After days of hard work—from collecting contributions from residents and raising extra funds to wrapping the prizes and preparing the equipment for the contests—the long-awaited, blessed, and peaceful day finally arrived... well...
What that means is, the day everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived: the Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia.
As usual, Mr. Baskoro and the other neighborhood chairs joined the marching procession at the subdistrict office.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Ayu, in her role as neighborhood chair, along with the mothers and children from Neighborhood Unit 01, joined the carnival in their district association.
Never doubt the existence of the residents of Neighborhood Unit 01.
They took part in every inter-neighborhood contest organized by the district association, without exception.
There were decorated gate contests, soccer in sarongs, and even decorated tumpeng contests.
And now, Mrs. Neighborhood Chair was leading her troops to liven up the district association's carnival as the Neighborhood Unit 01 contingent.
Carrying a tank, a helicopter, and an airplane made from old instant-noodle boxes, they became the best team and earned a prize consisting of a set of cleaning supplies.
"Now, let's head back to the Neighborhood Unit 01 field, ladies!" Eka, head of the Neighborhood Unit 01 Youth Council, herded the still-euphoric mothers back to their habitat.
"Wooooo!" they shouted in unison.
Once things got like this, there wasn't a single one of these mothers who could resist shouting along.
"First up, we have the cookie-eating contest, ladies!" called Nadia, a Youth Council member and Mrs. Siska's only daughter.
"Whoever eats the most cookies, right? That's gonna be tough, Nad! Your old mom's toothless!" shouted Mak Erot.
"No, Ma'am! There's only one cookie, and you put it on your forehead. You have to move your face around so the cookie slides down into your mouth," Nadia explained.
"Oooohhh..." Mak Erot let out a long, drawn-out oh.
"In that case, Mrs. Astuti is definitely going to win. Her nose is practically nonexistent. The cookie can go straight from her forehead into her mouth."
Mrs. Ayu glared at Mak Erot for not filtering her words. But the woman being glared at just played it cool.
She looked right and left, hoping the neighborhood secretary hadn't heard her. Luckily, Mrs. Astuti wasn't at the scene.
"Come on, who wants to go first?" Eka called, inviting someone to step up.
"I do! I do!" The enthusiasm turned out to be absolutely incredible.
In an instant, the first five contestants were lined up in front of the Youth Council committee.
Mrs. Mira, Mrs. Siska, Mak Erot, Ceu Kokom, and Fadil's Mom were ready, cookies perched on their foreheads. Both hands had to be held behind their backs.
"Ready? And... go!"
Mrs. Mira, Mak Erot, Ceu Kokom, and Fadil's Mom wiggled their faces around, hoping the round black cookies would agree to slide down into their mouths, which had been open from the start.
They didn't care what their faces looked like now.
Mak Erot furrowed her already wrinkled brow.
Fadil's Mom kept blinking, hoping to make the cookie feel flattered enough to slide down into her mouth.
Mrs. Mira took a different approach and kept exercising her mouth. She puckered her lips, then pulled them back quickly, hoping the cookie would move, though in reality it didn't budge.
Ceu Kokom had her own method. The woman who had been rumored the day before to have been cheated on by her husband kept shaking her head, making the cookie slide back and forth instead of downward.
And Mrs. Siska...
Mrs. Siska did absolutely nothing. She stayed cool, wearing a sweet smile.
She simply let the black cookie sit on her forehead without doing anything at all.
"Why are you just standing there, Mrs. Siska? Your cookie's never going to come down like that," Mrs. Ayu said amid the spectators' wild screams.
"It's okay, Mrs. Neighborhood Chair. The important thing is that I still look pretty on camera," Mrs. Siska replied, keeping her smile firmly in place.
Mrs. Ayu gaped.
"There are actually people who operate like that?"
*** To be continued...
That's only one contest, dear readers! There are still more exciting contests tomorrow. Don't forget to keep reading!!