Kembara - my first

My girl got her job, her car and her lodging. Her reactions reminded me of my own when I first started out that final week of December 1981.

Then, my father got me a 'kampung' house to rent at RM80/month. It was a two roomed house on stilts in Kubang Bemban Pasir Mas. It belonged to the late mother of my sister-in-law. There was no pipe water. Water for cooking and bathing was drawn from the well using bucket tied to a long rope and collected in 'tempayans'.

There were spaces between the plank walls. I suspected some peeping toms at night. During the second week, as I was getting ready for work, I heard a soft knock on the wall. It was dawn and still very dark [I think TDM just announced that half hour time shift for Malaysia]. I thought the knock was that of a lizard hitting the insect it caught before swallowing it.

It was after 6 am and I had to walk almost 2 kilometres to my workplace. There was no bus or taxi service in that area, only trishaws. And trishaws that move at that hour were fully booked to sent school children to schools and 'tok peraihs' to the market.

As I opened the door and put out my shoes [I wore 3 inches stiletto then], I was surprised to see a two legged shape in the compound. It was still quite dark and it took me sometime to make out the shape. It turned out to be a person with his 'pelikat' turned up from his waist to cover the top part of his body leaving the waist down part exposed. And he was wanking.

I closed and locked the door quickly. He kept on knocking on the wall. My heart raced a thousand miles per hour. I was SCARED but it was getting lighter so I opened a window harshly, making as much noise as possible and shouted at the top of my lung, "celako nate nih! nok rasa nappar Cik Din mung tunggu situ! [damn b*****d! you just wait there for Cik Din's whack!].

Cik Din was my immediate neighbour and an 'orang gedebe' [village hero(?)] and a relative of my sister-in law.

He disappeared towards the back of the house. Soon after I saw a trishaw coming from the direction of his disappearance. I asked the trishaw man if he saw a boy in pelikat. He did and knew the boy's name - a private school student renting a house with his friends not very far from my house.

That evening I went to see Cik Din and told him what happened [the stain lasted on the sand a few days]. Cik Din promised to take care of the culprit. That was the last of it.

I hope my girl will not have to experience similar situation.