Super Yoyo

“Long sleeper!”, exclaimed Shunichi Demoto, as he slickly executed the move on his powerful Hyper Dragon yoyo in front of a cheering crowd.

Young Chan Seng was soundly asleep, lost in his own world where he was Shunichi Demoto, where he owned a slick Hyper Dragon yoyo and everybody looked up at him in awe.

It all started that fateful afternoon.

Chan Seng was watching Tom and Jerry on okto when on flashed this new cartoon series, Super Yoyo! The fast moving images, cool characters and thrilling storyline gripped him, and soon he was hooked. All he could think of during dinner was the yoyo. He started doodling cartoons of Shunichi Demoto and his Hyper Dragon on his maths homework, wishing that he could, too, one day have a yoyo that he could call his own.

He went to sleep early that night, images of him performing tricks on his yoyo for an audience flashing through his head endlessly. In his world, he was Shunichi Demoto, and everybody looked up at him in awe.

But alas, the unrelenting ring from his bedside alarm clock jolted him rudely back into reality. He woke up, upset that his fantasy could only last a few hours each night. Nevertheless, he got up and trudged dejectedly to school.

Entering through the magnetic gates, Chan Seng could not believe his eyes! Almost everyone in school seemed to be playing with a Super yoyo! Mark and his clique of cool friends were playing with the newest, most sophisticated Stealth Raider, which has flashing lights to boot. The kids beside his class were playing with Golden Fire. ****, even Tan, the most nerdish boy in school had a $9.90 Hyper Russell with wooden axles to play with. Yet he, Chan Seng, had nothing.

“Hey guys, you all wanna play catching?” Chan Seng asked his friends innocently during recess.

“Nope sorry. We wanna play with our yoyos” his friends replied matter-of-factly.

Apparently the novelty of yoyos trumps catching any day. His friends were deserting him to go play with their yoyos.

Chan Seng felt sad and lonely.

“No way!” Chan Seng could not stand this anymore. “I am gonna get my very own Super yoyo too!”

He went home that evening and told his mother: “Mum, I want a Super yoyo!”

“But why?”

“Because I need it! “

“Yoyos are not a necessity.”

“But everyone has one!”

“Good try. Give me a better reason.”

“All right, I’m lonely and I need a Super yoyo to play with. Is that good enough? Are you going to deprive a 9-year old of his childhood?”

“Come on. You are only 9-years old and 130cm tall. The yoyo string is way too long for you to use; your yoyo will only hit the floor when you play. You are just too short to handle a yoyo. “

“I don’t care! I just want a Super yoyo! I will bear all the consequences myself, I promise!”

Eventually, his mother relented. “Ok, so which model do you want?”

Chan Seng was stumped. Stumped at this seemingly simple, yet amazingly profound question. Something he has never thought about before.

There were Golden Fires, Fire Stars, Stealth Raiders, Aqua Dragons and a whole array of other different yoyos, yet he did not know what he want.

Perhaps he did not want a Super yoyo because there was one he really liked, one that he knew he would play with for the rest of his life. He did not mind having one, because everybody had one. He convinced himself that he needed one, because he was lonely. He wanted to have one just for the sake of having one, to tell other people that hey, I’m not a loser. I have a Super Yoyo too.

Chan Seng needed time to think over this issue, so he told his mother:” Mum, I think I need a few days to decide which one I want. “

And so he thought. And thought. And thought and thought and thought and thought and thought. Eventually, he managed to convince himself that the Super yoyo that he really genuinely liked was the blue Aqua Dragon.

And so on a sunny Saturday afternoon, young Chan Seng trudged happily to Takashimaya with his mother, eager to buy his new yoyo. Alas, as luck would have it, all the Aqua Dragons have been sold out in the last few days. Chan Seng could not believe his luck, and was sorely disappointed and angry with himself that it is because of his uncertainty the last few days that has cost him his Aqua Dragon. In the spur of the moment, Chan Seng even contemplated just settling for a $9.90 Hyper Russell which he didn’t really like, but he didn’t.

Chan Seng was dejected and depressed for the whole of the next three days. He kept to himself the whole day, skipped meals and even missed all his favourite cartoons on okto. But amazingly, as soon as it came, he got over it. He realised that he did not feel that sad anymore.

Perhaps, he thought, the obsession over the Aqua Dragon was only a short term crush.

Perhaps, it was just never meant to be.

Or maybe, just maybe, he did not really need a Super yoyo after all.

Or so we all try to console ourselves.