I have spent my time about a week away from home. Since everything is back to normal and the sick have fully recovered it was time for me to take leave.
On my way home I made a detour to see an old house, the house which I bought a long time ago when I was in my late twenties. It is situated in a housing area at the outskirt of the city.
I bought the house with the intention to stay but never had the chance to do that. When the house was ready I was transferred out of town and then transferred again to my present locality and as mentioned in my past blog post I fell in love with this place. I remain here to live my retirement years. I don't know what the future holds for me, most probably I remain here until the end.
About the house, in the beginning, it was difficult to get a tenant. There was no public transport plying the area, and walking out to the nearest bus route was out of the question. The area is hilly. The reason for the difficulty.
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| "This house is ours you need to fly to come up here" |
Anyway, after some time we got a tenant, an engineer. A good tenant, he paid his due on time always. His Mrs was a full-time housewife. They rented there for some time, I don't really remember how long but when they left they had additions to their family. He was happy and I was happy too. He moved out to live in his own house.
Then there was also a tenant who claimed to work in the entertainment industry. I let the house to him as he and his wife were very interested. They were not very punctual with the rental payment but as long as they pay I was quite happy. They stayed there just for a short while.
There were few more tenants, all with their own idiosyncrasies. The last one was a businessman. He paid the rental alright quite punctual. By this time I was very busy having to look after the home and family single-handedly as my husband was away working in different places and we were really too busy to care for anything else. As long as the rental came in I was quite happy.
When the businessman moved out I was quite shocked and sad to see the condition of the house. Obviously, he did make alterations but later removed it. He had put temporary dividers to make more rooms. There were nail marks everywhere, holes in the wall and ugly marks on the parquet flooring. In hindsight, I think he must have sublet the house to his workers, otherwise why the need for the dividers. You can imagine what will become of a house when there are more occupants than what it can accommodate.
I have had enough. After him, I just left the house vacant. Also how to rent the house when it was in such a shabby state. At that time I did not have enough fund to repair and to make the house decently livable. I thought I would repair and spruce up the house when it was time for me to go and stay there but really I was reluctant. By this time we have bought the house which I am now staying.
When my son first came back from his study and started working I made him tumpang with my sister but later he wanted to live on his own. So we minimally repaired the house for him to stay and he continued to live there for many years after being married. Last year his family that is his wife and the four girls moved out.
The house was snapped up by the next door neighbor. He rents it for his son to stay. And he has spoken to us about his intention to buy. Should I sell it?
I was advised not to sell it yet. There is now an ongoing road construction linking the area to a highway. A good prospect for the house to fetch a higher rental or higher price if I sell it later.
I am not thinking too much about that but I hold special regards to this man, the neighbor. Even if he decides not to buy and wants to continue renting I won't increase the rent unless when I am in a dire need. I feel indebted to him. Why?
He has on one night saved my family members from possibly being chopped by robbers who broke into the house.
On that unlucky night, my son was abruptly awakened by a man holding over him, a parang. His reflex was to fight back but managed to only shout but once. Quick thinking made him be quiet because he did not want to put everybody else in danger. They had him bound and gagged.
Actually, there was nothing valuable for them to rob. Not much money and no jewelry and that angered the robbers. And when these bad people are angry they can do anything to you.
They made my daughter in law walked downstairs to get her handbag which she left there. As she walked down the stairs another man followed with another parang held over her head.
My daughter, staying in the house at the time was awakened, drowsily opened the door - right into the trap! She was tied up there and then and robbed off her phone. Two young children were in the same room.
My daughter in law begged the intruders not to do anything to the children. Thank God they were not disturbed but we know one of them was aware of the presence of aliens in the house because in the morning she asked ". . . mana uncle semalam?" . What to say to her except aiyoh!
The third girl, the youngest still a toddler at the time was left with me for a few days because the mother was preparing for some exam. So she was not there during the break-in. Imagine if she was there causing agitations to the intruders by her crying . . .
I do not know what will happen if the neighbor did not come to their aid.
When the neighbor heard my son's angry shout he became suspicious and came out to investigate and called my son, of course, there was no response. He realized that was a break-in.
He shouted and startled one of the intruders standing guard at the main door. The man alerted his accomplice. Then the three (four?) men scrambled out. the neighbor gave a chase. One of them fell right before him. He could have poked the man with the garden tool he was holding but sanity prevails though he was furious and angry.
The robbers escaped before the police arrived.
This man, the neighbor, risked his life for my family. We owe him gratitude.
As time goes we tend to forget even the neighbor himself might have forgotten the incident but I will always be with the old-fashioned viewpoint 'Budi baik tetap di kenang". The house holds the story forever.
So that was the house I went to see. We just drove past the house which now looked spruced up with a new coat of paint. Hope they take good care of my house, a house which I never come to make a home but nevertheless soaked up a lot of my emotions.
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| Occupants' sweet moments in the house |
Will stop here, for now.
Take care.
