Dul
093. I'll Always Remember

Dul spent an hour watching and following all the processions before Annisa's late mother's body was interred.

Annisa looks to be going all the way here and there. At that time he was the one who looked the busiest, the most nimble and the saddest of all. All the curiosity that Dul had stored for these few years was finally answered already. She admired Annisa. The girl looked so strong and fragile at the same time.

However, of all the things that Dul noticed at that time. There is one thing that makes Dul very sorry for Annisa. The girl had three siblings who did not look too close to her. Very different from him. Although he was only a maternal brother to Mima and Ibra, the three of them were very close. Throughout Bara entered his life with the status of a father, he never felt lonely. Especially after the presence of the ceriwis Mima and the cheerful Ibra.

It was very different from Annisa who hugged her mother's coffin one last time while continuing to say, "Mama ... Icha no more friends. It's too soon, Ma .... Too soon. Icha is nothing. Mama should have seen Icha first. Icha wants to be a doctor so I can take care of Mama."

Dul ended up crying too. Standing low among the crowd of people who were about to depart. It was hard to hold back the tears when she heard Annisa's increasingly faint lamentations.

"Icha don't go to the tomb. It's late afternoon, it's gonna be dark soon. Icha must be tired. From morning Icha to and fro." A woman, called Annisa as Aunt, lifts Annisa's body and embraces her.

The body of Annisa's mother is scattered. Annisa stood with a blank face while waving her hand. "Mrs ... Icha has missed. Icha miss Mama ...."

All of that did not escape Dul's observation. For a long while, Annisa stood by the fence alone. Everyone was busy taking off the bodies. Three older brothers and Papa Annisa went to the funeral. Dul felt it was a good time to approach Annisa saying something and say goodbye. It's past four o'clock in the afternoon. Dul prayed that his father would not nag or fall asleep while waiting for him.

"Nisa ...," call Dul.

"You haven't come home yet? It's afternoon. You'll find your mom, Dul." And just saying that. Annisa's eyes were back in tears.

"I really want to say goodbye" said Dul. "I hope you can return to school as usual as soon as possible" he continued.

Annisa nodded. "I must have gone straight to school. I want to study hard. I promised Mama" Annisa said softly.

"I am happy with him" replied Dul. "I looked at the girl who walked with her straight hair that had never been pigtailed." Dul smiled.

Annisa laughed a little. "Abdullah, thank you," Annisa said softly. "Thank you a lot" he continued.

"This is supposed to be," said Dul, assuming that Annisa actually does not need to thank him for his arrival. He felt it was supposed to be.

"Not just thanks for coming. But .. because this is also." Annisa rubbed the corner of Dul's eyes that still left tears. "Thank you for crying with me today. My mom once said that crying friends are harder to find. Mama says .. I have to take care of the people who are sad when I'm sad." Annisa. He came back crying and wiped his tears.

"I don't doain you're always sad. But if you need someone to cry together, find me. I will treat you," Dul replied accompanied by a smile.

"I'll remember what you said today. Don't be surprised if one day I charge." Annisa smiled as well.

Dul handed the bereavement funds from the school into the hands of Annisa with the accompaniment of the words, "This is the care of friends at school for the bereaved family. Not many. Maybe you can make a lot of ice cream if you miss mom."

Annisa replied with a big smile. "I'm going to buy a lot of ice cream" he said.

While with Annisa, Dul did not feel hungry at all. He had missed lunch time. Surprisingly, ten steps from the fence of Annisa's house, Dul's stomach squeaks.

"Laper," he said. Nine of his friends must have eaten, maybe napped at home. He then imagined his father who eventually waited in a state of hunger or maybe his father was asleep in the car.

Meanwhile, in a five-foot meatball cart by the roadside, nine students and an adult man have been exchanging stories for the past two hours.

"Come on.ayo, story again. So, after skipping all day, no one's called tomorrow? Unwillingness?" ask Bara.

Yani laughed out loud. "The stupid thing is not stupid, Om. The look was absent book and the class notes I was carrying were missing. Left in the creek."

"Gosh .. were you punished?" Bara asked while shaking.

"Thank God, Om." Yani giggles.

"Later if Dul gets angry at home, it's all because of Robin. Transmitted meatballs two bowls, all state secrets smoothly out," said Putra.

"I unraveled state secrets so you can smoothly add four-grain meatballs twice. Plus baso tofu and fried dumplings. It's all because of state secrets" Robin said. The son just snorted, then sipped the remaining iced sweet tea.

"Whose name is Joseph, why not come? So curious." Bara looked at Robin who was standing on the side of the road and had since become a spokesman for his friends.

"Oh, yes anyway. In fact Joseph was more useful to be brought to the house of the bereaved than...." Robin glanced at Son, "Yoseph's pande praying times. Everyone prayed for him. Every moment of every moment he prayed, Father Bara. Sampe sometimes goosebumps we made it."

"I know you must be talking to me" said the Son. "But you should consider how Joseph carried a large pack of chips and seized the opportunity among the mourners."

"Ah, not possible. Yoseph jago sales. In the afternoon, the chips are abis. Where ever chips she's left over at one o'clock in the afternoon. At 12 hours the chips are still there, immediately the launch of the buy one get one program. Maen, come on, he's the tree."

Then, "Dad!" call Dul. Astonished to see all his friends still clutching meatballs with his father.

"Udah finished? We're going home now?" ask Bara.

"I also want meatballs" replied Dul, approaching the long bench and immediately ordering a bowl. Bara laughed seeing Dul immediately opened a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down to half.

"Now starving you, right? The love man is blind. If I say, love is maag. What do you think of Bara's father?" Robin looked at Bara who was chuckling.

"Non-freak. Love.love.... What students talk about love. I feel like I have ever. Ckck." Dul shook his head to look at Robin.

To Be Continued