My youth that was spent in New York

[vkoolboi]

This story requires some patience. Please consider this as a fantasy story.

This is a story that happened many years ago. I was in Primary 5 when I got to know 2 friends, Tom and Peter. Both were brothers and they were from overseas and older than me by 4 and 5 years old, which meant that they were teenagers (15 years old and 16 years old) while I was only 11 years old. They were raised in Vietnam, had a Vietnamese mother (call her Maggie) who was 30 years old and an American father (call him Bruce) who was 50 then. The mother and children only managed to leave Vietnam and obtained their American citizenship when Tom and Peter were 12 and 13 years old respectively. That explained why they started school very late as schooling was almost nil in Vietnam. The boys spent about 3 years in New York when they left Vietnam with their mother.

Bruce got a posting to Singapore and the family came over. As the children were not properly schooled in Vietnam, they had to start at Primary 4 in Singapore.

It was odd for the boys because the rest of the class were younger and they could not adjust well to the local system of schooling, which is very different from America and Vietnam. They were too proud to consult the younger children in class for advice but somehow, Tom and Peter clicked very well with me. I guessed that I was way too mature for my age. At 11 years old, I (call me Johnny) was already very curious and pondering questions on more mathematics such as statistics and calculus, physics and biology and frequently visit Singapore Polytechnic library to read and have always marvelled at the opportunities to travel to America (gold mountain in mandarin).

During this time, I gave free tuition to both Tom and Peter and became a regular guest in their bungalow house in Nassim Road which Bruce bought for a song (in today’s exorbitant price). I enjoyed going to their place and occasionally sleep over because the food, lodgings and maid service were excellent. Maggie is a typical pretty Vietnamese woman, slim, demure and pleasant and I was told by Tom that she was one of the finalist in a district beauty contest. She looked like she is 23 years old and just graduated from university. Despite having 2 babies, her tummy is flat and there is no sign at all that she is already a MILF.

[vkoolboi]

Time flies, we took PSLE and with my help, Tom and Peter managed to promote to Sec 1 and we went to the same school. Bruce was at that time, contemplating to send them to International School as he thought that the boys would not qualify for secondary school and had to be retained which they were really too old to be in primary school.

When I was in Sec 1, Tom was 17 and Peter was 18 and they were severely over-aged but the system accepted them. Maggie was 32 and Bruce was 52. Bruce was doing well in his career and he seemed to be quite free with occasional travel to New York and other parts of Canada and Europe. I have taken an interest in Bruce business as I am very curious on what he do in business.
At that time, most kids are not interested in business and the business world of management is presented as a complex subject that only elite adults know. During this time, I started researching and studying on rise and fall of industries, competition, technology and financials of businesses and at some point, I was casually giving advice to Bruce on what stock to invest in. He was initially dismissive until he realised that all my advice were golden words.

As I read more and understand more, Bruce started inviting me to his study room to discuss opportunities in the business landscape, management of people and assets, solutioning to some difficult business dilemmas and stock prices. As the days go by, he begin to trust me more and more and in fact, he made some good money from taking my advice on which stork to invest in. Even Maggie was surprised that he would invite me to his study room as Maggie was forbidden to go in except to help him with some cleaning supervision.

As I spend a lot of time helping Bruce, both Peter and Tom did not get the needed tuition help from me and did quite badly for their mid-year exams. Bruce decided that at the end of our Sec 1 exam, he would like to place his sons in an International School in New York, blaming it on adjustment issues and our rigid curriculum. As his sons wanted to be with me, he also offered to put me to International School in New York for a year and I could then return to Singapore to do Sec 3 after one year

[vkoolboi]

I felt that it was a good opportunity and my parents who were very busy with their lives, readily agreed to dispense of me as I would not need to be supported by them for a year and I would be given the opportunity of an overseas stint.

Bruce was generous and told me that he would give me a 2 bedroom apartment to myself while his two sons and wife would be staying in a neighbouring 3 bedroom apartment block. As I will be staying alone, he gave me the option of subletting out one room to earn some income or my parents and family can visit me and have a room to stay, though he would provide me with an allowance. Immediately after I finished my exam, I flew over to New York and that was in October.

When I was in New York, I stayed in Mahattan Chinatown area and I also realised that the rent was very high. Most of the residents don’t buy their apartment but rent it. I think this is part of the culture but Bruce was different. He believed in real estate and bought the apartments and after the tenancy expired, he let us stay there while he mostly stay in Singapore with occasional travel to Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, sometimes Europe but never to America except once to California.

After we moved to New York, I got to settle down quite quickly as both Tom and Peter were familiar with the city and they orientated me. As a neat freak, I quickly cleaned my place, decorated it with some recycled materials such as coke cans, bicycles, etc.. It looks quite hip.

The apartment I stayed has 2 rooms (master bedroom has an attached toilet with bath tub) and the living room toilet is small but one could still bath by standing, there is a small kitchen, a yard to put the washing machine, a small living room with a balcony for smoking and for placing of a small cane sofa. The heater in the Master bedroom which I occupy is working but the heater in the other room is not working too well.

A month has passed and it was November now. This was where my adventure in New York got started.

[madpig88]

Looking forward to your next updates to this nice story TS.

[luvuass]

Good start, pls cont

[saabking]

Was it NYC after 9/11 or after Lehman Bros?

[Lee0719]

It's a good start. Waiting for updates.

[diputs1269]

Nice start here, another camper.

[TonyCottee]

Camping here too!

[Lawabies]

Good start bro, support!

[vkoolboi]

Tom approached me that his friend’s relative, both Chinese were looking for an apartment to stay as they could not afford the rental and would have to vacate their place by the end of the week. As Tom’s place is not convenient to house them, primarily Maggie would object, he asked if I would be able to house the two of them. Being business minded, I asked how much rent would they be prepared to pay me for taking the smaller room.

Tom: Johnny, don’t like that leh… This apartment is not yours in the first place, how can you charge rent?

Me: Erh.. your dad said that I can charge rent if someone wished to stay with me. How do I account to your dad for the increased utilities bill, take care of the maintenance, etc.

Tom: My dad did say that you can house guests and I don’t think he is the petty type of person who would make you account for all the increased utilities. Besides that, the heater in the smaller room is not working so well and heat up only a little, which means less utilities bill.

Me: I am still not comfortable with staying together with strangers.
Tom: They are not strangers, they are Chinese from mainland China. You are also Chinese and you all have the same ancestors, how can say strangers. Besides that, you looked old and you are like 18 years old with face full of pimples like the muscovy duck. You always think and behave so mature, why you scare of them?

Me:Erh….

Tom: You run out of excuses already. Tell you what, I introduce them to you first and then I leave you to decide if you wish to house them temporarily. They are a couple and the guy lost his job but he would be starting new work for my dad. I think they will at most stay for 6 months before they saved sufficiently to move out. I arranged dinner for them and you tonight. I will not be present so you don’t feel pressured to take them in. By the way, this guy also lost his savings to gambling and they were quite desperate.
Me: OK, I will meet them and maybe we could work something out.

After Tom left, I took a short nap. The weather was getting cold especially in the evening. I put on a coat and that made me looked even more mature than my zhao lau face. The living room doesn’t have a heater and it is quite cold but with all the windows closed, it is not too bad except that the air got a bit stale. Tom ordered Pizza and fried chicken nuggets delivered to my apartment at 6.45pm.

At 7pm, I heard the doorbell ring – Ting Tong…

[zawky]

Support nice story and camping for more!

[BK4ever]

this is a really nice story, more of it will be great ts.

[otamay]

Another supporter here, please continue.

[alec]

Okkaayy... Fairly good start. Will come back for updates