Shopping with Tris

This spinster went shopping with Tris at Junction 8 on the 10^th of March. No, it wasn’t a date even though he would have been a good catch because Tris is heir to a massive inheritance. Why? I am not a cougar and the kid is young enough to be my kid. He is only 17! Instead of ‘Aunty’, he calls me 姐姐 (big sister). According to Aunty P, his grandma, Tris volunteered to call me 姐姐. Is that a compliment or what?

We left his grandma’s place shortly before noon. We went to Junction 8 by bus. I walked behind him to look like I wasn’t with him. That was because I was worried that he might be embarrassed by my presence if we bump into his mates. I tried to look like his nanny with a ‘hands-offish’ approach but Tris looked too grown up to still need a nanny. He would turn around to look for me every now and then and I would pretend to be looking at something before joining him. I always made sure that I was at least half a step behind him. Singaporeans generally mind their own business but when I feel too self conscious thinking that everyone at Junction 8 was staring at us, I pretended to take on the new role of being my young charge’s female bodyguard. Again, that wasn’t a realistic role because like the rest of Singapore, Bishan is a very safe place.

Tris took me to two bookshops because I had wanted to buy a book on Lee Kwan Yew. At Popular, we saw quite a few books written about the mastermind of Singapore and I wasn’t sure which one to get. I had wanted one that talked about Singapore’s education system and why they picked English as the medium of instruction. It was a book recommended in a local Chinese newspaper in Kota Kinabalu but because I didn’t have the title, we left Popular empty handed. Tris then took me to another bookshop – a Christian one. I did end up buying something from there. I bought a book by Joyce Meyer and I have been enjoying every page of it so far.

My Mum instructed that I shout Tris a meal and so I thought the most appropriate meal for a teenager would be Macca’s. Bishan’s teenage population agreed with me because when we got there, the whole joint was jam packed! We had no choice but to go up to the food court. The place and the food on offer were similar to the food court at Raffles Place. As soon as we found a table for two, I plonked myself down and ‘ordered’ the boy to get his own meal first. Me, the supposedly ‘Aunty’ who was demoted gladly to 姐姐 level of seniority, had temporarily forgotten about buying the kid a meal until I was almost half way through my giant serve of an Ice Kacang. Oopsy! Tris didn’t seem to mind one bit while I spent the rest of the time trying to convince myself that Tris would be insulted if I had bought him a meal. He is after all a mini tycoon from Borneo. He didn’t need a dishpig to shout him lunch.

After our meals, we went shopping for things that Tris needed for his camping trip. We looked for a neck pillow and I noticed how he didn’t go for the first one on display. We looked in 3 different shops before he settled for the cheapest on offer. I felt like to pat his head and praise him for being money conscious but I deducted some points because he picked a pink one. I was dying to find out if he was buying it for a girl. LOL. At Fair Price, Tris was stocking up on junk food. Imported Aussie and Japanese potato chips, Malaysian made Cadbury chocolates, lollies, mixed nuts and even 9 Kinder Surprises! I probably had the nanny with a disapproving look on my face because he suddenly stopped to explain that he was buying for the camping trip. I told myself, “Fair go P; the kid probably needs a fair bit of variety to supplement his jungle diet of baked beans on stale toasts.” I tried to smile but it probably looked fake. The last item on his list was a raincoat/poncho. If we were in Melbourne, I would have taken him to the shop known affectionately to the X and I as ‘Uncle Arthur’s Shop’ on Swanston St to get the poncho. I, not the X, would have insisted that Tris bought one printed with the Carlton Football Club badge but right there at Junction 8’s Fair Price, we had the choice of only one brand – Korjo. They come in clear plastic or yellow. Tris picked neither because they have short sleeves. Bloody good they would be in avoiding creepy crawlies or tropical downpour in the thick jungles of Peninsular Malaysia.

If I had the rest of the day to mop around doing nothing, I would have felt absolutely awful after I returned to Aunty P’s flat. I was a terrible shopping companion fearing to be seen as a cradle snatcher. A Cougar is not something I am in a hurry to become anytime soon. Hopefully I haven’t been upgraded to the ‘Aunty’ status for being sooooo BORING. Luckily, my Mum and I were on our way again. I was too distracted to let the Negaholic in me ruin the rest of the day. I was looking forward to staying at a nice place for the rest of my holidays in Singapore. It was time to say goodbye to Bishan.