The Call Of The Brain fever Bird Wartime memories

Loved ones past and present had drawn Betty back to Singapore, despite the suffering she had endured there

Please fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, we’re beginning our final descent.” As the Jumbo banked over the island of Singapore, Betty peered out at the city that, decades ago, had been her home. A forest of glass skyscrapers crowded the harbour. It had changed so much it was barely recognisable.

Suddenly she was overcome with doubt. Had she done the right thing flying out to see Peter?

“Come on, Gran. While I’m posted out here it’s an ideal opportunity to visit,” he’d said on the phone.

“I’m not sure…” she’d begun, but he cut her short with, “Oh, and I’ve got a surprise for you.” “What sort of surprise?” “I’ll tell you when you get here.” She’d never been able to resist Peter’s demands, from the time he was a toddler, with his shock of white hair and round, blue eyes. They’d been close as he grew up. Betty had been widowed, and Peter’s father had left Betty’s daughter, Helen, when Peter was very young.

Helen had gone out to work, her career had taken off, and Betty had virtually brought Peter up on her own.

Over the years Betty had told Peter about her life in Singapore as a child, but she’d kept the details of the war years from him. She had told him how she got her amulet, though. She always wore it then and he’d often asked about it when he sat on her lap, turning it over in his hand, marvelling at the engraved dragon and the Chinese characters on the back.

It had been stolen in a burglary after Peter left home. Even now, Betty would sometimes feel for it, forgetting for a second that it wasn’t there.

Betty had never wanted to return to Singapore and even now, after more than seventy years, her stomach churned at the thought that she’d soon be back in the city she’d wanted to forget. If Peter’s bank hadn’t seconded him to their Singapore branch, she’d never have considered it.

Peter had offered to put her up in his apartment. It was only really a studio.

She’d said, “No, darling. I don’t fly halfway around the world very often. I’ll treat myself and stay at Raffles. You don’t want an old lady invading your space for a fortnight.”

Peter was waiting for her as she pushed her trolley into the arrivals hall. Her heart swelled with pride when she caught sight of him; tall and blond, smiling his broad smile.

“It’s great to see you, Gran,” he said as they hugged.

The taxi dropped them at the grand entrance to Raffles, with its white colonial pillars and lush gardens. After Betty had checked in, Peter treated her to breakfast on the garden terrace. She watched him demolish a huge omelette and a plate of tropical fruit, marvelling as she always had at his enormous appetite.

He looked well, she thought, tanned and slim, and there was something new in his eyes.

“Would you like to rest for a few hours before I start showing you round?” he asked gently.

“I am rather tired,” she admitted.

“Why don’t you go up and rest and I’ll call for you later on? We’ve plenty of time.” “I can’t wait for your surprise.” “Well you’ll have to wait a few more hours, Gran,” he said.

Betty wandered around her hotel room, admiring the tasteful luxury. How different it looked from the last time she’d stayed here back in 1942. She and her mother had sheltered in Raffles with other civilians as the city fell to the Japanese.

They’d waited in the crowded hotel lobby for days, sleeping on their suitcases as the bombs fell in the streets around them. She could still hear the sound of machine gun fire, falling masonry, the chilling cries of the injured.

She thought of the boy who’d given her the amulet. She could still see his grubby face through the barbed wire, running with sweat in the steamy heat. They’d said goodbye and she’d never seen him again. Yet she owed him her life.

Suddenly, Betty didn’t want to lie down and rest. She knew what she

Ah Chin Tan. His MOTHER had been a SEAMSTRESS, his father a JEWELLER

needed to do. She returned to the lobby and asked for a taxi.

“To Chinatown, please,” she said to the driver.

As they drove through the busy streets the boy kept returning to her mind. Ah Chin Tan. His mother had been a seamstress, his father a jeweller, and the family lived in Chinatown above a shop that was half-jewellers, half-tailors.

Betty used to go there with Mother for dress fittings.

“Why don’t you go and play,” Mother would say, “while Mrs Tan and I are busy.”

Ah Chin would take her out into the street. He was a few years older than Betty and could speak some English. She thought he was the most exciting person. He could do a croaking whistle like a brainfever bird, perform amazing card tricks, and walk on his hands.

He had a jagged scar on his cheek that he told her he’d received in a sword fight. She wasn’t sure she believed that, but it added to his mystery.

When war broke out the bombs fell for days on end. It became difficult to get food, and there were frequent power cuts.

Mother spent hours with her ear to the crackling wireless, listening to the World Service. One day she packed two small suitcases.

“We’ve got to go to Raffles,” she said. “It should be safe there, and maybe we can find a place on a ship to Australia or even Ceylon.”

They walked through the bombed-out streets. There was a dreadful smell; a mixture of burning, decay and sewage.

As they neared Raffles, they passed some boys clearing rubble from a collapsed building.

Betty’s heart leapt. Ah Chin was among them. She smiled at him shyly and he smiled back.

“Good luck,” he said, leaning on his broom as she passed.

Time had run out for Betty and her mother. There were no more ships leaving the island. When the British Army surrendered, the women and children were marched to Changi Jail through the hot streets, jeered at by crowds of locals.

Betty would never forget that walk. It was sixteen miles. They had no food and only a small flask of water. Women were fainting in the heat.

Mother kept saying, “Just a bit further now, Betty, darling. Don’t cry – everything will be fine.”

Everything was not fine. In Changi Jail they shared a tiny cell with fifteen others and it was cramped and stiflingly hot. Food became scarce and people began to fall sick. Prisoners who were doctors or nurses tried to care for them, but without medicines there was little they could do.

The Japanese guards watched them constantly, even when they were allowed outside the walls to clear the ground around the prison for vegetables.

Betty went with her mother to work in

the fields. It was there that she saw Ah Chin again. She was hoeing weeds near the barbed wire fence when she heard the familiar croak of the brainfever bird. She looked up and there he was, hidden in the bushes the other side of the fence.

“I’ve got something for you,” he whispered.

He handed her a small paper bag. A mouth-watering smell rose from it. Betty peeped inside. Fried noodles with chicken, some cashew nuts and dried fruit.

She beamed her thanks with a lump in her throat. “But why are you here?” she asked. “We’re trying to help you people in Changi. I’ll come back next week.”

So he did. Each week he brought a small package of food. Betty and her mother shared them as far as they could among their cellmates.

They relied on the extra food Ah Chin brought. It meant they didn’t succumb to starvation, to beri-beri or scurvy.

One day he said, “I can’t come any more. Father has been taken by the Japanese. Mother and I have to disappear. We’re going to the mainland by boat. But I have this for you…”

He fished in his pocket and handed

“Could you TAKE ME to the place where you bought the AMULET?”

her the amulet, dangling on a chain.

“It’s worth something. It’s one of Father’s special designs. It’s good quality silver, you know. The character on the back means Tan. You might be able to sell it and buy food.”

She stood by the fence, gripping the silver charm, watching through eyes blurred with tears as his ragged form disappeared through the scrub.

Chinatown itself seemed to have been preserved. The old shop-houses were still there, clean and restored, with new paint and bright signs. The name of his street was etched on her mind. However the driver turned to her with a blank look and shook his head.

“No Luna Road, madam,” he said. “No such place.”

Disappointment flooded through her. “Just drop me here, please,” she said. She couldn’t believe him. She began to wander the streets of Chinatown, searching for landmarks that might lead her to the street. Soon her feet were swollen, and sweat was stinging her eyes. She stopped in the next café she came to. The owner brought her lime juice and she asked him about Luna Road.

“Oh no. Luna Road not there now. Shopping mall instead.”

Betty felt close to tears. What had she expected? How stupid to have thought it would still be here. She told herself to put it behind her and concentrate on enjoying the trip, spending time with Peter.

Later, after a nap and a shower, she went down to the lobby. Peter was there already but he was not alone. A Chinese girl stood beside him, tall and elegant, with a beautiful smile.

“This is Selina, Gran. I’ve been wanting to introduce you.”

“So this is your surprise?” She took Selina’s hand. “How lovely to meet you.”

“You too,” said Selina. “Peter has told me all about his wonderful grandma.”

They sat down in the bar and ordered Singapore Slings.

“I wanted you to come out here so that I could introduce you, Gran. Selina and I are engaged.”

“I’m so happy for you both,” Betty said through tears. “What a lovely surprise.”

“And Gran, I’ve got another surprise for you…”

Peter held up a silver chain with an amulet dangling from it. Betty took it with trembling hands. It was a replica of the one Ah Chin had given her; a dragon on one side, identical characters engraved on the back. “Where on earth did you get this?” “Selina helped me find it. She’s lived here all her life. She knows the city, especially Chinatown.”

Betty hardly slept that night. Her dreams were filled with images from the war; skeletally thin people dressed in rags, guards with bayonets, and the kind face of the boy with the jagged scar.

When Peter and Selina arrived in the morning, Betty was waiting in the lobby.

“Where would you like to go?” Peter asked. “The Waterfront? Orchard Road?”

Betty shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about it all night. Could you take me to where you bought the amulet?” Selina smiled, “Of course.” Back in Chinatown, Selina led them down a tiny alley, hidden between two shops. Betty followed, tingling with anticipation, her arm through Peter’s.

Ahead of them Selina ducked into another alleyway, through a maze of passages and out into a covered market. They passed stalls overflowing with exotic fruits, ornaments, colourful clothes.

Suddenly there it was in front of her. A stall with a painted sign, Tan,Jewellers.

The young woman serving looked up and smiled at Betty. Betty held out the new amulet in trembling hands.

“Someone gave me one like this in the war,” she said. “I’ve been trying to find him. His name was Ah Chin.”

“Ah Chin? One moment.” The young woman turned and disappeared through some curtains. Betty waited breathlessly.

Finally an old man emerged. He was stooping, leaning on a stick. As he drew closer, Betty noticed it: that jagged scar on his cheek. Then she recognised his eyes, so full of fun and crinkled at the edges. When he saw her, his face lit up. “Betty?” He held out a frail hand. She took his hand and nodded.