Boyman (April26)

You have never before seen a President of any description in downtime rock up to his usual watering hole—in this instance Al Wadi; (oasis; or literally, valley, where water may be found)—in his sporty little runabout. Late Sunday afternoon, we were sitting over our tehs chatting, the evening coming on more rapidly than in other parts of the globe. (On the Equator all the phases of the course, dawn, noon, dusk, passed in upbeat time.) Two door glossy red soft-top, the driver like many others of that particular stripe, parking right on top of the Stop on Geylang corner. For some transgressors exceptions might be made; certainly for the Pres. Or at least in this case, chief Dude; the President’s paramour; legal husband & father of her children. (Often on our patch the declension was ignored, man referenced by the title itself.) First off, naturally, we surmised a young buck popping over to the Fries for his takeout; borrowed dad’s car, roof down cos the heat. When the old matron in company, who was awaiting her own husband in their motor, had her gaze directed toward the newcomer, the woman initially agreed. Ya, some fast lad taking liberties. What could one expect? Slightly turned-up lip. Turned aside a moment, the woman needed to be called back to see her error… Oh! Not what one had expected. Nor Chinese either, as possibly supposed. A grey-beard; sere of years. Nimble, slipping out from what would be an awkward position ordinarily for a man of that age. Produced an altered visage now; almost blanching, poor love. Oh! Oh!...  And a moment later. Ah! You know… Last sighting in the newspaper the chap in question had been giving out parcels to the poor at one of the Muslim charity events, $250 vouchers for the lucky recipients. Batik shirt, dress pants for the cameras. Receiving foreign dignitaries and the like, the PM here dons his own fashionable batik; otherwise canvassing among the folk at the hawker centres, grey polo & off-the-rack strides. Over in Sixth Avenue for his personal use fellow keeps his own Porsche, whether cherry red uncertain.