WHITE LEATHER SHOES

I had my first holy communion with my elder brother at a Catholic Church in Sembawang, Singapore. We had to dress up in white for the occasion. White clothes were easily available. In those days we used to wear white canvas shoes to school but my father wanted us to wear white leather shoes on that day. So we went from one shoe shop to another looking for white leather shoes. Most shops had leather shoes only in black or brown. A few shops did have white leather shoes, but they had them only in adult sizes. At last, we came to a shop which had white leather shoes for children. They were expensive. My father bought them.

At church, I noticed most of the others were wearing white canvas shoes. I could not understand why my father took the trouble to get us white leather shoes. I am sure he wanted us to be well dressed for the occasion. Later on, when I began to understand how some of our relatives speak, I realised that another reason could be that he wanted to avoid listening to their sarcastic remarks.

After the function at the church we went to a studio and got a photograph taken. Then there was a party at home. I never wore those shoes after that day.