Nosy ... nosy ... nosy ...

It was September 13, 2006 6.45 pm when Angie and I entered a food stall. The stall was not crowded. I only saw four people—two men and two women—in one table located in the middle of the room, and another pair in the right corner of the room. The room was not brightly lighted so the atmosphere was quite romantic to me. Angie chose to sit in the left corner of the room, a small table enough only for two people.

After the waitres came, Angie chose one portion of chicken steak with cappuccino milkshake, and I chose one portion of fried noodle with a glass of orange juice.

We didn’t wait for a long time for the order to come. We enjoyed our meals while Angie told me her experience at school, and I told her about my day at the office.

After we finished, Angie asked me to go home soon, and not lingering there. Before leaving, I went to the cashier to pay. The cashier greeted me politely, “Is that your daughter?”

“Yes, she used to study in the junior high school across the street from here. That’s why she knows this food stall.”

*****

Arriving home around 7.45pm, annoyedly Angie asked me whether I paid attention to the four people sitting in the middle of the room of the food stall. I didn’t. She continued complaining, “The two women looked at me curiously as if I were a bad girl. Their eyes were like police’s eyes looking into criminals! It must have been coz I am still wearing this school uniform. They must have accused me as hanging around after school instead of going home directly.”

It reminded me of the cashier’s polite question, “Is she your daughter?” Did she also share the same idea of the two woman looking at Angie curiously?

This was our second experience to drop by in a food stall around that time with Angie’s wearing school uniform. In the first experience, Angie complained too with some people’s looking at her curiously and then looked at the badge of her school.

To calm her, I said, “Honey, I am your mother. You are hanging around at this hour with me. And we directly dropped by here from your English course coz it was more practical rather than we go home first, you exchange your dress and then we go out again. Don’t really care to what other people think about us. And as your mother I know exactly what you have been doing since morning. And you know what you are doing. Don’t care what the hell they are thinking about us.”

“But Mom, don’t blame me if that judgmental look from those nosy guys bothers me.”

“Fine. But don’t think of it too much, okay? Remember, we are what we think, we are what we do, and not what other people think, not what other people accuse.”

Suddenly the telephone rang. Angie quickly went out of the bedroom to answer the call. Not long after that, I could hear her cheerful voice talking to her friend by phone.

This sucking society, with those sucking judgmental people... And they are my fellow citizens in Indonesia. :(

And when I told my workmates about this experience, they in fact, also shared the same idea with those fellow citizens of mine. LOL. They find it weird too to see students still wearing their school uniform in the evening.

Perhaps I am too ignorant. Perhaps coz I adored Emerson’s idea of nonconformity in the wrong place. LOL. It is coz I am a rebellious creature. LOL.

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