Miss Seetoh in the World Read Online Free PDF

the final
longing born out of despair – ‘when I have a life of my own.’ She had panicked
at the sight of her first menstruation, her mother explained that it wasn’t any
injury, that it was natural and God-given, bought her the proper towels and
took her to church for a special blessing.
    ‘Miss Seetoh, that poor Mr Chin, his heart
broke when you got married, now he can try again!’ Maggie giggled and furtively
looked around to make sure the maths teacher, hopelessly hanging around Miss
Seetoh for years, tongue-tied and fumbling in her presence, his comically
bulging goldfish eyes and stutter a perfect target of student impersonation,
was not within hearing distance. ‘I want to tell him, ‘Hey, Mr Chin, give up!
Where you got hope? You cannot pronounce English words properly. Suppose you
say, ‘Oh, Miss Seetoh, I lub you so velly much!’, she will surely faint!’ ’
    The girl was a slick clown with a ready
stock of jokes that could be manipulated to fit the occasion, the special
target being the Chinese-educated speakers of English struggling with the
intricacies of a foreign tongue. Storing up yet another comical episode for later
sharing with friends, Miss Seetoh managed to suppress a laugh and say severely,
‘Maggie, how many times have I told you to speak in correct English?’
    Maggie persisted and this time her eyes
sparkled with the sheer piquancy of the new information, ‘Miss Seetoh, you know
or not, even Brother Philip, he come to our class, pretend to ask about this or
that, but really it’s all excuse to talk to you. We all notice! Miss Teresa
Pang, she jealous as hell, because Brother Philip so tall and handsome with his
ang moh brown curly hair and blue eyes! Like the Magnum TV hero. She so ugly
with her Bugs Bunny teeth, no man will look at her and you so pretty, with no
make-up even, they all want you. Miss Seetoh, you interested or not, my uncle
he got many rich businessman friends, can introduce –’
    The girl was impossible, overstepping her
limits. She could be dangerous.
    Miss Seetoh looked closely at her and said
in as severe a tone as she could muster, ‘Maggie, you’re wearing eyeliner
again. You know make-up is against school rules. I’ve told you that before.’
    The girl said airily, ‘Aiyah! Only a little
bit. See, you never notice before. How come Sebastian Ong can come to class
with powder on his face? That’s more worse!’ She saw Miss Seetoh’s eyes settle
on the loosened button of the school white shirt, that allowed a peep at a lacy
bra if she turned in a certain way, and quickly did it up. ‘Alright,’ she said
resignedly and adjusted the waistband of the school skirt to let the hem drop
to the obligatory three inches below the knee. ‘Alright,’ she said again, and
removed the rhinestone clip partly covered by a large swatch of hair.
    ‘What’s that?’ said Miss Seetoh, sniffing.
‘Maggie, you know you’re not supposed to wear perfume to school!’ There was a
list of regulatory don’ts for the girl students, pinned up in every classroom,
that would not have been necessary but for one Maggie Sim Peck Ngoh.
    While the girl was petulant and defiant with
the other teachers, she good-naturedly obeyed Miss Seetoh, upon whom had duly
fallen the responsibility of holding her in check. The girl was to be feared,
for her relentless probing of secrets as she chattered endlessly, ignoring Miss
Seetoh’s diversionary strategy of scolding her for her bad English and her
make-up. Miss Seetoh, who adroitly broke school regulations, was now using
them, like a cane, to manage a difficult student. She even echoed the language
of the regulations. She did not at all enjoy that role.

Four
     
    Maria Seetoh went straight into her room,
locked it, took out the celebratory circle of paper from her handbag and once
more stared at it. She saw the story of her life in a full-length novel,
reduced to a one-page synopsis, reduced finally to this amazing nine-word
distillation that