Burglary

Kelly Ti Lien Ghee, you owe me big time. Ever since I started this blog, many things, eventful and uneventful has happened to me. Now a burglary has happened in my house. Are you happy?

Joking. Um, but the theft is real.

I woke up this morning, at 5.16a.m. after somebody knocked on my room door. In a daze, I heard my mother calling me out, saying that somebody is trying to still my father's bongsai. Alarmed, i quickly jumped out of my bed, ran out to the front compound, leaving my specs behind.
When i saw the empty stand where a bongsai used to be, my heart sank. The gate in my front compound was ajar. I dashed out to the road, but nothing was in sight. There wasn't a ghost on the road. Only silence.
I went back to fetch my specs, and when i went out again, my father had returned. It seems that my father gave a chase, on foot. We examined the gate, which was slightly bent.
It was a small, typical gate, that uses a bolt to close and link the two sides of the gate and another bolt that anchors the ground. Just like those that you usually see in new houses. The bolt(anchor) was lose, while the other bolt was still firmly in place, with the lock on it. The catch is, the gate was ajar.
My mother recounted that a loud crash, similar to one that is caused by a car accident, woke her up. My father woke up a second later. Both of them looked out through the window, which shows the front gate. They were shocked when they saw a man carrying a medium sized bongsai, roughly about 30 kg, up from the stand. My father gave a shout, dashed out of the room, took time to open the gate of my house(my house have 2 gates, one is the front gate and the other leading out of my living room), and ran after the burglar. My mother woke me up.
Then, while we were still puzzled by how the thief opens the gate, my neighbour, Uncle Lim came. He told us that he heard the crash, looked out of his balcony, and saw the thief carrying the pot. The thief was small built, some 40-50 years old, with gray hair, and was wearing a stripe shirt. He went back to fetch his keys, dashed out of his house just in time to watch the thief rode by his house in a motorbike, the bongsai balancing precariously on his lap. That was a rather big bongsai with branches some 20 cm long, which makes it some 40 cm in diameter. Uncle Lim gave chase in his car but lost him in the twists and turns of the housing estate's roads.
It was among the best bongsais that my father has. It has the best apex. It wouldn't have cost much, the pot and soil, but it took both my father and Uncle Lim, a bongsai sifu himself, painstaking years and devotion to trim it. In fact, the bongsai is 22 years old. I wouldn't speculate on its market value. The incident broke their hearts, and mine too.
After much thought, we came to common ground that the thief must have studied my house and the bongsai for a long time. This is because we have a "beware of dog" sign on the gate, but of course my dog had passed away 2 years ago. Therefore he has no worries. Secondly, he studied the bongsai very well. Every bongsai has its designated front, sides and back. A bongsai is valued by looking at its front, which was facing inside, leaving the back facing the road. It looks like a green mushroom if you look from outside of the house. So he must have spent a long long time just to analyse it. Unless this is a common robber stealing every damn thing under the sun in the hope that he accidentally steals the best things. Not very bright huh?
He must have climbed into the house compound through the wall. Once inside, he lifted the bolt(anchor) and gave the gate a good, strong kick, which explains the bent. This action will push both sides of the gate out, and the other bolt would have scratched against the gate. He kicked it so forcefully that the bolt scrapped all the way out of its 'holder' and seperated the 2 sides. Then, he removed the bongsai and climbed onto his motorcycle for his getaway.
Therefore, my friends, if you live in a small house with a small gate like mine, think about changing it(the gate, I mean). The burglar was so efficient he probably had done it hundreds of times. No kidding. My mother, father and Uncle Lim only heard one crashing sound, which means the thief did it in just one kick.
Everytime I see burglary, rape and murder I thought that they only happen to somebody else. Unfortuantely, I'm also somebody else to somebody else, and now it was my turn. The world has never been a safe place. Every damn thing happens. Gentlemen/ladies, don't leave prescious things in your compound that passersby can see, even though they are ought to be outside of the house. Bring them indoor. If you love your dogs, keep them indoor. Put an alarm.