Ride on Time

Chapter 27

Shri sat at his desk and began writing his story, first thing in the morning. He remembered most things he observed in Japan and even had everything written down in his little notebook in case he forgot anything. He also meant to get everything typed out with his Canon QS 300 typewriter. Shridhar once offered to get him the latest one but he refused since that was his first-ever typewriter. His other books were either handwritten or typed out on the office's typewriters. Shri preferred to write everything by hand and then retype his manuscript to eliminate any errors. Of course, the publishers filter even more of the overlooked errors out before printing.
So he wrote and wrote, even forgetting that he hadn't even brushed his teeth yet.
"Mohan!" Suganthi suddenly appeared at the doorway. "Come and eat."
"Wait ah..." Shri said as he furiously wrote word after word, even moving on to a different paragraph. "I finish this page and come."
"Aiyo, you tell like that means you won't come lah," Suganthi groaned. "You brush your teeth already or not?"
"Not yet," Shri snorted.
"Aiya, close and come lah," Suganthi urged, practically pulling him out of the chair. "Come!"
He sighed and made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth, defeated. Suganthi returned to the dining hall and waited while Shri brushed his teeth before joining his family.
"Why so long?" Shridhar asked. "Reading ah?"
"Writing," Suganthi corrected. "Without brushing teeth also."
"Eeeyerrrr," Shruti mocked, fanning her nose. "Smelly lah!"
Shri made as if he waited to hit her. "Can you stop? You also not yet bathe, right?"
Shruti stuck her tongue out at him and continued eating her breakfast of French toast, or Bombay toast as Suganthi called it.
"Actually why you say Bombay toast ah?" Shruti curiously asked, looking at her slice of toast as if examining it. "Not French toast ah?"
"No need to investigate, just eat," Suganthi said, slightly annoyed.
"But I wanna know!" Shruti replied, pouting. "Why do you call it Bombay toast when it's actually called French toast?"
Shri smirked. "Because you smelly. That's why. Just eat lah. Everything you wanna hoo-hah."
Shruti scowled and just continued to eat her breakfast.
"So fast tomorrow must go work," Shridhar sighed tiredly. "So nice we sit in Japan for two weeks."
"That one also for work only, what, Pa," Shri pointed out, his cheeks bulging with food. "Where got real holiday?"
"You went to work meh?" Shruti countered, her mouth equally full. "You never do anything, what. Just went here, went there, somehow found one Japanese girl, went dating with her some more. You where got did anything?"
"Then you?" Shri countered back, his mouth still full. "You did what? You also went here went there with me, right?"
They started quarrelling, forgetting everything about the French toast in front of them.
"Can you two just stop and eat?" Shridhar chimed in, annoyed. "Eat lah! Fighting and sitting for no reason."
"How many times I've told the two of you to not talk with your mouth full?" Suganthi sighed. "What if you choke?"
The siblings frowned and resumed their breakfast. They were soon done and Shruti took her cup of hot cocoa and started making her way to the living room.
But she stopped short at the archway, looking around. "Where's Big One?"
"Eh, yeah lah," Shri realised too. "Big One where lah?"
"Sleeping," Suganthi answered. "Pity him lah, two weeks he working here alone, doing everything himself."
The siblings shook their heads, annoyed. Shri stood up with his cup too and followed his sister.
"Shruti, go and wake him lah," Shridhar said. "Mohan, you also go lah. Never eat also he."
The two of them sighed and went to the living room first, placing their cups of Milo on the table. Shruti took out two makeup catalogues from under the coffee table and placed one on each of the cups before motioning for her brother to follow her upstairs.
"For no reason must go and wake up that feller," Shruti grumbled. "As if he king like that."
"What to do, he only favourite, what," Shri shrugged. "You don't know ah?"
Shruti sighed. "So mean lah Ma and Pa."
Shri snorted and followed as she made a beeline to Siddharth's room. They stopped and looked at each other.
"Call lah," Shri urged, giving her shoulder a slight push.
Shruti scowled at him and sighed before turning back to the door. She took a deep breath and called. "ANNEH! WAKE UP AND COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST!"
Shri covered his ears in surprise. "Why you shouting like that?!"
Shruti grinned and pulled him downstairs. "We did our duty already. Come, let's go."
The two of them ran back to the living room, giggling.
"Shruti, you got call Sid-boy or not?" Suganthi called from the dining hall.
Shruti groaned as she turned the tv on. "Yeah lah, Ma. Call already."
"Then where is he?" Suganthi asked again.
"I don't know, you ask him lah," Shruti shrugged as she plopped onto the sofa.
"Shruti!" Suganthi called again.
"Ma, I don't know lah," Shruti groaned back. "I call already, I don't know what he doing. Okay?"
She turned the television on and started watching the latest episode of Sister, Sister. Shri just stood there, giggling at the early-morning commotion going on.
"You ah..." Shri laughed, sitting down beside his sister.
"Yeah lah," Shruti frowned. "This Big One some more like one king like that he will sit. Stupid lah."
Shri snorted and lifted his cup of cocoa from the table, tossing the makeup catalogue into the space under it. Siddharth eventually staggered his way down the stairs, his hair a weird mess.
"Honestly, this is the first time I'm actually seeing this face after coming back from Japan," Shri remarked in a low voice.
Siddharth looked around at them, almost as if he was shocked, and groggily made his way to the dining hall.
"He got brush teeth or not?" Shruti snorted.
Shri shrugged. "His wish lah. If never brush teeth means his mouth only smelly, what."
Shruti started laughing, almost spilling her hot cocoa. She eventually set it back down on the table, going back to watching her show instead.
"Oi, drink your Milo first," Shri said, poking her shoulder.
"Later," Shruti smirked as she watched the sitcom.
"Just drink lah, you will keep for hours, I know," Shri sighed. "Later if spill means you buta, right?"
"Not buta all, just no Milo," Shruti shrugged, taking her cup again. "And must clean."
"Just drink your Milo," Shri sighed, setting his empty cup down. He turned to the television and frowned slightly. "Which is which? Both look same only."
"Twins," Shruti said.
"I know lah, but which is which?"
"One got mole on the face."
"Both also got..."
"Fine," Shruti sighed. "Let me watch."

Shri sat at his desk yet again, his typewriter pushed to the side, a half-written chapter still rolled onto the platen. He pulled out a sheet from the ream of A4-sized papers under his desk and took out the pen that Misao had given to him.
And then he started writing out a letter to her.
He thought he wouldn't even be able to write the right words but ended up writing page after page, all the way to the bottom on both sides. He then stapled the whole thing together, bewildered at how he actually wrote five whole pages, filled to the brim.
Shri then folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, sealing it shut. He then stuck a few RM1 stamps that were specially released upon the grand opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He still felt like the Subang Airport shouldn't have closed down.
He then rummaged in his wallet and pulled out Misao's details, which she wrote in small neat letters. Shri copied it onto the envelope and wrote down his own address at the back.
And then he remembered something. He forgot about the book he promised her.
He ended up writing another letter, planning to send them separately. After all, he had already stuck the stamps and all.

-eeyer is basically the Malaysian edition of eww lol. That's it, just said in a different way to match dialects or something lol.
-another thing is that, in Malaysia we say bathe even though we shower. Some Malaysians don't actually use shower nor bathtubs but a bucket with a water heater instead. This is mostly old-fashioned households though. And I guess it's this style of washing that is called bathing here lol.
-also, I'm not sure why my family refers to French toast as Bombay toast, mainly my grandma lol. I think it's an Indian thing.
-I think you guys already know what Milo is lol. In Malaysia, even if hot cocoa isn't actually of the Milo brand, it's still called Milo. Even in shops, they call it Milo. It's because Milo is pretty big in Malaysia. Literally everyone has had a Milo lorry visit their school just to provide free cold Milo for all the students and teachers lol. Yeah. There's literally no one who doesn't know what Milo is lol.
-feller is just another spelling for fellow of fella.