SCAMPER story-The Father & The Teacher

Deep into the night, grey clouds dominated the sky. Then, thunder roared and streaks of lightning flashed across the sky, which was followed by a heavy downpour. The huge beads of raindrops clashed against the rusty window grilles of a dilapidated flat, creating a rhythm. There was a silhouette of a man in the house, which cut a lonely figure. He was Geok Peng's father. As he looked out of the windows, images of Geok Peng rushed through his mind. The more he thought about Geok Peng, the more remorseful he was. How he wished that it had not happened and he had the power to rewind time...
It was an ordinary Saturday night. Tan Geok Peng was revising for her ‘O’ Level examinations which would commence in three months' time. Her father was an alcoholic, a ‘committed’ one. How Geok Peng wished that he were a teetotaller! However, that wish was simply too unrealistic. Worse still, when he arrived home, he would beat up Geok Peng and her mother! Normally, they would end up with plenty of bruises on their bodies. Sometimes, he overturned tables and slammed them onto the floor! Now, the all-familiar footsteps could be heard with increasing clarity.
“Knock knock!” Geok Peng went to open the door.
Geok Peng's father lumbered in and slammed the hapless door shut. He had absolutely no sense of orientation and his face was as red as crimson. He was apparently feeling giddy and he even chanted some vulgarities. He also reeked of alcohol. Immediately, Geok Peng held her breath. Her nightmare was about to begin.
“Geok Peng, bring me a tumbler of beer!” her father hollered so loudly that Geok Peng trembled involuntarily like lead.
“But Pa, you can’t drink anymore!” she advised him.
Immediately, she regretted letting those words out. Then, a stinging sensation on her cheek jolted her out of her trance. She knew that her father had slapped her, but what could she do? Tears welled up in her eyes and trickled down her swollen cheeks as she trudged back to her study, while her malicious father fetched a tumbler of beer for himself and took out a cigarette from his pocket to satisfy his want for a puff.
On Monday, Geok Peng returned to school and handed in a composition on the topic “My Family”. She was extremely poor in English and her highest grade ever was a mere D7! English was certainly going to pull her overall grade down, her English teacher, Mrs. Wee thought. Mrs. Wee had marked thousands of compositions in her career, although she had yet to find a student whose English standard was worse than that of Geok Peng. In her eyes, Geok Peng was a failure, a complete failure. Despite this, Mrs. Wee had never initiated the idea of tutoring Geok Peng. All she did was to pick out all the mistakes which Geok Peng had made, circle and cross them out with red pen and award her a F9. They were trash to her. It was a waste of time marking her compositions, as they would all be of the same standard, nothing to anticipate about. In the composition entitled “My Family”, Geok Peng wrote about her life, but had a myriad of spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. Mrs. Wee could not bear with it any longer. She criticised Geok Peng in front of all her classmates. Her classmates jeered at her and later, her friends evaded her one by one, fearing that they might perform poorly for their 'O' levels. As a result, Geok Peng grew lonelier as days passed. Then, she made a decision.
The next day, Geok Peng committed suicide by jumping down from the 13th floor of her flat. Her parents were devastated upon hearing the terrible news, especially her father. He wept till his eyes were swollen and chided himself for his oblivion of Geok Peng's feelings. He also vowed to stop drinking alcohol and smoking. Her classmates and relatives grieved and sent Geok Peng's family their deepest condolences, but would these things help to bring Geok Peng back? Certainly not. The teacher was still nonchalant after hearing the news, but she suddenly recollected Geok Peng's compositions. What she wrote were actually true! She had placed too much emphasis on finding faults. After scanning through them, Mrs. Wee regretted her actions towards Geok Peng. She also changed the grades of Geok Peng's compositions to at least a B4. It was considered a cause for celebration for Geok Peng. However, Geok Peng would never know that her dreams had come true.