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Police
& Thief
24 MAR 07
There
are a lot of games I played when I was in Primary School. And the
one that sticks in my brain like a sore thumb is Police and Thief.
Now P&T is not a new game. I’ve seen it played by other
kids all over the world, they have slight different set of rules
but the essence of the game, which a group of kids chasing another,
remains the same.
So what is so different about the P&T
played in my Primary School? The only one word to describe is
“an all out war!” Ok, I used 4 words… that how
intense it was. This war takes place every recess without fail.
P&T is a boys games, the girls were too busy playing 5 stones
and whatever stones they can get their hands on.
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5 stones
and zero point was the rave back then. |
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game would start with the usually “Oh-Ah-Peh-Ah-Som”;
the most legitimate, unbiased procedure of choosing one’s
fate. (If only the United Nation used this technique, half of the
world’s problems would be solved almost immediately!) Then
the number of boys, usually around close to a 100, would be split
50-50. The leaders of the Police and Thief, (usually boys from the
monolingual or extended classes. These guys repeated Primary 6 so
many times, they started to grow beards) would exchange a few words
and agree on a spot for the “prison”- the prison is
usually something prominent like a fire hydrant, a big rock, but
for our case, it’s a huge tree near our school field. Once
that is done.. then all hell would break loose. |
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Even
though the "Oh-Ah-Pei-Ah-Som" is a relatively simple
procedure, some idiot boy never fails to mess things up. |
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The leaders are supposed to be in Secondary 4
but they seem to be stuck at Primary 8. |
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The
huge tree that acts as a "prison" but without the family
visits. |
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Thieves
would run like headless chickens and the police would chase after
them like as if, they owed them money. When I say “catch”,
I mean it’s a struggle with arm locks and stuff. Like cheetahs
chasing after gazelles in the African heat, the Police would grab
a collar, headlock to a grinding halt or twist an arm of something
but boys being boys, these thieves would try to struggle.. some
got away but sometimes you’ll land yourself in prison aka
the big tree. |
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You can never compromise with the Police. |
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have been caught numerous times and sitting on a root-protruding
tree throughout recess is no fun. But the weird thing when I look
back is that everybody followed rules. The captured thieves would
be sitting near the tree waiting for some daring thief to tag them,
they did not try to escape or cheat or anything like that. Maybe
its due to the fact that there was no means of escape; the tree
was tightly guarded by 10 other Police boys who would not budge,
creating an impenetrable fortress. Even the guy from Prison Break
can't escape this tree-prison thing. I don’t even think Alcatraz
is this tough. You get decent meals there, over at the tree, all
you can do is watch ants crawl up your socks.
Then sometimes, a prisoner,
usually a boy who have been spending too much time at the tree,
so much so that, it’s beginning to impair his judgement,
would have this bright idea. He would tell other prisoners to
start a “thieves chain”.
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"The
Current" |
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| Theives
would hold hands with other theives and make this long line.. A
last, desperate line for for help, if you will. If an uncaptured
thieve would just tap onto the end of the chain, the whole imprisoned
thieves would technically “have the right” to be free..
The chain was called “the Current”, yes, we got it off
Science class.
This technique went
on for a while but after that, it got banned when the Police leader
claimed that it was unfair. This guy acts as he is the Singapore
Police Commissioner. At least, that is what he aspires to be.
(Sometimes this Police guys can get over the top with the game.
I remembered finishing a meal during recess, and I was munching
on an epok-epok when suddenly 2 police boys came from nowhere
and decided to drag me to the prison tree. I told them, I’m
not playing today and my epok-epok will be cold if I don’t
eat it soon. They ignored my pleas and soon I have to freaking
eat my curry puff by the tree.)
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hi-light of the game is when you can see human drama intertwine
with the game itself. There was once, almost 90% of the thieves
have been caught. The tree was like Changi Prison, all packed with
thieves guilty of petty crime. I was getting accustomed to living
life at the tree. We’d sing prison carols, write letters to
loved ones and talked about how it was like to be free men. We thought
we were definitely gonna lose then… out of nowhere, a lone
uncaptured thief decided to do the unthinkable. He decided to sacrifice
himself for the rest of us. 1 life for many.
He barged through the
tight security and the Police boys would pounce on him worse then
the NYPD. He would crawl on the ground as the whole Police contingent
wrestled him not to move. He kept on inching on the ground and
finally his hand managed to tag one thief and the result was a
massive prison break! All of us were free again. You can almost
hear the Police leader howled in contempt throughout the school!
The thief that rescued us from the clutches of tyranny lost most
of the buttons on his school uniform. His hair was a mess and
dirt was on his face…. But to all of us thieves, he was
a martyr.
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One unselfish deed that affects thousands of lives.
We need more people like this in Singapore. |
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| P&T
went on for a long while until a boy brought a tennis ball to school.
They decided to hit the ball at each other on the field and thus
“Bola Rembat” aka “Dodge ball” was born.
Yesterday kids played
games, today's kids play MSN,
Evil Bunny
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