When Mom called and asked me to get a spinometry yesterday, what came to my mind was the word I got so familiar with lately, spinosaurus. Thanks to Kitreena, her thematic terms and Australian International School. I had no idea what it would look like and for some reason, I imagined some little medical tool with springs attached. And no, the springs won’t get Mom bouncing out of the hospital bed and into the Hundred Acre Woods. Not so soon, anyway.
So I speedwalked to the HUKM Pharmacy to grab one.
And no, it wasn’t a speedily simple task getting a spinometry, meh sini akak nak citer. Dah lah pharmacy nya tak cukup letrik, lampu malap. Shelves…banyak lagi shelves khutubkhanah desa kampung Sri Ketumbit Kerdau nun. There is one tiny counter (high-to-the-chest kind) with four pharmacists attending to customers. Well the counter is tiny lah jadinya to accommodate four people.
Two lanes were visible by the labels hung from the ceiling: “Kaunter Bayaran” and “Kaunter Pertanyaan”. So, naturally and wisely I went to the “Kaunter Pertanyaan” lah to mengajukan pertanyaan bagaimanakan rupa spinometry tersebut, berapakah harganya dan adakah spinometry tersebut dijual disitu.
As I was lining up behind one gentleman came one perfectly healthy man who was definitely not a gentleman lah cutting the line like he did. And then came another, and then another. I looked at them dengan jelingan maut tak hingat punya. But none dared to look at me and the bagak stroller right in front of me. Siap melangkah angkat kaki paras pinggang ni nak mengelak the stroller! They think it was my HOBBY kah to just stand in a pharmacy and watch the world go by and mempersilakan semua orang potong my queue?
The same thing happened at the “Kaunter Bayaran” queue. Everybody was handing in their prescription slip and nobody waited for their turn. What the third rock from the sun was going on here? The problem was, the pharmacists said nothing about it, didn’t ikut turutan who got there first to buy something ka, to just melangut ka, to rob the shop ka. Tapi kononnya, “Ye puan?”, “Ye encik?” addressing the customers ever so protocolly correct lah kan.
So I had to say something, politically correct lah of course. “Excuse me? What’s going on here? I got here first and no one is lining up. It’s just not fair.” Short and simple. And here’s what one of the pharmacists said to my pertanyaan ‘ada berapa barisan ni sebenarnya?’…”Entahlah, saya pun tak pasti.”
Huuuuaaaaaaattttt? My eyes yang dah lama tak terbeliak ni tiba-tiba jadi terbelalak beyond comprehension! I mean, how could you ‘tuanpunya kedai’ say that you are not sure ada berapa barisan people can berbaris to get to the two counters? Well, that’s not the end of my keterbeliakan. Without solving the queueing issue, the pharmacist just asked, “Puan nak apa?”
Tanpa mau mencipta adegan yang tak hingin anda lihat di HUKM Pharmacy tersebut, akak pun without dilly dally cakap je lah nak beli spinometry. And guess what ladies and gentlemen, the aforementioned pharmacist dengan penuh perasaan nya berkata, “Hah, masuklah barisan untuk Kaunter Bayaran!”
So, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan board of the juries…
I thank you for understanding why I feel the way I feel these days and why I need to get the FITCH jacket. With this, I rest my case. In peace. Whatever peace is.
I woke up yesterday morning immediately jumping out of bed and leaping into the kids’ room. Kitreena greeted my “Good morning, Sunshine!” back with a puzzled look and a question: “Mom, why are you still wearing that old pyjamas? It has holes sudah on it. Is it because you like this pyjamas so much?” There she went again, answering her question on my behalf.
With this picture of happiness, I can always ‘go back’ in time.
Questa è Enida 