UNIFORM
Th e tall, bright-faced man who opened the door looked amazed when he recognized me. Of course he didn’t expect my sudden arrival at all. When later with unpretentious hospitality he invited me in, without hesitation I chose to go straight to the amben¹ across the room. It was nice to sit on the bamboo halls with pandan mats. He then sat down too, but his gaze was instead directed out the window, at the clove trees that lined up like the rows of students from our class when we attended the flag ceremony every Monday. I understand, this surprise must have filled his heart with an emotion that cannot be expressed in words. He needed to neutralize it for a bit. He is my best childhood friend. Almost 25 years ago we separated because my family had to move to the city where my father worked at a new place outside the island until he returned a few years later to settle in the district town. I told him about that, as well as apologized for not having visited him at all since then. “So,...
