Pencil Tekan

One of my usual morning routines involves getting Ameer ready for school - bathe him, watch him brush his teeth, dry him up, dress up & 'after bath' hugs & kisses on the cheeks.

After moving to Emerald, my mornings have become less stressful because I no longer have to redah the downtown traffic jam to get to the toll/highway. That alone is a saving of at least 30 mins.

So, while the morning routines are the same, the quality of delivering those routines have greatly improved. I can even sip my morning coffee calmly at the kitchen deck, observing the neighbourhood surrounding and watching Ameer playing with the kittens at the same time too! Cool .....

Quite simply - I don't feel rushed in the morning like before!

That is good.

Now that I have extra 30 mins in the morning, maybe I should start exercising before I go to work? Hmmm... maybe.... maybe :D

Anyway... I digressed.

Yesterday, after helping Ameer get ready for school, the coffee, the kittens, I went downstairs (yeah...our kitchen is "upstairs" !) followed by Ameer from behind. Normally, he would watch cartoons while waiting for his teacher to pick him up. Somehow yesterday, he just followed me and just stood watching me picking up my handbags and this and that.

I asked him, "Ameer tak tengok kartun?"

He replied, "Ameer nak pencil tekan".
Short & crisp, but looking up to me with a pair of hopeful eyes like a puppy from the pet shop window.

Pandai budak ni nak psycho ibu dia, but I thought rationally ... heyyy... berapa banyak pencil daaaa.... the one box each should be more than sufficient to last 6 months ( no joke ok? not one, two or three pencils, but one box each!)

"Ameer kan dah ada banyak pencils. Why do u want a pencil tekan? Besides, susah tau nak masukkan pencil leads tu dalam pencil tekan ".

He started frowning.

Alamak... takkan pagi2 dah nak start sandiwara kot? Ni yg tak syiok nih.

He replied softly, "Ameer nak pencil tekan. Abang Hafiz tak bagi pinjam dia punya. Dia kata nanti Ameer rosak kan. Ameer tak nak rosakkan. Ameer nak pinjam ajer. Tapi Abang Hafiz tak nak bagi pinjam". And he said this with his eyes looking down at the floor - reminded me of a scene of a convict pleading for lenier punishment in court.

"Oh ye ker? Kesian Ameer....", memang pandai pyscho budak ni.

There is plenty of pencils of all sorts at the "shop" near where I work. I could grab one in a jiffy I'm sure. But heyyy.... I was not about to give in so easy ok?

So I tried another rationale,
"Tapi kan Ameer... Ibu dah beli baaaaaaanyyak pencil untuk Ameer haritu kan?"

"Ya"

"So.... duit ibu dah tinggal sikit dah ..... tak cukup nak beli pencil tekan".

Ameer kept quite for a while. Then he said,
"Ok lah Ibu. Sorry Ibu".

Oh! That was fast! An early victory for Ibu I thought. Good for me!

Then we hugged as usual. I love you. I love you too. I miss you. I miss you too. And he salam & kiss my hand. Then Ameer walked slowly into the TV room adjacent to the main door to get his morning dose of cartoons. Phewww..... I put on my shoes, grabbed my bags, checked if my handphone & car keys were in there and picked up my notebook bag.

Just as I was about to walk to the car, Ameer shouted from inside the TV room,
"Wait Ibu. Wait!"

Apa pulak lah lagi?

I poke my head inside and saw Ameer dragging his school bag out from the TV room. He put the bag right infront me and he started rummaging through his bag pockets, left, right, inside, out. I had no clue what was going on.

Hmmm... I came home late the night before and didn't get the chance to see his school work. Maybe he wanted to show me his drawing, I thought.

Suddenly Ameer said, "Ah! Dah jumpa! "

Then he stood up, opened up his small palm for me and asked,
"Ibu, is this enough?"

Staring blankly into my eyes were three shiny 20 cents coins.

"Cukup tak duit circle-circle ni untuk beli pencil tekan, Ibu?" he asked innocently.

I felt a lump in my throat. I just stared at the three 20 cents coins (duit circle-circle to Ameer) and Ameer's hopeful face interchangeably.

"Ibu boleh guna duit ni untuk beli pencil tekan untuk Ameer. Please Ibu?", he pleaded.

I had to hold back my tears - which I'm very good at.

I think Ameer really wanted a pencil tekan.




That's Ameer for you.


Salam,
Ibu

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