The Big Bad Year

I may be writing this in 2024, but this piece dates back to two years ago.

To say that 2022 was a year of huge change for the boys and me is the greatest understatement of the year.

No. That year was monumental. 

For Carl the dense one, it was the year he caught, discovered and cured STD.

For me, it was the year when I realised I could end up bankrupt if I continued paying sky-high mortgage rates if I didn't cut my losses and sold my home, and so I did.

For Stanley, it was a year of family drama.

In late-October 2022, his mum the formidable Mrs Monica Ong lost her footing while going down the stairs at her three-storey home.

"Luckily, she was almost on the ground floor when she tripped," Stanley reported to us hours later after checking her into the hospital just to be sure. "So she only fell and hurt her hip 'cos it was the last two steps."

We gathered for late-night supper at Stanley's home that very night.

Exhausted from an entire day at the hospital, our sex bunny friend needed food, comfort and company so Carl and I were activated to his Queens Close home.

"We need a holy floral shower ritual," Stanley said as he blew into his chopstick-ful of Rameyon. 

Carl the dense one looked to me for guidance. 

With Stanley, Carl is never sure what he's driving at. Everything Stanley talks about has the potential to turn sexual or vulgar or both. 

"This year is a bad year for us, really," Stanley said, shaking his head. "We need a reset."

Carl, satisfied that his supper wasn't about to be ruined with anything sexual nor vulgar, nodded and began his own ritual of making his Rameyon disappear. 

"I'll have to be back at the hospital again tomorrow morning," Stanley said. "The cute Filipino male nurse gets off during that time -- and that also means I will get off at that time too."

Carl choked on his Kimchi soup on cue, sputtering half-chewed Rameyon into the air.

Leave it to Stanley to, in spite of his family drama, look at things from the brighter side. Sweet young things, being the key things he's looking at, that is. 

"I'm serious," Stanley said. "Is it me or are the male nurses getting hunkier and hunkier these days?"

For the next one week, Stanley religiously visited Mrs Ong at the hospital.

His mum was very impressed with the commitment, especially since Stanley's visiting hours mirrored the hardworking nurses' shifts. 

Carl later told me he was worried about Stanley.

"The last time I was at a medical facility, it was to get rid of STD. I'm scared that Stanley is going to catch STD at a medical facility." 

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Adam's stories are based on real life events and inspired by real people