Dang, Lupus has been unusually sweet today. Sitting in the middle seat, reading the newspaper, or petting Lulu’s little dog, Gegi. No signs of him wanting to mess with people. Usually, that kid can’t stay still. Can’t let others have peace. Always making everyone annoyed.
Lulu, who usually gets teased every day, felt like something was missing when Lupus acted so sweet. Feeling like something was off. Her body felt tense, not ready to fight with Lupus.
“Lupus, hey, are you still alive?” Lulu finally couldn’t resist speaking up. Lupus, who was busy reading a book in the living room, didn’t care. He just got up and went to his room.
“Come on, tease us, Pus…”
Lupus didn’t respond. Lulu got annoyed. She slammed her magazine and grumbled. Ugh, he won’t even tease people. Let alone do any work? Lazy bum!
And according to Lulu, that lazy bum has been acting weird lately. On Saturday nights, he dresses up too nicely. Sometimes even wearing a suit. It’s strange. Usually, he doesn’t even bother to dress neatly, never tucking in his shirt.
“Hey, have you seen my suit?”
See, just as he was mentioned, that lazy bum is busy looking for his suit again. Lulu tried to remember, what day is it today? Right, Saturday. So that lazy bum…
“Lulu!!! Have you seen my suit???” Lupus shouted right in Lulu’s ear. Lulu got startled. Then she responded angrily, “NO!!! Am I a laundry person or what?”
Grumbling, Lupus walked to the ironing area. Then he started making a fuss again, searching for his suit.
Lulu decided to tease him again.
“Pus… Pus, I have a riddle. What suit can’t be worn but sounds good?”
“I don’t know!”
“Just the way you are.”
Lupus rolled his eyes. He rummaged through the pile of dry clothes in the big basket. Lulu’s socks, Aunt’s apron, napkin, handkerchief, everything flew in the air. Lupus searched through it all. It felt like a whirlwind. Five minutes later, he finally found his suit, helplessly tucked away among the dirty rags and cheesy pick-up lines. Damn, who had the audacity to classify his beloved suit with those cheesy pick-up lines?
So annoying!
“Luluuuu…,” Lupus yelled again.
Lulu appeared, happily licking her chocolate ice cream.
“So, you’re the one who put my suit in this pile of cheesy junk?”
“Oh… that’s your suit, huh? I thought it was a cloth for wiping the stove…”
Lulu immediately got hit with a sock.
At half-past seven in the evening, when Lulu peeked from behind the window, Lupus looked so stylish in his black suit. It was a young-style suit, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Lupus was chatting away with Gusur and Boim, who also looked sharp. Especially Boim, his hair was slicked back and neatly combed. As for Gusur, he looked a bit fancy with his white shirt that had red-yellow-green frills. Oh, that mischievous kid!
Lulu managed to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“So, is Anto coming too?”
“Yeah, he said he would. But why hasn’t he arrived yet?”
“Never mind. The important thing is that you got a loaned car, Im. Let’s just pick up Anto. But tell him he needs to dress up nicely too.”
While they were engrossed in their conversation, Lupus’s mother came out. She was quite surprised to see the well-dressed kids.
“Oh, where are you all going?”
“Um, Auntie, someone is getting married. We’re invited,” Boim calmly answered.
Lupus’s mother looked at Boim.
“Well, Boim looks handsome like this too…”
Boim, who didn’t expect to receive praise from his potential mother-in-law (yeah, Boim considered Lupus’s mother as his potential mother-in-law because he has had a crush on Lulu for a long time), blushed. But Lupus quickly intervened, “Just be honest, Mom. He’s a twin, after all. A twin of a broom. The one who sweeps the floor. Hahaha…”
Lulu, who was peeking from the window, joined in the laughter. Gusur did too. Only Boim was cursing, “Instead of Lupus, Auntie. His twin is a bunch of coriander. Hahaha…”
“What about Gusur?” Lulu joined in the teasing.
“Oh, Gusur is different. Kind of better. His twin is a sack of rice. Hihihi…”
With confidence, Boim parked the car in the parking lot of the meeting hall. In front of the entrance, there were decorations made of coconut leaves. Then, one by one, Boim, Lupus, Gusur, and Anto got out of the car. They entered the building and joined the queue of guests.
After fighting over the guestbook (Well, because the one receiving guests was a girl who could be flattered), and receiving a small fan as a souvenir, they went straight to the food area. Gusur and Boim’s faces already showed signs of extreme hunger. They immediately grabbed plates and picked up everything they could find. Including small tissues that they thought were layered cakes.
Anto was a bit puzzled.
“Hey, Pus. Wouldn’t it be better to congratulate the bride and groom first with a handshake?” Anto said.
“Later, Nto. The queue is still long. It’s better to not get a handshake than not get any food,” replied Pus.
Anto went along with it. That kid is really obedient. Rarely complains, except when his money gets stolen.
After each of them managed to get their food, they quickly looked for a safe place to devour it. And also a strategic place to get more. Gusur was the most crazy about it. He went back and forth four times to grab food. Finally, he showed up with his martabak telur. The other guests looked at him enviously. This kid has a huge appetite. Never gets full when eating.
As for Lupus, after grabbing some fruits, he showed up with a strawberry ice cream.
Anto was satisfied enough with the light snacks like tablecloth, teaspoon, fork…
“Wow, this party is legit. All kinds of food are here,” said Boim while devouring his pudding.
But a few moments later, Gusur started showing strange symptoms. Dazed, like a chicken about to faint. Seems like he’s drunk. Because there were strange sounds coming from him. Hic-hic-hic. Just like that.
“What did you drink earlier, Sur? Drunk on AO, huh?” Lupus asked anxiously.
“I don’t know… hic, I was looking for a drink… hic, found this… hic…”
Anto, Lupus, and Boim immediately examined Gusur’s murky-colored drink. They were all suspicious. Maybe it was someone’s leftover drink that Gusur drank. Hahaha.
It was getting late, and they were starting to calm down. They were full. They started wandering around the room to find new crushes. Boim even managed to introduce himself to a girl who was a beauty fence. Meanwhile, Lupus and Anto were engrossed in conversation with the receptionist. Only Gusur wasn’t having any luck. Even though he had put on a 20% discount.
At half past ten, Gusur started making a fuss about going home. That’s how he is when he’s not popular. Likes to envy other people’s happiness.
Reluctantly, the other kids had to go home too. At the front door, Anto suddenly remembered something.
“Hey, Pus, why haven’t we congratulated the bride and groom yet?”
“What’s wrong with you? Insisting so much on congratulating them?”
“But it’s not nice. We were invited, given food, and we’re not going to congratulate them?”
“You do it then, Nto. I’ll leave it to you. I don’t even know the bride and groom.”
Anto was puzzled. “Don’t know them? Why did they invite you?”
“Who got invited? We weren’t invited at all.”
Anto became even more puzzled.
Oh, Mama’s Boys, let me tell you. You just found out that every Saturday night we always go together to find free food. It’s easy, dude. We dress up nicely and look for buildings that have wedding parties going on. We just walk right in. Nobody notices us. And if we have to congratulate the couple, we just shake hands. No big deal. The groom probably thinks, “Oh, this must be the bride’s friend.” And the bride thinks the opposite. So it’s all good, right? The most important thing is that we fill our bellies. Right, Sur and Im?”
Gusur and Boim nodded.
Anto grumbled. He didn’t really like it. He regretted going with these naughty kids. He said it’s a sin.
But a week later, it turned out that Anto was the most diligent in picking up Lupus to be a little smuggler again. Wearing a suit, neat hair, slick pants…
“After thinking about it, it’s not really a sin, Pus. Because, you know, we’re kind of helping those rich folks finish their food. Instead of wasting it, right? It’s like saving some pocket money.”
Lupus nodded.
“Yeah, To. It’s just sad to see all that food go to waste when people worked hard to prepare it and no one eats it…”
They laughed while waiting for Gusur and Boim who promised to come.
