This is my experience when I go to my friend’s house, for the first and last time. For the next, I will reject any number of times my friend invites me to visit his house again even though he desperately begs me. The reason is because of that incident…

At that time, I was offered to visit his house in Pekanbaru, Riau. A very long distance, because I happened to be on a sabbatical with my friend, so I accepted the offer. Of course me looking for experience in someone’s place offshore, after all, it costs him almost all of it, I just added a little, especially to buy the plane ticket.

It was time for us to take an airplane to the area in the semi north of Sumatra Island. The trip did not take too long to arrive at Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport, an international airport in Riau. My friend picked me up, and then we left the airport to his house.

It turns out that my friend’s house is about more than 10 km from the downtown, so the village nuance is very thick here. Of course I was warmly greeted by his family, which were not too many. This is the first time I set my foot outside the island. The air outside his house is still very fresh, so I feel at home for a long time sitting on the porch of his house.

At those times, I saw a lady walking in front of my friend’s house as if she wanted to go shopping. A pretty bag was carried in her graceful hands. Her face is very beautiful. Maybe this is what is called a village lady. I was blown away, I didn’t even want to blink when I saw her walking gracefully. Unconsciously the lady turned her attention to me and smiled a little. I nervously smiled back while continuing my gaze to her.

After that, I immediately told my friend who was inside the house. I found him in the kitchen. Then I asked about the lady by giving her details and characteristics. My friend only responded lightly,

“You seem like you just met the village ladies here, right? Don’t worry, you won’t run out of ‘stock’ haha. There are so many of them.”

The next day when I went out to buy something, I ran into the lady from yesterday. I’m sure my eyesight is not wrong because the benchmark here is her face even though today she is wearing completely different clothes from yesterday. Then she looked back at me with a slight smile. I was completely blown away, again.

That night I was silent, sitting facing the road without any purpose. My mind still imagines the beauty of her face until my friend asked me from beside me,

“What are you doing? Daydreaming? Nightdreaming? You must be imagining the village ladies who often pass by right here, huh?”

I was surprised my friend shot me with that statement.

“How do you know?” I ask.

“I see it from your face. We are both men, I must know my friend if he is in love.”

“But you’re not quite right, I just saw a lady and the lady I saw earlier was the same as the lady I saw yesterday.”

My friend nodded with a partial smile, “I am also curious. We’ll see who he is that you meet. Maybe I can start to like her too. Lol.”

The next day again I was looking at plants beside my friend’s house. Moments in between my lack of work activities, I saw someone coming out of a residential aisle some distance away from me. My goodness, it turned out to be that lady again, in a much different fashion compared to the previous two days. I saw her wearing a red dress with orange polka dots and a long dark purple skirt. Walk gracefully then ran into me. As usual she nodded slightly and threw her smile at the enchanted me. I felt like fainting. I wish my friend were beside me to take a look.

In the afternoon, a naughty idea entered my mind. Now I know where she came from. Maybe it’s not wrong to take a walk in the afternoon down the aisle while greeting everyone around me. Maybe I accidentally saw the lady in front of her house so I can immediately tell my friend about her more. Well, after a little asking permission from my friend’s family, I started walking along the street to the aisle.

I went to the aisle, My mind during the trip was always filled with the possibility of the many village ladies along the aisle. It made me speed up my pace immediately. Shortly thereafter, I was greeted by a resident, perhaps a housewife, shortly before entering the aisle. She was a distant neighbor near my friend’s house who greeted me first.

“Boy, where from?” Say hello to that mother.

“From Jakarta Ma’am, was visiting my friend’s house over there.” I said while pointing at my friend’s house. I purposely answered all at once in order to save conversation time.

“I see, you came from place that really far away. Then where are you going now?” Asked the resident again.

“Want to take a walk in the afternoon, Mom.”

“Wow, great then. Young people like you must be stay healthy like that.”

I smiled. And turn straight into the aisle.

“Oh boy, my boy! Do you want to enter the aisle? Don’t… please, better don’t!” She said to me after I started entering the ally. She was still watching me.

“Why? What is it, Ma’am?”

“Oh, it is okay. I just wanted to say that recently people here often lost their belongings because their houses were attacked by thieves. After being researched, it turned out that the thieves came from the aisle you wanted to enter. Because the residents were annoyed, finally the end of the aisle was closed by building a really high wall and now the aisle is deadlocked.”

I’m speechless.

“And again,” She continued, “Thieves used to go through there before there’s blocked by the wall because the way was difficult for others to go through. The thieves must had been very brave, the reason is, behind the wall at the end of the aisle there is only a dense forest with so many old graves.”