Tudung.

After a cigarette on a late night catching the last train, as i hurried down the escalator — thinking about Anis and how she always made me laugh, and how i always disappointed her — as i reflected on myself, and saw some of the bright and some of the strange colors of my life, was i late to love, unconditionally my dear?, a young Malay girl, a little chubby but never she was chubbier than i am, ran down a little quicker than i was with her Chinese friend. I would not have decided that this was a special even should i have not noticed she was wearing tudung, and her friend was a Chinese guy.

I decided that they were a pair of young lovers, based on the same assumption i had on Nicholas and Jestina. Love is always abstract, i thought, but also observable.

It made me smile, it always made me smile to see the wisdom of human being : to love and to care; and brought me to a conversation that took place about a weeks ago, in a sushi restaurant.

There were about 7 of us, one of them asked, “Hey, does Perempuan Tua eat pork?”

“No,” i said, “she’s muslim.”

“Oh, but she doesn’t mind you eating pork?”

“Kinda. She’s quite religious actually. Or at least her belief in Islam is somewhat firm. But things work out between us. As much as she believes in a religion that i don’t and perhaps never will, she does not force her belief onto me.”

Perempuan Tua once asked. “Baby, if i wear tudung, you jalan dengan i tak?” I said, “of course.”

Of course my dear.