The escape... at last!

Despite the smooth escape from her "evil" sister's house last week, Anita couldn't be too sure of how things would turn out when she visits her other sisters back in her hometown. I too was quite concerned of a "keluar mulut buaya, masuk mulut harimau" situation. When I managed to speak to her eldest sister on Tuesday morning, I thought there was a chance. But after that there were no more calls from Anita. And it has been a whole week since I sent her off at the bus station. I began to wonder if she got into some kind of trouble.

As I was driving to my office this morning, my phone rang. It was from Anita - and she was already at the Ipoh bus station! Aduh, why lah didn't she notify me before she boarded the bus?! I had already made other plans this morning so I couldn't simply go to the bus station to fetch her and send her to the shelter home. Besides, I'd also need to notify Kak Ana at the shelter home - she may have other plans too for all I know.

Anita had no choice but to wait. I had to settle some work at the office and I also needed to go to Istana Kinta. You see, I got a call yesterday from a lady from Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah to inform me that my NGO has been listed amongst the recipients of grants from the Yayasan and that the cheque presentation is to be held next weekend. I was asked to go to Istana Kinta where their office is to confirm attendance. (Yes, THE Istana Kinta where some political drama took place earlier this year but I shall not go into that)

So yes, I went this morning and once I got into the Istana compounds, I was a bit tercangak-bangak looking for the office but made it without making a fool of myself... or so I think. Anyway, I read through the letter and noticed that for the cheque presentation (by HRH Raja Muda), the dress code for ladies is baju kurung/baju kebaya. I never had any kebaya all my life and it had been quite a while since I had any baju kurung in my wardrobe. My wardrobe now is full of jubah or ala-ala jubah. Hmmm... wonder if my sister still has any baju kurung that I can borrow. Never mind, that I can resolve later!

Back to Anita's case, as soon as I got to my office this morning, I called up Kak Ana. She was on her way somewhere. I told her about Anita's sudden appearance in Ipoh without notice, and asked if I could send her over to the shelter home today. Thank God Kak Ana said she should be back by then.

Then I called my colleague who had been liaising with the JPN officer, and asked him to make an appointment some time next week if possible. Today was already too late, and Monday is a holiday in Perak. Simply bringing Anita to JPN any time next week may not be a good idea. I don't want Anita to come to Ipoh all the way from the shelter home only to find out that the officer is on leave or outstation. It's best to make an appointment. After all, Anita's case is a bit, errm no... a lot complicated, which definitely needs the attention of a higher ranking officer, not simply any Mat, Minah, Ah Chong, Mei Lan, Muthu or Meenachi at the JPN counters.

After my zohor prayer, off I went to fetch Anita & her baby boy. I didn't want to get caught in the anticipated jam in my kampong as the Deputy Prime Minister was scheduled to make an official visit to my kampong around 4 pm.

Anita and her baby had been at the bus station since morning. Poor souls! But without earlier notice from Anita, it was difficult for me to reschedule my commitments. Anyway, as soon as they got into my car, we headed straight to the shelter home, which is about 1 hour 20 minutes drive away. I didn't want to come back to Ipoh too late and rush for buka puasa. Any questions whatsoever that I needed to ask Anita would have to be done on the way to the shelter home.

We reached the shelter home around 3.20 pm. Kak Ana was not back yet but her husband and daughter were there to greet me and Anita. The daughter then called Kak Ana and was told that Kak Ana would reach the home soon.

While waiting for Kak Ana, guess who I got to see, hold and play with? Yep, none other than my little Cek Mek! Woo hoo! Goodness, she's such a good girl - tak banyak ragam langsung! And she has obviously become chubbier! Unlike some babies who smile or laugh when we play with them, Cek Mek has that selamba look - like muka sadin like that! Eh, sounds familiar lah pulak... ikut siapalah agaknya... ;)

Anyway, after a while, Kak Ana came back, and after explaining some matters to her, I simply had to make a move. Initially I wanted to leave by 4 pm, but since Kak Ana herself got home a bit late, I only managed to make a move at 4.20 pm. I had at least another 1 hour 20 minutes of travel time to go through and I wanted to have a bit of rest before berbuka so I wouldn't be too tired for terawikh.

I reached Ipoh about 5.40 pm and since I hadn't performed my asar prayer, I immediately headed back to my kampong. But just before the bridge in my kampong, some traffic police signaled to me to stop by the roadside.

No, I wasn't breaking any traffic rules lah! Definitely not speeding - it was after all just a jalan kampong!

The DPM's visit to my kampong that I mentioned earlier, remember?? You see my kampong is a traditional kampong smack right in the middle of Ipoh. The roads are small and at certain stretches, when cars are going opposite direction, one car would have to make way for the other. And my car was going the opposite direction of the DPM's car!

So, guess who had to make way? The DPM? Of course.... NOT! Not only did I have to make way for the DPM's convoy, there were so many other cars also going out as the function had just ended! Wrong timing sungguh...

Oh well, at least I've settled Anita's escape and a new shelter for Anita and her baby boy. As for her IC and the boy's BC, I believe we've still got a long way to go... at least another 6 months if we're lucky...