My Puddles

"As a child I used to think if I stepped into a puddle, I would be in another world, and a dreamer I still am. Fairy tales were never allowed in the household as they represented something sinful. I was double sin when I somehow possessed a couple of them, which hidden under my bed, I thought were safe and that no one would ever be able to find. How wrong was I. My favourite story was "Beauty and the Beast" and the part when Belle was given a ring that enabled her to see her home village. For me, I tried to imagine that I could see into another world far, far away from my parents' home. Staring into the puddle I could see the sky that looked totally different from the sky above me. Then behind me came a voice that belonged to an adult: "Don't walk in the puddle!" Growing up in South-east Asia, I had plenty of puddles to walk in. In the rain muddy puddles appeared practically everywhere, and countless times, to the annoyances of the adults, I stepped in them. Time after time I was disappointed – I had gone nowhere only to be told off, severely at times or punished for my deliberate actions. Then one day the world came to me... When this 26-year-old man came into my life, he who brought another world to me, the world that was in my imagination ever since so long ago... His name was Brian Peck. He was my best friend, my confidant, and my all..."