Okay, herein lays the problem.
Dan and I plus Anu met up with Nicholas and his girlfriend Ann 2 weekends ago. We of course had to drag our kids to the meeting since it being a weekend. Nicholas and Ann got there first and then we turned up and were properly introduced to Ann whom we met for the first time.
When we sat down, Ann commented on how friendly and sociable my kids are. I winced. Usually children are shy but your kids actually said hi to me ( I don’t remember if those 2 introduced themselves), she marveled. I winced again. And I told her that it isn’t so nice having kids who are not shy at all. If they start get comfortable with you, I cautioned, they will talk non-stop. Luckily that didn’t happen.
It happened last Saturday though when my friendly and sociable kids nipped next door for a birthday party.
On Sunday the afore-mentioned neighbour called me.
Neighbour : Assalammualaikum. (Laughed nervously) I dengar you ada some problem dengan kucing I ye ?
Me : Ha ?
N : Alahai… mintak maaf lah ye… Apa benda yang dia rosakkan kat rumah you ?
M: Eh tak de apa-apa lah….
N : Jangan macam tu… cakap ngan I….
M : Eh… tak de mende lah… Kucing Cik Rosmi, macamana you nak control…. Tak de apa-apa lah…
N : Jangan macam tu…. Apa yang dia orang buat. I kene ajar dia orang sikit… Yang mana satu ?
M : Err…. Yang ada loceng..
N : Dua-dua ada loceng… (lah… ada dua ke ?) Apa yang dia rosak ? I bayar kat you… sorry lah…
M : Tak pe lah Cik Rosmi… kita ni bercakap pasal kucing, you nak control kucing you macam mana…. Tak de benda pun….
N : Betul ni ? Jangan pasal kucing kita tak bertegur sapa pulak…
M : Eh… takde lah…. Don’t worry. We are talking about cats, En. Rosmi… Please don’t worry.
He finally was satisfied that I was really okay with it and we parted still good neighbours.
Aku of course cari anak-anak aku.
“Okay who complained about the cats to our neighbour ?”
“Titi !!”
I looked at her. She as usual said, “Tak….” I waited for Babah to come home. Babah was duly embarrassed.
“Titi cakap apa ?” Asked Babah and as the norm Umar volunteered to tell the story.
“She said that the cats selalu knocked mummy’s pasu down..”
Ha….. aduih lah…
“Dia cakap dengan siapa ?”
“With Syabil’s mum !”
Waaa !!!! Cik Rosmi is Syabil’s uncle who actually lives in the house.
“Ti…. You cannot say that to people lah Ti… complain about their cats like that… Semalam Syabil’s uncle called me…..” I started my lecture Etiquette 101.. no lah 401… dah banyak level dah aku go through dengan budak-budak ni.
“But I only said it once… Sekali tu je saya cakap….” She said in a small voice.
“Ti… you don’t need to say it 3 times lah Ti…..”
Why lah you go and start a conversation with an adult ? Why that topic ? If you were trying to be a polite and gracious guest or even just wanted to fill an uncomfortable lull in the conversation, you can always talk about the weather… not complain about their cats !!
I have to teach my children to make small talks about the weather.
Ann… you definitely do not want a friendly and sociable child (or 2 !) as they could get you into trouble. I will definitely think twice about releasing them to the public next time.
