Home Alone.

To all Malaysians Christians, Merry Christmas.

I was home alone on Christmas Day. My wife and daughter decided to go somewhere for a break and I have something to do at the Mosque after the Friday prayer.

After the Friday prayer I complied to the appointment with Mr. X and we set out the planning and strategies that was laid on the drawing board. It began to drizzle and I went home for a simple lunch of bread and butter. Since I was all alone I called up my friend Malik whether he was available for a drink somewhere. He suggested meeting Ujang an Indonesian Skipper from Pulau Rupat Indonesia. Ujang was at Kuala Linggi Jetty waiting to offload his cargo of resin. Malik took the wheel and we took the coastal road passing through Port Dickson and Pasir Panjang. We met Ujang who was stranded due to the long holidays, unable to offload to continue his barter trade voyages. Ujang is also an acquaintance who was my Tourist Guide when I was in Dumai Indonesia a couple of years ago. We took Ujang out for teh tarik and roti canai at the River Café by the Border Bridge of Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. Ujang had a lot of stories to tell, about the crocodiles he encountered at Sungai Linggi estuary.

We send back Ujang to the Jetty after the qasar of Maghreb and Isyakh prayer at the Kompleks Jeti Surau. We hit back by the same coastal road. Before Telok Kemang, I called up my friend Haji Sabuddin who was available at his residence and we rendezvoused at Telok Kemang Malay school frontage. Haji Sabuddin guided us to a Restaurant somewhere at 5th. Mile where we had our dinner and a chit chat sessions. Haji Sabuddin is a long time buddy since 1966 during my Esso days and just back from a 10 months assignment at Bintulu. Coincidentally, Malik had a lot in common to talk about with Haji Sabuddin who was brought up in Kampong Raja Uda. As usual when Haji Sabuddin and I get together, common memories that we used to do together during our bachelor days replayed. Those were the days when we rocked PD town and we did all the crazy things.

We parted with Haji Sabuddin at 2300 hrs and headed for home. Reaching home after midnight and it was strange that I came home to an empty house. The TV was my only companion and so happened the movie of Home Alone was on the air and I was just smiling to myself as the story went. It was about the youngest son who was accidentally left behind, all alone at home by his parents spending the Christmas holidays in Paris. I was left alone by designed not by accident.

I had the bed to myself and the call of the subuh azan awakened me. After subuh, I continued my dream of a white Christmas.