In the morning, she had brought Rosminah’s brooch to school and had lost it. She had come home crying, and Rosminah had beaten her on her back and shoulders. Mohd Rosli had asked her what ECA˚ he should join. He was thinking of the Cadet Scouts since his best friend Azmi was joining it. When Rosminah found out that a complete uniform set would cost 40 dollars, she told him flatly: “No.” Watching them sleeping as the shadow of window grilles falls across their frail bodies, Rosminah wonders how anyone can actually beat or refuse such children. She had done both.* * *Rosminah thinks about the four people in her life: her husband, the two children, and Kala. Kala she had met on the first day at the factory where they made semiconductor parts. At that time, Rosminah was five months pregnant with Siti Nuraini. It was the night shift, and Rosminah was wondering whether Mohd Rosli had gone to sleep. She felt strange wearing her black apron over her large belly. The women around her all had rough faces and some of them laughed too loudly, showing off gold fillings. Kala herself was a large woman, with bulging eyes and messy hair. When she smiled, her dark gums showed. When Rosminah first sat down, a Malay woman opposite started talking to her.
“You’re new here right? I never see your face before.”
Rosminah nodded. She was trying to remember what her supervisor had told her about the resistors. Her hands were cold.
“You know what we are making?” asked the woman. She had a scarf on and kohl-rimmed eyes.
“Not sure,” Rosminah replied.
“All this, is part of a rocket. We are all here making rocket parts. All this they will later send to USA.”
“Really?”
“Yah. You know, rocket, to fly to the moon? People don’t know some parts they make here in Bedok.” The woman was smiling. “So must do your work properly, don’t daydream a lot, later something explode in outer space.”
“Ju!“ A voice rang out from behind Rosminah. “Ju, what are you telling her? Hey, whoever that is, don’t listen to Ju. She only like to disturb people. She’s making fun of you only. Don’t listen to her.”
“What lah, Shida! I was just enjoying myself, have fun with this new girl, you must disturb! As if the work here isn’t boring enough. People want to have some fun also you must interfere.” The woman with the scarf then got back to her work after shouting at her friend and then smiling one more time at Rosminah.
After an hour Rosminah felt tired. The rest were drinking coffee to stay awake, but Rosminah didn’t take coffee. Again she wondered whether Mohd Rosli had gone to sleep. Rosminah felt like crying. She then forced a smile, as if it would blunt her sadness, but it managed only to sharpen it. She held on to a smile for a few seconds and then let go, and her face was washed again in self-pity. She did this exercise several times, convinced that it would do her some good.
“Oi,” a voice came from her left.
Rosminah froze. The Indian woman was talking to her.
“You eating what?” the Indian woman asked.
Rosminah could not help but smile. “Nothing.”
“Sotong ah?˚ If got some sotong share lah. I also like sotong.”
“No, not sotong.”
“Then what?”
“Nothing.”
“My name is Kala. What’s your name?”
“Rosminah.”
“You like working here so far?”
“Okay lah. Can.”
“I work here three months already. Still cannot get used. Very sleepy lah.”
“Yah.”
“You talk to me, then won’t fall asleep. I can talk Malay. Last time my neighbour Malay. So I learn.”
“It’s okay. Last time I go to English school.”
Kala pointed at Rosminah’s round belly.
“How many months, that one?”
“Five.”
“Got name already? Boy or girl? Got buy the bed already or not? I know where can get cheap. My cousin got furniture shop.”
Rosminah did not know which of Kala’s questions to answer, and in which order. She simply smiled, not knowing what else she could do. Suddenly, she felt a kick in her belly. Rosminah turned to look at Kala.
“She knows we are talking about her,” said Rosminah.
“It’s a girl?”
“Yah. I got one boy already. So this one, one sister for him. I always want girl, because boys are lazy.”
Kala laughed loudly, and her gums showed.
“Girls are good,” said Kala, showing Rosminah her thumb. “Can stay with you in the kitchen, can learn to cook, then you can tie their hair before they go to school.”
“Yah. You got girls?”
“I’m not married. Who want to marry me? Eyes so big, laugh like man. Who want to have children with me? Later come out eyes big-big. Scare everybody.”
When she heard Kala say those words, Rosminah would have been silent if not for the fact that Kala was laughing loudly, like a man. Rosminah learnt that Kala was quick to laughter because she had grown up in an orphanage. By the week after, Rosminah and Kala became good friends. In the canteen they sat next to each other, and Rosminah thought of the times she had spent in primary school. She had stopped schooling in primary four because her father, a sailor, had gone missing. She had then gone on to help her mother sell food at the railway station; they made lontong˚ and mee rebus,˚ and the people there called Rosminah adik.˚
While sitting in the factory canteen waiting for her food, Rosminah would wonder what had happened to all her primary
