Uncle called

My uncle, SC called.

Last night he called at about 7.27pm when it was raining heavily.

I did not picked up the phone. He left a message, asking if my father had changed his phone number. Uncle SC asked me to call him if I had my father new contact number.

Frankly, I was surprised. This is the first time I heard that my father changed his number. The last time that he changed his number, he did not informed me. I only got to know of it, during my grandmother's funeral.

That was about 2 years ago. And I have not talked to my father since then.

And today, uncle SC called again. At 10.46am.

Again I did not answered the call. He left a message, asking me to inform my father to contact him. Something about the 3rd year anniversary of my grandmother's death.

Had it been 3 years? I remembered that grandma passed away in Sept, 2 years back. Maybe they calculated it by the lunar calendar?

I did not called him back. I did not know if my father had changed his number. Or whether he was in town.

I had no spoken to him for about 2 years. Since that day at the funeral.

We had NO ill feelings or whatever. We did not hate each other. We just got nothing to talk about and hence no phone calls to each other. And we also did not see each other. There was no such intimate father-child bond.

How do I explain that to my uncle? Would he understand? Frankly, I dun think he would. He would probably say, he's your father! How could you not know? How is that even possible?

Well, he didn't understand our family culture very much. My family is not the same as that from other families.

We are not normal. We are like the Addams family! We just dun operate the same way as the other normal people.

I really envied my uncle SC and his family. They are so normal. So ordinary!

His son, whom is my age, has been married for years and have 2 kids. And his sister, whom is the same age as my sister, is also married for years. And they also have kids!

And my sister and I are childless! Uncle SC and his wife are grandparents. My parents are not!

In fact, out of the several siblings, my father was the only brother who was divorced. The rest of their marriages are still going strong.

Anyway, I tried calling the number I had for my father. The call was directed to answering mode. I left a message, telling him that his brother was looking for him. Frankly, I dun know if he retrieves his messages or even knows how!

I tried calling my sister. She's not answering either!

See! Our family is just like that! We are not slaves to technology. We dun answer phones. Our calls are directed to answering mode.

I messaged my sister, instructing her to inform father that his brother was looking for him, regarding the death anniversary of my grandma.

My father recently made an appearance in my sister's life again.

He left last year after the lunar new year, after a quarrel with my sister.

And my sister called him to wish him happy birthday in May this year and even invited him for a birthday treat. And a few days later, he appeared at her work place and even offered to help her again.

And since then, he has been popping in every few days.

Frankly, I did not know if she had passed him the messages. She did not messaged me back either.

Some time back, she told me she did not know how to sms.

Yah...like real, with smart lawyer's brains like her, who dun know how to sms? Simply too lazy to learn! How difficult is that?

I dun know if father called his brother back or whether he went along to commemorate the death anniversary.

Has it been 2 years? It seemed not long ago, and yet it also seemed very long ago.