The last person to die

by Nani-Syed Osman on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 3:28am

          My then, 4-year old son, Zaid was sadden by the demised of a kitten, which he had had only for a short while. His older sister, Aishah and his younger brother Amir who were 5 and 3, respectively, shared the same feeling. He wanted to know more about death, which seemed to puzzle him and why did we buried it.

          My Pak Habib tried to explain to him and make him understands the meaning of the word 'death'. But it was futile. Every examples given were met with his shaken head. He even pulled Aishah and Amir into the conversation, in the attempt that Pak Habib would simplify things to their level.

          I was just afraid at the idea of explaining things to my children. Pak Habib, once, laughed at me when I attempted to explain how the eletrical current enables the televison to function. "Oii.... anak u tu baru 4 tahun....u terangkan macam dia dah 14 tahun...faham ke dia tu?", he chided. 

          If Pak Habib was unable to handle this, he might get to me, next. 

          True enough. Seated next to Pak Habib, he moved a step to his left, just close enough to reach me, eyes opened slightly wider than usual while his right brow curved higher,  to whisper, 'Mak tau tak?'. 

          As predicted, I made the attempt to elaborate on the idea and finally I saw him beginning to nod, en suite by both Aishah and Amir.  

          A smile formed on Pak Habib's face and we were glad that it finally made sense. Just to ensure that it did, Pak Habib asked, 'Zaid nak tanya abah ape-ape lagi?'.

          Zaid fell back into the step facing his father and wondered aloud,'Kalau sume orang dah meninggal dalam dunia ni, sape nak tanam orang yang meninggal last?'

Zaid and Abah