The Bug that Got Amin Home

(Amin's actual White Birch)

    Last weekend, as we were driving back from State College, Mak said to me, "Look. White Birch. Amin's tree".  I wasn't sure what I heard, so she repeated the words. I looked to where she was pointing, which was the left side of 422 just before approaching the Nolo Hill.  "Putih tu, senang nampak" ("The trunk is white.  Easy to see").  I strained to see the said tree but I was sure I missed it. Anyway, I realized what she had wanted to say.  The next twenty minutes before reaching 559, I was going back in time, recalling the few days before and after Amin was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Murphysboro, Illinois.  

    It was pretty mild winter that February of 1984.  It was a bit after 5 pm when baby Amin arrived.  

    I was given a set of scrubs so that I could be part of the cheering squad. 

    My other mission, as head of the family as was told by both Opah and Tok Ayah, was to act on a couple of cultural traditions with regards to baby Amin.  I was a nervous wreck as I clumsily whispered the required Azan and Iqamah into his ears, and after giving him back to Mak, asked Dr Strack for the uri (umbilical cord) which the nurse had packed in a double plastic bag.  The uri was to be given a proper burial instead of letting the hospital dump it "God-knows-where".  Once I got the goods, I told Mak I was going home and would return the next day.  It was already dark when I left St. Joseph.

(Mak at home at S. James, 2 weeks post delivery)

    At the South James apartment, I proceeded to call Mak Tok in Sungai Petani and then Opah in Kamunting to tell them about the news of Amin's arrival.   Of course, Mak Tok was quick to tell me that Amin was born on her birthday, while Opah was telling me the steps to finish the job of dispensing the uri.  I had called off work and classes for the next couple of days, so I was alone that night at the duplex apartment.  

    So what did I do?  I went for a drive.  What?!  Well, I had bought a 1970 VW Beetle (I called it Bugs-wegen) off a pizza delivery guy for $350.00 a few weeks earlier, but wasn't sure how to drive it.  You see, it was a stick and I have never learned to drive one! I bought the Beetle because it was the cheapest stick shift car I could find, and at that time, automatics were rare and expensive to buy in Malaysia, and I knew that we'd have to return to Malaysia by 1986 when our sponsorships run out... 

(The Bug)

    But it was late evening and pretty quiet, and I had nothing else to do, so I braved myself to try driving the Beetle around SIU-C's Campus Lake which was just a couple of blocks away from our apartment.  It was unreal!  I was sure I'd crash into something but somehow, by the time I reached the Engineering Block, I had felt totally at ease with the shifting of the gears!  I drove the bug back to S. James, not feeling at all awkward driving it.  Wow, I did it!  In less than an hour, I had self-taught myself driving a stick!  The hype about how tough it was to drive a manual car was just too overblown....

    The next day, I made some chicken soup and noodles for Mak.  I made sure that the soup was not pedas for Amin's sake.  I drove the '75 Granada (our 'official' ride) to St. Joseph Hospital  just because it had good heat and yes, it's 15 miles from Carbondale and it was winter.  Here's the pic of the "Granola" as we'd call it 

Mak liked the meal.  I told an astonished Mak about my midnight escapade, learning to stick-shift the Beetle.  After spending a few hours with Mak and a few minutes with Amin, I went back home.  There was no word when they will be discharged so I didn't think much of that happening soon.  Honestly, I was sure I will be going back and forth to St. Joseph for a few days more.  

    The following afternoon, armed with another batch of mee soup ayam, I took the Beetle to see them.  As soon as I showed my face in the door, Mak said that she and Amin could leave for home.  Oppps! I had to tell a horrified Mak that I had taken the Bugs-wegen instead, and it had no heat and the floorboards had holes and the coconut husks were showing through the springs on both front seats and the gas gauge was shot and the muffler was LOUD and there was NO HEAT.... But we had to leave, so yeah, Amin's first ever ride was on that pizza delivery guy's multi-colored VW Beetle that had earlier received a newer 1974 1600 cc SuperBeetle engine!

(Mak posing with Bugs-wegen a few months later)

    We had to make sure that our three-day-old buddy wasn't going to get hypothermia. Mak bundled Amin within layers of blankets and even covered the portable basket-like cot with another blankie.  They both sat in the back as I made my way back to Carbondale and thinking, wow, it's a couple of brand new chapters of our lives.  We were finally parents with a brand new baby, and I could, finally, drive a stick!

Amin's first birthday card on his Zeroth birthday, from Maktok who shared the Feb 9th date!

     Epilogue:  What about the uri? Well. Bob, my boss at work, had allowed me to bury the package at his land and plant a tree at the spot.  He handed me a white birch sapling and a shovel to dig the hole with.  After reaching a clearing on a ridge, he pointed at the matured white birches that were around us, and said, that's how the sapling would look like at full size...