Tuesday, February 19

Mat

A Character sketch:


They called him Mat. No one knows his real name, but nobody has ever asked. Why would they? They all come from a place where no one goes to make friends. A place where no-one wants to be, where the law puts you to repent for your sins, or just leave you to die. It’s their fault for breaking the law. Useless scum, father used to call them, murderers, pillagers, rapists, thieves, the lot. You break the law and you’ll just end up like them, he would also say, looking at me right in the eyes. Mother said they are people who are just a waste of breath and life, who are nothing but a burden and shame on the rest of us normal folk. A bit unfair, I think. Not all of them were bad at heart.  

Mat was one of the good ones. Quiet guy, never really said much, or start a conversation. But when he did talk, he’d treat you like an old friend, with sincerity that was reflected on his face. Not everyone could do that, make you feel welcome with just a look, but I guess he had just the right eyes for the job. Like sparkling marbles they were, resting in his wrinkled eye sockets like someone crudely stuffed them in there. Whenever you spoke to him, all you would look at are his eyes, and thank god for that too, as the rest of his face wasn’t really a pretty sight. He had the bulbous nose of a Dutch monkey and the lips of a donkey, with wrinkles that traveled around his face like mountain ridges. And as if that wasn’t enough, his cheeks sagged like old dough. But he didn’t give a rat’s arse how he looked. Mat was happy in his books. He loved them more than his life.

Mat worked in the library. Not the public library, of course, but the useless scum wanted to read too, so they made a library just for them. And Mat called it home. He spent his days, his evenings, and his nights in the library, reading every book, savoring every word. Dickens, Dante, Lovecraft, Hemingway; Mat would read them all. Heck, he would even read them twilight books if there was nothing else to read. And when not burying his face in books, he’d find enjoyment in arranging the books by letter, or sometimes by author, or sometimes by year. He’d switch the system around now and then, out of boredom most probably, but Mat had always been a perfectionist. Even though his clothes were drab just like the rest of inmates, he always made sure to keep them clean. Mat liked it that way.

Friends? Mat didn’t need them, but I guess he had a few. There was Yusof and Talib, who shared his interest in books. Those three would talk until the cows went home in the library. But they talked strictly literature, nothing else. There was Kassim, a young fellow, who treated Mat like a granddad of sorts – asking for advice, that kind of thing. Heard that the advice did Kassim quite a bit of good too, if the tales are true he now owns a shop down Ampang street, which he bought with the money he worked for after being made a free man. Nice to hear that, a former scum turning things around for himself after being released; wish I could say that about Mat.

What happened to Mat, you say? Well due to good behavior the law let him out early. Mat never asked for it, mind you, he was probably let out to make room for more inmates. Poor guy, the library was all he ever cared for; he had nothing left for him on the outside. But the law didn’t care, and Mat was set free, and given a job at the grocers. An old man like that, working 9 to 5? Of course Mat couldn’t handle it; drove the poor man crazy. And then one day, just like that, Mat took his own life. Sad really, but no one expected different from a guy whose entire life was based within those walls. They shouldn’t have ever let him out, he didn’t belong with us normal folk, especially because he didn’t have his books with him. But I guess that’s just fate, and Mat died by his own hands. I wish I could say that there is moral to this story, but there really isn’t. Maybe I could say that, even though we normal folk think otherwise, life and happiness can be found in the weirdest of places, even in a place filled with useless scum. 

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