I Got The Job

Mother used to say that whenever God takes something away from us, He will surely give something else back to make us happy. We just have to wait. God took Father away from me, so surely one day He would repay me with something that could bring joy—like a pretty girl who would become my missus, or a high-paying job that could make my dream of owning a white Audi R8 (expensive shit) come true.

He has given me the latter.

Not exactly a high-paying job, but the salary is good enough for this single man named Sir Pok Deng, who only needs to walk twenty steps to reach the alternative entrance gate of SIRIM Berhad. My department block is within three minutes’ walking distance from the cafeteria, where every morning I spend thirty-five minutes sipping a cuppa while pondering the origin of the universe.

I already have visions of Father smiling oh so cheekily, trying hard not to smile again because talking while smiling would cause vowels and consonants from adjacent words to hybridize in weird ways—so I’d never quite understand what he was trying to say.

“Longpatje?!” imaginary Father asks.

“What? Beg your pardon! The hell are you tryin’ to say?”

“A-a-a,” Father stutters as usual, still unable to wipe the grin off his face. “A-a-along dapat keje ke? (you got a job?)”

“Hor lah,” I say. Yes, I do.

“A-alongpatjeke?”

“Hor!!!”

Tomorrow, I will notice that every specimen in his department—including the chairs, tables, stray cats, goldfish in the aquarium on the second floor, and even the red hibiscus flowers blooming outside the office—already knows the good news. Everybody in there calls me Along.

This is a happy post.