A soft motherly voice replied... Then a woman appeared at the door... As far as I remembered, she didnt looked like a typical kampung makcik (huge and loud) but was rather was thin and motherly... Her face was delighted to see us... "Mari mari... Masuk ya..."

I was the first to enter the house... As soon as I set my foot into the house, I could see many pails and buckets were placed on the floor... I guessed the house had many leaks... We sat on the floor, surrounding all the kuih muih and drinks... Obviously the house got no expensive sofas...

"Makan la...", with a motherly smile, she poured down the drinks into our glasses... Being stuffed with all of the kuih, satay and ketupats from previous houses, I managed to force a few kuihs down my throat... "Anak ni dari mana? Anak siapa?", softly she asked... "Anak Pak Salam..." I replied... The rest of my troops then introduced themselves, not by their names, but their fathers'... "Owhh... semua dari bahagian atas Kerteh 4... jauhnya berjalan..."

The woman went on telling us how delighted she was to have us as guesses... She seldom had kids coming in... Only some of her adult neighbors came to visit...

After about 15 minutes, my friends started to give me the look of we-need-to-get-out-of-here-before-we-stuffed-ourselves-to-death... So I told the woman that we're leaving... "Makcik mintak maaf ya anak2... Makcik dapat bagi 20 sen sorang je... Makcik pun tak cukup duit...", she said while passing 20 cents to each and everyone of us...

That was the last house that we visited that Raya... We didnt know why but our fiery spirit of collecting Raya money faded after leaving that particular house...




Now, when I passed by the house, it is abandoned... I dont know what happened to the woman but now when I think of it, I wondered, why was she all by herself that day? Where are the children and husband?? The question remained...



P/s - I get a glimpes of this childhood memory after watching the movie "UP"... A sweet and funny 3D animation by PIXAR