It was a bright and breezy morning when The Tans set out for Port Dickson. They were going to Chameleon Seaside Resort for the weekend and were very excited about it. And that was to be expected as Chameleon was a lovely place indeed.
The drive down took about an hour and a half. In order to keep the family entertained, Mr Tan thought up a game – they were to keep a sharp lookout for speed cameras and yell “Camera!” when they saw one. Mr Tan would then slow down dramatically. With such an exciting game, they were in Port Dickson almost before they knew it.
Soon, they were settling into the hotel room. It was a water chalet, and the Tans were impressed. Mr Tan loved that he could see the emerald green waves rushing in to shore from the veranda; Mrs Tan loved the spacious bathroom with the shower that was partially open-air; Ah Girl loved the day bed right next to the windows that looked out on the sea; and as for Ah Boy, well, he loved jumping up and down on the wooden plank pathway to the rooms, making a terrible noise. Fortunately, Mr Tan stopped him before he made a hole in it, not to mention annoying all the other guests.
Ah Girl and Ah Boy were soon hankering for a swim. They changed, snatched up their goggles (or ‘googles’, as Ah Boy called them) and raced each other to the pool. With a loud cry of "Me Tarzan!" Ah Boy canonballed into the pool, sending waves spreading outward. A little old lady who had been swimming by was swept gently to the edge of the pool. Ah Girl, however, hadn't noticed a thing, because she was fascinated by somebody's swimming trunks that had brightly-coloured patterns on a dark background. In order to get a closer look at it, she challenged Ah Boy to see who could swim underwater the longest and purposely chose a route that would take them right past the colourful trunks. Her ploy was successful. Nevertheless, she was a little disappointed to find that what she thought was a muffin-and-cupcake pattern, was after all only a seashell theme. She promptly resurfaced and let Ah Boy win.
Mrs Tan, in the meantime, had already made herself comfortable in the bathroom, engaging in her favourite pastime – bathing. She told Mr Tan that she would be out in 40 minutes or longer, and proceeded to wash her hair, even though it wasn’t dirty, just so she could enjoy the water as it rained above her from the shower. Mrs Tan closed her eyes and imagined she was a legendary princess bathing in a mountain stream.
Dinner that night was at the restaurant. A live band was performing and when they asked for requests from the floor, Mrs Tan called out, “Christmas song!” You see, she had heard somewhere that it was not the proper order to play Christmas songs in the weeks leading up to Christmas. In order to circumvent this, she decided to play Christmas songs well before that. In fact, as soon as Deepavali was over. (Mrs Tan loved the religious and cultural diversity that surrounded her and so whichever festival was near she would get into the spirit of the celebration by listening to music and hanging up decorations and sending festive greeting cards) The musicians were very tickled and from that moment on Mrs Tan earned the title of “The Christmas Lady”..
The next morning, the Tans were up very early for breakfast. It was their favourite part of any hotel stay, especially as it was complimentary. In fact, particularly because it was complimentary. Ah Boy was the first to arrive at the table with a pile of food on his plate. Ah Girl, in the meantime, was browsing through the pastry selection. She was undecided actually. However, upon seeing another guest coming, she snatched up the tongs so that she could be the first to get her bread.
Back at the table, Mrs Tan was having a little dilemma of her own. The sugar-filled cereal was so tempting, but she knew it wasn’t good for her. Oh, but it was ever so tempting! Just then, a young boy of about ten years pounded to the cereal table and scooped out a huge bowl of cereal. He also looked about seventy kilos in weight. Soon after, a little girl banged on the cereal lid with a ham-like fist. “I want EAT!” she bawled at her mother. Mrs Tan was so shocked that she dropped the sausage she was eating with her fingers. She immediately abandoned all ideas of sugar-filled cereal.
At long last, after three hours of paced eating, the Tans stopped. “Wah, I’m so full!” said Mrs Tan looking happily at the last corner of roti canai on her plate. Just then, she spied a piece of curry chicken that had strayed from her plate on to the table. Quick as a flash, she popped it into her mouth. “Waste not want not!” she said, and in one fluid movement, she wiped up the remaining drops of curry from the table with her roti canai and ate it.
With breakfast over, the Tans stay in Port Dickson was almost at an end. One of their last activities was visiting the Pet Corner. There were rabbits, tortoises and chickens there. Ah Girl scared a rabbit by following it round and round, trying to force it to eat a carrot. “Rabbits-s eat carrots-s”, said Ah Girl, repeating a lesson. However, contrary to Ah Girl's lesson, the rabbit did not eat the carrot and hid under the rabbit hutch instead. Ah Girl got angry. She flung the carrot at the rabbit, and upon seeing Ah Boy with a chicken on his head and another on his arm, said with a very bad grace, "Huh! Let the chicken stand on your head some more lah! Shit on you then you know."
However it was impossible to be angry for long in such pleasant surroundings and Ah Girl soon regained her good temper. And so it was that the Tans left Port Dickson in high spirits with the cheerful hope of returning one day to Chameleon Seaside Resort.
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