We stared at each other. Sun had set, and most of the other kids at the playground (the sand-pit) had gone home, dragging their plastic spades and shovels with them.
I was 6. Lance was a year older. We were the fastest bikers around the neighbourhood on our bmx bikes. Mine was an ugly grey. His, a cool bright yellow one. We were equally brave and reckless, took the same bus, to the same school. Our bikes were equally scratched and banged up, and both our brakes didn't work properly anymore cos of all the braking we did down the slopes. We had to use our feet to stop the bike. The easier way to stop it would be to knock down a car or 2. The only thing that was obviously different was our size. He was like 2 feet taller than me, and had a much bigger build. I was so scrawny it was a wonder that i can even make it up the slope on Nanyang Hill (now called Nanyang View) where we lived.
We never liked each other very much. We always got into fights... and I'd always lost. We fought while waiting for the school bus to go back home. We fought on the bus over gals... (yah, a bit ridiculous to do that at that age) We fought over who was stronger ( i don't know why i bothered). But
Lance was the one who taught me the true meaning of manhood even at such a young age. Once, after they had shown American Ninja on SBC 5, we'd decided to try out some of the moves while waiting for our bus. To be fair, he suggested that we do one move on each other, taking turns. This way, he said, i would have a fighting chance. I agreed... trying to remember the killing, spine-breaking move that i had relished on TV the night before. Lance was so dead haha... i thought to myself. We got ready. Lance had the first move, since he was older (makes no sense, but i had to agree to the terms of the fight). I got into my Bruce Lee stance... pretty uptight. He jus stood there, pretty relaxed. Then he stepped forward... and kneed me in the groin. The rest of it you can imagine. He had a couple more turns. I never had the chance to make a move. Lance taught me manhood, made me realise that i was not a za bao4... that i had something down there that caused me to lose that fight.
It was a windy night... and i was eager to go on with the race, cos the mosquitoes from the nearby jungle would soon be out. We started cycling. The rules were simple. The first one off the bike loses. We started the kicking. We started punching. We kept cycling... riding into each other's way. No need to guess who won that race. I had to get my brother to go out and collect my bike for me. Left a bit of skin a bit of lip and blood on the pavement that day.
I didn't see Lance till 7 years later cos he went overseas. Met him again in RI when he came back. The Australian diet was amazing... he was already 1.8, and i don't think he was Marfanoid cos he was built. I wa ard 1.6, yeah, so thin that when i turned sideways, i could disappear, like a poker card. He stayed in my class for a while... but i had my lil gang then... and we weren't so frightened of him. He became a good friend, and a human sandbag that never broke. We beat each other up for fun, placed different classmates in boxes meant for recycling paper, crawled up the window grill at the side, and landed on the victim below. Did it till they stopped making noise... did it till the box broke. When it broke we took a 5 min break to tape it up again... then we continued. Lance was one of the nicer ones to put into the box. The others that made good cushions included Prem haha... Shaun was wonderful to land on cos of the irritating noise and comments that he tends to make.... " get me, get me!", "come on... why so slow?" Anyway, Lance had to go away again after sec 2. Last I heard, he had testicular cancer... no, i am kidding... last i heard, he was training to be a professional tennis player. May he do other guys in like he did me.
