Uncle Tan and the Faulty Wiring
A Corridor Study in Illumination and Best Practice
When the light flickers, people behave. When it stops, they explain.
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Tan here. A long-term resident of Block 345, Chestpeak Avenue.
It's not a bad place to live. The residents of Block 345 are generally orderly folk who maintain the block well. And I like that they leave everything where it should be.
But that lamp. That idiotic lamp.
The flickering of that idiotic lamp was irritating. Irregular. Inconsistent.
It happened whenever I walked past, but some enjoyed uninterrupted illumination.
That was interesting to note.
Coincidence, of course.
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Take Mdm Lim, for example. The one who waters others' plants for them. That light would behave over her.
Now me? I'm not a plant person. I like to keep up with the news.
But I'm a retiree. I can't afford regular newspapers, so I depend on...external help.
I sometimes...er...borrow the newspapers outside neighbours' apartments when they're not watching.
And that darned light would go on and off over me whenever I did.
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I, Tan, believe that optics must be upheld. I've always done this at work.
And at home as well.
Sharing corridors requires community discipline, so I make sure to return the newspapers slightly earlier.
What is borrowed must return mah? Best practice.
Tan always obeys community standards.
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They finally replaced the silly lamp. See? I said that the wiring was faulty.
Nothing unusual. Just the Town Council and its nonsense.
Things went back to normal since the lamp stopped flickering. Mdm Lim waters her own plants and conserves water for herself now.
Everyone else's – not so important lah.
Me? Now that the lamp has stopped flickering, I have decided to borrow newspapers permanently.
No returning. For what? Everyone can see anyway.
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So, everything in order, lah.
It WAS faulty wiring, like I said. Glad they corrected it.
I borrow...but when no one else is in the corridor.
I don't like that light now. It shows. Too well.
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Original Singaporean microfiction by Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin. AI tags are coincidental.
About the Creator
Michelle Liew Tsui-Lin
Hi, i am an English Language teacher cum freelance writer with a taste for pets, prose and poetry. When I'm not writing my heart out, I'm playing with my three dogs, Zorra, Cloudy and Snowball.
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Comments (1)
Ha! Reminded me of the famous Hawthorne illumination studies for productivity. I guess this one was for honesty. Great story, Michelle!