Home for Alana & 20 Poems

By Siti K.

Alana's life was like an untouched river; very stay and still. Until the night she met a soul, everything changed ever since.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Sep 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781543771558

Siti K.

Alana's life was like an untouched river; very stay and still. Until the night she met a soul, everything changed ever since.

Book preview

Home for Alana:

Part I

I

She would be the last person to be interviewed in the universe. Alana had no pattern in her, she was just a plain cloth hanging on a dryer by an abandoned hut. If she were to be interviewed, what is there to say? I wake up at 8 to shower. Make some breakfast and go to work. I go home, watch some TV and sleep.

How exciting. Alana has the most consistent life there was. Very much consistent that nothing changed. Alana never went to the movies with friends, never went on a plane, nor a date. She always dreamt of experiencing all those kinds of things; crying over a cheap movie with a company beside her, or laughing at the theme park on a roller coaster with five different kinds of people, or facing a candle light before a handsome, young man with slow ambient music.

In the morning Alana waited at the bus stop to go to work. When she arrived, she put on her apron and took orders from the customers. The small café at the town was enjoyable for Alana as she preferred its silence and delicacy. She enjoyed pouring coffee from the kettle to cups and delivering it to strangers. She also loved sitting in the bus while watching the people passing by at the window. After her working hour ends, she sat at the bus stop, waited for the bus and reached her flat. The routine went around every day like a circle.

The weekends were like a vacation for Alana. She grabbed her rusty book and her bicycle, and rode it to an unknown town near the rural area. Her objective was one, to enter the small shop where she could exchange stamps. Her rusty book was actually a collection of stamps that she gathered from when she was a teenager. It was Alana’s only passion: collecting all kinds of stamps from different states and countries. Mr. Star greeted Alana when he heard the shop bell rang. Alana! How are you, my dear? He said with raspy voice and warm smile.

Mr. Star had a balding head with grey hair and wrinkles on his forehead. When he smiled, the corner of his eyes formed lines and a deep dimple on his left cheek appeared. A pair of transparent glasses were always tucked on his nose bridge and sometimes he had to bow his head and adjust his glasses position when he read. His go-to was a sweater that was too tight for his body and that the shape of his belly became visible above his belt. Mr. Star’s late wife was a bank officer; a total opposite of him. Mrs. Star was rather a calm and collected person who faced brilliantly when a situation occurred. Unluckily, Alana did not have a chance to meet her