Serial shopper strikes - 7

I’d usually avoid shopping on a Sunday. I prefer to avoid the crowd, especially during the school holidays. The part I hate most? Queuing to pay lah…

However, I had to make an exception when I went shopping for the schooling needs of Rosnah’s daughter. You see, Rosnah has to work on other days, and so the only other choice she had was a Sunday.

So I agreed to meet up with Rosnah at 9 am on Sunday, in front of the hypermarket. The moment they got there, Rosnah headed straight to the toilet. Her daughter, Huda, who sat for her UPSR this year and obtained 3A 2B, will be in secondary school next week (next year lah tu!). While waiting for Rosnah to come back from the toilet, Huda asked me what we were shopping for. Lerrr…. mak dia tak bagi tau ke?

“Baju sekolah dah beli belum?” I asked.

“Belum lagi,” she replied.

“Ni nak beli baju sekolah lah ni.”

This was the first time I took them shopping, so Huda didn’t expect me to come along with them to buy her schooling needs. Last year Rosnah bought the things first and claimed later. But this year she said she didn’t have enough money and asked for an advance, if possible, and she’d pass me the receipts later. I make it a point not to give them cash advances. Who knows, I give them the money for uniforms, they may end up using the money for some other so-called “emergencies”. I’d rather go with them, pay for the stuff and immediately keep the receipts – even if that means I have to do so on a Sunday morning.

Anyway, shopping for Huda wasn’t difficult. Even though there weren’t too many choices left, we still managed to find the right sizes for Huda. We didn’t have to buy her a school bag as her aunt had already bought one for her. But she needed both black and white pairs of shoes, so we had to buy 2 pairs. When we got to the cashier, Huda got a shock when she saw the grand total.

“Dekat separuh gaji mak!” she exclaimed.

Well, at least now she knows how much those stuff cost, hopefully she’d appreciate them more.

After shopping, I brought them to a mamak shop. I ordered roti sardin, Rosnah ordered roti telur and Huda ordered “roti canai, satu saja”. Rosnah was surprised, usually one piece was never enough for Huda.

Apparently, the girl wanted to have a taste first. When Rosnah’s roti telur came, she tasted a bit of that. My roti sardin came, she tasted a bit of that too. Then her roti canai came, and before the waiter went off, Huda immediately ordered, “Roti telur, dua!” Hah, ambik kau! Tak padan kurus!

While eating, Rosnah told me that she finally broke the news to her family. All the while only she and Huda knew about her HIV. Recently there was a family kenduri, so all her siblings came back (Rosnah stays with her mother at their family house), and so Rosnah decided it was time to tell all of them. All of them were okay about it. However, it was her younger brother’s future wife who suggested that Rosnah should move out of the house.

Waaa… banyak cantik lu punya muka! She’s not even married to Rosnah’s brother yet! Tengah sayang punya pasal (sorry folks, bila marah ni mula cakap bahasa rojak), her brother somehow “agreed” to his fiance’s suggestion and even offered to pay for the house rental if Rosnah moves to another house. Rosnah herself was about to give in, she didn’t want to argue with anyone. But it was Rosnah’s mother who didn’t agree.

“Mak tak setuju. Mak tak takut. Mak ada tengok TV, mak tau macam mana sakit ni berjangkit.” There you go! Caya lah makcik!

After all, Rosnah is the one who takes care of her mother. Her other siblings stay elsewhere. If they insisted that Rosnah should move, who’s going to take care of their mother?

So yes, Rosnah and Huda are staying put.