to Kathleen, all of Mrs Laura Lim’s other students, and all Singaporean students who went to school with Mrs Laura Lims

the first time I was put on trial,

Mrs Laura Lim was investigator, prosecutor and judge.

the charge levied against me was simple:

the heinous act of forgetting my spelling book.

Investigator Lim could smeel the most inconspicuous lies from behind the trembling lips

of any suspect in her crumpled pinafoe. Surely,

no self-respecting woman of the law could allow such crimes go unpunished,

especially where they were at risk of tarnishing future generations. You see-

Mrs Laura Lim was a proud member of a contingent of

Mr Tan’s, Mrs Kin’s and the occasional Mrs Simon,

moulding the future of our nation. And in Mrs Laura Lim’s courthouse,

I, the defendant, was to produce my backpack before an open trial.

Investigator Lim searched for any evidence to reach to the root of the crime:

my hard pencil case with an inbuilt sharpener, two clunky and relatively empty ring files in neon

green for science and orange for Mrs Lim’s English class (it was file check season), and at last:

the accessory to the crime in question: one dog-earred A5 notebook with water stained borders

from the one time I spilled water in my bag. Prosecutor Lim started to rattle off:

One count for an unsigned spelling test.