"Let's have chicken stew for today's dinner", my father requested. I knew what it took for that request to be fulfilled. I had no ways to decline it either. I was on my school break and had lots of free times.
My house stood on the middle of the meadow. It was an open house without any fence and gate. The nearest neighbour was about 100 metres away. My father took this opportunity to stock some hens and cocks just for his favourite food; chicken stew. He didn't like to use the chicken sold at the market. He liked the fresh one, processed by ourselves.
I went inside the bedroom and changed into short pant and short sleeve T-shirt. The most suitable outfit I could find. It will cost me lots of sweating to catch a cock in that hot and sunny mid-day. I took a rubber band and tied up my hair like a pony-tail so that it won't disturb my vision.
I went out to where my father was. "There you go. The black one", my father pointed to the cock that he wanted me to catch. Huh! It was hot. While sighing, I warned my father, "Dad, if I got high fever for running in this hot weather, I will blame your chicken stew!" Then I walked slowly into the meadow towards the cock. "Don't worry! I will use that chicken stew to treat you. Hahahah", I could hear my father was laughing. He really knew how to make full use of his daughter. I cynically respected him for that. But I didn't mind at all. I loved to make him happy. And I knew he loved me more than anything else.
I planned to catch the cock by walking slowly towards it, but it failed. The cock already realised my presence before I could get close enough to catch it with my bare hand. Now, the cock started running away from me. I got no other choices anymore except to follow the cock's pace. It ran around my house. I started running too, trying to get as close as possible to it.
I already ran around my house about 10 laps. I could feel the fatigue coming on its way. But the cock was still running hard. It felt like the cock was challenging me. It looked like it was saying, "A girl like you would never be able to catch a cock like me. Don't make me laugh." My pride was provoked. I could not stand it. I wanted to show to the cock what I was made of. How could it challenged me when it didn't even know how high my competitive streak was? It was higher than Mount Everest; the highest mountain in this world! I was furious with the cock. I wanted to turn it into the stew as soon as possible.
I chased it hard too. Now, the cock was just in front of me. But still I could not reach it with my bare hand. I became more furious. I didn't like to see it escaped just before my eyes. With the anger built up inside me, I jumped and flew over the cock. I fell directly on the cock. The cock was under my stomach. Thank goodness, I didn't hit it hard. It was still alive.
I heard my mother and my sister yelled while laughing from the verandah, "Hey, are you some kind of superman?" I gave them a little smirk. They didn't know how much my pride was hurt because of this one cock. I took the cock out from under my stomach. "This is what you got when you showed off in front of me. You should never try to underestimate a girl like me. But don't worry, I will repay you. I will turn you into a very delicious chicken stew. Hahahah", I laughed proudly and brought it to my father.
Cerita ini adelah rekaan semata-mata. Tiada kaitan dengan yang hidup ataupun yang mati.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Friday 29 January 2010
FORBIDDEN LOVE
Ring!Ring! The school bell was ringing. It was the end of today classes. I tidied up my desk, putting all the books and stationaries back into my dark green backpack. The color soothed my tired eyes. It was my favourite color. "Eji, how are you going back today?". It was my desk-mate and also my best friend. She knew that my bicycle was broken yesterday. She was offering me a lift. "Thanks, but I think my brother is coming to pick me up", I answered with the best smile I could give her.
I walked to the school entrance, looking for my brother in the crowd. But he was nowhere to be seen. "Did he forget?", I mumbled unsatisfiedly. I headed to the bench under the mango tree near the school gate and waited there. Twenty minutes had passed. I could not sit still anymore. The mid-day heat was so hot and my heart started to burst into anger. I was regreting for declining my friend's offer just now.
"Aaahhh! Who are you???", I shrieked. I was shocked. There was someone who was trying to hug me from behind. My brother definitely wouldn't do that. I knew him well. So, it was somebody else. I tried to get away. "There is nowhere for you to run. I am here to take you with me. Let me stay like this for a while", a soft voice whispered. I knew that voice well. A voice that could melt any girl's heart. That was what I thought.
"You, crocodile species! Am I your wife? And why are you here at the first place?", I tried to push him away but no use. He was far stronger than me. "You're not but I am going to make you one. I love you.Ohhh yeah...I went to grandmum house, your brother was busy helping her repaired the ceiling, so he asked me to fetch you". What a despicable brother I got. How could he asked him to fetch me up? It was just like asking me to enter a hungry tiger cage. I asked him to let me go. We were still in the school compounds. If anyone saw us like that, i would be in real trouble.
Before letting me go, once again he whispered in a low soft voice tone, "I love you. What you need to do is just to choose me". He really knew how to flatter my heart. I pissed off with myself to always fall into his sweet words. But he never forced me to love him. If I didn't like him to hug me, I could yell or make any commotion. But I didn't. Did I really in love with him? He drived me home. Did we really love each other?
Uncle Li and my mother were having some discussions when we got home. Uncle Li was my mother's younger brother and he was also Fadlen's father. My mother asked me to make some drinks for them all. I went to the kitchen and came back a while later. "Eji, do you know that Fadlen is your brother too? Your mum breast-fed him when he was small." For a moment, I thought my heart stopped beating. If I had had a heart defect, I might be no longer in this world. I turned to see Fadlen. His hands were trembling. His face was as pale as the dead. Suddenly, I felt the world fell apart into a black darkness. I didn't know what happened next. Did I even come out from that darkness? I didn't know. Who am I? A lover or a little sister? I didn't know anymore.
Cerita ini hanya rekaan semata-mata. Tiada kaitan dengan yang hidup ataupun yang mati.
I walked to the school entrance, looking for my brother in the crowd. But he was nowhere to be seen. "Did he forget?", I mumbled unsatisfiedly. I headed to the bench under the mango tree near the school gate and waited there. Twenty minutes had passed. I could not sit still anymore. The mid-day heat was so hot and my heart started to burst into anger. I was regreting for declining my friend's offer just now.
"Aaahhh! Who are you???", I shrieked. I was shocked. There was someone who was trying to hug me from behind. My brother definitely wouldn't do that. I knew him well. So, it was somebody else. I tried to get away. "There is nowhere for you to run. I am here to take you with me. Let me stay like this for a while", a soft voice whispered. I knew that voice well. A voice that could melt any girl's heart. That was what I thought.
"You, crocodile species! Am I your wife? And why are you here at the first place?", I tried to push him away but no use. He was far stronger than me. "You're not but I am going to make you one. I love you.Ohhh yeah...I went to grandmum house, your brother was busy helping her repaired the ceiling, so he asked me to fetch you". What a despicable brother I got. How could he asked him to fetch me up? It was just like asking me to enter a hungry tiger cage. I asked him to let me go. We were still in the school compounds. If anyone saw us like that, i would be in real trouble.
Before letting me go, once again he whispered in a low soft voice tone, "I love you. What you need to do is just to choose me". He really knew how to flatter my heart. I pissed off with myself to always fall into his sweet words. But he never forced me to love him. If I didn't like him to hug me, I could yell or make any commotion. But I didn't. Did I really in love with him? He drived me home. Did we really love each other?
Uncle Li and my mother were having some discussions when we got home. Uncle Li was my mother's younger brother and he was also Fadlen's father. My mother asked me to make some drinks for them all. I went to the kitchen and came back a while later. "Eji, do you know that Fadlen is your brother too? Your mum breast-fed him when he was small." For a moment, I thought my heart stopped beating. If I had had a heart defect, I might be no longer in this world. I turned to see Fadlen. His hands were trembling. His face was as pale as the dead. Suddenly, I felt the world fell apart into a black darkness. I didn't know what happened next. Did I even come out from that darkness? I didn't know. Who am I? A lover or a little sister? I didn't know anymore.
Cerita ini hanya rekaan semata-mata. Tiada kaitan dengan yang hidup ataupun yang mati.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
RAIN
I looked at the sky. I could not see any star. The moon was nowhere to be seen. I spreaded open my hands through the window into the darkness of the night. "Ouch, it's cold and it's hard!", I pulled back my hands. The drops of the rain hit my palm. It was raining cats and dogs since this morning.
I was still standing there when my sister came into the kitchen to prepare dinner for us. I turned my face to her. "What are we having tonight?" She did not answer. I bet she must be as worried as me. I continued looking at the sky; looking at the hard rain hitting the ground. My thought was no where else but to my farm.
It was just two hours ago I last visited the farm. The crops were still good. But what if the rain doesn't stop? What if the rain floods the farm? Ahhhh...I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to have any 'if'. I wanted the rain to stop! "No,no...the rain will definitely stop", I monologued, trying to convince my own self.
"Hey, don't you have any homeworks to do? Do you think your homeworks will be done by keep standing there?", my sister broke my silence with a little frowning. My sister was a very strict girl and always putting serious look on her face. My younger brother who was two years younger than me, never came close to her. She was 20 years-old, eight years older than me. But, despite her serious look, she was a very nice person and the most important thing to me was that she was a very good cook. Maybe my little brother was still too young to understand her strictness and seriousness.
I replied," Do you think I am in any mood to do the homeworks while this heavy rain pouring down?" I heard my sister was sighing, letting me spacing out into the rain again. I knew that she also knew what I was thinking. And maybe at that time, she was also worrying the same thing as me but tried to hide it from this little sister.
" Sis, did we dig enough drainage for the water from the farm to flow into the canal?", I asked. I turned around to see her. Our eyes met. Her eyes told me that the answer was a NO if the rain continued. Again, I stared at the raindrops, worried.
" I am home". My mother was back. I run to see her at the front door. I could hear the wooden floor cracked sounds under my feet, but I didn't care. " Hey, do you want to turn this house into a ruin?", I heard my sister yelled from the kitchen but I didn't care. I wanted to know about the farm from my mother as soon as possible.
Huh? The farm already flooded? My mother and I were going back to the farm to drain the flood using hydro-engine. We were going to spend the night in the rain at the farm. My sister's class started in the morning, so she was staying home with my little brother. I walked in the rain. The rain was still heavy. The umbrella couldn't even protect me from the rain. Being frustrated with the umbrella, I put it aside. I could feel the rain dropped onto my face. It was painful, but my heart was far more painful.
I zoned out again. Wasn't rain supposedly be a bless from the God? Then, why it was raining heavily? Why the rain flooded my farm? Then, how I gonna live if my crops were gone? What a 12 years-old school girl was doing in the middle of the night in the heavy rain? Wasn't she supposedly be at home doing the school homeworks? Didn't the God love me? I asked my mother. She said that that was a small test from the God and I should accept it happily. Well, I was just an elementary school girl. Everything came from a mother was a truth. Never wondering about it further. Never trying to understand it further.
Cerita ini adelah rekaan semata-mata. Tiada kaitan antara yang hidup dan yang mati.
I was still standing there when my sister came into the kitchen to prepare dinner for us. I turned my face to her. "What are we having tonight?" She did not answer. I bet she must be as worried as me. I continued looking at the sky; looking at the hard rain hitting the ground. My thought was no where else but to my farm.
It was just two hours ago I last visited the farm. The crops were still good. But what if the rain doesn't stop? What if the rain floods the farm? Ahhhh...I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to have any 'if'. I wanted the rain to stop! "No,no...the rain will definitely stop", I monologued, trying to convince my own self.
"Hey, don't you have any homeworks to do? Do you think your homeworks will be done by keep standing there?", my sister broke my silence with a little frowning. My sister was a very strict girl and always putting serious look on her face. My younger brother who was two years younger than me, never came close to her. She was 20 years-old, eight years older than me. But, despite her serious look, she was a very nice person and the most important thing to me was that she was a very good cook. Maybe my little brother was still too young to understand her strictness and seriousness.
I replied," Do you think I am in any mood to do the homeworks while this heavy rain pouring down?" I heard my sister was sighing, letting me spacing out into the rain again. I knew that she also knew what I was thinking. And maybe at that time, she was also worrying the same thing as me but tried to hide it from this little sister.
" Sis, did we dig enough drainage for the water from the farm to flow into the canal?", I asked. I turned around to see her. Our eyes met. Her eyes told me that the answer was a NO if the rain continued. Again, I stared at the raindrops, worried.
" I am home". My mother was back. I run to see her at the front door. I could hear the wooden floor cracked sounds under my feet, but I didn't care. " Hey, do you want to turn this house into a ruin?", I heard my sister yelled from the kitchen but I didn't care. I wanted to know about the farm from my mother as soon as possible.
Huh? The farm already flooded? My mother and I were going back to the farm to drain the flood using hydro-engine. We were going to spend the night in the rain at the farm. My sister's class started in the morning, so she was staying home with my little brother. I walked in the rain. The rain was still heavy. The umbrella couldn't even protect me from the rain. Being frustrated with the umbrella, I put it aside. I could feel the rain dropped onto my face. It was painful, but my heart was far more painful.
I zoned out again. Wasn't rain supposedly be a bless from the God? Then, why it was raining heavily? Why the rain flooded my farm? Then, how I gonna live if my crops were gone? What a 12 years-old school girl was doing in the middle of the night in the heavy rain? Wasn't she supposedly be at home doing the school homeworks? Didn't the God love me? I asked my mother. She said that that was a small test from the God and I should accept it happily. Well, I was just an elementary school girl. Everything came from a mother was a truth. Never wondering about it further. Never trying to understand it further.
Cerita ini adelah rekaan semata-mata. Tiada kaitan antara yang hidup dan yang mati.
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