Chapter 4 Super Mom Chapter 4

"Just a moment, ma'am, I need to see you," he said.

"What need, Marni? Why are you shouting like that anyway? I'm embarrassed, what will people think of me?" I protested, not liking her attitude.

"Yes, Ma'am, I'm sorry I was wrong," she said.

"That's okay, so what did you want to see me for?" I asked again.

"It's like this, Ma'am. I came here to ask for your help, Ma'am. Do you have any money saved up? I'd like to borrow some first, I'll replace it in the afternoon," Marni said with a pleading face.

Marni told me the purpose of her coming to my house. It turned out that she had come to my house just to borrow money from me. She didn't feel ashamed, after what she had done to me earlier, when she was shopping for vegetables.

"What's the money for, Marni? You know that I'm just a poor woman. I don't have any money to lend you," I asked, deliberately humbling myself in front of Marni.

"It's only three hundred thousand, ma'am. You don't have any," Marni said dismissively.

"Wow, what else is that, where do I have it. Anyway, if you think three hundred thousand is just that. I don't have that much money, Marni," I refused.

"Really, ma'am, you don't even have that kind of money? Mas Romi works every day," she said as if she didn't believe me.

"Yes, Marni, no. Besides, Mas Romi is only a public transportation driver, Mira. So you can see how much he earns."

"Ah... you're just being stingy, ma'am. Well, excuse me!" said Marni, her face bent.

It's not that I don't have that much money. It's just that I'm lazy when it comes to dealing with Marni, whose mouth likes to make my heart hurt. I'd rather say I don't have any. After all, all this time she's been thinking of me as a poor woman, too. So I just let the impression of being poor stick with me.

After Marni left, I closed the door and even locked it. I went back to get my cell phone, which was on the table. I sat down on the wooden chair that had accompanied me since I rented here. I went back to typing the story that had been delayed. Since the past five years, I've always written stories and posted my stories on several platforms. Whether it's a rupiah payment, or a dollar payment.

Alhamdulillah, from the results of this writing, I can collect rupiah coffers. So that I can add to the cost of living, which is increasing every day. However, Mas Romi doesn't know that I have an income from writing. I also take my earnings, only as needed. Let me save it for my children's education. Or even later, I can buy a house. After I felt my fingers aching, I immediately stopped my activities. I went to Bu Ami's shop to buy more cooking oil.

Assalamualaikum, ma'am. I want to buy a quarter of the cooking oil," I said.

"You see, Mir. Didn't you buy two liters of oil this morning, why are you buying more now?" asked Mrs. Ami in surprise.

"Yes, ma'am. I opened the oil earlier, but I didn't know it spilled, maybe it was nudged by the cat, Mom." I lied on purpose, because there was no way I could tell the truth to others.

Let others judge me badly, but we shouldn't repay them with badness either. It's better to keep quiet, anyway as time goes by it will also be seen who is right and who is wrong.

"Heh, Mira! Can't you, if you're a person, not to be too stingy?" suddenly Mrs. Asmi came and said to me, in a sarcastic tone.

"What do you mean? I don't understand what you mean," I asked, surprised, because I didn't understand what Mrs. Asmi meant.

"Alah, you're pretending not to know again. Don't play dumb, Mira! The whole village knows that you're a calculating woman.You're stingy with your in-laws, you don't help your neighbors when they ask for help. Do you think you'll never need help like that?" she said in a tone that rose an octave.

However, I still didn't understand everything she said. In fact, it made my head spin, because I didn't understand what she meant. I wondered why Ms. Asmi could talk like that? What did she mean by that?

"Really, Mom, Mira doesn't understand what you mean. So Mira asked Ms. Asmi for help, please explain in as much detail as possible. Because, Mira really doesn't know what Bu Asmi meant." I asked Ms. Asmi to explain what she had just said.

"Okay, I'll explain, but you have to tell me the truth if I ask. This afternoon, Marni came to your house, right?" asked Mrs. Asmi.

"Yes, ma'am. What's wrong with Marni?" I asked Mrs. Asmi back, while asking about Marni.

I felt a bad smell when Bu Asmi mentioned Marni's name. There must be something wrong, for Ms. Asmi to reprimand me like that.

"You yelled at Marni earlier, right, when she came to your house to borrow money from you? Heh ... Mira, if you really didn't want to lend money to Marni, you wouldn't have yelled at her. Moreover, Marni only borrowed fifty thousand, and that was for her son's treatment. But instead of being given a loan, she got yelled at by you. You're a despotic neighbor, Mira." Bu Asmi spoke at length, telling me what she meant.

"Astagfirullah. Is it true, Mom, that Mira is that mean?" Bu Ami chanted istigfar, when she heard the story from Bu Asmi.

Continued...