My dad, till this day does not know about my current dips. I’ve written about his stance before, but I keep on bouncing back, sometimes underneath his nose.
Literally, cos his sense of smell is very good, while mine is nonexistent due to some illness many years ago.
So as this current academic year started in August, I began moving my stuff back into my hostel. I explained in my previous post that I took pains to plan the schedule and route just so that I could go get my diaper supply for the semester. That also meant that I could not get anyone to help me with moving in.
Unfortunately, I had left out one thing. My mini-fridge was in my dad’s office and in my rush last week I had to choose between either the fridge or the diapers. I chose the dips of course.
But my dad being my dad, decided to come deliver the fridge to me at the end of the first week! I tried to talk him out of it, said that I had some coupons for a startup moving company and stuff like that. But being the Asian Tiger Dad that he is he insisted on bringing it to me ‘for free’ and to help me carry it up the stairs.
My Dad was coming to my hostel. I had 1 hour to prepare.
This was the first time he was actually coming into my room. And knowing that he would definitely check out my cupboard I had the formidable task of hiding 6 packs of diapers.
I considered bagging and hiding them outside the window, where I had access to the roof. It was a very appealing idea but I was worried that monkeys would see a plastic bag and open them up, thinking there’s food inside. I stood there in my diaper for a while pondering, what if it rained etc.
I settled for hiding the 6 packs in the narrow gap between my desk and the wall beside the window. Took a bit of squeezing but I managed it. I covered it with other stuff, and hoped for the best. Placed some belongings at that end of the room just for good measure.
Pretty soon I was taking of my unused diaper, stuffing it into my backpack along with my laptop and homework, and was going to the gate to greet him.
We struggled to carry the fridge up, but we managed it. He surveyed my neighbours’ doorsteps before stepping in. Placing it in its place, he started the inspection. All went well, and as anticipated he checked the cupboard and my table cabinet.
Then he lunged forward towards the windows. I nearly had a heart attack.
But he merely looked out at the scenery for a few seconds, and stepped back – away from the diapers hidden in the gap. I’m pretty sure he might have smelled the (clean) diapers, but didn’t act on it.
– Selv
dlselv@sg 