DESPITE BEING nearly 77, my mom is still a sprightly and bright woman whom no one would ever refer to as "old lady". She keeps herself active with her church group, which although not a Christian myself, I think provides excellent fellowship and support. And she even drives herself around still.
Another thing which keeps her mind alert is mah jong - it's something she does practically every day but hey, what else would she do otherwise! She also provides support to fellow senior citizens and quite often takes along stuff she's cooked for them to savour - as she is an excellent nyonya cook (her otak otak is unsurpassed and so is her Perut Ikan) her cooking is very popular.
On Monday afternoon she was delivering some food to a friend in Pulau Tikus when the heavens opened and it bucketed down, so when she got back to her car, she put her handbag down on the passenger seat to take off her glasses to wipe them.
Wouldn't you believe it - the door on the other side of her swung open and her first thought was, "Why has my door swung open?" and before she knew it, a hand had reached in and whisked her handbag away.
She hadn't even had time to register the action before the crook had leapt back on to the back of his motorbike and the accomplice taken off. Luckily she only had a couple of hundred ringgit in her wallet, and her house keys were on her car key bunch which was inserted in the ignition, but luckiest of all is the fact that they did not harm her. When I mentioned the incident to a friend her reaction was, "If I were accosted, I would THROW the handbag to them - as long as they leave me alone"! That is the sorry state of affairs that we have to put up with nowadays.
So there was my poor old mom, bereft and in the pouring rain, left without so much as one sen. HOWEVER she is determined if nothing else, and immediately drove herself to the police station where she made a report (and was asked for RM4 to which her zesty reply was, "Where do you think I'm going to get that money from?"! Good for you, mom! He waived the charge!).
When I spoke to her this morning, she said "Everything else is kao dim now" - the banks have been informed, the cards have been cancelled and replaced; she had to have her IC and driving license reissued.
Although she was very understandably upset when she rang to tell me, as I later told my brother, the best sign of all was she was mostly ANGRY about the whole incident! Because to me, if she can feel anger, she's not depressed or hurt. In fact, she's out there once more, cooking and delivering stuff to friends, and driving herself round again. She's a real go-getter, and a great example to people of that age.
But to the crooks out there who made off with her handbag: you're a despicable cowardly bunch of b_____ds who should GET A LIFE - and a job to go with it, so you can know what it's like to have hard-earned money, and then you will stop preying on innocent victims ESPECIALLY elderly women who have never harmed you or anyone else in their lives! BOO to you.
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