A fresh old talent

"Ugh, why does my head hurt so much?"

I had been living quite a healthy life till now and this is truly the first time I feel like my head as if cracked open.

"It hurt"

Am I gonna die now?

That kind of eerie thought can't help but pop out in my mind once a cold sweat starts to drenched my back and my eyes become blurry.

How long does it last I wonder?

Once that feeling finally disappears, I reach my shaky hand to the walls and then decide to go the bathroom in order to wake myself up.

A good thing that the electricity already back or else, I might need to stay still on the bed while feeling helpless and scared.

After a few splashes of water to my face, I then go back toward the bedroom at which the smell of burn suddenly reaches my nose.

Tilting my head in wonder, I then look around and start to realize that the smell actually comes from the phone beside my bed. In a panic, I then grab the phone, trying to turn it on, and yet it didn't budge even after a few tries.

"Is it short circuit?"

Looking around and found no source of that is possibly its reason, no water, no power source, nothing, I can't help but tilt my head in confusion with what's going on.

How come it dead just like this? What should I say to my granddaughter later? It's such a precious thing that she gave to me and I broke it just like this.

When I was about to be even more panicked, a weird buzzing sound suddenly reaches my ear from the phone in my hand, making my eyes widened in shock.

Not even recover from it, the smartphone suddenly turned on, and it starts to function normally as if the problem before never there to begin with.

Scratching my head in puzzlement, I then turn the phone upside down, shaking it, and then give up because I really know nothing about technology.

"...let's go to the town and look for a phone service"

It might be such a waste of money, and I might be cheated because of my old age but still, I don't want the precious gift that I receive to become broken when I am actually capable of preventing it from happening.

"But...it's still midnight so let's sleep again for now."

After doing the night errand and then go to sleep again, I then again woke up dead morning around 5 o'clock and then decide to tend my little vegetable garden not forgetting to do some exercise beforehand.

With my sight checking all the things that need to be done for this morning already finished, I then taking a preparation such as money, the phone, ATM card, and ID card before taking my foot out of my house.

If you wonder why I brought my ID with me, it's so that if things ever happened to me, then people could tell who I am and confirm it to the police.

I mean, such an old age couldn't be taken lightly after all.

What if your eyesight becomes bad all of a sudden and then a passing car suddenly rams into your body? Or what if that when you accidentally slipped and bang your head to the ground? Or what if that I can't control my emotion and then my heart starts to stop?

There are a lot of causes for someone of my age to be the end of me so I need to prepare at least the basic, which was, my Id.

"Hohoho, my habit of only thinking for the worst seems quite sharp"

Now is around 6:30 and some car and bike could be sighted quite a lot now. In my village, it's not like there is no asphalt road, making my house to be isolated. You can say that the road already exists, but on the left and right of it are all a forest.

No big building, no modernization.

If you ask me whether there is a small shop around, then it does, 100 meters from my house.

Because of the old ancestor of ours, all of that forest and around it automatically claimed to be their's, the descendant.

And at the time, there is still a lot of lands to be shared, so such a cramped neighborhood only a few steps away is non-existent in my village. At least it's 10 meters apart from 1 house to another, making the people around here become prone to be swindled of their land price.

I remember that one of my friend's stupid son who gets a hold of a land certificate sold one of his rubber plantations for only 10 million rupiahs (around 700$) cash just so that he can drink and smoke as much as he like with his friend.

The tragedy is quite fierce to the point of murder.

Of course, he can't take it back, and thus he lost his precious source of income for a mere change, making the beating worsen.

Well, it proves that us, the villager, hold quite some land to the point that one even dares to sell some for a little money. That's why at such a place, public transportation was not needed because even the there is a road, and villages on both sides of it, the actual person living in it is not that much anyway.

If one really needs to go back and forth to the market in the nearest city, they can just use their own bike or car by just selling one the land and the problem is done.

But for me, I can't do it so it troubles me for quite some time until then I fortunately found the solution.

He is Rizal, the minority of head of the family around who actually have a car.

it's a pick-up car that's being used to carry vegetables and fruit to be sold directly to the town market.

If you don't want to trouble yourself, you can sell it to your neighbor for a cheaper price, and the said neighbor would sell it at a higher price later. The thing is, it's really cheap to the point of making one cringe.

I am someone who actually sells it to him, and thus now become his acquaintances. After a few greetings and a little haggling, I manage to lower the ride by only 5 thousand for back and forth.

Just for your information, you can use that much money to buy 1 kg of water spinach, that's how cheap it is if you want to sell to your neighbor.

"Grandpa, you better came back before I finish my thing on the market, or else don't blame me if I leave you behind! Hmph"

After saying such a thing, he then snorts with annoyance and then starts to unload all of his prodcut.

Smiling in understanding, I then leisurely look around for a phone service booth around the hectic place where mud, water, and rotten smell of vegetables and meat linger around.

"Walk faster you a**hole! Don't you know I am a busy person!?? Do you want to compensate me if I lose customer!??"

The place is very crowded, making people's mood quite problematic but I am already used to it so I just hunch my back in order to take as little space as possible.

*Bump Bump *Thud!

Sometimes my shoulder or feet bumped or stamped accidentally, so it seems I need to get out of this cramped place or just ask people around.

Fortunately, I am finally found the booth I am looking for.

After taking a sit on the counter chair, I then take the phone out of my pocket and then give it to the young man around 30 y/o to be checked.

"...old man, are you okay? Your hand is shaking you know. Do you want some water?"

"Hohoho, it's fine it's fine. I just feel quite excited to be in such a crowded place that's so different than my village"

"...Well, honey, can you prepare warm water for him?"

Hmm, such a nice and caring young lad. I am glad such a person is the one who will check my precious. After waiting for the water to be boiled for a minute for warming, I then said my purpose and the man finally begin to check the phone.

"Here is the water, grandpa. Are you okay?"

"Hohoho, thank you very much for caring for this old man. I am fine, am fine ho ho ho"

The wife is a good lad too, such a heartwarming family they are. Looking around while waiting is the only thing I can do. Of course, ms. wife sometimes talks with me, which I know that she did because she is afraid I would be bored.

And after around 30 minutes of pleasant waiting, the man finally finished his check and put it on top of the glass counter in front of me.

"First thing first, I want to assure you that I found nothing weird with your smartphone oldman. I also smell a little burnt, but weirdly enough, all of its parts are still brand new. The version is not the latest, so the software performance should be mediocre, but when I checked, its benchmark is weirdly too high for its type...Ah, I am sorry, do you understand what I am saying??"

"...Benchmark is the standard, and performance is about its speed process??"

"Wow, ah, I am sorry. It's just quite something that I let out my thought there. It's the first time I saw someone from an early generation knowing such a thing so it shocks me a bit"

"I am shocked too."

"??? What do you mean?"

Well, weird information is flowing in my head automatically, a thing that I know nothing about but now as if something that I already absorbed before.

-Welcome, master-

And a weird text also actually flashing in front of me right now.

"It's English"

"W-what are you talking about???"

Even the man starts looking at me in worry so I can't help but also worried too.

Am I infected with a weird illness now?