Tormenting A'e

My kitchen is doing a roaring business these past couple of days; I think the kids miss home-cooking, no matter how badly mum cooks.

We had rice again tonight, the second time in three days. That's a lot of rice, considering the family usually opts for non-rice meals for dinner.

Awwa's friend Ismail (A'e) called during dinner. He sounded breathless. He told Awwa that he and friend Vinod had just taken flight from their office in a hurry.

A'e directs the production of TV commercials and his office is a two-storey converted bungalow in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

He is a pretty level-headed guy not easily given to excitement, so it was a surprise to know he took to his heels this time around.

It wasn't the first time A'e was tormented by 'something' while alone in the office, but he had managed to keep a calm exterior all these while.

But today it happened in the presence of Vinod and they decided it wasn't worth the effort to hang around waiting to be scared out of their wits for the second time.

Apparently, A'e was doing his work upstairs when he saw the heavy drapes being parted by unseen hands. Both men felt the pricking on their napes and decided to leave.

The last time it happened, he was alone in the office and had fallen asleep at his desk when a loud cackle woke him up in the wee hours of the morning.

It must be some mischievous being playing a prank on him. Whatever the case, I don't think he should be alone in that office. Don't tempt fate. Also, there's safety in numbers.

Let me conclude with an amusing tale. For many a night since we moved here, the three of us - Pak Abu, Naj and myself - heard furniture being dragged around and heavy footsteps coming from the unit immediately above us.

I mean, who in his right mind would move his furniture past midnight every night? Not only that, we also heard the occasional drilling sounds (using an electric driller no less), at 3 am!

One night Naj gave me a sidelong look and said, "Are you sure there are people living up there Ma?" I got the chills just hearing that.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I took a peek at the upstairs unit and saw laundry being aired to dry.

And this morning someone was having a loud phone conversation from the balcony of the unit above.

So there are real people living up there but what were they thinking, drilling holes at 3 am? Watch this space. It may get interesting...