THE UNINVITED GUESTS

Going back home was refreshing and replenishing indeed, alhamdulillah.

As I wanted to prolong my stay at home, I wanted to go back directly to Temerloh instead of going back to Kuantan then to Temerloh with the UIA bus, in which I would have to take the Sunday morning bus just to reach Kuantan in time to ride that bus. So ayah bought an 11pm ticket direct to Temerloh from the Larkin bus terminal. Usually ayah wouldn’t allow me to take the night bus if I was alone but he didn’t ask much this time around. The extra time at home enabled me to use the internet and I went to the maulidurrasul celebration at the surau. There, I met up with kak Ainal and we had a lovely chat.

When we went to the bus station later, mak and ayah began to worry as they only saw guys going on the bus and there was only one Chinese lady. I wasn’t too worried yet. I slept most of the journey. Then we reached Triang, the lady went down and I was left alone with a bunch of guys on the bus. I couldn’t sleep after that and started to be very anxious. I recited every prayer that I knew. Hehe, baru nak rase takut. I guess because Temerloh is a small town, not many people go there, especially at night, so only guys take the night bus. 45 minutes later, I reached my stop at 4.00 am and had to wait about 10 minutes for Faizah to pick me up. Seram jugak mase tu sebab tak ramai orang. I vow to never put myself in such a dangerous situation ever again. Sian mak and ayah had to worry about me unnecessarily.

Well, when we reached the house, an unpleasant smell greeted me. While we were gone for 3 days, somehow or rather, the kitchen rubbish bin was topped over. My friends had several theories which included cockroaches and rats. They were too tired to clean it when they arrived the night before. Since I was not sleepy yet, I cleaned it as I couldn’t stand the stench.

When I got to my room, I opened the cupboard door which I share with Faizah. I noticed something white and fluffy with polka dots. I was trying very hard to remember who could have put such a toy or keychain there. Lama I tenung bendaklah tu. I opened the door wider to have a closer look. That’s when I realized the mother cat lying very comfortably in my part of the cupboard. Imagine my surprise. Tergamam kejap di pagi2 buta itu. Nasib takde baju kat situ, just barang2 lain. It hissed at me. I called Faizah to come look. The mother cat started hissing when we got close. I picked up my laptop and removed my white coat from there. We didn’t know what else to do so we just left it and did other things. We spent the morning speculating how the cat got in the house in the first place. After that, it wasn’t hard to figure out who the culprit behind the toppled rubbish bin was.

Just before we went to the hospital, my friend put the kittens in a box and brought them outside hoping that the mother cat would follow but it only hissed at us. It didn’t even give a second glance at the tuna I offered. Sombong jugak kucing nih. We put the kittens outside and kept the windows open with the hopes that the mother cat would eventually go out.

Alhamdulillah, when we got back this evening, the cat was in the box with her kittens outside. I’m glad she didn’t give birth in my almari or the smell would have been unbearable. I’m also glad that they didn’t leave many marks in my cupboard.

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last monday, a 7 year-old anencephaly (no skull) girl in the ward passed away. Innalillahiwainnalillahiraji’un. The fact that she survived so long is a miracle. Anencephaly is usually a condition incompatible with life. We were all very amazed masya Allah. The paediatrician figured that at birth until now she must have had viable brain cells allowing her to breathe and eat which is quite unusual. However the brain cells controlling movement and speech were atrophied and she couldn’t do either. Ya Allah, you love her more and know that that is best for her and her family. Please give strength to the mother to accept and face this taqdir.