Foods to Get You Through the Day

Dish Three - A Leftover Tale

Would it be strange to feel nostalgic about things that you've never experienced? Would it be strange to have a sense of homecoming at a place you've never seen before? Would it be strange to feel familiarity toward faces you've never met before?

Different people might have different answers. Yet for me, that's exactly what I felt right then, as I walked through the streets I've never walked before, answering smiles and nods from people I've never met before, ruffling the hairs of some children playing on those little neighborhood streets, children I've never seen before.

That was the first time in my life for me to be in that particular neighborhood, the first time in my life to be in that particular city. Yet for me, it felt like coming home, because I know, somewhere in that very neighborhood was my family.

***

There were big age gaps between me and my sisters. By the time I was born, my first sister was already eleven, while my second sister was ten. Together with me being the only boy among the siblings, things ended up as you might predict.

To say that I was close with my parents would be an understatement. My dad was so happy to have someone whom he could share his 'boys' stuff' with, which happened to be mostly related to bicycles. While my mom seemed so happy to have someone that would frequent her kitchen, listen to her stories, and wolf down any results that might come out from her routine culinary experiments. Quite an easy task, since she was an incredible cook from the very beginning.

At the same time, my sisters chose to treat me like their big favorite pet. Either they actually had friends to go with or not, they tend to drag me to places they liked, to do things they wanted to. Hence, before I reached the age of nine, I was already well versed on subjects concerning hand phone accessories, shoes, cosmetics, parfaits, designer cake shops, and other things regarded popular among regular teenage girls.

Living as a pampered happy boy in a prospering middle-class family, with two loving parents and two doting big sisters, might sound like a dream-like scenario. Yet, it came with a price, quite a steep one, being frank. Though back then, none of us realized that, not before it was much too late.

***

I was in my sixth grade when my Dad suddenly passed away, so suddenly nobody had the chance to say farewell. At one moment he took his leave to go to the mosque at the dawn like he always did. Half an hour later, my mother's phone rang, bringing the tide of his passing. Obviously, Dad passed away as soon as the morning prayer was done. He just sat there and peacefully went away.

The news shocked us, the children, to the bone. Yet, I remembered that Mom was smiling even as tears rolled down her ageless cheek, saying that it was a good way to depart, that it was a good death. We all knew that, but somehow, even when my sisters recovered after the mourning days, I didn't.

Naturally, the fact that Dad wasn't there anymore was only the beginning of the changes that came. Mom already had a good position on her job, but then, with the main source of our household's income gone, and with the astronomical tuition fee of my second sister's med school waiting around every corner, Mom was forced to take a second job, which was a lecture work in some college. My first sister, freshly out of college, shed off her leisurely pace and rushed to join the working society. A process that was much easier said than done. My second sister, always the one on the more serious side, dove deeper into her studies, hoping to acquire perfect grades that could secure her either a scholarship or a good career in the medical community.

What about me? Well, not much really, besides sinking down into an early age depression.

With the changes occurring in every doorstep, no more was the weekend outing with my Dad, that went without saying. No more was the culinary adventure in my Mom's kitchen, for she was rarely home before the nightfall at all. No more was joy city trip and shopping spree with my sisters, for they were both busy with either their studies or job hunt. Home life became efficient, time-conscious, economic, and deliberate.