All we wanted was to pick up a few things at the Postal Centre mall, near Paya Lebar MRT Station.
Mommy went to shop, and I took Faith to the POSB ATM to withdraw some money.
Here is an important lesson for you if you have an autistic daughter who loves to swim: HOLD HER HAND when you are at the ATM. Especially if it is located near a body of water, like a huge fountain.
Faith probably understood me when I said, "Wait". She did not promise to follow instructions though. The split second I turned to enter my PIN into the ATM, she bolted towards the fountain, climbed over the ledge, and jumped right in.
As I ran towards her, I could see her step over the ledge. What I did not expect was her disappearing from sight. The water was way deeper than I thought. It seems the shallow waters I saw earlier only applied to the top part of the fountain. The spot where Faith went over the ledge was a deep pool where the water collected.
By the time I ran there, she was in water head deep, bobbing up because she held on to a step, looking a little bewildered.
I fished her out and called Mommy who dashed over to take Faith to the toilet to take off the wet clothes and shoes. My job was to buy her something to wear from the nearby This Fashion store. But before I left for the store, my quick-thinking wife said, "But wait! Don't go yet!"
"I have a This Fashion discount card! Got 10% discount."
What presence of mind, and what typical Singaporeans we are. Emergency can still remember a discount card.
Faith ended up wearing a blue (slightly too big) dress Papa bought (at 10% off), and had to go barefoot because her sandals were wet too. And I had to carry her for the rest of the shopping trip because she had no shoes on. Mommy took one look at my choice of Faith's dress and made me swear never to let her wear that thing outside the house.
