Aunt Su (1st Draft)

YOU KNOW THE KINDA RAIN THAT STARTS IN THE MORNING and goes on all day before it comes to a long slow stop in the night when Grandma talks about a distant relative in Penang. Aunt says I've done it to myself to land myself in trouble with the school and now that it's too late for me to mend my ways in the hope of becoming a decent human being, she and Grandma have to make a decision to send me to Penang to go live with Pakcik Syed and Aunt Su. Grandma says Pakcik Syed is a relative but I don't understand much how this came about when she explains about that cousin, this cousin, this second cousin, that second cousin, that in the end it all goes back to Nabi Adam and Hawa. By this time the rain has let up and I am too sleepy to think about relatives because the only people I care about in the world is Grandma, Aunt and Cousin.

We got into Uncle's Vauxhall for a trip to Penang. I remember stopping for a curry lunch in Tanjung Malim and I remember thinking what a West-Coast sounding name this town is and suddenly Dungun is so so far away. I remember Ipoh and the roundabout with the water fountain which Dungun will never have in a million years. I remember Kuala Kangsar. I remember Nibong Tebal and I remember the ferry. I remember the lights from the ships in the harbor and I remember the time we took which was almost all night to find Kedah Road. In the end a kind policeman escorted us to a dirty house that looked strange in the night but I was too sleepy to feel sad thinking that I'm gonna have to live in this house with a strange looking man who doesn't look all that friendly, and a woman who looks at me kinda strange that I can't help but to think she doesn't like me to be here.

Aunt, Grandma, Uncle and his 5th missus, stayed in Penang for 2 days. Aunt and I went shopping from morning until the stores closed for the day.

I remember the lump in my throat to see the Vauxhall leaving for Dungun. I remember feeling very uncomfortable when I finally have to face Pakcik Syed and Aunt Su sitting at a table for lunch. They bought lunch from a shop but I can't eat all that much because by this time I've eaten enough curry to last me a lifetime and I can't take in another spoon of it without throwing up. Aunt Su asks me a lot of questions but I can't make out what she's saying, and she doesn't understand much what I'm saying because I speak to her the way I speak to Aunt and Grandma and you have to be a Dungun person to understand what's going on. And I'm not willing to be a Penang person to understand what Aunt Su is saying because I miss the sea very much and I miss Dungun like I've never missed her before. After lunch I go into my room to pray and to read a bit of Qur'an because I gotta pray very hard to God to please take me away from this house and please please, don't ever ever make me live in Penang while Aunt, Grandma and Cousin are in Dungun. I bite my lips hard because I can feel the tears are coming on and I clench my fist and put it hard against my chest to stop me from crying.

A week in the house but I haven't seen Pakcik Syed or Aunt Su prayed a single raka'at and I don't see a sajadah and I don't see a single Qur'an in the house. All I see and hear is Pakcik Syed coming home late at night, standing at the door for a few minutes before he got himself steady to walk into the living room drunk. Aunt Su comes out of her room and she starts to asks questions and Pakcik Syed starts yelling and they get into a quarrel so loud that it disturbs the whole of Hutton Lane, Argyll Road and Dicken Street thrown in.

I am in my room to write a letter to Aunt and Grandma to please come take me home because I don't like Penang and I don't like Pakcik Syed and Aunt Su. Aunt says she's written me a letter but I write back to say that I didn't get her first letter. I ask Aunt Su if there's a letter for me from Dungun but she says no she hasn't received any. Two days later I found the letter in a basket that she takes to go shop for stuff at Pasar Chowrasta. I write Aunt in Jawi and tell her to also write me in Jawi because this way Aunt Su can steal my letters all she wants but I doubt if she can read them. I've figured that Pakcik Syed and Aunt Su aren't the praying kind or the Qur'an reading kind to know any better how to read Jawi. I was half right because Pakcik Syed can read Jawi but Aunt Su is as good as a stupid cow when it comes to reading anything in Jawi.

(Next entry: They steal my money!)