The True Story of Mine
I Used to work on the railway, That's why my Mom was reminded of me just now. It wasn't at a big station like this, it was a little place called Langsa Cross. Only about two trains a day stopped there, and I was station-master and signal man all in one, in fact I didi any work that came along, and there wasn't a happier man in the whole of Indonesia. Langsa Cross was a pride of my heart, the waiting-room was cleaned every day by the chief cleaner (I), the chairs were polished by the chief polished (I) and the tickets were sold and collected by the cief ticket-collector (I), some times there were as many as four tickets a day, and the money was counted every evening by the chief clerk (I). One day, there was Rp. 1.000.000-, the big gest amount that was ever taken in one day during the whole 40 years that I was there.
The station was run well, I was very strict about "rules". I knew what a passanger was allowed to do and what I was not allowed to do, where I was allowed to smoke and where I was not allowed to smoke. And if any passanger dared to do anything that was against the rules, there was trouble at Langsa Cross.
I was there, as I said, for 40 years and then I had to retire. There is no doubt that I had done My job well, in all the 40 years I had been there, I had never missed a single day, every day I had been on duty. Well, the Railway Company thought they ought to do something to recognize this, and so a little "farewell ceremony" was arranged, and a man from the head office, Sir Maulana Brooks, was asked to go to Langsa Cross for the ceremony.
I was thanked and was given a small cheque as a present. I was very pleased, of course, but I said to Sir Maulana, "I don't need the money" ( I had always been careful and had saved quite a nice amount of money), "but can I have, instead, something that will remind me of the happy days I have spent here in Langsa Cross?" Sir Maulana was rather surprised, but he said he thought it could be arranged, what kind of "reminder" had You in mind ? So I said, " Well Sir, could the Company let me have a part of an old railway carriage, just one compartment. It doesn't matter how old or broken it is, I can repair it and clean it, I shall have plenty of time now that I have retired. I want to put it in my back garden, and every day I can go and sit in it, and that will remind me of Langsa Cross."
Sir Maulana Thought, " Poor old fellow, his mind is failing, but we have some old railway carriages that are only fit or breaking up," so he said, "Well, Mr. Hobdell, if that is what you want, you shall have it." And about a week later a carriage, or rather a compartment, was sent and was taken into my back garden. I worked at it, Just as I had worked at Langsa Cross. It was cleaned and painted and polished, and in a week or so it looked very nice.
One day, about a year after I had retired, I was staying with Uncle Ari (That's my mom's brother, of course) and he said, "Come on, Hob, Let's go and visit your Mom. I've not seen her for a long time." So we went to Mom's house and walked up to her front door. It was a bad day for visit. It began to rain as we got off the train, and by the time we got to Mom's house it was raining hard. We walked up the path to the front door and uncle Ari knokced, but there was no answer. However, the door wasn't locked so Uncle Ari opened it and we went in. Mom was nowhere to be seen, and Ari said, "She'll be in that old room of her, we will go out at the back." Sure enough, she was there, But she wasn't sitting on the bed, She was outside, on the step of stairs, smoking her pipe. Her head was covered with a sack and the rain was running down his back.
"Hello, Mom," Said me, "why on earth are you sitting there, why don't you go inside the room out the rain ?"
"Can't you see" Said Mom, "the room they built me was a non-smoker!"
- Nice :)
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