If alone, I am always ignorant of what is going on in the restaurants. However, thanks to my surrounding people who each have their favorite eating places, I'm still often updated of the latest promotion somewhere.
"Then we'll go one day. I still owe you a Chinese New Year treat. The promotion is until when?"
"End of April. I read in the newspaper..." When Uncle Seelan walks out from Seri Kenangan Home to have his breakfast outside, he usually buys an English newspaper from the nearby 7-Eleven.
Since I did not send him back after the Sunday service nowadays and I always had other commitments on Saturdays, I could only depend on weekdays. But when I was free in the evening, he normally was not allowed and would not be keen to go out after 6pm.
March was over. In early April, I still assured Uncle Seelan of my intention to bring him to KFC and he was looking forward to it with enthusiasm. In the middle of the month, I became so busy with my work and activities that I was counting down to the deadline of my promise. He also began to doubt that I could make it.
This final week of April, I eventually made up my mind to leave my office early in Tuesday afternoon for the sake of Uncle Seelan. While I was driving back, it was very hot. When I reached the old folks home at about five, the weather turned much milder.
Uncle Seelan got into my car, looking excited like a child who was going for an outing. He told me that even if I had been there after 6pm, he would still make an effort to follow me knowing that I had specially allocated my time for him.
I decided to drive him to KFC at Malim which was not as crowded as the one in Alor Gajah so that he could see the sights of Cheng area along the main road. Before we entered Uncle Seelan's favorite fast food restaurant, I took a picture of him and suddenly realized that he could be the lost cousin of its founder Colonel Harland Sanders in South East Asia!
"Colonel's Royal Briyani Combo" was no longer available. I was more disappointed than Uncle Seelan because this time I had fulfilled my promise to bring him there but KFC had not kept theirs to sell nasi briyani and spicy soup until 30th April. Nonetheless, from Uncle Seelan's grinning face, I knew he did not mind at all.
I jokingly asked the friendly employees if there was any free gift for this 85-year-old man who was probably the oldest customer who had ever stepped into their restaurant and who loved their fried chicken. Their generous offer was--a balloon!
I ordered the similar "Colonel Chicken Rice Combo" for Uncle Seelan and an ice-cream for myself since I had just slurped some noodles three hours earlier and it was still too early for me to have dinner.
Having a tiny appetite, Uncle Seelan was not even able to finish eating a whole piece of chicken. He passed to me the covered cup of chicken meat ball soup and invited me to have a share of his other dishes. So I went downstairs to the counter to get another set of spoon and folk and then took some rice and a chicken wing while leaving him the drumstick. I also suggested that we would request an employee to pack the other piece of spicy chicken so that he could take away and eat later.
During more than one hour, Uncle Seelan recounted interesting stories during the Japanese occupation, which gave me the desire to seriously interview him one of these days. He also told me that he had always been associating with younger people. Therefore, he was comfortable in my company. In return, I revealed to him that I had been acquainted with a lot of older people. As a result, having fellowship with him who was more than two and a half times my age was something enjoyable to me.
Apart from seeing Jesus' second coming during his life, Uncle Seelan's other wishes are to eat chicken chop, nasi briyani, char kuay teow (stir-fried rice cake strips), poori, etc.
Father God, please bless me with more free time and a body like Uncle Seelan's which will not easily grow fatter after eating all these foods rich in calories...
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