number 13

“Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? They have the same enemy - the mother”

Claudette Colb when school holidays like these come around, its hard not to think of ones you had yourself when you were small. those memories of mine are the best times of my childhood and me and the sibs keep it alive by reminiscing it from time to time. where is the one place you get away with anything if not your gramps place. You're indulged in everything that is non existent at home. Both my grandparents were alive then but we called it rumah opah. It was in no. 13, Kg pandan and when everybody went back to their kampung, we had the city. Atuk was a staff sergeant with the air force so eventho rumah opah was kinda like bootcamp, we had so much fun all seven of us. There was me, ain, yam and huda the siblings with our cousins man, sarah and hilmi. the little ones stayed with their bibiks at home. Opah gave us all the meals in a day. Breakfast was nasi goreng, roti canai dollah(loved the dhal) or nasi lemak. Lunch - opah cooked her famous kari or asam pedas or masak lemak. simple ikan kembong goreng opah pon sedap! Tea means tea with biscuits or if we're lucky maggi mee (2 packets - share between the seven of us) and dinner was what we had for lunch. Wednesday was pasar malam day so there will be murtabak, keropok lekor and air tebu. all rationed for seven always-hungry kids. school hols also means bai roti gets extra income with all our buns and twisties. opah pays monthly and she almost gets heart attacks with her roti account. no late nights staying up so days will be filled to the brim with many activities that we can think of like talking aboutghost stories, monopoly, playing tag, hopskotch,  congkak and many more. we'll be gossiping about kids next door who are also staying over at their gramps house. we'll be watching those infamous japanese series like akentaro or chiaki but six pm means atok's warta berita. opah will also teach us girls household chores like cooking and folding clothes while telling us how incompetent we are at home. sometimes, we'll listen to their own childhood stories like during the japanese occupation, glory airforce days or 13th may. so when time comes for school to start again, it'll be the saddest day ever. time for the next break would be too far ahead and opah and atok will be missed deeply. it's kinda sad to think back to the days how we livened their house with our presence returning again and again each school break til we got big and were too old to balik kampung choosing to stay at home and hang out with friends instead. we never thought about how empty they must have felt when we all stopped coming over. today opah and atok are no longer with us. opah passed away five years and atok four years ago. even the house is occupied by new tenants. but these memories i will keep for sure and atok and opak would always be remembered. I always vision how they both would love my kids' antics.words can't describe how I miss you so .. If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.  ~Attributed to Claudia Ghandi _