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It is Miss Brown's birthday today.
She turns 82.
At this lovely age, we can say that she's seen pretty much, heard pretty much, and gone through pretty much as well.
I'd like to say that she had a grand celebration surrounded by children and grandchildren with a platter of peach-shaped buns containing a filling of smooth, sweet lotus paste.
I'd also like to say that she dressed up in her favorite outfits and headed out for a meal with her loved ones.
But, no.
She didn't have any of that.
She didn't dress up in her favorite outfits.
She didn't go to a restaurant.
And she has no grandchildren.
Not to mean that she went through her birthday alone.
Oh no, not at all.
There were visitors who brought a mini tub of Haagen Dazc ice cream in her favorite flavor of strawberry (cheesecake)- even though she would have preferred just strawberry.
No matter, a birthday's a birthday, and it was a good thing to Miss Brown that she had something special for her special day.
To reach the age of eighty-two, in ordinary times, is no mean feat.
To reach the age of eighty-two in a century that has seen two world wars, leaps in technological advancements, lifestyle alterations, political shifts and tremendous change, decade upon decade upon decade is a miracle.
What makes this miracle even more significant is that Miss Brown lives in a place where timelessness and heritage is not a given, but instead must be sought for, and found.
Sometimes you find them in the unlikeliest of places.
Like a DIY store.
Where colorful clothes hangers in the shape of the Infinity symbol hang on the shelves.
See, Miss Brown had hangers like these once.
Brought over from the family laundry shop below the shophouse where she used to stay, they were large, bulky metal things that looked like they had been roughly twisted between strong, bare hands.
For a long time the hangers had been of use in her maisonette where she lived nearly forty years of her life.
But came one day that she had to shift from that apartment to a much smaller, more compact place, and those hangers- as hard as she tried to use them and keep them close to her- were of practical use no more.
There was just no where in the new place where she could hang them up.
There was just no where that she could space them out for all the pieces of laundry.
They, unfortunately, had to go.
I don't know if Miss Brown still remembers those hangers.
She might, she might not.
But one day perhaps she might just see this picture above and think about those hangers (from a bygone time) that she used to have.
And if she is told from which store those hangers come from, why, she might even go all the way back to childhood days in the village in Kelantan when Malaysia was still Malaya.