Raya Pertama Tanpa Ayah

Sudah hampir dua bulan ayahanda tersayang saya, Allahyarham A. Karim Omar kembali ke rahmatullah dan Hari Raya Aidiladha tahun ini merupakan Hari Raya pertama bagi saya tanpa ayah. Sangat sedih dan pilu rasanya terutama di pagi Raya, namun Allah S.W.T. lebih sayangkan ayah.

Terasa amat ‘kosong’ apabila ayah tiada semasa solat Raya, namun Alhamdlulillah walaupun sangat berat, saya cuba kuatkan hati untuk menghadapinya. Sejak kecil setiap pagi Raya, saya akan mengikut ayah menunaikan ibadah solat sunat Raya di masjid. Lazimnya setelah saya siap memakai baju Melayu, ayah akan membantu saya untuk memakai kain samping sambil mengusik saya. Tetapi pada tahun ini, tiada lagi ayah untuk menolong saya dan tiada lagi usikan ayah.

Namun saya bersyukur kerana saya masih ada ibu dan kakak-kakak yang amat menyayangi saya. Merekalah yang menolong saya memakai kain samping walaupun ibu dan kakak-kakak tidaklah begitu mahir dalam cara pemakaian kain samping. Namun mereka telah bersungguh-sungguh menolong saya memakai kain samping serapi yang boleh.

Mungkin kerana ini adalah Hari Raya yang pertama tanpa ayah, maka saya amat terasa kehilangan dan kekosongan. Walaupun kini tiada lagi ayah yang akan melindungi saya tetapi saya bersyukur kepada Allah S.W.T. kerana saya masih ada ibu dan kakak-kakak dan juga tempat untuk berlindung. Saya mendoakan agar roh Allahyarham dicucuri rahmat Allah S.W.T. sentiasa dan diletakkan di kalangan roh-roh orang yang beriman.

 

A Story Of A Bird Named Usraft – A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

It was a very cold, dark, rainy night. A blue bird was flying home in the heavy rain. With its wings all wet and it’s talons injured, the blue bird flew very low over a hedge.

As it was struggling to fly against the cold, strong wind, a red car drove past the hedge, running over a big puddle by the roadside.

“SPLOSH!” a big splash of water hit the poor blue bird and knocked it to the ground.

The car stopped by the roadside and a man named Ahmad came out of the car. He walked over and picked up the injured bird. He carried the poor bird to his car and he quickly drove home.

As soon as Ahmad reached his house, he laid a clean towel on his dinning table and gently, he dried the poor, cold bird. Ahmad took out a roll of bandage and bandaged the bird’s two injured talons. Then, he fed the hungry bird before putting it in a small bird-cage.

Early the next morning, Ahmad went to the kitchen to have his breakfast. He was greeted by his three cats, Kalarta, Stripsla and Visla.

“Hi! Good morning,” said Ahmad cheerfully to his cats before he prepared his breakfast. He remembered the blue bird and walked over to the cage where the injured blue bird was sleeping. Suddenly he remembered the birdseed that he had bought the week before. He took out the birdseed and fed the bird before washing his hands and ate his breakfast.

After breakfast, Ahmad walked over to the bird’s cage followed by his cats.

“Hello, Usraft,” said Ahmad to the blue bird. Ahmad opened the cage door and let the bird flew around the house. The blue bird was very happy to be out of the cage but it was hard for it to perch as it’s talons were injured.

Ahmad put the bird back in its cage and went back to his dinning table. He took out his laptop to search more information about bird’s talons. Then he searched on how to heal an injured bird talon. He found what he was looking for and he started reading about it. Then he followed the instructions and treated Usraft.

After a week, Ahmad unwrapped the bandage to see if Usraft’s talons were healed. And they did! Ahmad was happy and so was Usraft. Ahmad took Usraft out to the garden and let the bird flew freely outside. The blue bird flew happily around the garden. Then it flew back to where Ahmad was standing and perched on Ahmad’s shoulder.

“Good boy,” said Ahmad to the blue bird. He took it inside and put a red tag around Usraft’s right ankle to mark that it is Usraft. Then Ahmad took Usraft back to the garden to set it free.

“So long, my friend, until we meet again. I won’t forget you!” said Ahmad sadly before setting the bird free. Ahmad was quite sad to free the blue bird, but he knew that it was the right thing to do.

A day later, as Ahmad was gardening in his garden, a car stopped in front of his house as if its tire was punctured. Ahmad walked to the car to see if  he could help the driver. But instead of a punctured tire, he saw a blue bird lying motionless on the car’s bonnet. And then he saw the red tag around its ankle.

It was Usraft! The poor blue bird might had flown to his house to visit him when he collided with the car. Ahmad took up the bird gently but there was nothing that he could do to help Usraft. Ahmad was very sad to see his very first bird friend killed in an accident but he knew that nothing can live forever.

The end

The Little Boy And The Little Brown Fox

One day, a little boy walked through a narrow pathway in a forest, collecting fallen branches for firewood. As he was walking, he saw a little brown fox walking towards him from the tall grasses.

The poor little boy quickly climbed up a tree, for he feared that the little brown fox might bite him. The little brown fox looked at the little boy and wiggled its tail before running towards him. Looking down at the little brown fox that was excitedly running towards him, the little boy climbed higher up the tree, for he was so scared of the little brown fox.

Then suddenly he stopped, for he was already at the top of the tree. The scared little boy could not climb up any further. Suddenly he got an idea. He reached for a vine and swung to the next tree! Then he climbed down the tree and ran towards his house.

The little brown fox followed the little boy all the way down the other tree and ran after him. As the little boy reached his house followed by the little brown fox, he remembered that he had left his house keys in his tent at the camp site by the river.

So he ran around his house followed by the little brown fox before running down the path to the camp site. But the journey was neither short nor easy. The little boy had to run as fast as he could while at the same time, he had to avoid the rocks and trees down the rocky,narrow and winding path way.

As he almost reached the camp side, the poor little the boy hit a tree and fell down. The little brown fox ran faster to its target. The little boy quickly got to his feet and climbed up the nearest tree. 

The little brown fox saw another tree beside the one that the little boy was climbing, so it climbed up the tree. The little boy didn’t know that the little brown fox was climbing up that tree, so he swung to the tree and quickly climbed down thinking that the fox was up on the other tree. 

Suddenly, as he almost reached the ground, he collided with the fox!  The little boy did not know what to do, so he decided to jump down to the ground for it wasn’t that high. He landed on the soft ground safely and the little brown fox jumped down after him. The little boy continued running to the camp site. As he got closer, he tripped over some roots and fell into the bushes.

The little brown fox ran faster towards the poor little boy and jumped on top of him. Then the most unexpected thing happened! The little brown fox cuddled the little boy and fell asleep on his lap. The little boy was so surprised as he looked at the little brown fox.

“Poor little brown fox, you must have been very tired,” said the little boy as he carried the little brown fox to the camp site. So after all, the little brown fox actually did not mean to hurt the little boy but it only need a friend and a warm place to sleep. Since that day, the little boy and the little brown fox became the best of friends.

>>> The End <<<

The cute little brown fox hiding in the tall grasses.

Fred, The Lonely Scarecrow – A Story By Ahmad Ali Karim

A tall scarecrow named Fred, was standing in the middle of a corn field.

He felt so lonely one day, after the kind old farmer passed away.

He saw birds in the sky, and he wanted to be friends with the ones who could fly.

But the birds were all scared of Fred, as scarecrows were meant to make them scared.

He could not tell them with words, that he did not want to scare the birds.

He could not even write a note, nor send the birds a Morse Code.

And Fred was very sad, to be the one that made others scared.

Fred, the sad and lonely scarecrow by Ahmad Ali Karim.

Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 2, By Ahmad Ali Karim

Please click here for Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 1, By Ahmad Ali Karim

Their father brought home some beautiful Japenese Furin wind chimes in the shape of small bells from Tokyo and they hang them around the veranda. The children were very excited to hear the beautiful sounds produced by the Furin wind chimes whenever the wind blows. Hamid took a green Furin wind chime and hang it on one of the bars of their door grill so that it will make a sound each time the door grill is opened.

His elder sister, Adlin looked at the green wind chime and she got an idea. She picked Telremy up and put the kitten on the grill just below the green bell. Then carefully Adlin pushed Telremy’s head to ring the bell. The clever kitten loved the sound of the Furin and it pushed its head towards the green bell again and again.

The next morning, when the children were having their breakfast, they heard the sound of the Furin from the door grill. Hamid went to the CCTV monitor to see who rang the bell. He saw Telremy on the grill, so it was the clever kitten that rang the bell. Isma opened the door and gave the cute little kitten some cat food and closed the front door.

‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’ ‘TRRING’, the bell rang again.

“Huh?” said the children, puzzled. Adlin opened the door and they saw the kitten ringing the bell.

“Ooh!” said Adlin in excitement, “Hi Telremy, you are a very clever kitten!”

“Telremy again?” asked Isma.

“Yup!” said Hamid as he peeked from behind Adlin’s shoulder.

The kids fed the hungry kitten and since then, the kitten would ring the bell when ever it wanted to eat or wanted to play with the children. Over the days, Telremy made friend with an orange cat named Apricot and since then, they played together everyday.

A few months passed and one night the family went out for dinner. As usual, Telremy excitedly ran after the children and they played with the kitten for a while before getting inside the car. They left the house after feeding the kitten.

It was very late when they reached home and everyone was sleepy. They were greeted only by Apricot, so the children looked for Telremy. 

“Maybe Telremy’s out somewhere, exploring or making new friends,” said Hamid.

Early the next morning, the children opened the door hoping to see the kitten sleeping in its box but Telremy was not there. Everybody was worried about Telremy. Isma checked the CCTV to see if Telremy had gone out earlier that morning before they went out looking for the kitten.

She saw Telremy playing with Apricot under the mango tree in front of their house just after they went out for dinner. Then the cat and the kitten chased each other until both were out of sight and Apricot only came home to greet the children after they reached home from the restaurant. But Telremy did not come home and that was the last time they saw the kitten.

Until today, nobody knows what had happened to Telremy, if the kitten is already dead or still alive, whether in captivity or was lost and could not find its way home. Everybody missed Telremy, the cute and clever little kitten and they missed hearing the kitten ringing the Furin.

~~~ The End ~~~

Telremy, The Lost Kitten Part 1, By Ahmad Ali Karim

(Dedicated to a lost kitten, Telremy Found Ekor Junior)

It was seven o’clock in the evening. A scared, tiny kitten was calling for help from a dark, gloomy drain. Suddenly it saw bright lights coming from across the street.

The kitten looked out and felt that it was safe to get out from the drain. But just right after it popped its tiny head out, a car came passing by and the kitten scurried away. Again, it meowed for help.

An eighteen years old girl, named Isma heard the meow and so did her little brother Hamid. She went out, opened the gate and walked across the street towards the drain from where she heard the meow.

Isma looked inside the drain and saw a brownish tiny kitten. It was very cute with big, round eyes. The tiny kitten meowed and Isma cleverly meowed back. She tried to reach for the kitten but tiny kitten moved away. It was really scared.

Isma went back inside and Hamid came running downstairs, asking about the kitten.

“There is a cute, tiny kitten in the drain. I really hope that we could help the kitten,” answered Isma.

“What’s happening?” asked Adlin.

“Kak Isma found a lost kitten, Kak Adlin!” said Hamid to her big sister.

The next day, their father came back home from Japan. The children welcomed him and told him about the lost kitten. That evening while they were having tea, they heard a loud meow from porch. The meow got louder and louder.

“I think it’s the kitten that meowed last night!” said Adlin.

Everyone went out, searching for the kitten. But it was no where to be found. As Hamid walked pass his father’s car, he heard another meow.

“I think the kitten is under the car!” Hamid said excitedly.

Everyone looked under the car. But they could not see anything. Suddenly they heard another meow.

“Maybe it’s in the bonnet!” suggested Adlin. Their father opened the car bonnet but they could not find the kitten. But again they heard another meow.

“Isma, go inside and get some milk, may it’ll come out if it sees the milk,” suggested their father.

Isma ran inside and poured out some milk for the kitten. She placed the plate of milk under the car and they waited for the kitten to come out. Then the saw its tiny head but the next moment it scurried away.

“Oh, come on!” Hamid said in frustration.

Then suddenly the tiny kitten came out and their father quickly caught the kitten. He picked up the kitten and put it in a box. Hamid put the plate of milk inside the box and the kitten licked the milk hungrily.

After it finished the milk, the kitten jumped out of the box and ran to the house next door. The children watched the kitten running away in dismay but there was nothing that they could do to stop the kitten from running away.

“Why not we name it Telremy,” suggested Hamid.

“That is a good idea!” agreed Adlin, “Telremy is a nice name.”

The next morning as their father was going out to his office, the children saw the tiny kitten in a dustpan by the front door. It opened its eyes widely and looked at the children nervously.

Telremy was about to run away when Hamid picked it up and stroked its fur softly until the scared tiny kitten purred happily. Then Isma gave the kitten some cat food and milk and they all played with the kitten.  

Hakim’s Hot Chilli Bread – By Ahmad Ali Karim

There was a man named Hakim who lived in a small house by a lake named Apple Lake. On the night of his birthday, Hakim went to a nice restaurant for dinner. He had a delicious dinner and he really enjoyed the chilli bread that was served with the chicken soup.

The next day, when Hakim was baking a loaf of bread, he decided to add ten tea spoons of red-hot chilli flakes to his bread dough because he wanted a very hot chilli bread. When it was done, he took it out from the oven and the aroma of the freshly baked bread filled his kitchen as he put the hot bread on his kitchen table.

He cut a slice of the bread and popped it into his mouth. His face suddenly turned red and he ran around his kitchen searching for his apple juice. He poured it into a glass, spilling half of the juice on the floor. He drank the apple juice as fast as he could. Then he poured another glass and drank the juice until he felt better.

He looked at the bread, wondering what to do with it. He walked out of the kitchen and stumbled upon some button mushrooms in his backyard garden. He  looked at the mushrooms and suddenly he got an idea. He could cook some mushroom soup so that he could eat it with the hot bread and reduce the spiciness of the bread.

He searched his cookbooks for a nice mushroom soup recipe. Then he found the one that he liked. He was so excited and he went to a grocery store to buy the ingredients for his mushroom soup.

As soon as he was back home, he prepared all the ingredients and started  to cook the soup. After an hour, he put the pot full of the freshly cooked mushroom soup on the dining table and added some fresh black pepper to the soup. He poured the soup into a bowl and tasted it. It was very, very tasty with chunky pieces of tasty mushrooms floating in the soup.

Then he took out a knife and sliced the chilli bread. He dipped it into the tasty mushroom soup, but again, his face turned red. The bread was still too hot even when he ate it together with the mushroom soup. Once again, he went around searching for his apple juice.

After he felt better, he thought hard about what should he do with the bread. Then he heard the sound of cats fighting outside his house. An idea struck in his mind and he took a piece of the bread. He went out and called for the cats. He placed the small piece of bread on a white plate and the hungry cats started eating. But then they all ran away for they too could not stand the spiciness of the bread.

So Hakim went back inside, thinking of what should he do. Then his phone rang and Hakim quickly ran to answer the phone. It was his old friend from India calling. His friend was in town and Hakim asked him if he would like to come to his house for dinner. Hakim’s friend agreed and told Hakim that he would appreciate something hot and spicy for he really missed the hot and spicy Indian food.

Hakim got an idea, he would serve the hot chilli bread with some tasty soup and some tasty meat pies for dinner.

When his old Indian friend came, he could smell the delicious aroma of the chilli bread heated in the oven and the freshly cooked meat pie from the living room. Hakim served the delicious food and they started their dinner. The Indian man took a slice of the chilli bread and dipped it into his soup. He popped the bread into his mouth and Hakim looked at his friend nervously, wondering if the chilli bread was too hot for him too.

His friend loved the hot chilli bread and told Hakim that it was the tastiest bread that he had ever tasted. Hakim was so happy because his old friend really enjoyed his chilli bread and he finished the whole loaf all by himself.

Hakim told his friend about what happened to him when he ate the hot chilli bread. As the old saying goes, ‘too much of anything is bad for you’. Hakim made a conclusion that even though he loved a hotter chilli bread than the ones he ate at the restaurant, he must not add too much chili flakes to his bread because it will be too hot for him.

An Adventure Of A Magical Stick By Ahmad Ali Karim

There was a little boy whose name was Tommy Brown. He lived in a village not far from a town.

One windy day the little boy was walking down a lane, holding a stick in his small hand. He did not know that it was a magical stick, for he found it laying on the sand. He took it home and wrote his name on it, to that mark the stick was his. Then as he was waving it around, it slip off his hand and flew towards the west.

A small blue bird was flying towards the south, to go back to its nest. Then suddenly it collided with the stick, and the poor little bird fell into a nest. It thought the nest was his, but actually it was not.

The magic stick continued its flight, and flew towards the west. Then it flew straight into a tree and got stuck in between the leaves. A big squirrel climbed up the tree, shaking the branches and the stick fell down hitting a cat. The cat attacked the stick till it flew up and caught by a red-breasted robin.

The robin flew high up in the sky, with the stick in its beak. But as it turned left, the stick slipped down towards a park. It fell onto a little boy who was playing on a swing. He looked at the stick, pick it up and started laughing. He then threw it high up and the stick flew away to the other side of the park. Some joggers saw it coming and they kicked the stick before it could land on the park.

The stick again departed on a journey, this time to a small house where lived a family of nine. It fell on the roof but the strong wind blew it up again. It landed on their car that was on the way to a ranch. The car hit a bump and the stick jumped onto a tree branch.

As it landed on the tree, a raven held its claw tightly to the branch, then moving to its nest. The black raven hit the stick and the stick fell onto a hawk that was swooping down for a lunch which was a white mice. The hawk then flew away with the stick on its back, and it took the stick high up to the sky. It flew far, far away over the farms and meadows, to search for another prey.

On a beautiful meadow, there was a farmer with his white and black cows. Then out came a rabbit, and it ran towards the cows. The hawk saw the rabbit, and it swooped to catch its prey. As the hawk jerked, the stick fell down into a big apple tree. The stick fell through the branches and down the big tree.

Down came the stick, until it hit a boy’s head. The boy looked at the stick and saw his name on it!  So, the sad little boy had got his stick back. It was the stick that he accidentally let go a few days back.

The happy little boy took the stick home, waving the stick like a little wand. He could never guess how far had the stick went before it got back in his hand. Over the trees, from a village to a town, over the farms and the meadows to get back into his hand.

Baneet Wants To Eat

There was a tall man whose name is Baneet.

He looked around, wondering what to eat.

He opened the fridge but there’s nothing he could see.

He walked around the garden but saw only a bee.

He thought, “What should I have for dinner?”

“Hmm… maybe I should ask my friend, Finner.”

He walked along the street and saw a lot of apples.

There was an apple stall and there’s even a tree called Grapple.

Grapple was a huge apple tree, with lots of big, red apples.

But as he walked nearer, he could not see any ripe apple.

“What happened?” asked the hungry, confused Baneet.

Then out of nowhere, he saw a very huge plate of meat.

Only then did he realise that he was actually dreaming.

He laughed and laughed, before he was screaming.

He was lying on his hammock and was almost falling.

He looked around, wondering if he was still dreaming…

I Am A 2013 NaNoWriMo Winner!

My first book, ‘The Calovinia’ was a 5,000 words story; and after I finished the book, my next dream was to write a more than 10,000 words story.

But of course, it was not easy to achieve the dream

Early this year, my eldest sister, Aiman Amani introduced me to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I decided to join it.

I joined the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program challenge.

And to win the challenge, I must write a 20,000 words story or a novella in a month; I could only start writing my story on November 1 and finish it by November 30.

Writing a 20,000 words story in a month?

I wasn’t quite certain if I could win the challenge as I took three months to write ‘The Calovinia’, which I started at the end of 2011 and completed the book in early 2012.

But when November came, I had a bad fever.

I could only wrote 348 words on the first day when I was supposed to write at least 667 words each day to finish the story on time.

But then the next day, I wrote 1017 words and my word count was alright.

Days passed and I tried to write as much as I could each day because there were days when we were away from Kuala Lumpur and I did not have time to write at all.

My blogs’ loyal readers might had realised that I did not write as often as I used to during the month of November.

Finally, on November 22, 2013, I reached my 20,000 words goal and around nine o’clock that night, I finished my novella, ‘Hilmania’ – which is about a place called Himania in the continent of Grender.

And I made a record of writing 2800 words in a day.

My second eldest sister, Aeshah Adlina who took a 30,000 words story challenge, finished hers on November 27, 2013 while my eldest sister, Aiman Amani finished her 50,000 words story on November 29, together with my immediate sister, Anisah Afifah, who took a 23,000 words challenge.

I am so happy and thankful when I finally finished writing the novella.

It was like killing two birds with one stone; first, I won the NaNoWriMo challenge and second, I reached my dream to write a more than 10,000 words story which was what I had wanted to do since I was eight.