A SLICE OF LIFE ( SHORT STORY - 3)

OUR MOTHER

by

Zahariahrin

            My third child is a cute little boy. I consider him to be very lucky. Everyone in the family loves him. A very happy-go-lucky person.

           

            When he was one and a half years old, he started to speak in his baby language ‘fluently’ and most of the time we could not understand some of his baby speech. The best thing is, his brother and sister could understand him. Sometimes, listening to them speak to each other made me smile.  At the age of four he still could not pronounce most of   the   words correctly

            One day, I had extra curriculum activity in school. It was a Saturday. My friend and I had to conduct a Putri Islam Society meeting. Being a busybody he watched my friend writing notes. I tried to pull him away from my friend’s table, but he kept going back to her. He watched her very attentively and then to our surprise, he popped up with, “ Mak tita tuyih tambung, tan,” as he turned to look at his sister. My friend and the pupils laughed. What he meant was , “Mak kita tulis sambung, kan.”  which meant, “Our mother writes in cursive.”