Short Story

  The smell of rendang made my heart sing, especially after it was left in the pot for so long that the water had all dried up, leaving the delicious mixture of aromatic paste and meat. ‘Don’t!!!’ A warning paired with a gentle punch deterred my attempt to steal a spoonful. Mom glared at me and pointed at the pile of ketupat in the tray on the floor. I immediately sat down to peel off the leaves wrapping and cut the ketupat into smaller pieces for easier consumption. As I started the task, I took a quick glimpse of the clock on the wall. It was 3 am. Huh. We actually had spent the whole night in the kitchen. Meanwhile, dad was also awake then, ironing our festive clothes in the living room while belting out Siti Nurhaliza’s songs out of tune. After some time, he appeared at the kitchen door, offering his help, but mom declined as there was little left to do. Nevertheless, us three cleaned up the kitchen a bit and went to bed. While I was falling asleep, I reminisced about the d...

  ‘Who are you?’ Her dry, wrinkled lips barely moved as I awkwardly adjusted my hands so that I could reach hers. I looked into her eyes but there was mere emptiness. That’s when I was sure. I’d lost my grandmother to the merciless grasp of Alzheimer’s. Mother patted my shoulders from behind, and I quickly kissed her weak, balmy hand and went away. I sighed softly. This is Hari Raya Aidilfitri, the day for celebration, Dina! For God’s sake, get rid of the gloomy cloud above your head! I looked all around me. A lot of relatives came to pay my grandmother a visit, after all Nek Kuntum was the oldest one alive in her lineage. It was not particularly noisy, but there was the continuous hum of people chatting, eating and basically existing. Mother was still with grandmother, Father was feeding the little twin brothers, while Dani, my older brother was in the midst of a heated argument about some gaming stuff. I guessed he found his fellow gamers among the relatives. So, yeah, this...