What is a sarongutan? Part 2

The day after I graduated from school mom said to me, “Hugh, you need to know something about who you are and where you’re from. Please follow this map and meet your uncle, who lives in the jungle by the Kinabatangan river. Don’t worry about finding him. He knows who you are.”

I have an Uncle? In the Jungle?

Being curious I set off on my journey. After two days of trekking in the jungle I found my uncle at a village. I was shocked! He looks exactly like me, orange fur and cute face and all. Looking around, I noticed everyone in the village looks like me.

“Hugh? Where’s your sarong, boy?” he asked me.

It was then that I realized everyone there was wearing a sarong too. Why is everyone wearing a sarong? Why am I always the only one not wearing a sarong? My uncle could see I was confused. He sat me down and said, “I believe your mom said I need to tell you something.”

“Years ago we were going through a long, wet and rainy spell here. It rained non-stop and it affected everyone. We couldn’t sleep, play or hang. Everyone was miserable because it was always dark and everybody’s fur was always wet.”

“Gee, that sounds like not a lot of fun,” I said.

“You bet your orange behind it wasn’t! Our spirits were drenched and drained. Then one glorious day, something weird happened. I remember it was around noon that day and the rain was pouring as usual, but far up in the sky the rain started changing colors. We could see little dots of blue and pink and yellow slowly appearing all over the grey skies. Then suddenly, one of it fell on my lap. It was a sarong - bold and blue and soft to the touch. One by one these sarongs fell from the skies. It must have been in the thousands. But something magical happened when one of us put it on...”


To be continued…