Muka

Elsa was quite poorly yesterday. We were up in the middle of the night to nurse her and by dawn it was decided that I will stay home to take care of her. But then I do have some work that I need to do and therefore decided that I will go to the office to fetch my laptop, get more instructions from my boss and just basically tie – up loose ends. I have to take her with me.

Just before we reach the stairs, my daughter gave a little laugh, “He he… muka…” she said. I looked at her enquiringly. “Look behind, Mummy… Look behind…” she said gleefully and when I turned I saw this,

A face on the wall. I recognized the artwork. The style of drawing, the way the artist stroke her pencils gave way her identity.

“Did you do this ?” I asked sternly.

All traces of laughter quickly vanished. She turned to look away. I stood my ground. She remained silent for a while before saying, rather aloofly I might say, “Tak de apa – apa lah” and proceeded to go down the stairs.

Eeiii…. !!

Last night I showed Dan the offending illustration. “Macam boleh kenal je gambar ni. Siapa lagi yang boleh lukis muka macam ni ?” Elsa was summoned to appear with her eraser. The confused look on her face was priceless. Even more invaluable was her expression when she saw where her father was waiting for her.

“Did you do this ?”

She shook her head.

“Elsa…. I hate lying. Nak masuk neraka ke ?”

Again she shook her head.

“Who did this then ?”

“Me….” she said timidly.

“Okay… rub it…” Dan said. She looked horrified.

“I cannot.” When asked why, she just shrugged her shoulders. Dan took the eraser from her and tried his best to rub off the face from the wall. Now there is a faint trace of it left.

Alahai….