The lady

The Lady

Not her again.
It was the third time this week. The urge of just drives off and pretends that I never see her come across me again. Yet, it was hard to ignore the sight of her waving frantically, made me pull the bus over anyway.
As she made her way up, the empty seats on my left startled me.
Damn! I really shouldn’t stop…
Despite the fact that there were still a few empty passenger seats behind me, the lady still made her way to the same spot, just like the last couple of times.
While she lowered down, she gave me a wide smile, revealing part of her upper teeth. I nodded. Switching back to second gear and pushing the petrol paddle, the bus trembled its way on the road again.
Her small and slim figure was covered with an over sized toned blue baju kurung and her oval face was hidden in the matching blue tudung, which made her face looked even smaller. Yet, when she smiles, I noticed her obvious dimples at both side of her cheeks.
“I’m going to see my husband later,” she declared.
She is going to talk about her husband again.
I kept my eyes lock to the front; refused to look at her as she speaks. This would be the third time this week she told me the story about her husband.
“My husband is coming back from Butterworth,” she sounded excited.
Tell me, if it’s anyhow going to be any of my business.
Anyway, she paused for a while, and then she continued.
“You know, sometimes I think that you look so much like my husband, especially your nose and your eyes. Do you have any brothers?”
“No,” hoping that she would sense the agitation from my voice.

“Yes, you did,” said my mother.
It was during the Chinese New Year a few years back, I was the earliest to arrive home among three of my siblings. Two of my sisters had married to Singapore, while another one was working in Brunei. I was watching a Hong Kong blockbuster movie on TV with my mother. It was when we were discussing about the hero in the movie that the topic about my long lost brother came up.
“What?” I felt as though the whole world just stopped, and the only thing that was racing is my heart.
My mother seemed abrupt by what she had said, looked away.
“After your father left us for that woman, you were only two years old. I can barely feed you and your brothers and sisters. So I decided to give your baby brother away.” Her voice sank deeper as my eyes got wider as she speaks.
“Why you never tell me about this?” I tried hard to control myself.
“Well, it is not something happy that you can bring out easily, you were too young that time, and since you wouldn’t be able to remember, so…” sensing my anger, my mother was trying to get on her feet to find something to busy herself, as she always does when she wanted to run away from something.
“So, you think that you can not tell me about this FOREVER?” I stood up too and stormed out from the room.
That night my mother came into my bedroom, as I was ready to go to bed.
“It was the hardest decision that I have to make…”
I will never forget the look of my mother face that night.

“So do you have any brother?”
I couldn’t help to leer at her, as I reached for the Marlboro in my shirt pocket.
Tugging the last one to my mouth, someone has just pressed the button so I halted my bus at Jelutong bus stop. While waiting for the passengers to get down of my bus, while new passengers climbed up and threw the 80 cents coins into the box, some with one ringgit notes.
Where is my lighter?
I remembered that I just threw it into a small basket at left side of the steering.
“Hey you!” the ever familiar voice called up.
“Hey you, that is just fifty cents lah.” She said and pointing her finger to an Indian man wearing a faded batik look-alike shirt and a pair of torn jeans. I glared at the lady then the man followed by the moneybox. I counted the shillings; there were just two twenty cents coins and two five cents coins.
“Where is another thirty cents?” I said.
He stared at the lady while fishing through every pocket that he had and finally come out with another thirty cents. He threw the money into the moneybox. The lady’s body bolted upright by the loud noise that was made by the coins as they hit the rusty steel moneybox. Ignoring all the eyes on him, the man stalked away and found himself a seat at second last roll. As he sat, he still managed to give the lady an angry look before he looked out the window.
The lady obviously didn’t care. She continued talking away, somehow with pride, about how she always kept track of every passenger who throws money inside the moneybox. She even lectured me boastfully about how I should also watch closely at them.
I lit up my cigarette. Indulging in the cooling and lifted sensation as the smoke went through my vein and into my lungs. I puffed out the smoke through the small window on my right before I move on again.
It was ten o’clock in the morning. My back was drenched with sweats. The loud noises of the vehicles and the smells of the blackish smokes that came out from the exhaust pipes were something that I had already got used to.
Passengers seemed quiet (except for the lady with her story about her husband), with their faces all looked out from the window. The man who tried to cheat me with fifty cents before had already dozed off, his head swayed momentously with every turn that I took, just like a coconut tree swayed by the blowing of the winds.
I mentally counted the remaining seats through my rear view mirror. An old lady thought that I was looking at her, glared at me before turning her face towards the windows again.
Finally I reached Komtar. Most of the passengers got off from the bus except four remained, including the lady. The story about her husband had reached to how she and her husband met each other, and that her husband came from a wealthy family and how his life has changed as soon as his father passed away, because he was an adopted child. After that, her husband got recommended by his friend to work in a factory in Butterworth as a technician. Due to his working schedules, he can only come back every weekend.
“He knows how much I like the nasi lemak, that’s why he will always pack for me a big one.” She declared.
Finally.
My bus made a final stop across the road of the Jetty. I opened the door for the passengers to go out. Somebody honked at me from the back. I honked back when I saw Ali grinned at me at the driver seat from the right side-view mirror. Then, I realized the lady was still sitting there.
“Here is Jetty,” I said.
Suddenly, I realized she was sitting unusually still with her eyes locked to a teenage boy standing across the road. The boy jerked his head toward us as Ali honked back to me again.
When he spotted my bus, he came running while waving vigorously at me. I assumed that he was afraid that I might drove off any minute.
My eyes followed the kid as he ran across the road and climbed up the bus
“Mother!” said the boy.
“What are you doing here?” The sudden raise of voice from the woman awoke me, as my mind was still halted at the moment when the boy called her “mother”. I noticed the winkles across her fore head as her eyebrow was locked together.
“Mother, please.” Said the boy to his mother then smiled to me apologetically.
“You are supposed to be in school, your father will be pissed if he sees you are not in school right now,” said the lady, still sitting there like a statue, except for her face that was moving. I realized the boy was wearing school uniform.
“You were not there the moment when I got out from my room…”
“Don’t be silly, I am here to pick up your father, you should know that,” said the lady as-a-matter-of-factly.
“Mother, Papa is dead!”
Spat! The slap on the boy face made him lose his balance, luckily Ali had reached to the door way and he got the boy on time.
“Hey, what‘s going on? Ah Seng?” even though Ali was calling my name, he was helping the kid to gain back his balance from falling down from the bus.
The lady covered her face with her hands. And her small body started trembling. The right side of the boy’s cheek turned red but the boy seemed like feel nothing from the slap, ignored Ali.
“Mother, please… let’s go home,” said the boy as he reached out his arms for hers.
“No! I am here to fetch your father!” she growled, and took her hands away; her face was covering with tears.
“Okay, then I will wait with you,” the boy gave in, his arms still reaching out.
Everybody’s eyes shot at the boy. But he only gave a smile to his mother as an assurance.
Slowly, the lady rose from her seat and got off the bus, without touching the boy.
Ali and I froze at the spot, until the lady walked towards jetty with the boy following closely behind her, until the both of them are out of sight.
My head was still replaying the scene and flashed back of what she had told me about her husband.
“It had been nearly three months.” I turned my head to look at Ali for his sudden remark.
“You didn’t know? I told you that day,” Ali seemed to be surprise with my confusing look.
“See, you never listen to me…”
“What happened?” I said before he started nagging me for ignoring him all the time.
“It was a massive car crash between a taxi and a van near to the Butterworth jetty. Her husband was in the taxi. He died on that spot.” He sighed, and shook his head slightly.
“I picked her up a couple of times before. She kept on telling me that she is going to jetty to wait for her husband.” Ali continued.
“How do you know about the accident?” I asked.
“There was once, an Auntie, who took my bus and saw the lady talking to me, she thought that I know her so she told me everything. And…”
How long are they going to wait there?
Suddenly, the face of the boy and the lady flashed through my head again.

Another day, yet with the same routine. It was still dawn, I picked up the broom from under my seat, going through every roll of the passengers seats to swipe up the visible rubbish, ignoring the spots that looks clean. Less than ten minutes I had reached to my own seat. Looking at the only seat beside me made me think back about the lady.
Will she be there today?
Trying to shake away the thought, I saw something shine at the corner of the seats. It was a necklace with a plastic wrapped picture of Buddha.
Who might this belongs to?
Too many of them sat there before…
Since it is a sacred thing, and it was supposed to bring the owner good luck and safety. So I threw it to the small compartment, where I put my lighter. On second thought, I picked up the small Buddha portrait again. The plastic wrapper had turned brownish. Squeezing it lightly, there was something else in it. Pushing open the wrapper, I saw a yellowish paper slipping behind the small Buddha portrait. I took out the paper and open it. It was written in a few old Chinese characters.
‘Wish your life is safe and prosperous forever. Your mother’
I don’t remember Mother ever gave me this. And how is it got here?
It was my mom handwriting, and the signature…

Oh shit!
That was the second stop I missed. From the rear view mirror, I saw a man still throwing his arm in the air for me even after I drove pass him.
Taking out another cigarette from my pocket, I reached for the lighter. The small plastic wrapped Buddha was there again. As I lit up the cigarette, I kept my eyes lock to the front.
Stay focus.
I saw a boy lift out his arms to me. My body shivered.
It’s him
He was still wearing the same school uniform, but this time he has a black songkok on his head and he was carrying a backpack, school bag, I presumed.
“It’s you!” said him, excited, relived but embarrassed at the same time.
I nodded, tried to hide my surprise.
As the bus started moving, he seemed to be scanning every corner of the seat that his mother usually takes. When he bent down to look underneath the seat I couldn’t hold it anymore.
“Are you looking for something?”
“Um…yes.” He shrugged without looking at me.
“Do you happen to see anything… actually it is a necklace with a Buddha face?”
His voice started drifting off and my throat got numb.
“It was belong to me father, he is a Chinese. Mother must have dropped it somewhere. She refused to sleep last night, because she can’t find it” The boy went on.
“Is this the one?” I showed him the small Buddha portrait.
My heart beating faster, when I saw the boy’s face lighten up.
“Yes!” he grabbed the locket from my hand and held it tightly with his.
“Thank you so much. It meant a lot for my father, he always carried it wherever he go,” he paused.
“Except for that day, the string got loose, so my mother promised to replace it with a new one, so he left it at home” his voice sank, he lowered his eyes to his fingers subconsciously twisting the necklace.
My stomach felt tighten, I tried hard to focus on the road, my heart is racing faster. I didn’t know what to do.
The boy asked me to stop at the next stop.
I stopped.
Say something, anything!
But my mind was jammed all I did was looking at him got off the bus and running away with a smile on his face.
Go get him!
“Wait!” I pushed open my door and jumped out from the bus.
I heard someone screaming, followed by screeching tyres, people shouting, and a loud honk. Then my sight turned black.
I can’t move.
“Uncle, wake up!”
Who are you?
“Uncle, don’t sleep, wake up!”
I am not sleeping; I still have to catch that boy. I have to see his mother. I have to find out how my brother looked like.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
I tried hard to open my eyes. Strangers standing parallel in front of me; there was a young lady; she was bending closer to my body and her face was covered in tears.
What do you want?
Suddenly I felt more and more tired. I closed my eyes again.
“No, uncle, no! Don’t sleep. The ambulance is coming…”
Her voice drifted away.

When I re-opened my eyes, everyone was gone. I was no longer on the road.
“Hey! Finally you are awake!” Ali’s grinning face popped up beside me.
Where am I?
I opened my mouth but no words coming out. My whole body too, seemed to be tied up. I couldn’t even move my fingers.
What happened to me?
“Relax, big guy. Doctor said you will be as good as new in two weeks,” declared Ali.
“You are lucky; doctor said if you would have been here another twenty minutes later, you would be in a big trouble.” He went on.
“Anyway, you know what; the owner of the car was so dreadful that she cried every time that she saw you, she even said sorry to me hundreds of time. So I ask her not to come anymore, well, since the doctor already confirmed that you’ll be fine…”
I tried to recall the face of the girl; she must have frightened to death.
The boy
All the memories started to flow in.
I must find them.

After I came out from the hospital, the feeling of the cool breeze and the smell of the city was sweet, even the polluted air felt refreshing in my lungs. The image of the lady and the boy kept on flashing through my mind when I was in the hospital.
It was the third day that I had been waiting here, yet there were no signs of the both of them.
“No, I never see them ever since that day both of them were fighting in your bus. Why do you ask?” said Ali, looked at me curiously.
“Nothing.”

“Hello, Ma.”
“Ah Seng?” my mother voice came from another end of the line.
“Something wrong?” my mother sounded worry.
“I think I found out where is the child that you gave away,” I hold tight of the receiver to my ear.
“What?” my mother’s voice was shaky.
“I am sure, Ma. I am sure that I’ve found him,” I didn’t know whether it was good news or a bad news. But I told her anyway, about the lady, how I met her and also about her son, the Buddha necklace with a small piece of note and of course, about the accident, as well.
There was a long silent.
“I must meet them,” said my mother.

I couldn’t help to sigh when my watch showed that it was already four in the afternoon.
Where are they?
I had to be sure myself before my mother arrived from Kulim.
“Over here mother, under the shades.”
I was jolted with the familiar voice of a boy, and looked behind my shoulder.
There they were, sitting at the bench of the bus stop. The boy was carrying an umbrella and tried to cover his mother from the sun lights. He looked up when he realized that I was walking slowly towards them.
“Hello…”
My mind felt like frozen. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Hi,” the boy grinned back at me, so was his mother.
“Still remember me?” my heart was racing faster.
“The driver,” the lady replied.
“Yes, it’s you,” the boy’s eyes lit up, as though recalling back a long lost memory. Then he looked worried.
“A car knocked you that day; ambulance came and took you to the hospital. So how are you now? What are you doing here?”
How am I going to ask them?
“I am fine. I am fine,” I murmured.
Just do it!
“Do you still remember the necklace that you said it was once belonging to your father?” I felt the sweat on my palms. I looked closely at the boy and the mother.
The boy face winched and his mother looked up at me.
There were a few seconds of silent between the three of us.
“Why do you ask?” said the lady, stood up.
I took a deep breath.
“Well, I saw the notes slipped behind the Buddha picture. The handwriting and the signature of the notes, is… is…,” my throat got numb, as I saw the two pairs of eyes which were locking at my face turning bigger as I speak.
Just say it!
“It’s my mother’s,” I looked away, avoiding their sight.
Their mouths dropped slightly.
“You can see for yourself,” I took out a carbon copy of my mother’s bank draft from my jeans and showed it to the lady.
The lady’s hand was shaking as she took the paper from me, and stared at the paper. There was a long silence. Then slowly, she took out the Buddha locker from her bag followed by that piece of note that made my palm sweat. I cleared my throat nervously trying to break the ice.
“Well, I am not sure what to say, but it is just a possibility. That’s why I need to know how your husband got that Buddha locker.”
Come on. You got to tell me something, anything.
After a long while of staring at that two pieces of paper, her son was also drew his head closer to scrutinize them.
As the lady opened her mouth to speak, there came a bus. My college waved toward me and I waved back.
“My mother has an appointment with the doctor. We must go,” said the boy, tried to carry his mother’s arm, and heading for the bus.
“Look I really want to know. Can we meet again? My mother will be here tomorrow. Please?” said I quickly.
Both of them never said anything, they hurried up the bus.
“We will wait for you here tomorrow morning 10 o’clock. Me and my mother will wait for you here!” But the lady didn’t seem to bother.
The driver nodded towards me before the bus moved away.
“Don’t worry, they will be here. They have to come,” I whispered to myself.

The look on my mother’s face worried me. The dark shadow beneath her eyes showed that she never had much sleep in last two days. She arrived in Penang at 9.30 in the morning. On the way home, she never spilled a word. I didn’t know what to say.
“Where are they?” Mother suddenly turned her head towards me. There were tears in her eyes. I nodded to her and took a left turn in the T-junction.
It was already eleven, yet there were no signs of the both of them. We had been waiting for more than 45 minutes; I began to worry about my mother.
“Ma, let’s go home. They won’t come anymore…”
Before I finished, I saw a lady came walking towards here.
She was wearing a red, flowery baju kurung with a pink tudung. My mother followed my eyes and stood up.
I smile as she looked at me then my mother.
She smiled back.

The lady’s name is Siti. There was a long talk between mother and her that day. It was also a special day for our family, because after that day my family have another two new members. And the lady never goes to the jetty to fetch her husband anymore.