this morning i was awakened by screams. it took a while before i realised what was going on. that i was even actually awake.



all the noise was coming from the corner flat two flats away from mine. a little boy was screaming his lungs out, bawling and sobbing. i couldn't recognise his voice cos i didn't know there was a little boy living there. his grandmother was screaming at him too in hokkien to be quiet and the cacophony of the two was more than enough to wake up the whole neighbourhood, much less just me.



i woke up groggy and lay in my bed listening. my mother, as i was guessing, would go over and give him some sweets or something else that's appealing to appease his cries. and as i saw my mother bustling to the door i got up to see what she was doing. there was an ice cream lolly on the table. and she took that over for the boy.



he didn't make a fuss anymore after that.



when my mother came back i asked her what was going on and she told me that the little boy is dumb, as in he can't speak...



...i just got interrupted by my mother who wanted me to help her pluck some bean sprouts. i know that that doesn't sound like what i was actually doing, but i've been saying that since i was young and i guess it's pretty clear to most people around here what i was doing...



anyway.



the boy was dumb, so his screams were kinda guttural and primal, so it's a little disconcerting hearing it so early in the morning. but it didn't make me cringe, it only made me feel a little sad thinking of how they didn't know why he was crying.



my mother told me to go back to sleep since that he was quiet now.



but of course i couldn't.



well at least now he's quiet and i hope contented.