Memoirs of a Tropical Island Girl

Numbers switch places and letters confuse Tammy when she's tired. She's probably dyslexic.
Who knows? She was never diagnosed.
No one ever suspected.
Who could ever guess that the girl who topped the entire cohort year after year might have a learning disability!

When I first wrote Little Nonya Escapades, I intended to write a fictional story, using my own childhood memories as an initial draft.

I had an amazing childhood. Dad and Mum were both schoolteachers who spent a lot of quality time with me. When my parents were working, grandpa doted on me.

When it was time to go to primary school, they enrolled me in Daddy's school. Every day for those 6 years, when I was in the car with Daddy, he was Daddy. When I got out of the car and was in school grounds, he was Mr Wee. I was proud of my "professionalism" back then. I never knew until decades later, after he had passed on, that it hurt him. The other teachers' kids called their parents "Daddy" or "Mummy" if they happened to meet. I was the only one who greeted my dad like any student would greet a teacher, with that respectful nod and impersonal greeting.

As I wrote, I poured my memories of those six years into my manuscript. I could remember every detail as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. I shared the first draft, my raw memories with my sister, for feedback. I had changed all the names except Daddy's and Teacher Elizabeth. That was my first step in "fictionalising" my story.

She advised me to keep it as is. Let it be my autobiography.

I'm fifty-six now. All this happened almost fifty years ago. Some of these events were so outlandish, readers would assume these to be figments of my imagination, so I didn't bother to turn any of it into fiction. No one would know the difference anyway.... Unless they happened to be there all those decades ago. I changed the names of everyone in the story to protect all identities.

I don't think that really worked. Mum read it and in spite of the name changes, she knew every character. She even pointed out that I had forgotten to include Uncle Lye Hoe in one of the scenes. Oops.

I didn't change Teacher Elizabeth's name because for so many decades, I wondered what happened to her. After that scene I described in my book, she disappeared. I never saw her again. I hoped that somehow somewhere, she might pick up my book and read it, and know what I never had a chance to tell her.

After I published Little Nonya Escapades, I asked my mother about her. Teacher Elizabeth disappeared because she had joined OMF and had become a missionary in India. She had just retired and was finally back in Singapore after all these decades. I got her number from my mother.

Teacher Elizabeth never answers calls from numbers she did not recognise, but when I called her, for some unknown reason, she answered my call. We met for lunch with my mum, and have been meeting up every once in a while. The best news?

She's my Godma now. 😍

If you want more fiction mixed with memories, check out my collection of short stories, Naughty Little Nonya. Some of these are true, some are figments of my imagination.

Which really happened?
Ask my mom.
If her blood pressure shoots up, yeah, that story actually happened.

If you want a fun lighthearted read, check out my latest series, The Adventures of Billy Lionheart.

Curious what happens to Billy when he grows up?
Check out Janice Wee's latest novel Dragon Unbound.

There's more.