Asphyxiated

Our family’s first home in Malaysia was in Sri Rampai, Selangor. The only memory left is me suffocating myself with a five cent coin in a wardrobe. It was on a particular evening my little eyes caught sight of a coin somewhere on the floor in my mum’s room, upstairs. It seems like something edible and I put it straight inside my mouth. There was a sense of pleasure that leads me to open Umi’s big wardrobe, climb inside, squat down and let myself flavor the coin. As it wobbles around the cavity, the coin suddenly slipped down and struck my throat; it stuck there. The feel was damn dreadful – it was as if I was smothered by a noose. For a while, I choked and am not able to voice out a single sound. Painstakingly, I crawled out from the wooden wardrobe to the door, not knowing what to do. ‘Arrk…agh…agh...umi..tolong lah... ’A mother has indeed, a brilliant instinct. On the nick of time, Umi was already in front. Alas! Her child was suffocating half – dead! Buk! Umi gave a motherly smack on my back. Thanks god, the coin shot out my mouth after a couple of smack. There I was, staying still on the floor, blue - faced and shocked.