Bab 168: Wistfully Staring over the Coconut Trees
Ma'am Shaza patted her chest slightly with fright within the empty hallway of her own house. The automated sound of zikr(1) from the clock gifted to her by her daughter and son-in-law made her heart jumped. Although she heard the noisy clock daily, she was still shocked by it all the time. However, these few times were different; a stinging pain permeated over her heart just from that small shock. She nervously massaged her own chest to alleviate the pain and took three deep breaths.
[What is wrong with me? Am I going to get a heart attack?]
Lately, the same problem kept occurring. She has taken all her medications quite diligently. Hence, she couldn't understand why this was happening. She clearly remembered that it started after she collapsed last time from severe fever. Although she got better after a while, the pain didn't really go away. It worries her incessantly.
[Shall I go for a whole-body check-up? But the scheduled check-up is coming up soon. Hmmm… Hmmm..] Ma'am Shaza mulled over her current predicament agonizingly. Besides a little bit of high blood pressure, and her cholesterol level was borderline, she was considered quite healthy for her age.
She just needed to persist for a while. Rather than going to the private sector, it was better to engage with the government healthcare. As a widow from an ex-government servant who perished during service, she still got all sorts of privileges. It was better not to waste money and wait it out.
She habitually took out her smartphone to check incoming messages, especially from a new chatting apps Hadi specifically installed for her. It was for connecting her to her beloved daughter, currently lost somewhere in the woods.
No messages.
This time, her daughter didn't contact her for nearly a week. Was she alright? True, Arash had told her that Hana will be away for a few days last time, but it's more than just a few days already!
She switched to the standard chatting apps to check. Her son-in-law had been very inactive in the 'Family Ribena' group these few days too. There were no personal messages as well.
Ma'am Shaza instinctively felt something was wrong and dialed her son-in-law's number to directly talk to him.
This boy, he's a little slow sometimes.
He didn't even remember that the kids needed to hear their Tok Mama's (2) voice too once in a while. Ma'am Shaza tolerated him because her daughter was so star-struck by the boy until she couldn't see anything else. She too was quite afraid that her good daughter will leave her for the sake of choosing the boy. Though it sounded impossible, there was definitely a small possibility (maybe less than one percent!).
The five-second wait was infuriating, especially when she got an automated out of bound message in return. Either the boy purposely switched off his phone, or he went off to areas without reception. Did he bring the kids out to secluded areas for a short vacation? Did he not know to bring them back here for once?!
The longer Ma'am Shaza kept on thinking, more unnecessary negative thoughts clouded her head. Her head started pounding, and her heartbeat increased.
Ma'am Shaza walked unsteadily towards the sofa in the living room and lie down while massaging her head.
…
….
…..
"Ibu, Ibu?! Are you alright?" A gentle shake woke Ma'am Shaza up. Her youngest was standing beside her with worry etched on her face.
"What time is it? Ibu dozed off. Get me a glass of water, Che'Su.(3)" Ma'am Shaza felt so parched as she tried to sit up. It seemed that she might've gotten comfy and napped over the sofa.
"It's just eight plus, Ibu. I just returned from the morning jog and saw you here." A hand was placed over her forehead. Her youngest was looking at her with great concern reflected over her eyes. This one looked just like her late father, making her reminisced about the past a lot as of late.
"You're burning up! Let's go to the clinic! I'll get the veteran card. It's in the nightstand, right?"
Ma'am Shaza nodded weakly. "First level. Help bring my phone along. I need it."
"I'll call up Bro Hadi."
"No need. It's just a little bit of fever. Once Ibu see the doctor, Ibu will get well as soon as Ibu pop in some PCM(4) and get some rest. Ibu will contact you if Ibu need anything." As usual, Ma'am Shaza brushed off the concern and vetoed the next action plans.
Ignoring her youngest helpless stare, Ma'am Shaza peered outside the window and saw a row of tall coconut trees at the edge of her house's compound, and she felt wistful. Those were planted with the love of her life to commemorate giving birth to the little ones.
It was a tradition from the older generation she wished to keep preserving since she had the space and land (5). All seven trees were perfectly aligned and were jutting tall towards the sky at nearly the same height. Sometimes, coconut collectors came by with monkeys on their shoulders, asking to harvest the fruits. At that time, she got quite a few to drink, make kuihs, and some homemade coconut oil. Among all of the kids, Hana was the only one who had the passion to learn about the traditional ways and cooking methods, while the rest pursued other hobbies of their liking. That was why she was closer to this cheeky one.
"They've grown so tall now…"
Ma'am Shaza lamented. Sorrow fleeted through her gaze, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. It was unknown whether she was talking about the coconut trees or her own children.
However, only she knew how much she missed her children who were never home together anymore…
…
"Alright! Final part! Come over, Dearie."
While making her own mother wallow in sadness because she forgot to text her, our oblivious aunty over here was merrily completing the final stage of coconut oil making. A brawny purple-colored Elemental Fiend with blazing fire over its antenna came over with a light gait. This was the lucky one who got a name for itself, F1, while earning the ire of many. It droned softly and asked to be petted over the head by the Mistress by showing some comical gestures.
Hana chuckled and petted F1 as quick as she can before the heat burned her palm and grinned sheepishly. The Elemental Fiend was behaving like a docile dog who needed attention. It was quite cute in its own way. She wished to coddle it but refrained herself.
F1 nodded contentedly and scurried over towards the large bubble beside the pink dolphin who inched a little further away from it. The heat emanated from it was a little too much for the dolphin to bear. Unperturbed, F1 inserted one of its antennae into the pristine white liquid within the bubble.
"Gently, at first, Dear." Hana walked towards the bubble filled to the brim with coconut cream and observed critically. It was after all, their first attempt in making coconut oil. In fact, although she roughly knew how to make some, she has been taking the easier path of buying the cold-pressed ones online when she needed them.
The pristine white coconut cream could fill a large ball the size of a premium seedless XXL-sized watermelon; it was equivalent to an extremely large beachball! It was expected, as she had skimmed it off from nearly one-third of the whole brown-colored coconuts gifted to her by the birds. If they failed, the wastage would be huge.
The large levitating bubble filled with coconut cream slowly boiled while being observed by Hana and co.; tension could be felt vibrating in the air. The bubbling hot liquid slowly loosened its white color as it got more transparent as time passed by.
"A little more, Dear." Hana addressed the purple Elemental Fiend urgently. Her meaning was clear; although the liquid had slowly changed in color, it was still far from being complete. She remembered her mother had repeatedly reminded her to boil off any excess water as much as possible to extend the shelf-life of the homemade coconut oil they made.
"If we didn't burn off all the liquid thoroughly, the oil produced could get rancid very fast." Even when the oil turned transparent, Hana insisted on continuing a little longer, albeit not too harshly. At the same time, dark brown specks formed within the transparent now-slightly viscous liquid.
"Sieve the brown substance out and place it over this plate." Hana didn't particularly instruct anyone. Shiro, who was nearby, automatically step up to help out.
"Shi-chan dear, not this time. Let the juniors practice." Hana rubbed Shiro's head dotingly as her eyes scanned around the vicinity. They paused for a second on the hardworking but clumsy gigantic hornbill who was practicing with the other freshwater creatures. It seemed that the proud bird was about to lace a few unstable energy threads together. However, she noticed Hana's stare and lose her concentration immediately. The energy threads dissipated, causing Hana to shake her head disapprovingly while sighing.
[That one really need to be whipped up into shape harshly lahhh…] The aunty's impression on Suria fell to a new low for the n-th time!
"Alpy, your turn. Do it gently by manipulating the energy. I know you can already master it at least at the preliminary level. You can do it!" Hana encouraged the large turtle. The turtle nodded and walked over with confidence.
The dark brown specks slowly moved with synchronization within the transparent liquid. As time went by, they gathered and formed into something like a loose lump the size of a golf ball. The dark brown sticky substance emerged out of the transparent liquid and landed perfectly on the pink 'plate'over Hana's palm.
The aunty generously gave the large turtle a thumbs up and patted its head.
"Awesome! This is what it means to learn diligently! Excellent job! Keep on practicing, you're eligible to stay beside me to help out permanently from now on."
Gramps Alpy was genuinely touched by the Mistress' remarks. He knew he'd won his gamble this time. Obtaining the acknowledgment of the Mistress just after pledging a few hours ago? Who would do that to a new recruit?
The other freshwater creatures from the 'ex-servant faction' felt their butts blooming, as if the achievement were their own. Although they didn't understand what the Mistress was talking about, they knew that one of their de-facto leaders was being praised excessively. They gave a mocking stare equipped with a sly grin to the Elite faction, egging them without words. These young and brash elites felt the fire of dissatisfaction burning within. This time around, they felt like they were the ones being ostracized. It was clear as day that the Breakthrough Specialist was biased to the Servants' faction! Hana didn't notice anything, though her pets did. However, they just ignored the unhappy murmurs and chose not to inform the aunty. Of course they need to be more partial to their own!
Additionally, training the others wasn't part of the agreement. They only need to provide them with 'specialized meals' when the time comes. The brats just need to pay following their budgets after fulfilling the criteria to get hold of a turn, no strings attached.
Hana happily snacked on the brownish-black stuff (6) while observing the completion of their very first cooking oil.
After this, she can finally make deep-fry stuff! Yay!
…
Authors' Note:
1) Zikr = repetitive utterance of worship, something like what you said repetitively during meditation. Now is so advance, the digital wall clock can do it for you haha
2) Tok Mama = Tok comes from 'Datok/datuk' which means grandfather. In certain states, 'Datuk' is not gender-biased, it is used both for grandpa and grandma. So Tok Mama is a personalized way of saying 'grandma'.
3) Che'Su = it's not the girl's name. It means 'Youngest' (more info at the bottom)
4) PCM = paracetamol
5) "..It was a tradition from the older generation she wished to keep preserving.." = this is a true tradition from the olden days, Mrs Mooncat doubt that the current generation knew about this. My mom told me about this, it was being practiced in her grandpa's generation (around 1900 or even lesser). It's wayyy before the time when the older generation were given formal education (before Independence). To show how old is a person's child, just look at the coconut tree planted on the day of his/her birth (laugh)
6) brownish-black stuff = it is known as tahi/taik minyak (direct translation is 'oil poo') haha. It's the leftover burnt dried up coconut cream. Very flavorful. We use it to add on a kuih known as 'kole kacang'. You can check it out on this link on what it looks like (http://bahuluberintinaz.blogspot.com/2014/10/tahi-minyak.html). Mrs Mooncat can't find an English version one it seems. Yeah, it does looks like ground beef haha
Mrs. Mooncat Short Culture Note:
In Malay community, siblings were called intimately by the order of their age;
First born = Long = (from the word 'sulong' which means 'first') = Along
2nd born = Ngah (from the word 'tengah' which means 'middle') = Kak/Abang ngah
3rd born = Lang (not sure the word stems from what haha) = Kak/Abang lang
4th born = teh = Kak/Abang Teh (not sure where it comes from, but mrs mooncat is known as 'Makteh', which directly translates to '4th aunty' since mr mooncat is the 4th in his family)
5th born = andak (not sure the word stems from what haha)
6th born = ude/uda (from the word 'muda' which means 'young')
Last born = Su (from the word 'bongsu' which means 'smallest') = DikSu
(Kak/Abang = Big Sis/Bro)
People will call this person depending on their positions when compared to the person involved (an example using the variation of 'Bongsu/Su);
Between siblings = Adiksu (because the smallest will always be the little sister/brother. Adik translates to little brother/sister)
Parents/extended family members = Che' Su (as a reminder, che has the same connotation as '-er' for Chinese, and '-chi/-chan' for Japanese. Only use between intimate persons ie family members)
From the person's nephew/niece = Mak/Paksu (Smallest Aunty/Uncle)
Take note that the real numberings are actually at 10 & there's a slight difference between states. Older generation always have many children.
(-long, -ngah, -lang, -teh, -andak, -ude, -tam, -cik, -anjang, -usu)
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
mrandmrsmooncat
mrandmrsmooncat This round, Mrs Mooncat shares with you guys the perspective of Hana's mother, Ma'am Shaza, and a bit of Hana's background & childhood. The basic background infos was graciously provided by my own SIL who married a Marine. Thank you, Sis.
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