Dada Four

Iskra came to see me next morning and said he`d sent the letter. I had been to the movies twice with Mo. We couldn’t be seen holding hands up and down the street for obvious reasons.  He doesn’t always understand what he sees on the screen, so I have to explain everything to him. When Iskra came around it was Saturday and I had scrambled some time off. Mo was over as we`d arranged to go to a place up the river.

We took a bus and travelled a few kilometres outside of Kuching to a place that was nestled between some rocks, with reeds along the inland side of a lake. The late afternoon sun wasn’t very hot, but the water was warm, with lazy, long, low waves. Mo taught me a game. While we were swimming, we had to drink in the tops of the waves and gather all foam we could into our mouths; then we had to turn over and float on our backs while spraying the water up towards the sky. The foam was frothy and disappeared into the air or fell back onto my face like warm rain. After a while my mouth burned from bitter salt.

After we got dressed on the beach, Mo looked at me; his eyes were shining. We didn’t say anything more. I`d left my window open and it felt good to feel the summer night flowing over my body. Dada did not talk to me that night in my dreams.  In the morning, I told Mo we could have lunch together. I went downstairs to buy some meat. On my way back upstairs, I heard a woman`s voice in Iskra`s room. It was the time that , Srino could be heard shouting at his bird. We heard the sharp sound of footsteps and the bird crying and scratching as they went down the wooden stairs together and then,  “Bastard, dirty swine” as they went into the street.