Gym Bag Girl

Who could muster enough courage to bring his or herself to pick up this morning's New Straits Times?

The picture of the young girl who was brutally abused and murdered is plastered on the front page, and knowing that the perpetrator had done crazy things to her and ended it by stuffing her in a gym bag left in front of a store, that's just too much.

So far, no one's claiming her as kin just yet. The press event ventured a question, "Was she homeless?"

Dubbed by the press as "Girl in the Gym Bag", police suspects the case may be serial and linked to the "Kampung Baru Molester". However I wondered why criminologist Dr Kamal Affendi Hashim refers to the culprit as a "he".

I hope police is not ruling out women in their search list. Remember that case in which a mother had beaten her own child to death and tried to put the blame on her step-son?

The identity of the girl is still unknown, but I think we all know she in a better place now.

Puasa masa kecik-kecik dulu

Masa kita kecik-kecik dulu, bulan puasa memang best sebab:

1] Dalam otak memang 110% confident - hantu syaitan sume takde. Tapi masa Darjah 6 aritu terbaca lak dalam Mastika ade orang jumpa something scary time bulan puasa - hampeh..

2] Kat sekolah memang la cakap puasa full, tapi balik tengahari tu bukak pintu rumah je Kak Zah dah hulur air, siap masak nasi dengan telur goreng. Tinggal taruh kicap pastu bleh makan depan TV.

3] Petang-petang skit pergi beli kueh instead of main galah panjang (kalau main gak kantoi la tak puasa). Time beli kueh tu bleh jumpa budak-budak sekampung yang cun-cun and jarang dapat terserempak tu. Kueh pun tak mahal time tu - model RM2 je, kenyang satu rumah.

4] Pergi terawih buat 8 rakaat je, tapi balik saing dengan orang-orang tua yang buat 20 rakaat - time in between tu lepak dengan kawan-kawan pastu buat panggilan telefon palsu kat kawan-kawan lain, menyamar jadi peminat diorg yang nak ajak diorg kuar tengok wayang raya sok.

5] Dekat nak raya parents bagi keluar malam main lawan bunga api. Kalau join dengan geng galah panjang kat Lorong Pandan, mana bleh menang bebudak rumah lain yang mengharapkan adik beradik diorg je nak tulung.

6] Dah lagi dekat nak raya parents kasik allowance, weekend "pegi pekan" dengan member beli baju raya..

7] Dah lebih lagi dekat nak raya parents tak kisah if nak ronda naik beskal sampai kampung sebelah nak usha panjut fest serata area tu.

8] Even lagi dekat nak raya dah start dapat duit raya dah daripada pokcik2, mokcik2 yang singgah rumah.

9] Tinggal lagi dua-tiga hari nak raya stesen TV dah start air cerita macam-macam. Dulu cerita Melayu best, XX-Ray la, Bintang Malam la, Fenomena la.. start XX-Ray part 2 dah hancus dah.. Paling hancus time satu raya bila tah tu, ade ke TV bagi Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Sabar je la..

I see dead people

Date: 5 September 2007
Time: 6.30PM
Venue: My condo block
Topic: My thoughts and conversations in bubbles

First bubble reads:
Yeah! I'm nearly home. Should check my mails before I go up, wonder if there will be a new Carrefour spamming the box.

Second bubble reads:
Nevermind, don't kecoh. Just check the mail and go up - even if there's a cute one among the men in blue.

Third bubble reads:
Hmm, so many people crowding! Takpe, takpe, just go check mail now.. Oh shit.

Fourth bubble reads:
OMG! Is that a body under that white piece of cloth? OMG, it is. Eh, very small and skinny la the body? Oh shit, I can see the guy's yellow shirt.

Fifth bubble reads:
Aik? What's L doing here?

Conversation bubble right next to the scene:
Me: L, why are you here? What happened?

L: That's my colleague's kid! He fell down from fourth floor.

Me: A kid! How old? How did it happened?

L: 9 years old, only son in the family. Told his grandma he's going down to get mails. His grandma did say wait for her, but he said no need to accompany him. Not sure exactly how it happened, but he must have been playing at the lift's window and toppled over.

Sixth bubble reads:
Alamak! The police is removing the white cloth! Shit! It's just a skinny Chinese kid! He doesn't look badly hurt at all - except for the little patch of blood under his head. Poor kid!

More conversation bubble in lift:
L: He broke his neck, but was still breathing. They immediately called ambulance, but didn't managed to save the boy.

Me: Owno.. Condolences to your colleague. Is the police report done?

L: Yes, they're taking the body to the hospital for post-mortem. Er this is the boy's father.

Me: Uh.. Ah. Er, sorry for your loss.

Boy's father: (Silent, nod once, more silence, nod again. Me and L exchanged helpless looks.)

Fifth bubble reads:
I'm such an idiot! Eh, apa pulak, what else could one say to one who just lost a loved one? Sheesh. Ugh, don't feel so good. Thank goodness I'm home.

More conversation bubble at home:
Me: Tets, did you know about the boy?

Tets: Yeah I know, I came home about 5.30 or so and saw an old woman crying next to the boy, he was already covered with white cloth. She spoke in Cantonese, I'm a bit rusty but I think she said, "Come back to popo..."