It was shocking, I must say, when my 5-year-old brother, aka the-cool-kid, innocently asked, “Why aren’t you buried, Dad?”

“Why should I be? I am still alive.” Dad smiled while Mum and I gave a nervous chuckle.

I tried to assess if the-cool-kid was attempting a bad joke. Yet he looked genuinely curious.

“You had been hit by a motorbike, hadn’t you?” The-cool-kid reasoned. “Why are you still alive?”

It is still too early to explain that fact of life to a five year-old, ay? I flinched.

“Well, I did get a broken leg,” Dad said, “but since my time to die hasn’t come, I live on.”

“Why?” The-cool-kid still posed questions. “What do you mean what-time comes and what-not?”

Hmm… maybe it is time to explain death to the-cool-kid. 

Later that day, we received news that one of our neighbours passed away.

I flinched.

It was the latest in a series of losses during the past three months. First, an acquaintance's daughter died of an illness. Then, a friend’s mum passed away. And then, My granduncle died. And then, my uncle (Dad’s younger brother) died due to a complication after a “collision” —two days before my uncle died, when we received the news of the accident, Dad reminisced that all the men from his side of family seemed to fall victim to traffic accident— caused a severe internal organ damage. And then, another uncle (Mum’s elder brother) died of stroke.

I felt as if death was closing in my social and family circles,  getting nearer and nearer to me. It made me wonder if I was afraid of dying, and why, should my time come now. It shouldn’t be considered unhappy thoughts,  I told myself. It is a fact of life.

Just moments ago, some boys buried a cat in front of the house. One of them ran over it. The cat didn’t die immediately, ran, and managed to get into our yard and died there. It had looked as if it had been sleeping deeply when we’d found it. The boys, bearing the responsibility, had dug a grave and buried the cat. This makes our yard grave to four deceased cats over the years.

So I told myself one more time that it is a fact of life.

Still, I flinched.