Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A story of Eve and the old woman

Eve

Eve arrives at the village sweating all over, dropped her bagpack to the ground and look at the time.

"Thank God it's only 3 o'clock", she thought. She needs to do what her heart tells her.

"I need to find a place to stay, this is hard but this is what i want to do, this is what i'm here for", she thought again, this time with higher spirit. She recognized this spirit, it's the same spirit she had when she was sitting in front of her boss and told him she is resigning on a 24 hours notice.

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The old woman

"Oh..i'm staying at home today Emma, so many chores to do around here, the dishes, the sweeping, I have delayed cleaning the kitchen for more than a month now", said the old woman, clutching her hands together, she has a heavy heart saying no to invitations, in fact she is not used to saying no.

"Oh..i thought you never miss doing your chores?", said Emma, her hands on her forehead, covering her eyes from the sunrays.

"I didn't sleep well last night, usually i've finished all the housework by 10 o'clock but today i..ehmm..overslept", said the old woman, somewhat appeared like she is lying.

They waved each other goodbye as Emma started to walk away. In her mind, she could not wait to hear Mrs. William's story. Or gossip.

She didn't exactly lie to Emma, she didn't sleep well because she had the strangest dream.

In her dream, there were three men chasing her in the jungle, the men were wearing their traditional garments, she didn't recognized the tribal group but she knows they were going to kill her if she is caught. She was running but her feet could not bear her much speed. While running, she turned her head to see the men, they were closer to her now.

Then without warning she was already standing on a bridge, she dived into a sea and swam to the middle of the sea where the depth is greater. She was in much fear, afraid of the creatures under the sea, afraid of something might pull her legs and she will be underwater for a long time and eventually die.

That did not happen instead she saw herself standing in front of thousands of people, she was giving a speech and she had finished, everyone applaused, amazed by her speech and the spirit behind the speech. She was the woman in her dream, only at that time, she was much younger.

Before the dream ended, she was told by a voice to wait.

She remembers the voice, for no apparent reason, somehow she feels the voice is telling her to wait at home today. She is not certain, but the old woman believes in the mysteries of the heart. Furthermore, she is tired from last night's 'adventure'.

This is the part where she didn't tell Emma. For her, Emma, Doris, Mrs. William and Jim's wife do not have to know about this thing because they do not understand about the mysteries of the heart.

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The meeting

The old woman is busy sweeping the leaves in her backyard, thanks to the three mango trees she grows. She has the mango trees for the last 8 years. She makes the best mango pie in the village. During the fruit festival down town, she sells many different sizes of mango pie. Almost all people in the village especially the twins Johnny and Freddy, love the pie so much. Each can never finish even one slice but they still want more. "Enthusiasm of children", she thought.

"Hello, hi there, good evening maam", said Eve. The old woman is startled to see the girl.

"Good evening, where do you come from?", asked the old woman. Surprised by the sudden greet.

"Oh, i'm from Asia, Borneo, have you heard of Borneo?", said Eve. She's praying hard in her heart that she would not be rejected at the first trial to find a place to stay.

"And you're here for?", the old woman asked. She didn't mean to sound rude, just curious.

"I was at your front yard, I saw you here, i called you but you didn't hear me, so i decided to greet you here at your back yard. I didn't mean to be rude and intrude your compound. My name is Eve, i'm from Malaysia. I'm on a long holiday trip. I like adventure and on this trip, I'd like to do things out of the ordinary. Like for example instead of staying in a hotel or a motel or in a guesthouse, I'd like to stay in a local's house. Why? Because i would really like to know the culture and the people", explained Eve. She had rehearsed that in her mind many times before.

"Oh", the old woman is still digesting the long explanation.

"Are you alone or are there more people with you?", she asked.

"I'm alone, this is my solo trip", said Eve. She is filled with hope.

"So, you want to stay in my house?", asked the old woman.

"Yes, if that is okay with you and your family", said Eve, asking for permission.

The old woman thought, "she looks like an honest girl, but looks can deceive".

"I know this sounds strange. It's entirely up to you, I won't force you to accept me in your house. If you need more time to think about this and discuss with your family, I can wait here", said Eve and looked at her watch, it's 5.30 in the evening and prays hard in her heart.

Like wind rush from nowehre, like lightning struck the earth in high speed, like love at first sight, the old woman's heart is captured when she heard the word 'wait'. She remembers the voice in her dream.

"Could this be related?", she thought, hoping for an answer, she is curious.

"It is almost night time, if not here, this girl will still go door to door and ask the same question, is she doesn't find any house that will accept her, then she would end up at Natty's Inn. Then it would defeat the whole purpose of her adventurous trip", thought the old woman.

What she's really doing is putting reasoning to her intuition. As if the heart is not trustworthy that the logical mind has to support it.

"Come on in, i'll prepare dinner", said the old woman.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

First Love

Love is mighty
it knows each kind of persona
it knows how persona envy her all the time
but in silence adores her for her mightiness
Love is also an ancient weapon
Love has seen many revelations throughout the ages
Love is wise enough to be a judge
Love first exists before everything else

If that is love, then all other things are from her
it is through her that everything else exist
it is in her that everything else grow
but there is also pain, there is weary, there is frustration
all are like ally to her
a heart where love is born could not bear it sometimes
but a heart has to experience it all
in order to know their difference

A heart full of love said to another heart full of love
"no matter how painful your action towards me sometimes, you are always forgiven"
"i am not afraid of pain, because i know love is a weapon and mightier it is than pain"
"you should not too because we come from the same First Love"
"The First Love that exists before everything else"

A true story of courage

There was no expression on Teacher James’ face. He distributed the classroom work for us to do. It was Bahasa Melayu class and we get to...