The boy who cried "MOO"

His name was Raja, not because he’s from the royal blood but rather due to his mother’s fascination of Hindi movies when she was a lot younger. Mak didn’t watch such movies anymore, they reminded her too much of her late husband.

That afternoon, Raja came home from school walking in the hot blazing temperature. As he reached the door, he called out for his mother,

“Mak, ooo…Mak. Raja dah balik!”

Mak opened the door obediently and smiled at him. He threw his bag and smelly socks to a corner and moved quickly to the dining table.

“Huh? Fish curry again. Mak we eat same everyday. Boring lah!”
"Ye ke? Oklah, tomorrow I cook you favourite gulai ayam, OK? Eat first before
cold”

Raja ate his lunch hastily and after finishing the food, he stood up and yawned, stretching his arms and yawned some more. He walked towards the verandah and lied down on the old settee, enjoying the warm afternoon breeze.

“Raja, how many times Mak told you. Cannot sleep after eat, dear”
“I not sleeping, Mak”
“Still no good. You turn into cow, if sleep after eat. My mother told me so”
“I not do that lah. I planning for FUTURE, Mak!”

That magical word made Mak smiled all day long. She was proud to bear such clever child. At the age of fifteen, her son has already planning for the FUTURE.

“He’ll be successful,” prayed Mak in her heart.

Raja imagined himself sitting on the bridal dais during his bersanding day with Cik Limah’s daughter, Fiza. He saw her cycling home from the post office on his way back from school,

“What a nice pair of legs,” he thought.

Her hair was as black as the coffee that Mak prepared for breakfast every morning. It swayed to the rhythm of the gentle wind. He smiled at her, and flew to his dreamland holding her hand as he guided her through the beautiful night.


He woke up feeling refreshed and jolly. He yawned and stretched out his arms,

“MOOOOOOOOOO…”

He was surprised with the sound that came out of his mouth. He called out for Mak,

“MOOOOOOOOOO…”

This time his own voice frightened him. He tried to stand up. Instead of standing on his two feet, he was on all four. His legs were too weak to support his body that he had to crawl on the floor. He could feel a lot of air inhaled through his nose into the lungs. He tried to touch his nose, he couldn’t.

“Oh, no, this is not happening!” his heart screamed.

Raja ran to his mother’s room, but his thin legs could not move as fast as he hoped. He was taken aback when he saw the huge nose, the funny ears, the thin legs and his very own dappled body reflected on the mirror in Mak’s room. He has turned into a cow. In fact, a she-cow, he was shocked to see the flabby udder underneath his belly.

“This not real. If I fated to be cow, I should be male at least!” he cried.

He was upset and scared. He crawled as quick as possible and yelled for help,

“MOO! MOO! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

He stumbled upon the bendul and fell hard on the wooden floor.


He opened his eyes and quickly looked at his hands, touched his nose and ears. He was no longer a cow. He straightened up his body, still aching after falling from the four-poster. He called out for his mother,

“MOO, MOO…”

“Oh, not again!” he thought.

“Hey, what wrong with you! I call you hundred time, no answer. WAKE UP! I ask Pak Lang to bring his cow here. Go down, and get some milk. NOW!!”

“Heh?”