Shroud: Jinn

14 - Endearment

"Baba! Baba!" Saleha ran up to me excitedly the moment I came into view. I wheeled my bicycle towards a tree and leaned it against the trunk. "Are you okay? We were worried! We heard you got into a fight with Uncle Geming."

"Who told you that?"

"Auntie Lechmi, of course!"

Curse that woman. She could never keep her mouth shut.

"Auntie Ning's baby girl's so cute!"

"Baby's alive?" I laughed happily, relieved that I had a part to play in the baby's safety last night.

"Yes!" Saleha said gleefully. "Uncle Geming didn't look happy. His face was so grumpy when I sneaked a peek through their window from the mango tree near their house. He didn't want to hold the baby at all. He didn't smile either."

Has he ever looked happy? I remarked sarcastically to myself.

"He looked so angry! Auntie Ning looked really scared. She was holding the baby and kept moving away from him. He started hitting Auntie Ning with a belt. He kept shouting and pointing angrily at them."

"What did he say?" I took a deep breath and tried to relax the curls on my fists.

"I don't know. Didn't sound like Mandarin." Saleha understood Mandarin and her grasp in Malay language was just as fluent but she preferred talking in English in our home as she wanted to practice it. Saleha started repeating the curse words in Hokkien that I heard all too often in my childhood and I hastily covered her mouth.

"Don't ever say that again," I warned her and gradually moved my hand away.

"What does it mean, Baba?" she looked up at me curiously.

I held back my tongue, deciding it was best if I did not translate it. "Bad words that hurt other people's feelings."

"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

"You were merely repeating Uncle Geming's words. You had no idea what they meant," I patted her lips with my finger, softly reprimanding her. "Promise me that you won't say them again."

"I promise, Baba," she looked down guiltily. She continued, "But, his shouts were so loud. It was scary. The baby was crying. Auntie Ning was sobbing. The neighbours were banging on the front door."

"The front door was locked?"

"Yes. But I stopped Uncle Geming from hurting Auntie Ning."

"How did you manage to do that?"

"I threw a few mangoes at him through the window. He started getting angry at that instead. So I climbed down the tree and ran away. But at least he stopped hurting Auntie Ning."

"Did he see you?"

"No. I was too fast for him. I ran away in time and hid behind Auntie Lechmi's house."

I smirked at my daughter's fierce spunk. She was going to grow up to be the voice of the innocents. I just knew it.

"Why were you loitering outside of Auntie Ning's house?"

"I go to her house sometimes."

"Since when?"

"Erm...I've been helping Auntie Ning with something for a while now."

"Help with what?"

"Oops! Erm...it's a secret! She told me not to tell anyone. In exchange, I could play with their pet parakeet. I usually come over when Uncle Geming's not home. I didn't know he was at home today. He's not supposed to be. I think it's because of the baby." There was a slight quiver in her voice as she pleaded, "Please don't make me stop helping her. She's really happy when I help."