The Brats

I've made loads of reference about my little sister, Aisyah. But I've yet to say much about my other siblings. My two brothers. My two bratty brothers. Heheh... That's actually how I described them when I was younger. The Bratty Duo. The Litte Devils. A Couple of Monsters. A Pair of Pain-in-the-Butts.
But these are terms of endearments, I swear!

The two of them are very close and when they were younger, they used to be SOOO close, people thought they were twins! Despite the fact that they look nothing like each other.

But because they were close... They had a common enemy...ME.Their evil, big sister. And when we were kids, the operative word there was 'BIG'. They used to call me 'The Giant' and when I walked up the stairs, they both would pretend to scream and tumble around as if there was an earthquake.

Like I said, they were Brats.

Before Aisyah came along in 1991, it was just me and my brothers. Though it was just the three of us, we had a fun childhood.

I remember when a mother-cat gave birth in our garden. We each adopted a kitten as our own personal pet. I had an adorable one, which I named "Tiger" because it had swirls of orange and black. Ayman had a fiesty kitten he called "Skip". Irfan had a dark-grey kitten which he named "Blacky" (... soooo original, isn't he?).

I had fond memories of cuddling up to my kitten before I went off to school, and feeding it under the tree and stroking it to sleep... My brothers have fond memories of putting the kittens on skateboards and letting them whizz-off down the hill...

I had a bicycle which could carry a pillion-rider. My brothers used to take turns riding with me. Ayman was the sort who'd sit primly, quietly and enjoy the ride. Irfan would flail his limbs around and most of the time, he'd fall off the bike and I'd never notice until I heard the maid shout for me to turn-around and pick him up.

Irfan was (and still is) the kind of boy who'd eat anything. Put a plate of food in front of him and he'll eat it, no questions asked. Ayman however... You won't BELIEVE how finicky he was. Ayman was the FUSSIEST kid in the universe. His food had to be prepared HIS way and if you put any other ingredients, he'd point to it with his little finger and go "Taknak. Ada sampah."

Like rice porridge. There must only be the pure, white porridge and a smattering of ikan bilis (anchovies). Add chicken or vege or even pepper and he'd declare it 'sampah' and not eat a single bite. Ikan bilis was his staple diet. When we went on holidays to places where anchovies are only available on pizzas, my mom would have to fry lots of ikan bilis and pack it for him.

She also used to have to wait at the McDonald's counter for Ayman's 'special beef burger'. Just two slices of bun with a piece of beef patty between it. NOTHING else. If the McDonald's staff tried to cheat him by scraping out the pickle and the sauce, Ayman would notice. He always scrutinizes the thing before he eats it and if he finds even a trace of 'sampah'... Bye2 burger. Thankfully, he is now all grown up and like any grown man, he eats anything.

My younger brother, Irfan used to be a great fodder for teasing and tricks. Ayman and I had a lot of fun scaring him with nonsensical tales...

Like the one where we told him that he's actually NOT one of us. You see, Ayman and I are 'tan' and we both have really straight hair. Irfan is fair and he had brownish curls. So we told him that he's actually the son of the chinese man who fixes our lights. And that one day, the chinese man will come back to fix more lights and take Irfan back home with him. Needless to say, whenever a utility van drove up to our house, Irfan would be hiding quietly in his room.

Irfan also has a rather prominent forehead, we smilingly told him that he's actually the Elephant Man. At that time, the Elephant Man movie was THE scary movie of the year. So of course, we'd then see Irfan carefully inspecting his forehead in the mirror with a worried frown.

Speaking of mirrors... My God. That boy is SO in love with himself. From our front door to his room upstairs, there are 5 mirrors situated along the way. He checks himself out in EVERY single one of those mirrors EVERY single time he goes up or down.

And if the family plans to go out, he is the LAST one to get in the car. He spends HOURS in the bathroom, HOURS getting ready in his room and he STILL looks like the same 'ol brat that he is so I have NO idea why he needs all that time! Irfan @ Mr.Vain.

And Ayman… HE is image conscious. His clothes, his car, his hair… everything must be impeccably and uniquely AYMAN. But one thing about this boy is that he's quite a talent. He sings, he dances, he draws and he can fix ANYTHING under the sun.

When we were younger, I used to liken him to McGyver… He could really fix anything. Even now, when something of mine breaks, I just shove it to him and go "Ayman, Fix it." Ayman @ Mr.Fix-It.

My bratty brothers have all grown up now,with lives of their own. Although we all still stay in the same house, we hardly see as much of each other as we'd like. But when we do, nothing much has changed. They're still very close and I'm still the common 'enemy'. They occasionally do the whole 'tumble around as Giant Sister walks up the stairs' bit. And they love trying to get me to say the word 'banyak'... For some reason, my 'banyak' sounds odd… It sounds like 'bayyak" and to those two, that is oh-soooo amusing.

Although I gripe about them a lot (and I do lurve doing that! Heheh!), I do adore them both. They're annoying, irritating, exasperating brothers. But their MY brothers. And I love them very bayyak.

Now I find other things which are maddening... Their "girrrlfriends". (cue: roll eyes)

But THAT's another story all together.