Human failings

One sultry hot afternoon, Mrs. Amin (not her real name) was dozing off, perhaps because the oppressive weather of Jakarta had made her sleepy.

Suddenly, the telephone rang. With a yawn to suppress her drowsiness, she took the telephone receiver and said in a sleepy voice: "Hello". The person on the other end of the line said in an agitated voice: "I am Mrs. Amin and want to talk to Mr. Amin, whom I had not seen for almost a month".

The unfriendly voice made Mrs. Amin wide awake. In a tone that betrayed her pent-up anger, she asked for the address of the caller and further information. She took a taxi and went to the address of the woman, who protested that she was indeed Mrs. Amin. The first Mrs. Amin was seething with anger and swore, even though she is a religious women.

This has prevented her from divorcing her husband. From bits and pieces of information I gathered from Mrs. Amin's sister, I have been able to compile the following story.

Mr. Amin has a broiler chicken farm. At the outset, everybody in the family took care of the farm, but as time went on the business was not lucrative as expected. This caused Mr. Amin's sister-in-law to remark sarcastically: "The only profits he derived from this business are the chicken droppings."

Apparently, in the neighborhood of the farm lived a family with a teenage daughter. Mr. Amin, basically a meek man and far from being a Don Juan, fell head over heels in love with that girl. It was amazing that he was able to cajole the girl's family into accepting him as their son-in-law.

Perhaps his meekness was convincing. To cut a long story short, he was able to keep his secret for almost 20 years. In the meantime, he has been able to father four children (one died) with the second Mrs. Amin, and the eldest daughter is a sophomore in high school. It is remarkable he was able to keep his secret for almost 20 years, even though his only daughter from his first and legal spouse recently married a European.

This story only proves that the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta