faux pas ma

yes, that would be me, mother of all faux pas ma's.

everyone in the family knows how paranoid i am about the main gate being NOT shut. it started some years ago when i got up to pee in the middle of the night and happened to look out the window and saw the gate WIDE OPEN. 

at about 2.30 am.

the last one in, probably wei, had forgotten to shut the gate. and it's easy to forget when one just has to press the button on the remote control. you press it open and walk right in and into the house.

images of robbers, not even bothering to wield knives because of the easy entry, appearing right before my bed haunted me for ages.

so now, i check the gate a few times a night. right before i sleep, and when i get up to go to the toilet. 

or when i toss around in bed. i have mastered this art of jack knifing in the midst of tossing, (my bed is right below the window) glance out to check status of gate and plop down back to sleep on the other side.

anyway, wei had friends over last night. i stayed up to, what else, watch my korean drama.

at about 12.30am, i heard the wooden door being locked. which signalled that her friends had left.

on cue, i looked out to check and found the gate WIDE OPEN!!!

i flung out of bed, whipped the door open and yelled in my shrillest voice yet : WEI!! YOU FORGOT TO CLOSE THE GATE!!

she immediately replied: mom, my friend is still here, about to leave.

oh.

i slunk right into my room and collapsed on my bed where xru was and we both rolled around in helpless laughter.

five mins later, wei came up and explained that one of them returned to look for his mobile phone. with the family waiting outside in the car, wei didn't bother to shut the gate.

apparently, the friend was in the midst of searching for his phone when my shrill voice punctuated the air.

he froze.

and said: wah, your mom damn scary.

the next time he comes around, i shall be really nice to him. and will speak with a voice 2 octaves lower. 

^o^