Funny story on Christmas Day.

 By : Jannerson Girsang*)

Childhood story is fun. Some books of autobiography or biography fail to dig  funny childhood stories that make readers sometimes feel monotonous and boring. I have a story that always made me laughing at myself, any time it appears to my memory.


 It was Christmas 1966, when I was five years old. On the day, I was so happy and excited about getting a Sunday School liturgy for the first time. Moreover, I got happier because my parents bought new shoes with soles of wood.

Let me tell you my parent and condition of my village. Long before their marriage in 1960, my parent has lived in a small village of Nagasaribu, Simalungun, approximately 100 kilometers south of Medan, Indonesia. It is located 1400 meter above sea level. Christian-brought by Europe missionaries, entered the village in 1909 when a women was baptized on the year.  
 
No children wore shoes to school or to Sunday Shcool. Every one was "nude leg". Even in the Christmas days, only a few children were getting new shoes. Oh, it’s so poor we were at the time. No Santa Claus, like nowadays.

Funny story happened when my turn came to say verse recitation from the front of the church. We call it “pajojorhon". I would like to perform different, I did not want to be like other kids walking slowly, but I ran at full speed. My head almost touched the pulpit where the preacher preaches, because I could not "brake".

My shoes lauded noise when touching the church floor. The entire congregation laughed and the church became hectic!

Arriving at the front of the church, I stood facing the congregation, at the same time the congregation laughing at me. I laughed at them too, as if nothing happened at all. My behavior made them laughed even more boisterous.

Standing in front of the church, I began to get nervous. I kept talking and moving, turned to my right side of the first row of a turn. When I counted, I was in a fifth of ten children.

I was impatience and  shouted: "Hey, quick ...!". My friends spoke too soft and slow. My Sunday School teacher warned me. "Hey, please in order and wait your turn" he yelled.

Afterward, when my turn came, I pronounced my verse recitation as hard as I could. Luckily there was no microphone at the time. If using a microphone, perhaps the church could collapse!. Many congregations babbling, however, some were felt funny and laughed. I did not care!.

After finishing my verse recitation, the woman teacher shouted at me. But I ignored her!. In fact, I immediately ran back in a full speed to my seat, just left other friends who had not had a turn.

When I ran, friction between my shoes on the floor, again generated sound so loud, that broke the silence in the 12 x 24 square meter church. Even my friends who were still wating for turn should wait until I sat down again. Untill all  things calm down.

Once seated, I watched my friends and taunting them. "O. .. oh ... oh," I said, taking out my tongue.

Every time the memory raises in my mind, I would have laughed at myself like a madman.

Are you laughing too?. An unforgettable story in my lifetime!.
Do not miss telling your childhood memories!.


*)Writer lives in Medan, Indonesia. Contact : harangansitora@gmail.com
First Pubilication at : http://www.harangan-sitora.blogspot.com