Tell you what, my weekend was hilarious. I mean hilariously terrible. But it is kind of fun to remember. I never thought that a series of unfortunate events do exist! Day after day. It was so absurd that people might think it was a drama script or something. Reality really is stranger than fiction.
Okay, let me walk you through it.
Last Friday, Koh Hun Bun and I went to Sidoarjo to visit my sister. The main purpose is meeting Jibrut, my beloved niece.
Now, to go to Sidoarjo, we take my father's car. My parents actually wanted to join, but since my dad had to go to Semarang and my mom was having cough, we finally went by ourselves.
Usually, one or two days before going, my father brought the car to the mechanic, to check this and that, making sure the car was okay for long journey. But, at this time, no one did it. So, I guess you get a clue what would happen on the way.
Well, thirty minutes before we're leaving, the car was on strike, couldn't start. Something is wrong with the battery. Strike one! After minutes of pushing and asking for technical support, finally the car was running. We went at about 3 p.m, from original plan at 1 p.m, and by normal travel time we would arrive at 8 p.m. And do you know what time we arrived at my sister's house? 1 a.m. And why is that? I'll tell you why.
We stopped by in a gas station in Gresik before the toll road, for a nature call. Unfortunately, I got some "accident" in the process, I splashed my pants with the water and I needed to get change. I sent SMS to Koh Hun Bun, asking him to bring me stuff, but I got no reply, so I went out to him, with my sour face. He was sitting on the front seat, with the car door open. When I told him what happened and asked him to open the trunk, he got out from the car immediately and closed the door in an instant, forgetting the car key and his cellphone were still inside. Yep. The car was locked and we were outside, staring at the car with agony and regret. You might see, like in the cartoon movies, the writing of "dumb ass" on our forehead and we grew donkey ears on our head. Strike Two!
Alright, be cool. We could figure this out. But how? We're like in the middle of nowhere, this place was far from the village, moreover the town. After small discussion, we talked to one of the gas station attendant (is it correct term? anyway, you know what I mean) - Mas Afandi, asking whether there was locksmith nearby. He said that the security of the gas station, Mr. Syahrul, was the man who could help us. It seemed that he had done some jobs with locked cars before. But we had to wait because Mr. Syahrul would come at 7 p.m. It was about 6.30 p.m when the incident happened.
So we waited...
Since I was not "that patient" with uncertainty, I asked Koh Hun Bun to ask Mas Afandi about Mr. Syahrul's phone number while giving him my cellphone. If we called him earlier, we could ask him to bring a locksmith with him, so we wouldn't waste any more time if he failed to help us by himself. You know what the beautiful thing about a test, it just got harder each phase. Mr. Syahrul said it was difficult to find locksmith in that hour and he asked us just to wait for him. He would be late because his house was inundated by flood (FYI, some parts of East Java was flooded due to heavy rainfall for days. Even on our way there we saw along Bengawan Solo river was inundating rice fields and houses on the river banks).
He arrived at about 7.30 p.m. I began to be more impatient. In that particular day, somehow I had a bladder issue. A perfect timing, isn't it?
This security man checked on our car and tried to open all doors by hand, hoping somehow they would open, but they didn't. He then said would take some tool to open the driver's door. So he went and we waited, again.
Cars, trucks and motorcycles came and went. I didn't know how many of them had left us here. The sky was cloudy and the wind started to blow harder. I sure hoped that the rain wouldn't pour, as a joke to complete our misery. My wet pants, my squeezing bladder, my hungry stomach.
Mr. Syahrul came again after some time, bringing plastic ruler. Yep. The "tool" he had was this plastic ruler which he stuck to the door side, moved it back and forth, tried to get the "click" of the lock. My mind just said that it was not a good idea, the plastic ruler was not strong enough to... then I heard "crack" instead of "click". As I predicted, the plastic ruler was broken and half on it was left inside the door. Great.
He said he would find some other tool. Then the waiting was on again. Longer...
Koh Hun Bun and I were starting to reach boiling point, especially me. My sister and my mom called, asking where we were. I just said we were stopping at gas station, without telling them the accident. We had to keep our pride. Yeah, right.
Since I was so stressed out about going in and out of the toilet in my wet pants, when Koh Hun Bun borrowed my cellphone again, I said no. I didn't mean it, it was just a joke to light me up a little (we usually then have silly arguments and laugh), but he took it seriously. He didn't say a word and just sat.
Mr. Syahrul came with this metal slim stick. A raising hope was on the air. He, Koh Hun Bun and some other men tried again to unlock the door. The stick was bending, not strong enough. Second attempt failed. My hope was crashing on the ground again. The wind was getting crazier. Please, don't get worse...
Time was ticking really slowly. Mr. Syahrul went somewhere again. I didn't know what other tool he brought to save us. My desperate mind yelled that we could break the window with the rock or chair or something. But then imagining the money we had to spend to buy new window and my dad's face, not a good idea.
Koh Hun Bun went to the mushola, to calm his mind, but he came to me after praying with a bit anger on his face. He was a little furious because I didn't lend him my cellphone. Not that he used it for game, but to get the internet access, to google 24 hours mechanics in Gresik to help us. He confronted me. I knew it was my fault, but he should have told me clearly why he wanted my cellphone. And if he asked me again, I would surely give it to him. I was joking at that time.
Anyway, I gave him my cellphone and apologized.
He got this 24 hour mechanic from a website. took a note on the phone number and called. The man's name was Mr. Rendra. Koh Hun Bun then asked him whether he could come to the gas station to help us. Mr. Rendra said he couldn't open the lock, a locksmith would have to do it. Koh Hun Bun asked him if he knew a locksmith and kindly informed to us.
While waiting, in the windy air, Koh Hun Bun walked around after returning my cellphone. I was sitting in front of the toilet, hoping for a miracle. Then I received SMS from Mr. Rendra who gave a locksmith's phone number. I was about to tell Koh Hun Bun, but he was nowhere I could see. Plus, the dust got my left eye and it made it a lot harder to see anything. I was really in my bad mood. Where the heck was he??
It turned out that he was wandering around, trying to find wire or something to open the door. When I gave him the information, he made a phone call to Mr. Djamil, the locksmith immediately. Fortunately, he was willing to come to the gas station. Alhamdulillah...
But then the rain poured so hard and mad like a roaring giant. Just perfect. We had to go into the mushola to keep ourselves dry. But during that time, I still went to the toilet a couple of times with rain pouring down on me. You know, I usually bring umbrella in my bag, almost everywhere, but somehow I left my umbrella in Goettingen, thinking Indonesia is a tropical paradise, where there's a lot of sunshine. I thought rainy season was almost over that I didn't need one. I was completely wrong. The rain didn't seem to stop soon. And my bladder was getting worse, so that I moved from mushola to the toilet area.
It was a long long long wait. Even more dramatic, Mr. Djamil sent SMS, saying that he was not feeling well, there's heavy rain, and suggesting that he would come to the gas station at dawn. Somebody just shot me. I was in my breaking point. I really wanted to cry, but I couldn't. All water in my body was drained by my pee! (Sorry for the language)
Koh Hun Bun asked him again by SMS, kindly made an effort to come after the rain stop coz he felt sorry for me if I had to spend the night in the gas station (I love you, Koh Hun Bun, you understand me). No answer from Mr. Djamil.
It was almost 12 p.m. This was nightmare.
Then the rain stopped. People were coming out. So was Mr. Syahrul. He came again with his assistants, bringing little flash light and a flat stick, this time I didn't know the material, I guessed half metal half plastic, and those men were trying again, again, and again. Failed, failed and failed.
Koh Hun Bun called Mr. Djamil's number, begging him to come. His wife answered, telling Mr. Djamil was on his way. Oh, God, thank you so much.
Our hero came about ten minutes after that. He was an old man with eyeglasses and plastic rain coat. He looked calm and cool. Perhaps he had done this jobs countlessly, so it was a piece of cake. It was indeed an easy thing for him. He took this one big wire out of his motorcycle trunk, bent it a bit, stuck it to the back seat door behind driver, pushed a little, bent some more and voila.... the door was open! Less than 5 minutes.
I clapped my hands. Seriously, I gave him my standing ovation.
Heroism is perhaps free, but skill had its price. We had to pay him a bit higher for his service and his willingness to come this long way. His house was about 10 km from the gas station, you know. For Mr. Syahrul, we also gave him a little something for his effort.
Long story short (not really), we arrived at my sister's house about 1.30 a.m. Bushed and tired we didn't make chit chat, just straight to the bed and slept. We woke up at 9 a.m in the morning. This day was a great day. We got to play with Jibrut. A whole day babysitting since my sister was sick. I really enjoyed it.
In the evening, we went to Surabaya and spent the night there. The next morning we would go to the mall and went back to Sidoarjo. Nothing went wrong, we thought. But fate, I mean this car, had its own way to test our guts some more.
We went to Royal Plaza. Just when you thought everything was wonderful, suddenly the car blew up when we parked! I was so shocked to see the smoke came out of the cap with the loud hiss. My God, what happened? Get out of the car, get out of the car! shouted Koh Hun Bun. I grabbed my bag and went out. The water was already on the floor, dripping from the car. It was like the car was going to have a baby. It looked like the radiator was leaking. Strike three!
The machine was to hot to touch and no mechanic available around, we decided to go to the mall first while waiting for the car to cool down.
We bought radiator coolant. Koh Hun Bun filled it in the tank, but it was not enough so he went back to buy some more. Next plan was to go to my sister's house and called mechanic from there. It was almost 2 p.m and we hadn't had lunch.
You know, life is what happens when you're making plan. Just a few kilometer from the mall, the dashboard showed red mark "check gages", which generally means "Stop or the car will explode". We were in Jl. Raya Wonokromo, just before the bridge, in hectic traffic, and we had to stop. Koh Hun Bun went out, asking for mechanic around, leaving me inside the car, alone, with a lot of people staring, coz our position was a bit disturbing the traffic. He came a few minutes later, moving the car backward without starting the engine. With this big car, you surely need a strong arm to move the steering wheel. He was sweating, yet still calm. Luckily there was a mechanic near by and the way to go there was downward.
His name was Mr. Tris. He had this small mechanic shop, not convincing, but that's the only shot we had. He checked the radiator. The radiator tube was leaking. This car was an old car and the stuffs inside it are deteriorating, frankly. The tube was already patched, and this time it couldn't stand any longer. Mr. Tris tried to fix the problem. With only additional-custom made-cheap tube and glue he bought from the kiosk nearby, my expectation was not high.
About an hour later, we went again. With the eyes always checking on the dashboard panel, we wished we could get home safe and sound. By the way, I called my mom, telling the breaking news and she was speechless but then laughed. My dad too. You see, when things are overwhelming, any negative emotions sometimes seem useless, so laughter was a very wise choice.
One funny fact: when the car run slowly, the temperature was increasing, but when we were racing, it went down. So, when we were stuck in traffic, we went crazy.
Anyhow, we arrived at my sister's house safely. But, going back to Blora later on in the evening at 7.30 p.m, would be another adventure.
No one knew whether the car would survive. And no one knew, at least us, that there was a traffic jam in Gresik due to flood. Yep. Total jam, no moving cars. Long line of queue. If we continued waiting, we wouldn't know when the road was open. So, Koh Hun Bun decided to take the alternative route, through Tuban, which mean longer journey.
If it was just longer journey, not a problem. A big mess when you suddenly being awaken and found out that the car was smoking in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere in Lamongan, the radiator thing was acting up again and we had to stop. With drizzling rain and only two bottles of water available for the radiator, the future was blur.
After filling in the water, we started the engine again. Next step was to find gas station or mosque to ask for more water. We found Puskesmas and Koh Hun Bun brought two bottles and one tank of water with him. I was already in half state. I was tired and very sleepy. I felt sorry for Koh Hun Bun who always stayed strong and being the man, while I was helpless chick who couldn't do anything except standing by his side, doing small stuffs. I was really proud of him.
You know what time we arrived in Blora? 3.30 a.m. We came in glory but exhausted to the bone. One conclusion to this hell of a journey is that my dad should buy another car. A much much better one.
P.S. For the people mentioned above, thank you for your help. We really appreciate it.
