1.12.10

Super Gross - 2nd Half

Alhamdullillah everything looks, seems and feels OK. Emma behaving normally, she doesn’t have any fever, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no temper tantrums and loving the antibiotics and anti allergy medication. Serious. Asyik mintak nak ubat aje.

So the second half begins now.

Friday night Mak Yen and Mak Su took Emma to Mak Ngah’s place so Zufri and I had the whole house to ourselves. When I went to work that morning, I left our bedroom door ajar (oh did I mention that Super Gross hid behind the shelf after she sashayed down my bed?) but kept the door separating the living area with the back area closed. The windows were left open, with the intention of letting her escape while she can escape. Perangkap tikus dipasang, gam tikus dilumurkan.

When we came back from dinner that night, we found the traps and glues uninterrupted. Since we didn’t know where Super Gross was, the door remained shut, and any cleaning works shall be done on the front part of the house only. So cleaned we did, scrubbed and sterilized every thing ‘sterilizable’. Carpets washed, rugs washed, living room redecorated, Emma’s room stripped bare bar the dresser shelf that was too heavy to lift. Clothes were washed with Clorox. The floor mopped 3 times. Twice with Clorox All Purpose Cleaner, the last with Afy Hanif’s Serai.

Penat gila ni, and it wasn’t even the whole house. I have more junk than I can account for. Mostly Emma’s. Argh toys. Then I set to do the dishes. Zufri went to take a bath. Sekali I heard a scrambling noise, a thud and Zufri running out of the bath, slamming the door behind him.

Turns out Super Gross was hiding behind Emma’s bath tub (that certainly got thrown away!) and while Zufri was trying to drain the water away, he lifted the tub and voila! Super Gross! Zufri lived to tell the tale, complete with a shiner on his forehead. Kekeke. So that’s that. Kurung Super Gross dalam toilet. You can hear her trying to escape, banging on the door (like that will ever work). Outside Zufri dah pasang perangkap sepanjang pintu. Say the banging the door suddenly works, there’s a perangkap waiting for her outside. Macam kata pepatah melayu, keluar dari mulut harimau, masuk mulut buaya. Muahahahaha – evil laugh.

In the morning, Zufri went around looking for somebody man enough to capture Super Gross. 2 people came by but upon opening the toilet door, chickened out (an Indonesian man and a Bangladeshi). At 11 came a knight in shining armour (actually is a gardener and his son) who actually marched right up to the toilet door, went inside, locked himself in and came out smelling of success and rat shit with Super Gross whimpering in a garbage bag.

I think he had a reputation to uphold lah. Maybe he wanted to chicken out, but then he saw 4 full-grown adults peeking from behind the door (through a glass panel – Zufri, Pipi and I and standing on a chair was Kak Yen. Geez. Behind locked door pun nak berdiri atas kerusi ke? Hahahaha). Takkan nak disappoint a cheering crowd kot? Hehehe. Thank you uncle.

We then went to the toilet. Sigh. The damage was done. Rat poo everywhere, urine everywhere. I couldn’t stand it, so Zufri did all the cleaning in the toilet. Everything got thrown out, shampoo, facial wash, and toothbrushes. Super Gross really was gross.

Zufri blames himself, saying he should’ve killed Super Gross when I found her the first. Instead he left it at that and Super Gross bit Emma’s finger. I manipulated his guilt to make him do most of the cleaning, while I sometimes watched Toy Story 3 with Emma. He doesn’t trust my domestic skills anyway. Believes he cleans up better than me. Maybe he does.

Tapi Alhamdulillah, everything worked out fine in the end. Zufri dah pasang jaring-jaring pada semua tingkap dan bawah pintu dapur. I no longer have a view of the backyard, but at least I have peace of mind. Insha Allah.

Emma’s sleeping in her own room now. But I’m sleeping with her. Until I am sure she will be fine on her own.

Super Gross - 1st Half

This is a backdated post, written on Friday morning.

Two mysterious things happened.

Early this morning, around 2.00 a.m., I was woken up by (to my ears) a loud noise. I sat up, startled, looking around – only to find nothing. I was sleeping with Emma on the floor in her room (Emma started on her mattress but found her way into my arms on only a comforter), our first of hopefully many others.

When I tried sleeping again, I banged Emma’s bottle of minyak yuyi cap limau on the floor, out of boredom. I discovered that a portion of the floor underneath where I was lying was hollow, thus making the banging noises louder. Plus, I was lying down, so it sounded much louder to my ears.

One mystery solved.

When I tried sleeping again, I heard footsteps. Bilik Emma, just like every other room in the house, pakai tikar getah. Bunyi tapak kaki berjalan atas tikar getah di pagi yang hening adalah quite obvious. Again I sat up, looking around. That’s when I saw it. A huge, big, gigantic rat! Masha Allah, terperanjatnya aku! Just about 1 foot away from my, urm, right foot. Super gross OK. Hereinafter known as Super Gross. Super besar tikus tu, almost as big as a month old kitten but with much shorter legs.

I shooed Super Gross away and it sort of berjalan lenggang kangkung behind a mounting board I kept in the room. So not afraid of humans this Super Gross. I quickly picked Emma up, woke Zufri who was sleeping at the living room (I know, our sleeping arrangement is agak scattered at the mo) and told him about Super Gross.

Dia kata agaknya cicak tak?

What?

WHAT?! Adakah aku kelihatan seperti seorang yang tak dapat membezakan antara tikus dan cicak? Seriously? Granted, I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but still??!

Insulting my eyesight sungguh.

Anyways, I hauled our asses into our actual bedroom lah, while Zufri, convinced that my eyes deluded me, stayed on at the living room.

Within minutes everybody was asleep. Suddenly I heard Emma crying.

Lo and behold,

IT WAS SUPER GROSS ON MY BED!!!!

AND IT BIT EMMA’S JARI KELINGKING!!

It was bleeding profusely. OK maybe not that much, but she bled all over my t-shirt. Babiturat ok tikus tu. Masa Emma menjerit dia dah berlenggang kangkung turun katil. Aku angkat Emma lari pegi kat Zufri (masa tu baru perasan darah tu). Zufri amek kayu golf nak belasah tikus tu. Hahaha. Tapi cari-cari tak jumpa. Emma sambung tido. Hehe.

We went to the clinic, thinking Emma might need to get a shot of anti virus ke or whatever. Instead the doctor just gave her some antibiotics, some anti-allergy meds and some painkillers. I told the doctor that the wound looks quite deep; doesn’t she need like an injection? He confidently said no. We’re taking his word for it. If something looks out of place, we’re taking her straight to the hospital. And we’re gonna sue his ass off.

2nd mystery not solved. Don’t know where Super Gross came from. No spaces left open.