Act 6, Scene 2: Silence

A couple of things happened today erasing the possibility of it turning into a boring day.

1) I got a call on the home phone at about 11 in the morning. It went as follows:

Me: Assalamualaikum (Peace be upon you)

Hysterical Girl (in Mandarin): Father, help me... I've been kidnapped/in trouble. (From what I could gather from my 4 years spent in a Chinese secondary school)

M: (pauses) You've got the wrong number.

HG (suddenly stop crying and returns to a normal speaking voice): Orh..Byebye.

I sat down on the couch expecting nothing from it. I mean, I know it's a scam where these callers randomly call up numbers and say they're the daughter/sister/niece/granddaughter and that they've been kidnapped and beg for the relatives to pay for their ransom. But it gets me that the person getting the call will not ask for the caller's name to verify their identity and whether they're truly their relative.

Furthermore, I guess these victims fall into the moment so they don't bother to confirm. But what if they get a family that only has sons. Do they then get a boy to call the family again? Incredulous, you say? Because this was what happened a few minutes later.

*phone rings*

Me: Assalamualaikum.

*in background, a man can be heard screaming in a threatening manner; most probably directed at the girl for the added effect for the kidnap call*

At this point, I knew the scammers were back.

HG (in Mandarin): Father, help me. I've been kidnapped/in trouble.

Me (in a calm but frightening tone): Look, if you don't stop calling, I'm gonna call the Police. And then I'm gonna go with them and KICK YOUR ASS...

*click*

*engaged tone*

Hahahaha...they were probably scared off by the Police comment but I just felt like repaying them for brightening up my day with their jokes with one of my own. =) Of course, I had prepared a more R rated one where I would ask the girl for sex but that would have taken too long and HG couldn't keep up her act for long, I gather.



2) I met with an accident today. Nothing serious but I almost died from the shock. Haha. Ok, this was what happened.

I was riding my bicycle to tuition, like I always do. But it was drizzling today. I had this weird feeling cos I initially had wanted to take a bus, which I had never felt like doing before.

So anyway, as I was nearing the place, I saw a sign which said 'No bicycles on footpaths' but I disregarded it cos I've ridden it so many times before. But not long after I passed the sign, my bicycle skidded.

Now, initially, I kinda expected it to skid because I saw that the path had suddenly become slippery. So I kinda just rode through the skid. But then, it got worse. I skidded onto the road. Into the path of an oncoming taxi. And it was accelerating by the sound of its engine revving. So I rolled around and pushed myself out of its way. I managed to kick my bike out of its way too, into the opposite road which was empty.

The fella did an emergency brake. Ha..I swear to you his face was paler than mine when he came out of the cab to check on me. But I was alright other than some bruising to my hip and thigh and ankle from the impact of the skid. Nothing happened cos of the taxi so after making sure I was ok, I told the cabby to go cos it wasn't anything. My bike had a few scratches and I tore my sandals but physically I was fine. So I said a little prayer to thank God for keeping me alive and went about repairing my stuff. Funny thing was, a couple of people saw it, even one guy sitting under the block less than 5 metres from where I fell, but none came up to offer me help.

My bike chain had come off but it was still workable and my sandals were torn, which I fixed with a plastic bag twisted into a rope of some sort. And off I was cos the block was less than a minute's ride away. But I was drenched.

You never know the seriousness of an event until you replay it through your mind. And I seriously didn't think anything of it until I was on my ride back.


What if I had been a split second slower in my skid or even my journey?


What if I hadn't seen the taxi coming and was slow to push myself out of its way?


What if the cab driver hadn't seen me and continued accelerating?



The answer: I guess I wouldn't be sitting here typing this out then. Alhamdullilah.

I realise there are many other things for me to consider in my life than my troubles. A simple journey I have done numerous times nearly took my life today.

But I am thankful for everything I have and the people I have around me. And for being able to sit here and type out one more entry. =)