’91 the year it was, first plane trip to a foreign land,
A fresh start and new adventures in the land down under,
Thrilled at new beginnings, shame about the language barrier,
Just a six year old kid from South East Asia, unfamiliar ‘bout everything going on in Australia,
Took a first trip to the local shopping centre, not so different from the motherland,
Flashier and rowdier, maybe a little bigger,
Found the toy store, Dreamland activated,
The perfect setting, too, for a first chance encounter,
Was sitting at the back, checking out action figures,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, back then many a boy’s idols,
He appeared from out of nowhere, fresh-faced and blonde haired,
Asked if I was a fan, his words alien to the dark-haired foreigner,
Nodded my head, unsure of any other answer, so he sat down, took it as permission,
Barely kept up with his chatter, hardly even mattered, thankfully he asked no questions, that surely would’ve been awkward,
Moment of fun spoiled when he was called by his parents,
Off he went, put an end to our bonding in an instant,
No clue where life took him, I doubt he even remembers,
Just a footnote in his story, long-buried and forgotten,
But this brown boy from the South East can still recall,
That first Aussie interaction, however brief, in that humble toy store.