Nasi Kangkang - The Maid with Black Magic

Part 3

March 30, 2017

It's been a bit of a mysterious and slightly worrying day today. I'm not really sure what has been going on or what I should really do about it. I have a secret stash of money I keep for myself, stored up in a metallic jug, on the very top shelf of a unit in my study. I've kept it there for years in fact, my husband does know about it, but he's happy for me to keep it saved up for a rainy day, besides he barely needs the few extra bits of money I earn from the tiny bits of work I do for people. It's just mine, I've nothing to spend it on, it's just a little saving pot I have put away. But today, I did a little bit of editing work for a neighbour, for which they insisted they'd pay me a nominal fee for, but when I pulled my jug down from the top shelf, I felt pretty certain that it was a lot lighter than it usually is.

It's hard to say, because I honestly don't count up the money I have in there, but I am pretty convinced that there was a lot more coinage in the jug, the last time I accessed it, in fact, I am ninety nine percent certain that it was at least three quarters full last time and before I added to it today, it would have been lucky to be half full. I am not one to point the finger of blame at any point in my life, especially when I am not certain of the facts, but to my mind, there was only one place my money had gone to. There was no way my husband would have taken from my jug, neither from necessity nor spite, and my son couldn't have helped himself, he wouldn't find it and at two years old, would not have the slightest interest in cold, hard cash. No, if my estimation of how much cash had been in that jug was correct, there was only one person likely to have taken it, and unfortunately that was Diana.

April 1, 2017

Today I thought my husband was playing an April Fool's prank on me. It's not really a holiday or calendar date (whatever you'd care to describe it as) we don't adhere to too much here in Singapore, but I honestly thought he was having a laugh with me. I quickly found out he wasn't and now, well I feel a little distraught. It all started when I plucked up the courage to speak to him about Diana and my missing secret savings. I'd kept it to myself and mulled the situation over in my own mind for over twenty-four hours. I'd struggled with the sense of the occurrence and battled with my own self-doubt, convinced I'd made an error, I'd driven myself half mad even in an attempt not to be pointing a cynical finger of blame, but despite all my efforts, there was no way around my doubts and no acceptably alternative solution, it just had to be her.

I waited until my husband and myself had been served our evening meal by Diana (well he had, and I had cooked for myself) and she was well out of the way. I casually asked him what he thought of her and he quickly told me that he was very pleased with the way she'd improved our home life and fitted into our family. I nodded in agreement with him and he asked me what I thought. I told him I thought similar, but then I asked him if he' d taken any cash from my jar. Well, he was quite angry with this query, insisting that I knew full well he'd never take my personal earnings, to which I burst out that I knew, and I actually thought Diana had stolen it. And to my surprise he looked at me with a frown and berated me with the fact that he didn't believe that Diana would ever do such a thing and that Indonesian workers were amongst the most trustworthy and honest in the world.

Well, at first, I laughed thinking he was joking and giggled as I reminded him that pranking on April first was over by teatime. My husband looked at me puzzled again and claimed he didn't know what I was on about, Diana was not a thief and that it was probably all my stupid fault, either I'd not earnt what I thought or I'd forgotten I'd spent it. He thought I was ridiculous and from then to the point of me writing this three hours later, he still hasn't spoken to me.

April 3, 2017

Things are difficult in our household at the moment, it's still all a little tense between me and my husband. We are talking and getting along, but every time I mention Diana, he jumps right down my throat and insists I hold my tongue if I don't have anything positive to say about her. Its becoming quite difficult as I am still convinced that Diana was responsible for taking my money, but he still won't have any of it. I think the whole tone and dynamics of the household seem to have shifted a little. Every meal Diana cooks for my husband is the best he's ever eaten; her cleaning is immaculate every time and he is generally overjoyed by the home help he has hired. I feel that Diana has really settled in well, perhaps a little too well.