The Weekend

On the way to Umar’s piano class on Saturday, Umar told me of the story his ustaz read in front of his class. It is about a doyol who one day got angry and demanded blood. He was really animated and I was mesmerized by his interest. As usual when he was having his lesson, Elsa and I trailed the shops in the mall. I entered the local bookshop and found books on Malay ghosts for children. There were Malay and English versions and with illustrations. I remember him telling me that he looked at the book his ustaz used and there was a picture of a female with long hair and sharp claws standing by a sleeping woman. I found one titled “ The Female Vampire “ with the cover illustrated just like my son described and therefore bought it. Anything to help instill the love of reading in my son. ( I know I will have no problem with Elsa because as we were looking at the books, she was happily inspecting a few when she gasped. She grabbed a Pokemon book but when she opened them, it was totally devoid of any pictures. It was a novel of some sort I think. She scanned through the book and went “ isk, isk “ all the way. “ Mum, no pictures !! “ She said in frustration. “ Titi nak learn baca ABCDEFG ni, “. Oh kesian, she wants to learn how to read. She wants to make heads and tails of the book. Kesiannya…. )

Elsa and her books. Everyday she will ferry a selection of book to and fro.

Umar was really happy with the book. He is just like me. In order to savour the book for as long as he could, he looked at the pictures first. Whole of Saturday he asked us to read it to him. He didn’t want to read it by himself ( I read it to Elsa’s gasps and Whoa… and Hantuuuuu……). Only yesterday did he start on his own and he did that many, many times. However the repercussion was felt late last night. He totally refused to sleep in his room. Dan had to tuck a Yassin ( Dan told him Yassin, it is actually buku Mari Belajar Sembahyang ) under his pillow and I had to stay with him until he drifted to sleep, reciting the 3 Quls over and over again. I vowed that that will be the last book on ghosts I buy but this morning he chirpily said that he can’t wait for me to buy the next instalment on Doyol next week. Hmmm………..

Last night too saw Elsa falling off the bed after jumping up and down happily with her cousin. Dan had asked her to stop many, many times and when she fell, her Babah was understandably upset. Dan went to inspect her with fire in his mouth and when found that she was okay, asked her to stay in her room. Dan left the wailing Elsa and closed the door of our room, to teach her a lesson. Fine. Umar was in the room with me doing revisions ( he is having his exams tomorrow ) and we were just spectators to the drama that unfolded in the other room. Umar however jumped off the bed when his Babah closed the door. He was jittery and mumbled a few sentences. He then gave up and just the left room. He actually went to his sister’s aid, calming her down and telling her everything is okay. He apparently found Dan’s once over on Elsa was not thorough enough and checked his sister carefully from head to toe. He then asked Elsa in details what happened and I saw my little girl re-enacted the accident.

The sweet, sweet boy than tentatively approached his father and explained why it is not his little sister’s fault at all.

Maybe he was trying to repay the good deed Elsa did for him earlier. He was trying to peel of his stickers without success. He tried to enlist for my help but as I was writing a report and was brimming with ideas, asked him to wait. His frustration was getting louder when Elsa finally took notice.

“Um, kenapa Um ? “ asked his little sister.

“ Ni, tak boleh bukak. Susah. “ Elsa took a look at it and was successful after a few attempts. He he… comelnya korang ni.

However not so comel is Elsa’s new habit. She likes to ho hum and sighs a lot nowadays. Whenever I asked her what is the matter, if anything is wrong, she would say, “ Tak de apa – apa, “ and shrugs her shoulders. Even Babah had asked her a few times and the answers are the same. Last night though Umar has had enough. “ Ti, you only make that sound when you are bored or angry. Not when ‘tak de apa – apa’, “ The funny part if he squeaked when he said “tak de apa – apa”.