New Born

When we were living in Perak, there was this one family that we were close to. Actually, we are still close to them. The parents are older than mine and four of their daughters are older than my eldest sister. I've seen pictures of my Papa and their daughters when he was single and when he was a newly-wed. So, the friendship has been established way back then. They have 5 daughters and one and only son. We have a daughter short. We call the mother 'Ibu'. I used to sleep over at their place and one of their daughters who is my elder sister's age used to sleep over at our place, too. I don't consider them family friends, but more like relatives. Sometimes I think that we are cousins.

Then we moved to Selangor and most of their daughters went to boarding schools. We didn't see each other that much anymore. When we came back from Germany for good, we had a reunion. All of their daughters and the son were present. We had a good time. Sadly in 2005, my Papa received a call. The man on the other line asked him not to freak out because the family was involved in an accident. We were actually having a family gathering at that time. My parents were still together that time. My father asked Anis' father, who is a police man, to confirm the news. Anis' dad could only say that four young people were involved. We didn't know which four. It could be four of the older girls. It could be any combination.

We drove to Perak in an instance. I could only pray that they were safe and sound. Unfortunately, they were not. Two of the older girls and two of the younger girls died on the scene. They were in the same car, while the parents, the middle girl and the son were in another car. I could not help but to cry when their bodies were brought into the house one after another.

However, the tragedy has brought us even closer. A year later, we were invited to their cousin's wedding. She is my eldest sister's age. Not long after her wedding, she was admitted to the hospital. She had kidney problems. When we went to see her, she was in a great pain. Recently, my mother asked what has happened to her ever since. The mother said that she died a few months ago. Their family has lost another girl.

In 2007, the middle daughter, who was not involved in the accident, got married. When I saw her last week, she was very much pregnant. She was just waiting for the baby to come out. During the weekend, we got the news that she has safely delivered a baby girl on August 1. I'm happy for her. I think I have become an aunt, now. I think it was a blessing that there's a new girl in the family. They have lost too many girls already.

I've not seen the baby or the mother, yet. I'm quite excited to see them.