Occasionally, but not often, my parents would attempt to
pair me off with the child of a work colleague in an attempt to jump start a
friendship. Occasionally, we’d hit it off, but most of the time, these pairings
were somewhat contrived, as the only thing we had in common most of the time
was our age, and the fact that our parents knew each other.
Sometime around February or March 1987, my father says that
one of his colleagues has a son around my age that he thinks I would get along
with named David, and asks I would like to spend an afternoon with him and if
all goes well a possible sleepover. Dave lived on the Hong Kong Island in a
place called the mid-levels. The mid-levels were a large concentration of
apartment buildings just outside the Central Business District. It was where
many of the ex-pats living on the Island stayed. If they were very rich, they
could live in the residential area of the Peak, which was the mountainous area
of the Island.
So it was decided that I would meet him on a Saturday
morning. I bought my British stamp album with me as I had planned to go to my
stamp dealer at Silvercoard Shopping Centre in Kowloon to buy some more 1960’s
commemoratives, which was what I had been working on. I waited at the entrance to the Star Ferry on
the Island side for David to arrive. After a while, a tall, slender guy with
dark, straight hair approached me and asked me if I was Chris. I indicated that
I was and he introduced himself as David. We immediately hit it off and began
talking about anything and everything. I explained that I wanted to go to get
stamps and he seemed interested in the concept of collecting these little pieces
of paper. He accompanied me there and then we spent a bit of time hanging
around in Kowloon before he suggested that we head over to his place.
We headed over to his place on the Island, which was on the
19th floor and arrived shortly after lunch. I met his parents, both
very nice people, Richard and Sue I believe their names were. Richard was
David’s actual biological father, while Sue was his stepmother. Dad and Richard
worked together in the Marketing department of what was then City Polytechnic
of Hong Kong. After a nice lunch, we offered to help with the dishes and just
before this Richard and Sue had asked me if I wanted to sleep over, to which I
said “yes” very enthusiastically.
At this point, I need to digress and explain how many
apartment kitchens in Hong Kong are laid out. Usually, you walk in and to your
right, you will have the fridge, the gas stove and most of the cupboards, while
to the left will be the sink and hot water heater. Hot water was usually
provided by way of wall-mounted, flueless gas heaters, which required you to have
a window open in order to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Consequently, the
windows to the kitchen would usually be located on the same wall as the sink
and usually at sink level. Most kitchens in Hong Kong did not have a lot of
counter space. Instead, people would usually place a portable butcher block
counter unit at the end of the kitchen and at the very end would usually be a
doorway, which would either be the pantry or the Amah’s (nanny’s)
quarters. Kitchens did not have
dishwashers, with everything usually being done by hand.
Dave’s parents kitchen was no different from this. On the
drainboard sat a white wire dish rack, which was directly across from the open
window. I elected to wash, while David elected to dry. I began to wash the
dishes and place them in the rack. One of the items I had to wash was a solid
walnut wooden cutting board that must have weighed at least 10 pounds. It was
about 9 inches by 15 inches and 2 or three inches thick. It was massive. I
washed it and placed it in the rack, and continued washing more dishes. David
was grabbing the plates and not the cutting board, which was lying on the side
of the dish rack closest to the window. After grabbing 2 or 3 plates and
putting them away, he went to reach for the fourth plate.
All of the sudden the weight of the cutting board was
greater than the counter weight of the dishes on the side closest to me. Before
we could do or say anything the dishrack flipped backward from the weight of
the cutting board toward the open window. The cutting board slid out from the
dishrack and through the open window, falling 19 floors to the bottom of the
building. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion as we both watched in
amazement. We felt powerless to stop it
from happening. We could hear voices below and we were horrified! I leaned over
and looked out the window, watching the cutting board fall toward a group of
Filipino nannies that had gathered in the courtyard below. The cutting board
reached the ground and smashed into a dozen pieces with a loud bang. From what
I could see, nobody was hit, but I was just terrified to go down there and face
the adults. Especially I knew we had just broken the law. I knew that we were
going to get yelled at by a lot of adults at the very least. I muttered
something about finishing my O-levels from jail, and proceeded downstairs with
David to face the music.
But when we got down there, people were completely chill. We
walked up to the group of nannies and adults and asked to speak with someone
who was the lead adult if you will. A dark haired white man with a mustache
stepped forward and we profusely apologized for what had just happened and
asked if anyone was hurt. He had said no, that people had heard it fall and
moved out of the way. He assured us that accidents happen and not to feel bad
at all. I had to pinch myself to ensure that I wasn’t dreaming.
After that followed one of the best sleepovers in living
memory. We played board games and I got to watch both of the Airplane movies
for the first time. I laughed so hard during Airplane that at one point, while
drinking an orange pop, mid-sip, I burst out laughing and sprayed pop
everywhere. We all hung out in the living room and then eventually went to bed.
I awoke to a really nice breakfast, made by Sue. Eventually I went on my way
asking for David’s phone number, which I obtained.
Sadly though, I would never see David again. I cannot
remember exactly why, but I think Richard and Sue left Hong Kong shortly
afterward, taking David with them.
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