The anticipation of long school holidays,

Meeting cousins and playing funny games,

Exploring grandma’s attic for ancient junks,

Creating nonsense exciting stories,

Riding bicycles along dusty kampung roads,

Investigating mysterious ponds and abandoned houses,

Elderly villagers sitting at their veranda,

Gossiping while sipping afternoon tea,

An old lady working on her barren field,

Constantly being interrupted by her playful young goat,

Headbutting her every now and then.

Sitting in circle in grandma’s living room,

Each one taking turns telling exciting stories,

Watching cartoons and singing along to the opening songs,

Looking over grandma’s shoulder while she prepared afternoon snacks,

Getting ready for evening Quran reading classes,

Exchanging candies and snacks before going home,

Trips to the video store to rent new released movies,

Retelling the storylines over and over again,

To the children  listening with mouth gaping,

Even though the long holidays seemed endless,

They ended uninvitingly, unceremoniously,

Cousins reluctantly packing their bags,

To return home before the school reopened.

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Cover image sourced from  Charlein Gracia /Unsplash. The copyright of ‘1980s Childhood Memoir’ belongs to Amizura Hanadi.