*knock-knock*
My Nokia 3230 displays the time : 6.02 a.m.
Who in heavens is knocking on my door in such an hour? I stretched my arms, just enough to twist my doorknob, unlocked it, and left the door ajar. I quickly went back to my original position, using another pillow, to cover my sight, hopefully to be able to get back to my dream. Seconds later, someone came in and I knew, who it was immediately.
"Jan, wake up. Come, let's go jogging in Polo Ground."
"......."
"Come on! I told you to wake up early this morning. Come, follow Pa and Mummy.."
"......."
What jogging? What early? What morning?
My mind slowly pacing back to the previous night, when I last had conversation with my parents. Owh, now I remember. Mum was supposed to wake up at 5 a.m today for exercise. And the worst part is, I am supposed to join them today.
"......"
" Still don't want to wake up?"
I growled softly...hoping that Dad would give up anytime soon. I just managed to crawl onto my bed 4 hours ago and I am a growing child who needs enough or probably excess sleep.
" Come, Jan. Go for exercise. If you do not like it this time, you can always continue sleeping next time. Exercise will do you good, for blood circulation. After jogging, you can continue your sleep."
"....." I waved my hand, telling him that I am very relunctant in doing so.
"Ok, Pa give you RM20, k? Come follow us."
"....don't want la!..Want to sleep ok?"
" Alright alright..Pa give you RM200..hehhe..can follow us not??"
" Aiyaa..Pa ah..I give you RM500, you let me sleep can or not?"
" Ok, so where's your wallet?"
Dang. I knew I had to wake up. Not because of the RM500 that I might bound to lose it to dad..but I knew, it meant something to both my parents, if I were to join them for their Morning walk. I dragged myself off my bed, checked the current time, and then proceeded to do the usual. Dressed in my worn-out Giordarno Tee, exercise shorts, find my socks, and then got myself into Dad's car. Before I left the house, I managed to dug out my phone's earpiece.
The surrounding was dark. It looked deserted from the inside of the car. Only a few cars passed by.
"WHO in the hell, wakes up at this time of the hour, just to get themselves sweaty and all??"
" US!" Well, the 22 years of marriage has brought them together, even talking in unison.
We reached Polo Ground 10 minutes later. I was amazed at the amount of cars parked at the parking bays, and the amount of people walking like ants at the ground. The field was still dark, with only a few dimmed street lights. Dad got his parking space, and I frantically trying to look for my phone's hole,..to plug in my headset.
We got down from the car.
"Are you sure you want to bring your phone with you?" - Mum seems worried.
" Aiya, you paksa me here, takkan you want me to listen to nothing right?"
I am still waiting for my Nano to come all the way from the States. Unc Andrew is kinda busy now, with Christmas around the corner and all. My MP4 player has broke down, so I had to resort to my Nokia 3230 to play some of my favourites. I kept my phone safely in my right pocket, stuffed the earpiece into both sides of my ear, and followed behind my mum, walking side by side with dad. While walking, I can see that most of the people there, are old people. OK, middle aged.
We do have lot of middle aged, retirees, crazy people, deprieved of sleep in Ipoh.
As I was slowly catching up with the pace, I can hear women, talking about what they had heard, seen and done the night before. I can hear men, slowly jogging past us, with weird breathing rhythms. Minutes later, stench of sweats were everywhere.
Don't they bathe before they come from exercise??
Mum went jogging at her own pace. Dad and I walked slowly. Dad's heart is no longer that strong like how it used to be..I do not want to leave him alone, so I walked slowly, with one earpiece stuffed at the left ear. He told me about life, the trees and the bees. I told him that I walked a lot in campus. He told me about the society nowadays. I told him I wanna get a new car. He didn't talk anymore.
I resorted to listening to Jack's Mannequin songs. I have the whole album saved in my phone, thanks to the 512 mb of storage. I walked in a slow yet steady pace, and before I knew it, I finished one whole round. Dad signalled me to walk another round, but I felt like jogging this time. So, I did my thing, only enough to last for half a round. I felt triumphant.
My heart started to beat so fast that I swore, it hits my chest. I held my hand close to my chest, trying to calm it with my palm. It wouldn't work because it's just seem illogical. I was normal. I didn't feel like I was going to faint, but I just felt a jabbering pain on my chest. I stopped walking, found myself a stone bench at the side of the track. I sat down.
Dad told me that it was enough for the day. So, both of us sat down together, waiting for MRs. Mum to come back to us. It was her 3rd round now. She reached our point 20 minutes later, while both Dad and I admire the scenery.
The sun has rised now. It seems brighter. Many people are now leaving the field, probably getting ready to go for work. The 3 of us, jogged back slowly to our car, to get to the next location, for breakfast.