A frugal man, Dad attempts to save at every opportunity. I respect him for his thrift, but I would like to see him change a bit. Though money matters, it is not everything. There are things and people worth spending on.

In middle school, I developed severe belly cramps. At times the pain was so bad that I could hardly move. I had no clue what the cause was. My girl classmates suggested that my suffering might have something to do with girls’ monthly special needs. I was not so sure. When I confided it to Mum, she had Father take me to City Hospital for a check-up. Had she not been engaged that day, she would have accompanied me in person on the trip.

An hour’s bus ride took Father and me to City Hospital, at whose entrance my uncle was awaiting. The three of us, Father, Uncle and I, went direct to the surgery. After a brief question-and-answer session, the doctor there arranged for me to go and take a CT scan.

By that year, I had not reached the legal age to own my personal Medicare card, so the scan could not be done at a discount. Peanuts as the fee was, my dear father still tried to pay less. At the registry, he applied for a scan with his Medicare card. This way he could save a little. Of course, his name was used in the form. I protested, but Father was obstinate. I had no choice but to proceed with it.

After the scan was done, the three of us were sitting around in the hall waiting for the report. Normally it takes less than a quarter to get the result, but that day we waited for ages. Half an hour passed, and I fidgeted in the chair, alternately standing up and sitting down. So bored was Uncle that he dozed off on the bench. Before we knew it, almost three hours had lapsed. Still there was no sign of the report coming.

I roused my uncle. Together, we went to the counter, where upon inquiry, the clerk told us that the result had come out a long time before, but he was puzzled. The scan had been conducted on a girl. The identity of the scanned person in his computer record, however, was a man over 40. The bewildered medical worker, having tried all means to pinpoint what had gone awry, could not figure out why the mismatch had occurred. Out of caution, he withheld the file.

On hearing the explanation, my father got very embarrassed indeed, face turning as red as a beetroot. Grabbing the document from the clerk’s hand, he rushed out, my uncle and me at his heels.