FISH STEW AND FRIED EGGPLANTS

“Bye, have safe trips”, I wished my mother. Now, there were just me, my little brother and my father at home. My sister university’s entrance and registration will take place tomorrow. My mother and my older brother were accompanying my sister to her university in a place somewhere in west coast. I didn’t really know where the place was as I had never been out from my hometown. I wished I could go on the trip too but my mother didn’t allow me to as I still got school.

My mother gave some pocket money for the expenses during her absence. I smiled evilly. “She already filled the fridge to the fullest. I can ask my father to cook. Therefore, instead of using it to buy ready-made dinner, I can buy my new sketch book”, that were what I thought. For the whole day I was dreaming about what I should draw next and how much I will be in joy. I loved drawing so much as it could release my tension.

Without realizing it, it was already 8 o’clock in the night. I was hungry. I got out from my room to look for my father. He was in the living room, watching night news on the tv. I went close to him to ask about dinner. “Rika, go cook some dinner, I’m hungry’, he ordered me. Huh! That should be my line. “Dad, shouldn’t you are the one who supposedly going to cook for us?”

“I don’t know how to. You are the girl here, so go find some ways to make something edible to eat. Don’t worry, I don’t expect much from you”, he uttered the words leisurely. Ahhh!!! I was in stress. Why things turned the other way round? I didn’t know how to cook either.

I went to the fridge to see what was in it. There were a lot of eggplants. What should I do with eggplants? I took out two mackerels and three eggplants. It should be enough for tonight’s dinner. “Dad, are you okay with fish stew and fried eggplants?” He didn’t answer me. He just nodded lazily. I guessed he really didn’t expect much from me. I started cooking.

About an hour after that, the stew cooked, the eggplants fried. Everything was ready. I took a spoonful of both the stew and the fried eggplants to taste how good it was before serving. Hurmmm, surprisingly, it was good! “Wait a minute. If Dad knows that I am a good cook, then he will ask me to cook for eternity!” He shouldn’t know that I was a good cook. And if my mother also knew that I could cook, then my whole life definitely will be ruined. She will order me to cook every day too. And the most important thing was that I will never been able to taste my mother’s cooked food anymore. I didn’t want that to happen.

Without a second thought, I took a spoonful of salt and poured it into the stew, and then I took a spoonful of chilli powder and poured it into the fried eggplants. I served the dinner.

“Sis, did the fish fall into salt’s pond? Is this a fish stew or salt stew? I feel like drinking sea water. And are you mistaken peppers for eggplants? I feel like eating a fresh red pepper”, my little brother already started complaining. Hehehe. I guessed this will be the end of it. I smiled wickedly but quietly. I didn’t hear any comments from my father yet.

“I am touched. I didn’t expect you to understand me this much. Your salty stew will raise my low blood pressure and your spicy eggplants will make me sweat. I don’t need an exercise anymore”, he praised me cynically. I frowned to him. What was he? Some manga character? A normal person would already spout some harsh complaints. “You are my daughter after all. Of course I know you well. You just repeating what I did a long time ago when somebody asked me to do something that I didn’t want to do. Well, like father, like daughter. I know you did this intentionally”. Huh???

CERITA INI HANYALAH REKAAN SEMATA-MATA, TIADA KAITAN DENGAN YANG HIDUP DAN YANG MATI.