Maybe it is my mother’s nature to be friendly and sometimes a busybody, I grew up knowing my neighbors. I knew how many people lived in one house, whose husband had died, who was divorced and who did not get along with their in-laws. My immediate neighbor is a hawker and few individuals live in that house. There’s the pancake man and his wife, a relative and a mentally retarded girl. They have been my neighbors ever since my family moved in. Ah Yim, who is the mentally retarded girl is in her 50’s but she behaves like a child. She plays in the garden very often and sometimes messes the house. They love her but she can be very annoying and it gets on to their nerves so sometimes, they beat her and she will cry and scream as if she was abused. I grew up getting used Ah Yim’s annoying ways. Sometimes I get very upset at her too because she makes so much noise that it disrupts my sleep. Although Ah Yim is annoying, she is significant in the neighborhood because she is always in her garden and whoever passes by the house would know that she exists.
Yesterday, I came home and found their gate open with some tables and chairs in the garden. I thought they were having some birthday party when I noticed their alter covered with a red paper. Ah Yim had died. She was sick of late but nobody realized that she was terminally ill. They found her motionless in the kitchen after lunch and nothing could be done to save her. Mom always said that Ah Yim’s sister was heartless because she beat her but I think it was her way of teaching her a lesson after all, she was never trained to handle a special person like Ah Yim.
Ah Yim never really stepped out to see the world all her life. Her condition confined her to home and obviously she did not have many friends, Yet, relatives did come to see her last night to pay their last respects. Some even shed tears especially the sister who usually beats and disciplines Ah Yim. She said, Ah Yim bo liao (means Ah Yim is not around anymore) and tears flowed out of her eyes. I guess she must have loved Ah Yim despite beating her. She could have easily left Ah Yim somewhere else instead of looking after her for so many years. It was tough to have a sister like Ah Yim yet they tried their best. I am not sad about Ah Yim’s passing. I think she is in a better place right now. She has gone through a lot as a person with special needs for 59 years of her life and I think she is happily taking her rest right now.
May Ah Yim’s soul rest in peace.