Mummy ! Don't fall !!

Yesterday was sooo…… bloody kelakar….

After dinner of mee bandung, I sat on the sofa, melepak-lepak dengan Kamil. Adik as usual is at her office desk in front of us and Abang was slumped next to his father, watching whatever crap we were watching.

Sambil-sambil dok tengok tv, tangan ni dok gatal-gatal meraba my face and I don’t know how suddenly I felt like my fingers got wet and when I looked was stained with blood.

“Blood Kamil….” I said and proffered the side of the face for him to inspect.

“Jerawat tu…” he said after a very, very cursory glance.

Adik who heard our conversation suddenly was in front of me, looked at my finger and her face people… her face….was soooooooooooooo aghast, I was taken aback by the force and intensity of it. Looked at Babah in bewilderment and he too was looking wide eyed at Adik. I just couldn’t describe it to you okay but that face will forever be etched in memory.

“Mummy !! Are you okay ? How come you have blood ?” One hand on her chest, face mega, mega horrifyingly concerned. Abang jumped to his feet and rushed to my side.

And Mummy being mummy…. Well…. start le berlakon.

“Ooooohhhhhhh…..” I groaned, hand on my forehead. Kamil screwed his eyes and shook his head, a little smile formed on his face.

“Tolong… please….. It is painful….. Please… I need tissue….” Terketar-ketar Mummy cakap, Azean Irdawaty mesti nak ambik jadi anak angkat. Abang rushed to get tissue and pressed it hard on my ‘wound’.

“It’s okay, Mummy… It’s okay…. Evrything will be all right….” Said Abang soothingly. He then looked at my wound and exclaimed, “Hey… dah tak ada apa-apa… it’s okay now…. You are fine already !” His face was kind and encouraging. Darling, listen to Mummy… you would make an excellent, excellent doctor.

Babah geleng-geleng kepala, but his face was amused. He looked at me and mouthed, “Saja je you., ya….”

If lah my children remember this day, they might one day think Hmmm…. kenapa Babah wasn’t concern masa Mummy berdarah dulu tu ? You remember ?

He he…

Anyway, I got up shakily (I so bloody deserved an Oscar), stumbled a bit and tried to grasp Babah’s hand. “Please…. Help me upstairs….. I need to lie down ……” Babah gave me a lopsided smile, laughed and shook his head. “I nak tengok tv …..”

My itty bitty Florence Nightingale was next to me in an instant. She draped my hand around her shoulders and said, “Mummy … it is okay… I will help you… I will take you upstairs….” He he… hang kan pendek sayang, mana buleh Mummy lean on you. Nasib baik lah berlakon so I gamely walked slowly towards the stairs, one hand encircling her tiny, tiny shoulders. Abang hovered behind us.

Nak bagi real sikit, I put a little bit more weight on my right side, kononnya macam nak jatuh. She screamed. “Mummy !! Mummy ! Don’t fall down ! Don’t fall !!!”

Ha ha ha ha ha… Aduhai lah anak ku. Yang herannya, Abang langsung tak offer bahu dia… he just walked behind us, kononnya jaga dari belakang.

Anyway I was put tenderly on the bed, Abang fetched more tissues and pressed it on my wound. Adik stood next to me, wringing her hands and looking so worried. One great mother in the making here people.

Babah came, saw them fussing around me and snorted. Shut up, you……

“Okay… you guys go ahead lah…. Tak pa…. Pergi tengok tv…” Said I, kononnya macam tak nak orang risau. He he…

“Mummy… we don’t mind, Mummy. This is our turn to take care of you…. You have taken good care of us…. So now we will take good care of you…” Said Abang oh-so tenderly, Mummy rasa macam nak nangis. His face was kind, he was smiling and his eyes were big with encouragement.

“Mummy… please don’t die…” Hai… si kecik ni memang a bit macabre.

“You promised to make carbonara tomorrow… You said it’s today but you did not make it… And just now masa kita makan you said you will make it tomorrow !”

Ha ?

“And I want to eat meat loaf next, Mummy !!” She pleaded.

Wei….. are you telling me your main concern is your stomach ? All this help and care you so generously bestowed on me is because you want to make sure your tummy is filled in the future ?

Babah was already laughing, terguling-guling atas katil.

And you must do that in front of your Babah ? Why can’t you say that just now when Babah was not around ? Why in front of Babah and now he is sooooo gonna laugh at me. For days…….

Cess !

She then pointed her finger at her Babah, “Babah cannot cook ! So if you die we are going to starve !” Ya Allah dramanya. Aku ingat aku yang dok berdrama, rupanya ada orang lagi terer dari aku. Aduhai lah… tahan gelak, tahan gelak because the curtains are still up. The play is still on.

Abang intervened, cutting short her moment of madness, ‘Why do you treat Babah like that ?” He asked angrily. “Why can’t you say nice things about Babah ?”

He he……

“Aarrhhhgghhh…..I will be fine tomorrow…. Go… go and watch tv now….*cough* * cough*” Said I before terjadi pergaduhan besar pulak.

*The cough was real as aku belum baik batuk lagi…

“Never mind lah, Adik… why don’t we just play the game kat atas ni ? At least we can be near Mummy ….”

Adik agreed and they left the room.

Babah started giggling. I did too but quietly sebab sakit kan ?

“You saw her face just now ? My god !” said Babah.

“I know.. ! I will remember that forever !”

Then we laughed again and I must have forgotten that I was sick because suddenly I heard, “Is that you laughing, Mummy ? I can hear you laughing…. So you are better now ? Or you are not sick at all ?” coming from outside my bedroom, in a little girl’s voice.

Babah and I covered our mouths to stifle our laughs, like 2 naughty children.

When I peeked, her face was concentrating on her Abang’s playing. She didn’t even break whatever she was doing to confront me. Cool lah you, Adik. Very cool.

Ha ha…