Pakcik Mustahak

It's weekend. Yay! I brought back two books from school today. Have to read all of them and make a summary in the reading book. Well, I guess it's gonna be my homework for the weekend. Just that. Hurray! And we're sleeping over Qurratul's house today. Haven't seen Abang Rijal for quite some time too. Hurm, how is he? I wonder.

Umi came to pick us up at Mapa around 6 o'clock and we headed straight to Makcik Noriahs house. Aiman was already in his 'special-baby-chair' beside Umi in the car.

We took our things and put them at the usual room that we stay everytime we sleep over at Makcik Noriahs house. It's a big room, fit for the four of us.

It was dinner time so, we headed straight to the dining room. Makcik Noriah cooked again. It was nasi and some other Malaysian lauk. I don't really know the names though, because I only eat the rice with some soup. And I don't even know the name of the soup!

Makcik Noriah has 6 children, the oldest was Abang Rijal, then it was Sakinah, Syafiq, Qurratul, Atirah and Ahmad. Oh, and Makcik Noriahs husband, Pakcik Mustahak. Pakcik Mustahak hasn't come back yet, well, he was supposed to be here by now.

Since it was already late, we started to eat. Abang Rijal as always recited the doa before eating and we amiin the doa together. Everytime I eat at Makcik Noriahs house, I always stare at the poster that was hanging at the kitchen wall. It was a colored-picture of a baby that looked starved to death. And it reminded me of the other people at a different country were there is war and many starving people who had no food at all to eat. That was why I ate all of the rice on my dish without a single rice seen after I finished them all up.

When I've finished eating, I heard the rumbling of Pakcik Mustahak's Mercedes Engine and started to put away my dish in the sink. I wanted to get out of the dining room early to go brush my teeth. In Makcik Noriahs house, in their bathroom, there mirror was full of Dentist-approved stickers. Which made me want to brush my teeth as soon as possible because Pakcik Mustahak would check our teeth everyday after dinner. (well, that was why everyone was suppose to brush their teeth after dinner, including myself, eventhough I'm not a family member) Oh, sometimes I am afraid of Pakcik Mustahak, and I really don't know why. Well, maybe because he doesn't speak to me at all except when checking the condition of my teeth.

I had to have a glass of water before going to the bathroom, and unfortunately, Pakcik Mustahak had just came in.

"Oh, Pakcik Mustahak dah sampai!"

Everyone stopped eating and stared at me, including Pakcik Mustahak. I was clueless. And after a second everyone started to laugh.

"Kenapa?", I said.

"Bukan Pakcik Mustahak, Ateerah, tapi Pakcik Ishak."

Oh-my-god, I called Pakcik Ishak as Pakcik Mustahak all this time, so who was Pakcik Mustahak then?

"Jadi siapa Pakcik Mustahak?", I asked Umi.

"Tak pernah ada pun Pakcik Mustahak"

But, but I rememeber Umi mentioning Mustahak a lot of times, especially at home saying..

" Ini barang Mustahak, kena jaga elok2."

So I thought it was Qurratul's father's things. All of the things in the brown envelope was considered barang2 mustahak. Dear me, I was wrong all this time. And no one even corrected me before. Abang Rijal was still laughing, and the others too. Qurratul just smiled at me. Umi, Arif, and Aiman joined the laughter too. Plus, Pakcik Ishak.

I just had to get away from the place, so I ran up the stairs and went into the bathroom.



But, Pakcik Mustahak does sound nicer.