The scars on my face...

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been...” - Mark Twain

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I was once a hockey player. A good one too. I played for SMKB and SIC and later played for the School of Applied Science in UITM and had collected a few trophies. I started playing hockey when I was in form two. Wasn't really interested in the game initially but after much coaxing from Cikgu Rahman, I found the game interesting and tough. Back then, I was tomboyish and quite energetic, being a mid-fielder I had a lot of stamina.

No one from the gang wanted to join the hockey team, some tried but couldn’t last more than a term. The practice sessions were so regimented and we practiced almost every afternoon after school in the hot sun. We were so suntan and could be mistaken for Red Indian Sioux girls. Mak and Abah were worried about my studies, but they never gave up on me. I skipped classes and did my homework and revision on the hockey field, in between games. Obsessed with hockey, I even sleep with the hockey stick. I had a few good ones but my most treasured was the hand down from Ngah. Unintentionally I'd bruised sheens with that one. Ngah was an ardent hockey player himself and I learned a few tricks from him.

During my hockey era I inherited a few deep scars on my face. I had two stitches near the right eye where a hockey stick hit me during one of the brawls. We won but I ended up in the hospital, blinded for a few days. Other scars were on the brow of the left eye and under the chin. I took a few not-so-serious blows all over my bodies during the years and broken a few glasses too. Of my studies? Thanks to aruah Cikgu Rahman who not only coached the hockey team but who was also a personal tutor to me. When the LCE result was out, Ngah and I was in the middle of nowhere hitch-hiking from KL to Melaka. Cikgu Rahman was the first to break the news to Abah and Mak. By the time I got back to KB, the whole community in Wakaf Mek Zainab knew my result. My LCE result was better than expected!