Human failings

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