good, save for a bit of dust and the missing white sail. Whatever happened to the white sail?

Dad was mimicking all the noises that You used to make while You were playing with your pirates on board, as the little figurines go through one make-believe battle after another, and not forgetting the BOOOMPH-noises of the canon-bombing.

Dad also brought out a box that contains some of the Christmas ornaments that we've accumulated over the years.

Despite seeing those little colorful trinkets and glitter balls, the mood to put up the Christmas tree was just not there.

Christmas this year will be different without You, Son.

And Christmas the next year ...

And the year after ...

And the year after that ...

Sigh ...

We have yet to take out the Christmas tree.

We're gonna leave it until after Justine finishes her exams.

Somehow, we'll find our own little way to celebrate Christmas together, won't we now?

God will make a way. :D

God knows everything that is going on. Yup, He knows.

And Mother Mary knows too.

Something wonderful will happen, You'll see ... :D

You must have detected our melancholy mood because in a very short while, You would make your presence felt among your family.

So anyway, as Mom was saying ...

About 3pm, we had a tea-break - Dad and Mom from the spring cleaning and Justine, from her books.

Dad made his famous teh tarik.

You'd remember Dad's teh tarik, don't You?

The one that You don't normally take, not because You don't like it, but because Mom has said, time and again that caffeine would stunt your growth. We were recalling with a sad fondness all the little things You'd used to do, and ate, to make sure You grew as tall as You possibly could.

Have You grown any taller since we last saw You, Mom wonders.

You were almost 6 foot 2 when we rested You in the shuttle. An inch taller than Dad, he said. Aunty Carol had asked You when You left whether You are taller than Jesus. :D

God and You must have exchanged a chuckle there, huh. :D

Mom thinks Jesus would be around 6' 4".

Is He?

Anyway, we were talking about going to your Garden on your birthday, on the eve of Christmas.

Hearing about Christmas, Justine was reminded about Santa, and possibly the color RED because she suddenly exclaimed,

"Where is my red dress?"

Her red cheer-leading outfit has been missing for a while now.

She has been looking for it ...

Mom has been looking for it ...

Jus stopped looking after awhile ...

So did Mom ... yeah, after awhile.

The lil red dress was a forgotten chapter.

Yup, a closed chapter.

Justine had bought the red outfit for her cheer-leading routine this year,

sometime in March, if Mom is not mistaken.

You must have seen her in it, from your little cloud up there.

Remember - Her RED House got first prize for the cheer and

your YELLOW House was champ overall?

Don't You remember?

Sure You do.

Both of You must have been really happy on that day. :D

Anyway, every now and then, when Justine remembers, she'd say,

"I still can't find the red outfit."

The last time, we spoke about that, Mom reminded her again that

she had probably left the outfit in school.

It's definitely not in the house, Mom had said then ...

Did we not look everywhere???

"You must have left it in school, we've searched everywhere,"

your mother said again this afternoon.

Yes, definitely, everywhere we can possibly think of.

For some reason,

Dad kinda snorted when he heard the word "everywhere."

Justine made a boo-hoo sob-sniff sound ...

Suddenly ...

Mom found herself telling Jus,

"Why don't You ask Daniel to help You find it?"

Only a few days ago, on Wednesday 24th ...

on the day of her English Paper ...

Jus was searching high and low for her Novel notes, and was about to give up looking for them, when we called You to help ... and as we did, believe it or not, but she found them instantly!

Yes, instantly, even before Mom could finish her sentence to You.

That was awesome!

Jus can definitely COUNT ON YOU, Son - her Guardian Angel ... :D

Besides, she has been singing that song kinda like the whole time today.

The tune, You can count on me ... like 1 2 3 ... I'll be there ...

is just ringing in our heads. :D

Jus sprang up from her seat, pointed a stern finger at your portrait,

to get your attention Mom thinks, and said,

"Bro, help me find my red dress."

Mom said the same. Not the "Bro" part though. :D

"Help Justine find her dress, Daniel. You know where it is."

Mom said aloud, almost in a sing-song manner.

So, You wanna know what happened???

You ready??? Well ...

Jus went into the room.

Mom was at the dining area.

Jus called out from the room,

"I see his game boy here ..."

After a few seconds ...

"His Bionicles are here ..."

Two seconds later ...

"More Bionicles ..."

Another two seconds after that ...

"Aiyoh ... so many of his Bionicles ... they're all here ..."

Game Boy and Bionicles???

Oh, this is so not good, Mom thought.

That confirmed it.

It's not in the house.

If it were, Jus would have found it INSTANTLY!

Mom didn't want your sister to be wasting her time looking for something which was obviously not in the house.

More importantly, she should be getting back to her books.

Besides, You wouldn't be able to help her find her missing item,

if it's not in the house.

Right, Son?

Hey, your mother's helping You here ...

It's a way out for You.

Jus won't be able to find her missing item this time, even though she's asked You to help her because ...

Well, simply because, it's - not - in - the - house.

Mom's pretty sure about that.

We have looked everywhere before ...

In fact, a few times.

Not just once.

A few times.

Heard that?

A few times!

Don't worry Son, Mom will explain to Jus that You're not able to help her this time because it's - just - not - in - the - house.

She sounds like a broken record now ...

Anyway, having thought of that nice lil excuse, for some weird reason, your mother surprised herself when she heard herself calling out instead,

"Look for it after your exams. You can ask Daniel to help You find your dress later - AFTER YOUR EXAMS ..." Mom stressed firmly.

Mom went into the kitchen.

Ahh, this is the part ...

Wait for it, wait for it ...

Andddd --- ACTION!!!

(Within a minute, or two at the most ...)

Justine gave a sharp yelp of excitement!

Mom heard her and turned to look at the kitchen door, expecting Jus to appear any moment then.

She did ...

... and she held out the missing red outfit against her shoulder, struck a few model-search poses for an imaginary shoot, and did a lil catwalk for Mom's benefit. :D

Oh my ...

The missing red outfit.

Where - did - You - find - it?

Jus pulled at Mom's hand and dragged her to the guest room.

What???

This cupboard???

It was in this cupboard???

We hardly open this cupboard.

As You know, we only keep linen and towels in this cupboard.

Anyway, we have checked ALL the cupboards, including this one, right from the beginning when Jus first announced that it was missing.

Several times too.

Okay, maybe not as many as several times ...

but definitely more than once.

Or twice.

Or three times.

That would be about right - three times. :D

Justine described in great detail for Mom.

Picture a rectangular storage-drawer.

She said, when she first opened the cupboard door, she saw something red on the right front-side of the pull-out wire-storage basket.

She had thought that was it!

Only it wasn't.

It was a red table cloth.

False alarm.

She checked the left side.

Nothing red there.

Anti-climax.

Then, something made her dip her hands right to the back of the drawer-basket, where she found herself rummaging through a pile of old and unused bedsheets, and there -

Lo and behold ...

There it was ...

Her lil red dress ...

... beneath all the old bedsheets that we have not used for a very long time. How on earth that dress ended up there, we will never know.You probably would. Was it the maid? Did she mistake the red dress for a trendy table cloth?

Honestly ...

There is no way, absolutely, positively NO WAY ... for Justine to be the one to find a missing item. Not possible. She has Mom's genes. We are so not known to find things that are missing in the house.

Ask Dad. Dad will tell You.

As You'd probably know by now, finding items that are missing is Dad's talent and we have not once shared that lime-light, Jus and Mom. Not that Mom can remember. You are aware of this, right? Don't You remember - Mom always have to resort to calling Saint Christopher to link her to her missing things.

Let Mom repeat here that :

There is NO CHANCE ...

NOT A SINGLE CHANCE in the world ...

... for Justine to have known where to search, and of all places - there ... beneath a pile of unused sheets.

Of all the ...

That was pretty amazing, Daniel.

Thank You for helping your sister, Son. :D

We felt your presence immediately.

Suddenly, the day was brighter.

The sky was bluer.

The birds were ...

Enough Mommm ...

Yeah okay ...

Mom said happily to your grinning sister,

"You really can count on him to be there for You, Jus." :D

She laughed, and danced her way back to her room, to hang the precious red outfit safely in her wardrobe, singing the COUNT ON ME song as she left.

When she came out of the room, she showed You (your portrait) two pistol-hand signs and gratefully said, "Thanks Bro," to which Mom's quite, quite sure You'd returned the same familiar hand-signs to your sister with the assurance :