So on this particular evening I happened to be taking the route (by bus) from Novena to Joo Chiat.
And then it happened that the bus stop I was taking it from stood right outside Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Whilst the bus stop I was getting down at was not too far from Miss Brown's home in Joo Chiat.
It made me think.
Of how Miss Brown would have felt as she took the bus by herself from her home to TTSH every other morning for physiotherapy, and how she would have felt taking the bus back again by herself after her session.
It would not have meant much if her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend had not moved out from her home where they left the house in the morning together and dropped her off at her sessions. Neither would it have meant this much if, even after having moved out, they had not continued to drive back down and send her for her sessions.
But the thing is that they did.
And even though she heavily resented the fact that they chose to move out, she had comforted herself with the fact that, despite the lack of presence in the house, mother and daughter (or daughter's boyfriend) still could continue to see each other every other morning when either one of them would turn up in the little car to drive her to her therapy sessions.
That comfort she had did not last.
One day they told her that she was going to have to go on her own because she was getting better. It made no sense, they told her, for them drive all the way down to Joo Chiat just to pick her up and drive her back again. It was a waste of time and a waste of petrol.
She may have asked to meet them at the shopping mall outside the hospital. (We don't know)
She may have asked to meet them at the coffee shop near their rented room. (We don't know either)
What we do know is that she met neither.
Not even once.
Miss Brown was left to travel to her sessions all by herself every other morning on the bus. It wasn't too difficult- there was a direct bus, there were many other travelers even at that early hour, and soon enough she found out that there was a connecting bus stop where she could switch buses and thus save herself a long walk.
But the bus trips made her wonder why her daughter just wouldn't meet her even though her rented room was merely ten minutes' walk away from the hospital.
And there was that sense of loneliness every time she took the bus back. Because she was leaving her daughter's area, going back- alone- to an empty, cold, silent home.
And then it happened that the bus stop I was taking it from stood right outside Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Whilst the bus stop I was getting down at was not too far from Miss Brown's home in Joo Chiat.
It made me think.
Of how Miss Brown would have felt as she took the bus by herself from her home to TTSH every other morning for physiotherapy, and how she would have felt taking the bus back again by herself after her session.
It would not have meant much if her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend had not moved out from her home where they left the house in the morning together and dropped her off at her sessions. Neither would it have meant this much if, even after having moved out, they had not continued to drive back down and send her for her sessions.
But the thing is that they did.
And even though she heavily resented the fact that they chose to move out, she had comforted herself with the fact that, despite the lack of presence in the house, mother and daughter (or daughter's boyfriend) still could continue to see each other every other morning when either one of them would turn up in the little car to drive her to her therapy sessions.
That comfort she had did not last.
One day they told her that she was going to have to go on her own because she was getting better. It made no sense, they told her, for them drive all the way down to Joo Chiat just to pick her up and drive her back again. It was a waste of time and a waste of petrol.
She may have asked to meet them at the shopping mall outside the hospital. (We don't know)
She may have asked to meet them at the coffee shop near their rented room. (We don't know either)
What we do know is that she met neither.
Not even once.
Miss Brown was left to travel to her sessions all by herself every other morning on the bus. It wasn't too difficult- there was a direct bus, there were many other travelers even at that early hour, and soon enough she found out that there was a connecting bus stop where she could switch buses and thus save herself a long walk.
But the bus trips made her wonder why her daughter just wouldn't meet her even though her rented room was merely ten minutes' walk away from the hospital.
And there was that sense of loneliness every time she took the bus back. Because she was leaving her daughter's area, going back- alone- to an empty, cold, silent home.