Gerry Jacobson

Penampang Road

The phone call woke me. Tumbled out of bed, dimly hearing the news. Was it 2 am? I wheeled out the bike, out of the house, into the velvet night. Left the rubber plantation, riding along the Penampang Road. Three miles to go, dead flat. Under the stars. A heavy ‘situp’ Chinese bike, couldn’t go fast enough. Did I sing? Or did I just gasp for breath as I pushed the pedals round nervously. Those few minutes on the road seemed like hours.

I don’t remember exactly how I got into the hospital. Perhaps I just dropped the bike and ran in. To meet my daughter for the first time. Breech birth, 6lb 8oz. Kota Kinabalu, 11th September 1969.

dawn ...
stepping outside
into the fresh
foggy mystery
of this new day