Reizel couldn’t believe what he had just experienced, it turned out that all this ti his own father had been keeping such a creepy creature.
Before the man could express his opinion, his father imdiately directed the kalomba to re-enter the hut and closed the hut’s door.
"I’ll tell you at ho, we’re going ho first," said Reizel’s father, a man who was probably in his 50s but still looked healthy with a muscle ratio fit for a farr.
His short hair had two colors that mixed with each other, black and white. There was no additional facial hair such as a beard and moustache, but the wrinkles on his face could tell how long he had lived.
In the middle of the dark night that was only illuminated by the light from the motorcycle,, the old man nad Herman gave a very sharp and serious gaze.
Although Reizel still didn’t understand the situation, he could only hope that all the questions in his head would be answered as soon as they returned ho.
The wavy-haired man stood up and headed straight towards his motorcycle and so did Herman who also imdiately got on the motorcycle.
The two set off and left the area filled with coffee plantations.
After driving for so ti through the dark plantation area without light, the two of them arrived at a residential area and found rows of houses and stalls.
Before they went ho, Herman told Reizel to stop at the side of the road, more precisely stop near a street food vendor that sells martabak.
The old man bought the biggest martabak to take ho.
Nothing beats the aroma of food cooked on the side of the road when coming ho from work that takes a lot of energy.
As the martabak being cooked, Reizel looked around and his eyes fell on the mobile phone shop and looked up at the billboard advertising the latest smartphones at prices that he would probably never be able to afford with his 5 years of salary as a construction worker.
And there he was, watching people get out of their cars and buy those expensive smartphones like its not a big deal.
The envy that Reizel felt had no malice in it, because he understood that was how life was. There were people who were born rich and enjoyed their lives, and there were people who were born poor and worked hard until they died.
Reizel could only sigh heavily and accept his fate.
As the man was lost in his though, Herman ca in carrying a martabak that had been neatly wrapped in a cardboard box inside a plastic bag.
The warm martabak gave off such a tantalizing aroma and made Reizel grateful again because...
at least there were things that could still be enjoyed as a person who didn’t have much money.
The two of them left on Reizel’s old motorcycle and headed straight ho.
By the ti they got to the house, the porch light hadn’t been turned on but at least the lights inside the house were on.
When Reizel opened the door, he found Lana who was doing her schoolwork and looked so focused.
"Lana, you forgot to turn on the porch light," Reizel said which made Lana startle for a few monts before finally digesting her brother’s sentence.
The little girl imdiately stood up and imdiately turned on the porch light while chuckling. "Hehe... Sorry, I forgot."
Herman stepped into the house while holding their soon to be dinner and the aroma of martabak just taking Lana’s focus.
Lana’s eyes imdiately opened wide and a big smile spread across her small face.
"Yeay! Martabak!" shouted Lana who imdiately took the martabak and imdiately ran to the kitchen.
Herman walked over to Reizel and patted his son on the shoulder. "I want to take a shower first, after Lana falls asleep, I’ll talk about that stuff."
Herman walked past Reizel casually and imdiately stepped into the bathroom.
Reizel walked into the kitchen, which also the dining room.
Unlike the other rooms, the walls of the kitchen were not made of concrete and cent, but wood. The modest kitchen had one small dining table that could probably only be used by two people. Many cooking utensils were hanging on the wall but all of them were hardly used because everyone was busy with their own business.
Although there was no mother in their family, Reizel was still able to live well and was quite happy with the current situation.
At least he still had a hardworking father and...
Reizel suddenly realized that Lana took half of the martabak to eat herself.
"Lana! Eat with rice too!" Reizel scolded which made the little girl pout.
"Hmpft!" Lana responded while looking at her older brother with a sharp gaze full of hatred.
Reizel did not blink and he looked back at Lana.
The little girl grumbled and imdiately picked up the rice from the rice cooker.
After watching Lana add rice to her plate, the wavy-haired man drank a glass of water and then walked to the terrace.
Sitting on the terrace while smoking a cigarette, Reizel stared pensively at the night sky. Part of him was satisfied with the way things were, but part of him felt that their life should be better than this.
But then again, the man realized that not everyone had that kind of privilege.
After almost an hour of daydreaming and 3 cigarettes later, Reizel entered the house and found Lana playing with her smartphone.
In that house, only Lana had a touchscreen cell phone. Herman only had a cell phone that still used buttons while Reizel didn’t have a cell phone at all. Of course, Herman only uses it for important calls while Reizel doesn’t feel the need at all.
There was nothing wrong with playing gas once in a while, but Reizel found Lana’s notebook still open and it seed that her schoolwork had not been completed.
"Lana, why haven’t you done your schoolwork yet?" asked Reizel who was sitting on the plastic chair next to Lana.
"Huft! Alright!" said Lana who was lying on the old sofa.
The little girl imdiately started working on her schoolwork while Reizel watched beside her.
"Big brother, have you heard the story about Gilgash dream?" asked Lana who suddenly stopped and looked at her older brother.
"What is Gilgash dream?" responded a sowhat confused Reizel.
"In dream, Gilgash said that there were selected people who were said to be the chosen heroes."
"Says who?"
"My friends. At school, there’s a lot of talk about it, there’s also talk on the internet. Is it real? Did you ever have that dream?"
"No, I never dread anything about Gilgash. It’s just gossip anyway, don’t believe in things on the internet," Reizel emphasized, a little worried that her sister might be exposed to bad influences from the internet.
Lana puffed up her cheeks and lowered her eyebrows as she stared angrily at Reizel.
"But my friend had a dream about Gilgash, which ans he’s a chosen hero. You really didn’t believe it? He said it was real." Lana said, making Reizel even more concern.
Reizel sighed heavily and rubbed Lana’s head. "Don’t think about it, just do your schoolwork."
The man left Lana and walked towards the kitchen to eat the martabak that was probably cold by now.
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