shoe story

i have dead man's shoes.

a long time ago when i was at western michigan, a tragedy struck whereupon two of the malaysian students died on a trip back to kalamazoo. i didn't know them both very well, they were my juniors. but i've met one of them when we were playing basketball at the college gym.

after he died, his housemate lived with me. he brought along some of the aruah's personal item and one day showed them to us and asked if we wanted them. one of my other housemate saw the basketball sneakers, which looked very new and very good, and held it with admiration. can i have this?, he asked. my new housemate said, take it. i rummaged thru the other stuff and asked, where did you get all these? my new housemate shrugged and said, semua ni aruah yang punya.

i looked at my other housemate and saw him turned pale as a ghost and the sneakers he was hugging quickly fell from his hand. are you serious??, he said.

my new housemate nodded dismissively. on second thought i don't want it, my other housemate said.

then my new housemate said, syamil do you want them?

hell yeah!, i said.

so i have in my possession, for years now, a pair of dead man's basketball shoes. it's worn out now, old too, but still good. my other pair's making an eeet ooot sound lately, and today i decided to wear the sneakers to work. couldn't help all morning but reminisce about the history behind/under that pair of sneakers.

sometimes for fun, whenever i have them sneakers on, i'd tell the story. i could almost feel people inching away from me. hee!

it makes for a good story, though. : )