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Apologies for this extremely overdue chapter... *happily ignores all glares* Here's chapter 13 without further ado then!
Chapter 13: The truimph of the Tieh (Note: Alliteration)
As soon as the Tieh had gone, Ahsoh said, 'We must move from this place at once, it will be wanted for other purposes. We shall encamp tonight at the netball court.'
There was a loud inward groan from everyone, for they knew that the night would be a hard one. However, everyone was dying to ask her what she had done with the Tieh, but she had cranked her Glare of Intimidation to the highest such that no one dared get within 2 feet of her. Some of them were also grumbling about the damage she had done to their eardrums with that last yell.
After a meal, which was taken on the field in the open-air (everyone had to stand so as not to make their immaculately white skirts muddy), they were busy for a while taking the tents in the Conference Room down and clearing up their mess (mind you, they were cursing and swearing so much, it's unfit for your innocent ears to behold the evil). Before two o'clock, they were finally done and set off towards the field.
While they were walking down, Ahsoh explained to Marissa her plan of campaign. 'As soon as she has finished her business in these parts,' she said with a snort, 'the Tieh and her crew will almost certainly fall back to her Office and prepare for a seige. You may or may not be able to cut her off and prevent her from reaching it.' She then went on about the plans of battle. Unfortunately, Marissa was not very attentive, and for this, got a yelling at. 'You should act like a RESPONSIBLE MEMBER OF SOCIETY. WHEN I AM TELLING YOU SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT, YOU LISTEN.'
Marissa then argued, 'But Ahsoh, you will be there!'
Ahsoh just had a terse reply of 'I can give you no promise of that.' Surprisingly, her eyes filled up with tears, and shocked Marissa into listening to the rest of the plans.
For the rest of the walk, it was Jolene and Xinrong who saw most of Ahsoh. She did not talk very much, and seemed to be sad. However, she still glared at them when they were ahsohing about computers.
It was still afternoon when they got down to the field. There was a big puddle of water in the middle (a lake, as the Tieh wanted). Ahsoh gave out the orders to halt on this side of the water. But Marissa said, 'Wouldn't it be better to camp on the far side- for fear she should try a night attack or something?'
Ahsoh, who seemed to have been thinking about something else, roused herself with a stamp of her heels into the soft ground, only succeeding in splattering mud over her bohemian skirt. She cursed in an undertone, then went 'Huh?' at Marissa.Everyone turned around to stare in wonder at the Ahsoh. She realised her mistake and went 'pardon?'. Marissa then repeated her question.
'No,' said Ahsoh in a dull voice, as if it didn't matter. 'She won't. And you think I've lost my mind by not having thought of this?' And then she sighed deeply. But presently, she added, 'All the same it was a stupid question. That is how a soldier ought to think, not a commander. But who cares?' So they proceeded to pitch their camp.
Ahsoh's mood affected everyone that evening. Marissa was feeling uncomfortable too, at the idea of fighting the battle on her own; the news that Ahsoh might not be there had come as a great shock to her ('Finally I'm free of her glare!'). Supper that evening was a quiet affair. Everyone felt how different it had been last night or even that morning. It was as if the good thumbs, having just begun, were already drawing to their demise.
This feeling affected Jolene so much that she couldn't get to sleep, despite the scoldings she got for disturbing the others. She lay there, counting sheep and turning over and over when she heard Xinrong give a loud sigh and turn over just beside her in the dark.
'Can't you get to sleep either?' said Jolene.
'No,' said Xinrong. 'Not when your fat ass keeps bumping into me. Anyway...'
'Si mi?' (what)
'I've a most horrible feeling- as if something were hanging over us.'
'You stupid girl, that's just a nightmare. But interestingly enough, so do I.'
'Really?'
'Yes, it's something about Ahsoh,' said Jolene (at her side, Xinrong rolled her eyes and went 'Aduh!'). 'Xinrong! What was that she said about not being with us at the battle? You don't think she could be stealing away and leaving us tonight, do you?'
'Where is she now?' asked Xinrong. 'Is she here in the tents?'
'I doubt it...'
'Oi! Let's go outside and have a look round. We might see her without getting glared at.'
'Fine... Let's go,' said Jolene; 'we might just as well see what she is *doing*.'
Very quietly, the two girls groped their way among the other sleepers (Xinrong treading lightly on Marissa; the latter still snored on) and crept out of the tent. The moonlight was bright and everything was quite still except for the buses rumbling past the school. Then Jolene suddenly caught Xinrong's arm and said, 'Look!' On the far side of the camping ground, just where the tennis court was, they saw Ahsoh slowly walking away from them and into the school building. Without a word, they both followed her.
She led them up the secret staircase at the back of the school and up to the 3rd floor. On and on she led them, into dark shadows and out into the pale moonlight. She looked different from the Ahsoh they knew. Her hair was in a frenzy, and her heels were missing. She walked really slowly, as though unused to the pink Hello Kitty bed slippers she had borrowed from Xinrong. Then, when they were in a corridor where there was no where to hide, she cranked up her glare of intimidation and turned around.
The two girls screamed; her eyes seemed to gleam in the moonlight. As they could not have run away, they walked towards her.
'Why the heck are you following me?!'
'Um... We couldn't sleep?' said Xinrong tentatively- and then felt sure that she need say no more and that Ahsoh knew all they had been thinking.
'Please, may we come with you- wherever you're going?' asked Jolene.
'Yeah, to hell,' said Ahsoh, and seemed to be thinking. Then she said, 'I should be glad of company tonight. Whatever, come if you wish. And don't blame me if you really do go to hell tonight.'
'Thanks a LOT. But anyway, we shall follow you,' said the two girls.
On and on they went again, and each girl walked on either side of Ahsoh. But how slowly she straggled! The two girls grew rather impatient, but did not say a thing. Presently, she stumbled and gave a low moan. Two square-ish objects fell out of her hands.
'Ahsoh!' said Xinrong, 'what the hell's wrong? Can't you tell us?'
'Hey. What're those?' asked Jolene.
'Nothing's wrong,' said Ahsoh. 'Xinrong's Hello Kitty fluffy bedslippers are just too tiny for me. And pretend you did not see those square things.'
At that, she bent down and picked them up, but Xinrong had gotten there first.
'To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho... Hey, we did these in LA! What're you trying to do, Ahsoh?' asked Xinrong.
'Ok, fine...' said Ahsoh, 'I'm going to teach the Tieh LA. That was our deal for Sera's life. I don't expect to get out of there alive though.'
'Oh Ahsoh! How noble of you!' said Xinrong, and presently started sobbing.
They continued walking on, with Xinrong still quietly sobbing. Presently, they reached the Tieh's office and Ahsoh stopped and said,
'Now go, or you will be turned to stone!'
With this, she walked straight into the Tieh's office (author's note: moral courage is often seen to be folly).
The two girls decided to peek in though the glass window of the Tieh's office despite Ahsoh's warning ('Oh the stupid crazy woman, she can't stop us from doing what we wish'). They saw Ahsoh cautiously approaching the Tieh, and take out the two books.
First, they started with enunciation. 'Repeat after me,' said Ahsoh, 'E-NUN-C-IA-TION'.
'A-NON-SEE-AH-TION,' the Tieh tried, with great difficulty.
'NO,' said Ahsoh, 'it's E-NUN-CIA-TION.'
'Oh sut up, Ahsoh,' said the Tieh, 'get to the real stuff.'
'This IS the real stuff,' protested Ahsoh.
'Huh?'
'DON'T HUH AT ME!'
At this, the Tieh brandished out her wand, and turned Ahsoh, who was still holding the two books, to stone.
I like how Xinrong just seems to adore Ahsoh, don't you? *winks*
6:52 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
My sincerest apologies to the loyal fans with their undying love for this 'series', for I haven't had the time to get down to the task of writing Chapter 12 till a few days back, when my holidays begun. As such, here it is without further ado!
Chapter 12: The Rule from the Dawn of Nanyang
'Yes! And have her rescued,' said the Tieh scornfully.
'Then,' said Hengky, 'we had better do what we have to do at once.'
'I would like to have it done on the Conference Room C long table itself,' said the Tieh. 'That is the proper place. That is where it has always been done before.'
'It shall be a long thumb now before the Long Table can again be put to its proper use,' said Hengky.
'True,' said the Tieh; and then, 'Well, I will begin.'
At that moment, with a rush, one of Makgrim's colleagues tottered rapidly up to them.
'Oh holy Tieh, I have seen them. They are all at the long table, with Her. They have killed Makgrim! I was at the stairs, and thus saw the action. One of the gers killed her. Fly, fly!'
'No,' said the Tieh. 'There need be no flying. Go with a sense of urgency. Summon all our people to meet me here as quickly as possible. Call out the cleaners and the canteen vendors and the external instructors on our side. Call the teachers, and whoever you can get. We will fight. What? Don't you all fullheartedly want to win? I will turn all of them to stone. Be off quickly, I have a little thing to finish here while you are away.'
The minion bowed, turned, and hobbled away with a sense of urgency.
'Now!' she said, 'we have no table- let me see. We had better put her against the teacher's table.'
Sera found herself roughly forced to her feet. Hengky then set her with her back against the teacher's table and bound her fast. She saw the Tieh take off her jacket. Her arms were bare underneath and terribly white and scaly. Because they were so white, she could see them, but she could not see much else, for it was so dark in the classroom with the doors and windows shut.
'Prepare the victim,' said the Tieh. Hengky took Sera's hair and pulled her head back so that she had to raise her chin. 'You stupid midget, don't spoil my carefully conditioned hair!' Sera shouted. After that, Sera heard a strange noise -whizz whizz-. For a moment, she couldn't figure out what it was with her puny brain. Then she realized it was the sound of hydrochloric acid burning into the concrete floor of the classroom.
At that very moment, she heard loud shouts from every direction -a pattering of feet and a beating of fists- a scream from the Tieh- confusion all around her. And then she found herself being untied, Arms were round her and she heard big, kind voices saying things like-
'Let her lie down -give her some coke- drink this- you'll be fine soon.'
Then she heard the voices of people who were not talking to her but to one another. And they were saying things like 'Who's got the Tieh?''I thought you had her.' 'I didn't see her after I knocked the glass bottle out of her hand- I was after Hengky- do you mean to say she's gone?' '-A chronic ger can't mind everything at once- what's that? Oh, sorry, it's only an old textbook!' Just at this point, Sera went off in a dead faint.
Presently, the group of chronic gers (ADUH, they had been sent by Ahsoh in the previous chapter) all set off to saunter back to the Conference Room C, dragging Sera along with them (she was too heavy for a group of chronic gers to carry, you see). But if they could have seen what happened in that classroom after they had left, I think they might have died of a cardiac arrest.
It was a beautiful night, and the moon was high; if you had been there you would have seen the moonlight shining on an old toad and a sculpture of a thumb. But if you had gone on looking, you would gradually think there was something odd about both the toad and the thumb. And next you would have thought that the toad did look really remarkable familiar. And if you had watched long enough, the toad would have hobbled over to the thumb and the thumb would sit up and begin talking to the toad, for in reality, the toad and the thumb were simply the Tieh and Hengky. Of course, had you stood there this long, you wouldn't be reading this since you would have been turned into stone. Anyway, it was part of the Tieh's magic to make things look like what they aren't, and she had the presence of mind to do so at the very moment when the bottle was knocked out of her hand. She had kept hold of her wand (cued gasps!), so it had been kept safe too.
When the other gers were awoken the next morning (they had been assigned sleeping bags; Marissa got a blue one, Jolene a purple one and Xinrong, her favourite pink Hello Kitty one), they realised that it was irritating Irene who had disturbed them. She was shouting that Sera had been rescued and brought into the Conference Room late last night; and was at the moment with Ahsoh. As soon as they had had breakfast, they all went out, and there they saw Ahsoh glaring at Sera as she lectured her. Obviously, there's no need for me to tell you what Ahsoh was saying, and it was definitely a 'conversation' Sera never forgot. As the others drew cautiously nearer, Ahsoh turned the target of her Glare of Intimidation to them, dragging Sera with her.
'Here's your sister,' she said, 'and- there is no need to cluck about what I said.'
Sera shook hands with each of the others and said to each of them in turn, 'I'm sorry,' and everyone said, 'You ought to be.' And then everyone wanted very hard to say something which would make it quite clear that they were angry with her- something ordinary and natural- and of course, no one could think of anything in the world to say, since this particular story is aimed at teenagers like you and I, and would definitely not tolerate rough language. But before they had time to feel really furious, one of the gers approached Ahsoh and said,
'Madame, there is a note in your pigeon hole from the enemy who craves audience.'
'Let her approach,' said Ahsoh.
The ger went away and soon returned leading Hengky.
'What is your message, Hengky?' asked Ahsoh irritably.
'The Queen of Nanyang and the Empress of the Bus Stop desires a safe conduct to come and speak with you,' said Hengky, 'on a matter which is as much to your advantage as to hers.'
'Queen of Nanyang, indeed!' said Bao. 'Of all the cheek-'
'How many times have I told you it's rude to interrupt,' snapped Ahsoh at Bao, 'Anyway, all names will soon be restored to their proper owners. In the meantime we will not dispute about them. Tell your mistress, Hengky, that I grant her safe conduct on the condition that she leaves her wand outside the English staffroom.'
This was agreed to and two gers escorted Hengky back to ensure that the conditions were properly carried out. 'But supposing she turns the two gers to stone?' whispered Xinrong to Marissa. I think the same idea had occured to the gers themselves; at any rate, as they walked off, they were looking pale like before a major exam.
'It'll be all right,' whispered Marissa in reply. 'Ahsoh wouldn't send them if it weren't.'
A few minutes later, the Tieh herself walked out on to the top of Nanyang and came straight across and stood before Ahsoh. The three gers who had not seen her before felt shudders running down their spines at the sight of her face; and there were low murmurs among all the gers present. Though it was bright sunshine, everyone felt suddenly cold. The only two people present who seemed to be quite at ease were Ahsoh and the Tieh herself. It was the oddest thing to see those two faces- the Glare of Intimidation which had been cranked to the highest level possible, and the dead-white face so close together. Not that the Tieh looked Ahsoh exactly in her eyes; no one would.
'You have a traitor here, Ahsoh,' said the Tieh. Aduh, it was Sera. But Sera had gotten past thinking about herself after all that she'd been through and after the lecture that morning. She just went on looking at Ahsoh. It didn't seem to matter what the Tieh said.
'Well,' said Ahsoh. 'Her offence wasn't against you.'
'Have you forgotten the First Rule?' asked the Tieh.
'Perhaps I have...' answered Ahsoh threateningly. 'Tell us of this Rule.'
'Tell you?' said the Tieh, her voice growing suddenly shriller. 'Tell you what is written on that very Long Table which stands beside us? Tell you what is written in letters at the front of Nanyang? Tell you what is engraved on the pillar of the bus stop? You at least know the Rule which the Empress put into Nanyang at the very start. You know that every traitor belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery, I have the right to turn to stone.'
'Oh,' said Bao, 'So that's how you can to imagine yourself as Queen- because you were the Empress' executor. I see.'
'Shut up, Bao,' said Ahsoh, with a menacing voice. 'And so,' continued the Tieh, 'that human creature is mine. Her life is forfeit to me. Her blood is my property.'
'Come and take it then,' said a ger, with a loud snort.
'Sucker,' said the Tieh with a savage smirk that was almost a snarl, 'do you really think your mistress can rob me of my rights by mere force? She knows the Rule better than that. She knows that unless I have blood as the Law says, all Nanyang will be overturned and perish in stone.'
'It is true,' said Ahsoh, 'I do not deny it.'
'Ahsoh!' whispered Jolene into her ear, 'can't we- I mean, you won't, will you? Can't we do something about the Rule? Isn't there something you can work against it?'
'Work against the Empress' Rule?' said Ahsoh, turning on Jolene with the Glare of Intimidation. And nobody ever made that suggestion again.
Sera was on the other side of Ahsoh, looking all the time at her sublime face. She felt a choking feeling and wondered if she ought to say something; but a moment later, she felt that she was not expected to do anything except to wait, and do what she was told.
'Fall back, all of you,' said Ahsoh, 'and I will talk to the Tieh alone.'
They all obeyed (ADUH). It was a terrible time, this waiting and wondering while Ahsoh and the Tieh talked earnestly together in shrill voices. Xinrong said, 'Oh, Sera!' and began to sob. Marissa stood with her back to the others, looking out at the bus stop. The Baovers stood holding each other's hands with their heads bowed. The gers shuffled around impatiently in their immaculately white shoes. But everyone became perfectly still in the end, so that you noticed even a crow flying past. And still, the talk between Ahsoh and the Tieh went on.
At last, they heard Ahsoh's voice, 'You can all come back,' she said. 'I have settled the matter. She has renounced the claim on the ger's blood.' And all over the building there was a whoosh as if everyone had been holding their breath and had now begun breathing again, and then a loud clucking all over.
The Tieh was just turning away with a fierce look of joy on her face when she stopped and said,
'But how do I know this promise will be kept?'
'What do you think?' glared Ahsoh, half-rising imperiously from her throne. She then opened her great mouth and started screaming, louder and louder till the glass windows of the Conference Room shattered like in the Matrix. The Tieh, after gaping like a goldfish for a moment with her thick lips wide apart, picked up her skirts and fairly tottered away for her life.
P.S: Thanks to Xinrong for the idea of the Glare of Intimidation and the Tieh pyjamas (in the previous chapter). Unfortunately, I have been unable to make enough time in the previous week to write the other 2 chapters that I owe due to school, tests, assignments and church. I promise that I will try to complete them in the shortest time possible, but do not expect much.
1:12 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Here's Chapter 11 that I finished at 12.12AM!
Chapter 11: Marissa's first battle
While Hengky and the Tieh were saying this, miles away the Baovers and 'gers' were walking on hour after hour into what seemed to be a dream. Long ago they had left their hongzhis behind and put on their Hwa Chong PE tees. And by now they had even stopped clucking to one another, 'Look! There are some girls there having a good thumb!' or 'I say, this is whitening my horeezons!' They walked on in silence taking it all in, like looking at an exam paper and reading the questions.
They had just been as surprised as Sera had been when they saw the textbooks abandoned in just a few hours or so. They hadn't even known for certain (as the Tieh did) that this was what would happen when Ahsoh came to Nanyang. But they all knew when this 'thumb' began that something had gone wrong, and badly wrong, with the Tieh's schemes. And after the aura they experienced, they knew the Tieh would no longer be able to use her sedan. After that, they didn't walk with such great urgency as before and allowed themselves more rests and longer ones. They were pretty tired by now of course; but not what I'd call '2.4KM run tired'- only slow and feeling very dreamy and quiet inside as one does when one is in a boring lesson at the end of a school day. Jolene even had a slight blister on her heel like she was wearing one of Ahsoh's high heels.
'Not long now,' said Bao, and began leading them up the stairs above the staffrooms. The climb, coming at the end of the long day, made them all pant and blow. And just as Xinrong was wondering if she should jump off the stairs due to sheer pain in her thighs, suddenly they were at the top. And this is what they saw.
They were on the top floor of Nanyang where you could look down on the field and the road spreading as far as one could see in every direction- except right ahead. There, far to the East, was something yellow. 'By gum!' whispered Marissa to Jolene, 'Macdonalds!' In the very middle of this floor was the Conference Room C. As the doors were open, they could clearly see the long table. It was a great 'made in China' plastic 10M by 5M table with rounded edges and grey plastic chairs. It looked ancient, and it was cut all over by bored chronic gers. They give you a curious feeling when you look at them. The next thing they saw was a tent pitched on one side of the room. A wonderful tent it was -and especially now when the sunlight of the setting sun fell upon it- with sides of what looked like the Tieh's pictures with huge holes in it and cords of crimson and tent-pegs with rubber bands hanging off them; and high above it on a pole a banner which bore a picture of Ahsoh fluttering in the breeze which was blowing in their faces. While they were looking at the magnificient but strange sight, they heard a sound of music on their right; and turning in that direction they saw what they had come to see.
Ahsoh sat stretched out on a couch, with two gers holding humungous banana leaves fanning her in the Egyptian style. The chronic gers had coagulated before her, kneeling down and worshiping the holy one. The String Ensemble was making the horrendous racket which they called music. There were four great councillors in their glorious long-sleeved uniforms. There was also a toilet roll called Timmy, a mouse called Agnes, and Mrs Teo who had revolted against the Tieh. And next to Ahsoh stood two gers called Melesa and Sai, the former carrying her crown and the latter her manicure kit.
But, as for Ahsoh herself, the Baovers and the gers didn't know what to do or say when they saw her. People who have not been in Nanyang sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the gers had ever thought of that at all, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look into Ahsoh's face, they just caught a glimpse of her Glare of Intimidation (TM) and found they couldn't look at her and went all shaky.
'Go on,' whispered Bao.
'No,' whispered Marissa, 'you first.'
'No, gers before Baovers,' whispered Bao back again.
'Jolene,' whispered the cowardly Marissa, 'What about you? Ladies first.'
'No, you're the eldest,' whispered Jolene. And of course the longer they went on doing this the more awkward they felt. At last, Ahsoh lost her patience and went 'Stop clucking, will you? Who's Marissa?'
A meek voice answered, 'Me, your Holiness...'
'You have finally come right? Took your own sweet time...' said Ahsoh. Her voice was shrill and sharp and somehow made them even more frightened than before. They now felt really scared and awkward to stand and say anything.
'Where's Sera?' asked Ahsoh.
'She had tried to betray them and joined the Tieh, O Ahsoh,' said Bao. And then something made Marissa say,
'That was partly my fault, Ahsoh. I was pissed off with her and I think that caused her to go mad.'
And Ahsoh said nothing either to excuse Marissa or to blame her but merely stood glaring at her with great unchanging eyes.
And it seemed to all of them that there was nothing to be said.
'Prease - Ahsoh,' said Xinrong, 'can anything be done to save Sera?'
'It's PLEASE,' said Ahsoh. 'All shall be done, but it may be harder than you think.' And then she was silent again for some time. Up to that moment Xinrong had been thinking how sublime and intimidating her face looked; now it suddenly came into her tiny head that she looked bored as well. But next minute that expression was quite gone. Ahsoh tore at her hair and clapped her hands together ('What beautiful nails you have,' thought Xinrong, 'all the better to scratch our eyes out!') and said,
'Meanwhile, let dinner be prepared. Gers, take our visitors to the tent and attend to them.'
When Xinrong and Jolene had gone, Ahsoh laid her freshly manicured hand on Marissa's shoulder and said, 'Come here, and I will show you a far-off sight of the bus stop where you are to be Queen.'
And Marissa went with Ahsoh to the Western edge of the top floor. There a pathetic sight met their eyes. The sun was setting behind their backs. That meant that the whole country below them lay in the evening light, including the bus stop.
'That,' said Ahsoh, flippantly pointing her index finger at a far off sight, 'is the Bukit Timah Bus Stop of the four orange seats, in one of which you must sit as Queen. I show it to you because you are the first-born and you will be Empress Dowager over all the rest.'
And once more Marissa said nothing, for at that moment a strange noise woke the silence suddenly. It was like a polyphonic ringtone, but richer.
'It is your sister's handphone,' said Ahsoh to Marissa in a low voice; so low it sounded almost masculine, but it is disrespectful to think of Ahsoh to be alike a man.
For a moment Marissa didn't understand. Ahsoh, angry, said, 'I get things like,' and here snapped her fingers twice. 'You gers take forever to understand a simple thing!' And then Marissa understood it as the other gers started forward. Ahsoh said with a wave of her hand, 'Back! Let Marissa try this,' and then Marissa started running off into the sunset towards the tent. There, she saw a dreadful sight.
Everyone was running in every direction. Xinrong was running towards her as fast as her short stubby legs would carry her and her face was even whiter than when she had seen her report book. Then she saw Jolene dash for a tower of chairs, and swing herself up, followed by a rapidly tottering figure in pyjamas. At first Marissa thought it was her granny. Then she saw that it looked like a woman, though in pyjamas. Then she realized slowly that it was Makgrim -tottering rapidly on her heels. Jolene had not been able to get higher than the second tallest tower. One of her legs hung down so that her foot was only an inch or two above makgrim's hands. Marissa wondered why she did not get higher or at least get a better grip; then she realised that Jolene's low blood sugar symptoms were kicking in, and that she was just going to faint.
Marissa did not feel very brave; indeed, she felt she was going to be sick. But that made no difference to what she had to do. She whipped out the special fountain pen Ms Koh had given to her and aimed a stroke of it at Makgrim. The stroke never reached Makgrim. She swivelled around on her heel just in the nick of time, her glasses flashing menacingly in the sunlight and her mouth wide open in the midst of preaching about being respected members of society. If she had not been so angry that she had to preach, she would have killed Marissa at once. As it was- though all this happened too quickly for Marissa to think at all (remember, her brain works slower than the normal rate), she just had time to duck down and aim a stroke, as hard as she could, at Makgrim's 'Tieh-design' pyjamas. Then came a horrible, confused moment like something in a nightmare.
They were staring fiercely at each other and nothing seemed to be damaged. A moment later, Makgrim looked down and realised that her pyjamas were ruined with a huge line right across the Tieh's face. Screaming, she clutched her heart and said 'Oh Tieh, I have disappointed you by ruining your special pyjamas!' and died of a heart attack.
Then, after a bit, Jolene came down from the chairs. She and Marissa felt pretty shaky when they met and I won't say there wasn't any slapping and yelling on both sides. But in Nanyang no one thinks any the worse of you for that.
'Why did you take so long to come? Did you just come from Antartica or something?!' screamed Jolene, 'I could have been killed!' And here, she slapped Marissa. Marissa turned around, livid and shouted 'It's not my fault!' and pulled Jolene's silky hair. 'Oh! My hair, you idiot!' This went on for quite a while until they heard Ahsoh shouting, 'Quick! Quick! Gers! I see another of Makgrim's comrades going down the stairs. She will be going to her mistress. After her, now is your chance to find the Tieh and rescue the fourth ger -oh what a bother!' And instantly a group of the fastest gers ran after the rapidly hobbling figure.
Marissa, still out of breath from the catfight, turned and jumped at the sight of Ahsoh close at hand.
'You have forgotten to recap your pen, idiot,' said Ahsoh, smirking.
It was true. Marissa said 'Huh?' and blushed when she looked down and saw the pen with ink dribbling down the side. She walked over and cleaned it on Timmy, who was conveniently a few steps away.
'Hand it to me and kneel, Marissa,' said Ahsoh. And when Marissa had done so she struck her on the head with the tip of the pen and said, 'Rise up, Madam Marissa Mak's-Bane. And whatever happens, never forget to recap your pen and don't 'Huh' at me.'
Now we must go back to Sera. When she had been made to walk far further than she had ever known that anybody but Eunice Aw could walk, the Tieh at last halted in a dark classroom all overshadowed by used textbooks. Sera simply sank down and lay on her face doing nothing at all and not even caring what was going to happen next provided they would let her lie still. She was too tired to even notice how hungry and thirsty she was. The Tieh and Hengky were talking close beside her in low tones.
'No,' said Hengky, 'it is no use now, O Queen. They must have reached the Long Table by now.'
'Perhaps Makgrim will smell us out and bring us news,' said the Tieh.
'It cannot be good news if she does,' said Hengky.
'Four oranges seats at the Bus Stop,' said the Tieh. 'How if only three were filled? That would not fulfil the prophecy.'
'What difference would that make now that She is here?' said Hengky. She did not dare, even now, to mention the name of Ahsoh to the Tieh.
'She may not stay for such a long 'thumb'. And then- we would fall upon the three at the Bus Stop.'
'Yet it might be better,' said Hengky, 'to keep this one' (here she kicked Sera with her high heels) 'for bargaining with.'
12:13 AM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Chapter 9: The spell begins to break
Now we must levitate back to Bao, Irene, Marissa, Jolene and Xinrong. As soon as Bao said 'There's no time to lose,' everyone began putting on their immaculately white canvas shoes (except for Marissa, who was fortunately flat-footed and thus allowed to wear track shoes), but Irene started picking up their schoolbags and stuffing things in. 'Now, Bao, just reach below the desk. You'll find the extra rations that I've kept there, like cup noodles, potato chips and Kinder Bueno bars.'
'What are you doing, Irene?!' exclaimed Jolene.
'Why, aduh, packing a load for each of us,' said Irene. 'I don't want to become anorexic you know.'
'But we have no 'thumb'!' said Jolene, pulling her socks up for fear of being caught. 'She may be here any minute!'
'That's what any sane person would say,' agreed Bao.
'Shut up,' said Irene. 'Go and 'refract', Bao. By the time she gets her sedan, it'll be half an hour at least!'
'But don't we want as big a start as we can possibly get,' said Marissa, 'if we're to reach the Conference Room C before her?'
'You've got to remember that, Irene,' said Jolene. 'As soon as Makgrim has been here and realises we are gone, the Tieh would be off even faster than Eunice with a teacher behind her!'
'That she will,' said Bao. 'But we can't get there before her anyway, for she'll be on her top sedan, and we? Sauntering there.'
'Then- we have no hope?' said Jolene.
'
Now don't you get all of us down with your cynical remarks,' said Irene, 'but just get half a dozen packets of tissue paper out from under the desk. 'Course we've got hope. We can't get there before her, but we can keep out of her way and go by ways she won't expect.'
'That's true, Irene,' said Bao. 'But it's time we were out of this hole.'
'And you better shut up too, Bao,' said Irene. 'With that voice of yours, the Tieh would hear us from the clock tower! Anyway, there are five loads, and the smallest is for the most puny amongst us: yes, you, Xinrong,' she added, looking at Xinrong, who was blushing in embarrassment, her sisters sniggering away and tiptoe-ing behind her deliberately.
'Yeah yeah, size does not matter, you big fat Goliaths,' said Xinrong spitefully.
'Yes it does,' her sisters shouted back.
'Come on, 'gers', I'm nearly ready now,' answered Irene at last, while Bao was helping her into her canvas shoes. 'I suppose my dressing table's too heavy to bring?'
'ADUH', the other four answered in unison, and all glared at Irene.
'Oh fine,' said Irene, 'I was thinking of bribing the Tieh with it if we were caught... After all, she does need some moisturiser for her hard and scaly skin (1).'
'Irene, please go about with a sense of urgency!' said the three 'gers'. And so at last they all got outside and Bao slammed the doors of the classroom, deliberately leaving the key within ('It'll get us some 'thumb', she said') and they set off, all looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with the loads over their shoulders.
They walked in single file- First Bao, then Xinrong, Marissa, Jolene and last and the least, Irene. Bao gave a live commentary as they went past the ecopond again, and past the guard house ('It's said the Tieh used to use it as a torture chamber', she said, shuddering), and the field before the auditorium. 'Best to keep down here,' she said. 'She'll be unable to go up the clock tower to look at us for we're being blocked by the music block.'
Things were pretty enjoyable for Xinrong initially, strolling and looking at parts of the school she had never seen before. But as they carried on walking, her legs felt like logs and the backpack felt like there were ten dictionaries in it. She soon felt that she couldn't go on, and thus stopped looking at the numerous paintings that were done by the chronic gers lining the walls ('We have to STICK TOGETHER', she repeated over and over again like mantra in her head), and only concentrated on Bao's undone shoelaces bouncing up and down with every step. At last, Xinrong was so tired that she was practising the skill she had taken countless lessons in school to hone: Sleeping with her eyes open. Suddenly, Bao vanished into a fire extinguisher outlet at an obscure corner on the second floor, which was barely visible with the props the chronic gers used in the theatre club.
Xinrong immediately clambered in after her. The others followed in, and they were pushing and jostling each other for more space. 'Ouch, Marissa, get your fat butt out of my face!' Jolene shouted above the scrambling. 'It's YOU who should get your face out of my butt, you pervert!' Marissa screamed back. 'SHUT UP!' bellowed Bao. 'At this rate, the Tieh's not going to need to look for us: She'll hear us right from her private suite, and just 'soot' us right here and now.'
The two fell silent immediately, and there was a long period of silence till Xinrong asked 'Where the hell is this?', sounding absolutely exhausted.
'It's an old hiding-place for us chronic gers to get out of boring lessons like CME', said Irene, 'and a great secret amongst us. It's not much of a place, but we must get a few hours' sleep.'
'If you all hadn't been clucking so much at the hole, I would have gotten some thick books for pillows,' said Irene.
Surprisingly, it was rather comfortable, though not as nice as Zeena Tannus' classroom. It was small, so when they all lay down, they were all a bundle of hongzhis together. 'It would have been much better if the chronic gers on duty had really swept the floor', said the slightly asthmatic Jolene between a sneezing fit.
It seemed to Xinrong only the next minute (though it really was hours later) when she woke up feeling really stiffed and suffering from serious cramps. Then she felt Bao's silky hair brushing past her cheek, and saw the daylight coming through the slits in the door of the fire extinguisher outlet. But immediately after that she was very wide awake indeed, and so was everyone. In fact, they were all sitting up, their mouts and eyes wide open like goldfish listening to a sound which was the very sound they'd all been thinking of (and sometimes hallucinating) during their stroll last night. It was the sound of pattering feet.
Bao was out of the outlet in a flash, her hands balled up into tiny fists at her waist, prepared to execute the highly revered nanzhongquan. Perhaps you think, as Xinrong thought for a moment, that it was a really stupid thing to do? But it was really a very sensible one. She knew that she could run to the next classroom without being seen: and she wanted above all things to see which way the sedan went. The others all sat in the outlet waiting and wondering. They waited for nearly five minutes, and were sure that she had been turned to stone. Irene sat there quietly weeping, and the three gers were devastated. Then they heard something that frightened them very much. They heard shouting. 'Damn it,' thought Xinrong, 'she's ordering Henky to take her back to the office.'
They were elated when a little later, Bao called to them from just outside the outlet.
'It's all right,' she was shouting in her loud voice. 'Come out, Irene and you gers. It isn't Her!' If Bao had written using such grammar in her English paper, she would have failed it with crawling colours, but this is how chronic baovers talk when they are excited.
'Come on!' cried Bao, who was dancing the can-can in delight. 'Come! This is a nasty shock for the Tieh! It looks as if her power is already crumbling.'
'What do you mean, you stupid baover?' panted Marissa as they all ran towards her.
'Didn't I tell you,' answered Bao, 'that she'd made it always the weekdays and never weekends/holidays? Didn't I tell you? Well, just come and see!'
And then they all saw the soul of the world in each others' eyes.
There were four 'Cold Storage' trolleys being pushed by eight people: Two to each trolley. The trollies were filled to the brim with wrapped gifts, big and small. And at the front of the trollies stood Ms Koh, her eyes twinkling.
'I've come at last,' she said. 'She has kept me out for a long time, but I managed to get in the same way as you gers did. Ahsoh is on the move. The Tieh's magic is weakening.'
And Xinrong felt running through her the deep shiver of gladness which you only get if you are being solemn and still.
'And now,' said Ms Koh, 'I've got presents for you this weekend! There is a new and better rosewood dressing table full with Loreal and Mabelline products, Irene. I'll drop it in your hole as I pass.'
'But,' said Irene, 'it's locked.'
'I'll just climb in. No worries,' said Ms Koh. 'And as for you, Bao, when you get back to the ecopond, you'll see that I've added a fresh supply of koi.'
Bao was so pleased that she gaped rudely at Ms Koh and was speechless.
'Marissa,' said Ms Koh, wagging her index finger at Marissa.
'Yes?' demanded Marissa.
'This is your present,' was the answer, 'and it's authentic, not pirated. The time to use it is perhaps near at hand. Bear it well.' With these words, she handed Marissa a gold plated fountain pen. The price tag was still on ('Woah, $300!' exclaimed Marissa), and the gold shimmered in the sunlight.
'Jolene,' said Ms Koh. 'These are for you,' and she handed her a handphone (2) and camera. 'When you use this phone, help will come to you somehow or other, be it pizza delivery in times of hunger or answers for an exam. The camera, on the other hand, is for you to capture some special Kodak moments.'
Last of all, she said, 'Xinrong,' and Xinrong came forward. She gave her a little bottle of what looked like glass (but people said afterwards that it was a special kind of plastic) and a Happy Meal toy. 'In this bottle,' she said, 'there is a cordial made of a juice of some flower in some obscure land which would immediately wake you up, be it from the dead or your beauty sleep. And this Happy Meal toy... I just had Macdonalds and thought you would like to have it.'
Ms Koh then brought out two bars of Lindt dark chocolate and a pot of steaming coffee, shouted 'Long live the Ahsoh!' and ran off with the train of trollies following her.
Marissa was just trying out the pen on the wall and showing it to Bao when Irene said:
'Now then, now then! Don't stand there drawing graffiti till the coffee's cold. Come, we shall have some breakfast!'
So they sat at the wooden benches, and Bao got out some cup noodles for everyone, and Irene poured out the coffee, and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. But long before they had had a good 'thumb', Bao said, 'Time to be moving on now.'
1: Credit of Zeena Tannus, who was fortunate enough to brush against the honourable Tieh's skin.
2: Thanks Hybridphoenix for the idea.
I may change the idea of santa, for it doesn't sound too right on Ms Koh... Ah well. Depends if I have the time. And sorry that I haven't posted the rest of the chapters before this... I'll get this in order hopefully when you guys get back from your various camps.
5:38 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Chapter 8: In the Tieh's Office
And aduh, Sera had just begun her journey to the Tieh's office. Despite the many packets of Mamee Monster Noodle Snacks she had polished off, she was still thinking of the Switzerland Macadamia nut dark chocolates. And she had heard the conversation, but was bored out as she thought the rest of them were ignoring (or dao-ing) her. They weren't, but with her near-schizophrenia state of mind, she'd imagined it. She had managed to stay awake till Bao told them about Ahsoh and until she had heard the whole arrangement of meeting Ahsoh at the Conference Room C long table. It was then that she decided to have a jog to the Tieh's office.
Just as Bao was repeating the rhyme about Ahsoh's smirk, Sera had been quietly crawling out of the hole, at a speed even slower than the many snails lining the walls outside the classrooms of the chronic 'gers'.
You mustn't think that Sera was just after the chocolates: She really wanted the Tieh to turn her sisters to stone so that she could use them as bowling pins, along with all the rest of the Tieh's high quality statues. As the Tieh had treated her well, she believed that she would be nice to her. 'After all,' she said to her imaginary friend, 'Bao and gang say such nasty things about her. Maybe they're her enemies, and it's all just logical fallacies! How could the Tieh do such a thing after treating me so nicely? Anyway, she's definitely better than that awful Ahsoh.'
The first thing she realized when she got outside and saw the tired chronic 'gers' collapsing like snow on the ground was that she had left her Hwa Chong PE uniform back at Bao's hole ('Oh damn,' she swore, 'Mom's going to kill me for this.'). And of course, she couldn't possibly go back, for it would be as good as telling a teacher a month later that you still haven't done her work. The next thing she realized was that the magnificent clock tower was glistening quite far off in the distance. So she pulled the laces of her Addidas shoes even tighter (they had come loose from the uncomfortable crawl) and marched off.
She started to get tired after an hour, and would have given up had she not remembered the idea of the Tieh making her the heiress of Nanyang. 'When I become like Paris Hilton, I will make those escalator-like things they have at the airport gateways,' she muttered once again to her imaginary friend, who was panting far behind.
She finally reached the overwhelming glass doors of the Tieh's office, and walked in. Looking to her right, she saw the Tieh's private suite: Queen-sized waterbed, gold-plated tap, German toilet bowl. 'Ah well... These luxuries are merely peanuts to her,' sighed Sera, dreaming of the day these were hers.
Suddenly, she spotted something short, fat and stout in the doorway. Recognizing it as Hengky, she happily shouted, 'Oi you! Get me something to eat and drink. I'm really thirsty. And where's that Tieh?', not knowing the true motive behind their actions.
Hengky looked up, the word 'surprise' sprawled on her toad-like face, her eyeballs dilating behind those thick, huge glasses. 'What did you say...?' she half-snarled at Sera. Realising that something was wrong, Sera muttered a 'sorry sorry' and politely asked for the Tieh. Hengky then led her to the glamorous office of the Tieh, the diamond-encrusted letters on her door ('Shirlene Tieh, Queen of Nanyang', Sera read aloud to herself) shimmering joyfully in the fluorescent light. She also caught sight of the many statues lining the corridor, some with holes in their heads ('Maybe Changtsai teaches her target practicing on them,' said Sera, half shivering in fright).
Hengky knocked meekly on the wooden door, and a curt 'come in' echoed from within. Sera nervously walked in, and stood before the Tieh's desk with her knees knocking. The Tieh spoke, 'This is not the senang diri position. How many 'thumbs' do I have to tell you to put your hands behind your back?' and promptly shifted Sera's hands to her rear. Sera thought to herself, 'Eww... What cold, scaly skin. She ought to use some of the Neutrogena skin moisturiser.' The Tieh then sat down, and demanded, 'is it only you alone?' As Sera was about to launch into an explanation, the Tieh exploded. 'YOU USELESS THING. I TOLD YOU SPECIFICALLY TO BRING YOUR SISTERS, DIDN'T I?!' Sera then said, 'your royal Tiehness, I've done the best I can. I've lured them quite close... They're currently at the Baover's hole.'
A slow, cruel smirk came over the Tieh's face.
'Is that all?' she asked.
'No, your Tiehness,' said Sera, and proceeded to regurgitate everything she had heard.
'What?! Ahsoh?' cried the Tieh, 'Ahsoh! Is it true? If I find you have lied to me...'
'Pur-lease, I was merely repeating what they said,' the impudent Sera said, 'flicking' her right hand and rolling her eyes.
But the Tieh, who was no longer listening to her, snapped her fingers. Instantly, Hengky appeared.
'Make ready our sedan,' ordered the Tieh, 'and get Changtsai, Nicole, Sabrina and Chowhoon.
Also, send out Makgrim and her team to the Baover's.'
5:38 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
I'm sure all of you have been gripping your chairs in anticipation every time this site has loaded to see Chapter 10, and my sincerest apologies that you didn't get your weekly dose of cgers. For one, my brain has been off on a holiday (or maybe turned to stone), resulting in this late addition to the series.
Once again, my apologies that I have not been able to (a) improve the line up of the posts and (b) not post chapter 10. Here it is now!
Chapter 10: Ahsoh is nearer.
Sera, meanwhile, had been having a really bad 'thumb'. When Hengky had gone to get the sedan ready, she expected the Tieh would start being nice to her, as she had been at their last meeting.
But she said nothing at all. And when at last Sera plucked up her courage to say, 'Prish, your Tieh, could I have some Switzerland Macademian Dark Chocolate?' 'You-you-said-' the Tieh stuttered, pointing a crooked finger at her, 'Silence, ger! Put your finger to your lip!' Then she appeared to change her mind and said, as if schizophrenic, to herself 'And yet it will not do to have the ger fainting on the way,' and once more snapped her finger. Again, Hengky appeared as though by apparating.
'Bring the ger food and drink,' she said.
Hengky went away and presently returned, bringing a 'prastic' bowl with some water and a paper plate with an egg sandwich. She grinned in a repulsive manner as she set the food down on the floor beside Sera and said:
'Dark chocolate for the little princess. Ha, ha, ha!'
'Away with it,' said Sera sulkily, moving her arm like she was swatting a fly. 'I don't want an egg sandwich! I want chocolate! Don't you hear me?!' But the Tieh suddenly turned on her with such a terrible expression on her face that she apologized and began to nibble at the bread.
'If you can't change something, change your attitude! Don't comprain lah,' said the Tieh.
While she was still chewing away, Hengky came back and announced that the sedan was ready. The Tieh rose and went out, ordering Sera to go with her. Sera was still eating when they were getting on the sedan, but the Tieh merely shoved her into the sedan and took no notice of Sera choking on her bread. Before they drove off, she called Makgrim and she came hobbling rapidly on her heels and in her tight pyjamas.
'Take with you the swiftest of your employees and go at once to the classroom of the Baovers,' snarled the Tieh, 'and kill whatever you find there. If they are already gone, then go with a huge sense of urgency to the Conference Room C, but do not be seen. Wait for me there in hiding. I meanwhile must go many miles to the lift before I find a place where I can sedan up to the fourth floor. You may overtake these gers before they reach the Conference room. You will know what to go if you find them!'
'I hear and obey, O Tieh,' growled Makgrim, and immediately hobbled off on her heels, inevitably ripping a little of her pyjamas. There was an announcement calling for some obscure person, and in a few minutes 'thumb', they were down at the classroom inspecting the Baovers' hole. But of course, it was empty.
Meanwhile, Hengky whipped up the minions, and the Tieh and Sera drove out in full glory into the sunset. Sera was tempted to 'comprain' about not being made a princess, but the Tieh didn't look too happy. So she sat there, having a really bad 'thumb' and wishing to meet the others -even Marissa. The only comfort she had now was to believe that the whole thing was a nightmare, and that she might stop her hallucinations soon.
If I carried on about how Sera hallucinated, you people would be reading this till you are weak old ladies. Thus, I will skip to the time day broke, since I'm too poor to get all of you coffins.
Anyway, even after dawn broke in its full glory, they went on, without any sign of stopping even for breakfast. And then at last, the Tieh said, 'What have we got her? Stop!' and they did.
How Sera hoped she was going to get some breakfast! But she had stopped for quite a different reason. A little way off at the foot of a longan tree sat a merry party; some softballers, netballers, a debater and a chorister, all having a nice picnic at a bench. Sera couldn't see what they were eating, but it looked like Twisties and Macdonalds. 'Eww... Imagine the amount of calories and *shudders* transfats!', she said. At the moment when the sedan stopped, the debater, who was obviously the wisest person around, had just risen to her feet, holding a cup of coca cola in her right hand and said 'Down with the Tieh!'. They then turned around and saw the sedan stopping, and all the colour went out of their faces as quickly as the Tieh alighted. The chorister stopped eating with a twistie halfway to her mouth and one of the softballers stopped with a straw in her mouth, and the netballers squealed in terror.
'What's the meaning pf this?' asked the Tieh. Her voice echoed around in pure silence.
'Speak, ger!' she said again. 'Or do you want Hengky to find you a tongue with her whip? What is the meaning of all this joy, and happiness, and jubilation? Where did you get these from when you aren't allowed to get out of class?'
'Please, O holy Tieh,' said the Debater, 'we were given them. And if I might make so bold as to drink your Tieh's very good health-'
'Who gave them to you?' said the Tieh.
'M-M-Ms Koh,' stammered the Debater.
'What?!' roared the Tieh, springing from the sedan in a flourish and falling over her heels.
Picking herself up, she took a few strides nearer to the gers. 'She has not been here! She can't
have! I told the security guard to keep her out! How dare you- but no. Say you have been lying and you shall be spared.'
At that moment one of the softballers lost her head completely.
'She has -she has- she has!' she shouted, picking up her bat and pointing it at the Tieh's throat.
Sera saw the Tieh bite her lips so that a drop of blood dripped onto her huge stomach. Then she raised her wand. 'Oh, don't, don't, please don't,' shouted Sera, but even while she was shouting the Tieh had waved her wand and instantly there were a few statues around the longan tree (one with the straw still stuck in her mouth).
'As for you,' said the Tieh, slapping Sera over her right cheek as she remounted the sedan, 'let that whiten your horeezons as to not ask favour for spies and traitors. Drive on!' And Sera for the first time in this story felt sorry for someone besides herself. It seemed so pitiful to think of those statues sitting there all through the lessons, term after term.
Now they were steadily racing on again. And soon Sera noticed that the textbooks which tired chronic gers had left behind grew less than before. The sedan also grew slower, the minions dragging their feet along the floor. As much as Hengky tried to whip them, they could not move faster. There also seemed to be a curious voice around them, but Hengky's clucking drowned it out. Finally, the sedan pullers would not go on, as though there was an invisible wall infront of them. 'The aura, the aura,' one called out. When that happened, there was a moment's silence as the words echoed around. And in that silence, Sera could finally listen to the other noise. A strange, loud chattering and cheering- and yet not so strange as she had heard it before- if only she could remember where! Then suddenly, she was enlightened. All around them though out of sight, there were girls running around laughing and playing in the sunshine. Sera's heart gave a great leap when she realized that it was all over, and that the Tieh's realm was finally ending. She listened to the girls telling each other jokes, but she didn't get much 'thumb' to listen to them for the Tieh said:
'Don't sit there having such a good thumb! Get out and help!'
And of course Sera had to obey. She stepped out and began helping Hengky look around for someone to save them. They gave up in the end, and by threatening to sack the minions, Hengky got them to move again, and they drove a little further. However, the minions again refused to move after a little while, and no matter what Hengky threatened, they would not budge. Resigned, she said:
'It's no good, your Majesty Tieh,' said Hengky. 'We can't sedan with these idiots.'
'Then we must walk with a sense of urgency,' said the Tieh.
'We shall never overtake them walking,' growled the dwarf. 'Not with the start they've got.'
'If you can't do anything about it, change your attitude. Don't comparain!' said the Tieh. 'Do as you're told. Tie the hands of this ger behind her. And take your whip. And cut the chains of those minions; they'll find their way back.'
Hengky obeyed, and in a few minutes Sera found herself being forced to walk as fast as she could with her hands behind her back in senang diri position. She got tired after some time, but each time she slowed down, Hengky started clucking and sometimes flicked her whip. The Tieh sauntered behind Hengky and kept on saying, 'Sense of urgency, sense of urgency!'
As they walked on, Sera noticed that there were no more worksheets and textbooks lining the corridors. Instead, Hongzhis lay abandoned and girls were openly reading literature texts like Shakespeare. The Tieh visibly shuddered with rage, and Hengky said :
'This is no assessment book. This is Literature! What are we to do? Your realm has been destroyed, I tell you! This is ahsoh's doing!'
'I agree fullheartedly with you, but if either of you mention that name again,' said the Tieh, 'she shall be instantly 'sot'.'
Comments please! (sent to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com) Thanks!
5:38 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Chapter 7: What happened after dinner
'And now,' said Xinrong, 'tell us what's happened to Zeena Tannus.'
'Uh, that's bad,' said Bao, shaking her head. 'That's a really terrible business, worse than failing an exam. There's no doubt she was dragged off by the secret police in CSI: Nanyang. I got that from a crow who saw it done.'
'But where's her carcass been dragged to?' asked Xinrong.
'Well, they were heading northwards when they were last seen and we all know what that means...'
'No, we don't,' snapped Jolene. Bao shook her head in a really gloomy fashion.
'I'm afraid it means they were taking her to her Office,' she said.
'But what'll they do to her, Bao? Use her blood as ink?' gasped Xinrong.
'Well,' said Bao, 'you can't exactly say for sure. But not many taken in there ever see the light again. All full of terracota statues they say it is- in the sick bay and staffroom and general office.
People she's turned with the help of Mrs Teo into' -(she paused and shuddered) 'stone.'
'But, Bao,' said Xinrong, 'can't we- I mean we must do something to rescue her. It's all because of me that it's happened...'
'I don't doubt you'd save her if you could, dearie,' said Bao, 'But you've no chance of getting into that Office against her and ever coming out alive.'
'Couldn't we have some stratagem?' said Marissa. 'I mean, with our experience in Choral Night and Odyssey of the Mind drama skits'- (she patted her chest proudly) 'we could dress up as something, or pretend to be -uh... Makgrim or something- or watch till she has gone out -or- oh, damn it, there must be some way. This chronic girl saved my sister at her own risk, Bao. We can't just leave her to be, or can we...?'
'It's no good,' said Bao, 'no good trying. But now that Ahsoh is on the move-'
'Oh yes! Tell us about Ahsoh!' said several voices at once; for once again that strange feeling- like the end of the exams, had come over them.
'The million dollar question: Who is Ahsoh?' asked Jolene.
'Ahsoh?' said Bao. 'Why, don't you know? She's the Empress Dowager! She's the Duchess of the library, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time or my Limpeh's time. But the word has reached us that she has come back. She is in Nanyang at this moment. She'll settle the Tieh all right. It is she, not you, who will save Zeena.'
'She won't turn her into stone too?' said Sera.
'Good Lord, what a stupid thing to say!' answered Bao with an incredulous look. 'Turn her into stone? Stone's too ugly for Ahsoh... Maybe marble but never stone. Though if the Tieh can stand on her two feet and look ahsoh in the face, it'll be the most the Tieh can do and more than I expect of her. No, no. Ahsoh'll put all to rights as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:
Wrong all be right, when Ahsoh comes in sight,
At the sound of her shriek, the Tieh will freak,
When she unleashes her glare, a hongzhi Makgrim would wear,
And when she pulls her hair, you better beware.
You'll understand when you see her.'
'But shall we see her?' asked Jolene.
'Why, you idiot, that's what I brought you here for. I'm to lead you to where you shall meet her. In a place where there is no darkness,' said Bao.
'Is-is she a Lion?' asked Xinrong innocently.
'Ahsoh a Lion!' shrieked Bao. 'Certainly not! You're mixing this up with 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. I tell you she is the Queen of the worksheets and -ah, if I continue, it'll be morning. Don't you know who is the Woman of Women? Ahsoh is a woman- the AHSOH, the greatest of women.'
'Ooh!' said Jolene, 'I'd thought she was a guy who would seduce the Tieh... Is she- quite sane? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting her...'
'That you will, dearie, and no mistake,' said Irene; 'if there's anyone who can appear before Ahsoh without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or just more crazy.'
'Then she isn't sane?' said Xinrong.
'Sane?' said Bao; 'don't you hear what Irene tells you? Who said anything about sane? 'Course she isn't sane. But she's good.'
'I'm longing to see her,' said Marissa, 'even if I do feel frightened and will quake in her holy presence.'
'That's right,' said Bao, bringing her hand down on the table with a crash that made all the textbooks and worksheets fall to the floor. 'And so you shall. Word has been sent that you are to meet her, tomorrow if you can, at the long table of the Conference room C.'
'Where on earth's that?' said Xinrong.
'I'll be your tour guide,' said Bao. 'It's down that staircase, up the other one, around the drinks dispenser, up the ramp, around the benches and up tons of stairs etc. Quite a long way from here.'
'Damn it. Just as I was thinking of catching my beauty sleep,' said Xinrong angrily. 'Fine, but what will happen to Zeena?'
'The quickest way you can help her is by going to meet Ahsoh,' said Bao, 'once she's with us, then we can begin doing things. Not that we don't need you too. For that's another of the old rhymes:
When four girls do their homework
And no longer shirk
The evil will end with Ahsoh's smirk.
So things must be drawing near their end now she's come and you've come. We've heard of Ahsoh coming into these parts before- long ago, nobody can say when. But there's never been any of you girls here before.'
'That's what I don't understand, Bao,' said Marissa, 'I mean wasn't the Tieh herself a girl?'
'She'd like us to believe it,' said Bao, 'and it's on this that she bases her claim to be Queen. But she's no 'ger'. It's because of this that she is jealous, and has thus reduced all of us to this chronically ill state.'
'True enough, Bao,' replied Irene, 'there may be two views about 'gers' ('no offence', she added sheepishly at the fierce glares of the group). But there's no two views about things that look like 'gers' and aren't.'
'And that's why the Tieh is always on the lookout for any other 'gers' in Nanyang,' said Bao, 'She's been watching for you all this while, and if she knew there were four of you she'd be more dangerous still.'
'What's that to do with it?' asked Marissa.
'Because of another prophecy,' said Bao, 'Down at the Bus Stop- that's the Bukit Timah stop with Bus numbers 66, 67, 74, 171, 174 etc- there are four orange seats and it's a saying in Nanyang that when four Hwa Chong 'gers' sit in those four seats, then it will be the end not only of the Tieh's reign but of her life, and that is why we had to be so cautious as we came along, for if she knew about you four, your lives wouldn't be worth a shake of my silky 'Pantene anti-dandruff shampoo' -smelling hair!'
All the gers had been so engrossed in what Bao was dictating that they had noticed nothing else for a long time. Then during the moment of silence that followed Bao's last resonating remark, Xinrong suddenly said:
'I say- where's Sera?'
There was a dreadful pause, and then everyone began asking 'Who saw her last? How long has she been missing? Is she outside?' and then all rushed to the hole and looked out. The rain was falling heavily and steadily, and there were little puddles around. Out they went, round the classroom in every direction. 'Sera! Sera!' they called till they were hoarse. But the hammering rain seemed to muffle their voices and there was not even an echo in answer.
'How perfectly irritating!' said Jolene as they at last came back in despair. 'Oh, how I wish we'd never come!'
'What the hell do we do now, Bao?' said Marissa.
'Do?' said Bao, who was already putting on her immaculately clean white canvas shoes, 'do? We must be off at once. We haven't a moment to spare!'
'We'd better divide into search parties,' said Marissa, 'and all go in different directions. Whoever finds her must come back at once and-'
'Search parties zoa simi (what for in Hokkien)?' said Bao.
'To look for Sera, ADUH,' said Marissa.
'There's no point in looking for her,' said Bao.
'What do you mean?' said Jolene. 'She can't be far away yet. And we've got to find her. What do you mean when you say there's no use looking for her?'
'The reason,' said Bao, 'is that we already know where she's gone!' Everyone stared in amazement. 'Don't you understand?' said Bao. 'She's gone to her, the Tieh. She's betrayed us all.'
'Oh, surely not!' said Jolene. 'She couldn't have done that.'
'Can't she?' said Bao, looking very hard at the three gers, and everything they wanted to say keeled over and died on their lips.
'But will she know the way?' said Marissa.
'Has she been here before?' said Bao. 'Has she ever been here alone?'
'Alas,' said Xinrong, in a harsh whisper. 'I'm afraid she has.'
'And did she tell you what she'd done or who she'd met?'
'Well, no, she didn't,' said Xinrong.
'Then mark my words,' said Bao, 'she has already met the Tieh and joined her side, and been told where she resides in. I didn't like to mention it before but the moment I set eyes on that sister of yours I said to myself 'Bloody hell!'. She had the look of one who has been with the Tieh and eaten her food. You can always tell if you've lived long in Nanyang; something about their eyes.'
'All the same,' said Marissa like she had just choked on the digestively challenged food of the canteen, 'we'll still have to go and look for her. She is our sister after all, even if she's really nasty and idiotic.'
'Go to the Tieh's office?' said Irene incredulously, 'Don't you see that the only chance of saving either her or yourselves is to keep away from her?'
'What the hell...?' said Xinrong.
'Why, all she wants is to get all four of you (she has been thinking of the four orange seats). Once you four are inside her Office, her mission would be accomplished-and there'd be four more high-quality 'Made in Nanyang' statues in her collection for all to enjoy. But she'll keep her Sera alive as bait to get the rest of you.'
'Somebody help us!' said Xinrong.
'That person has to be Ahsoh,' said Bao, 'we must go on and meet her.'
'It seems to me, dearies,' said Irene, 'that it is very important to know just when she slipped away. How much Sera can regurgitate would depend on how much she heard. For instance, had we started talking about Ahsoh before she left? If not, then we may do very well, for she won't know that Ahsoh has come to Nanyang, or that we are meeting her.'
'I don't remember her being here when we were talking about Ahsoh-' began Marissa, but Xinrong interrupted her.
'Oh yes she was, you forgetful ass,' she said miserably; 'don't you remember, it was she who asked whether the Tieh could turn Ahsoh into stone too?'
'So she did,' said Marissa; 'damn this brain of mine.'
'Worse and worse,' said Bao, 'and the next thing is this. Was she still here when I told you that the meeting place was the Conference room C long table?'
And of course no one knew the answer to this five mark source based question ('If only Ms Koh was here', sighed Marissa).
'Because if she was,' continued Bao, 'then the Tieh'll simply sedan in that direction and get between us and the Conference room and catch us on our way down. In fact we'll be cut off from
Ahsoh.'
'But that isn't what she'll do,' said Irene, 'not if I know her (actually, I don't- not that well). The moment that Sera tells her that we're all here she'll set out to catch us this very night, and if Sera's been gone about half an hour, she'll be here in about another twenty minutes.'
'You're right for once, Irene,' said Bao, 'we must all get away from here. There's not a second to lose.'
5:38 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Chapter 5: Into Nanyang.
'I wish Uncle Heng would hurry up and take these bunch of dodoheads away,' said Jolene presently, 'I'm getting horribly cramped.'
'And what a dusty old place we're in!' said Sera.
'I expect the brooms haven't been used for ages,' said Jolene, 'except in the old times when teachers were allowed corporal punishments.'
'There's something sticking into my back,' said Marissa, 'and it's hard. What's the matter with this place? I'm sitting on something made of plastic, and my ass hurts.' She struggled to her feet.
'Let's get out of this damned place,' said Sera, 'they've gone trotting into the sunset already.'
'O-o-oh!' said Jolene suddenly, and everyone asked her what the matter was.
'I'm sitting against a flagpole,' said Jolene, 'and look! It's getting light- over there.'
'Good Lord, you're right,' said Marissa, 'and look there! Another flagpole! And this plastic thingum's a dustpan. Why, I do believe we've gotten into Xinrong's land after all!'
And now there was no mistaking it and all four children stood blinking in the daylight of Nanyang. Behind them were hongzhis hanging on pegs, in front of them the two flagpoles.
Marissa turned at once to Xinrong.
'I apologize for not believing you,' she said, 'I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?'
'ADUH,' said Xinrong, and did.
'And now,' said Jolene, 'what do we do next?'
'Do?' said Marissa, 'why, go and explore this place, of course.'
'Ugh!' said Jolene, stamping her feet, 'I feeling out of place for no reason. What about putting on some of these pillowcase-like things?'
'They're not ours,' said Marissa doubtfully.
'I'm sure nobody would mind,' said Jolene; 'it isn't as if we wanted to take them out of Hwa Chong; we shan't take them even out of the broom closet. But for all we know, they may be Uncle Heng's, judging from his poor fashion sense.'
'I never thought of that,' said Marissa. 'Of course, now you put it that way, I see. No one could say you had bagged a hongzhi as long as you leave it in the broom closet where you found it. And it's really true about Uncle Heng.'
They immediately carried out Jolene's brilliant plan. The hongzhis were rather too big for them so they came down to their knees and looked more like oversized aprons than hongzhis when they had put them on. But they all felt a good deal better and each thought the others looked better in their new get-up and more suitable to the landscape.
'This is going to be so exciting!' said Marissa, as she began leading the way forward into the Science block. There were heavy darkish clouds hanging like garbage bags overhead.
'I say,' began Sera, 'oughtn't we be bearing a bit more to the left, that is, if we are aiming for the clocktower?' She had forgotten for the moment that she must pretend never to have been in Nanyang before. The moment the words were out of her mouth she realized that she had given herself away. Everyone stopped and gaped like goldfish at her. Marissa whistled.
'So you really were here,' she said, 'that time Xinrong said she'd met you in here- and you made out she was telling lies.'
There was a dead silence, like in a boring CME lesson. 'Well, of all the mean boring teachers-' said Marissa, and shrugged and said no more. There seemed, indeed, no more to say, and persently the four resumed their journey; but Sera was saying to herself, 'I'll pay you all out for this, you pack of arrogant, rude abrasive assholes.'
'Where are we going anyway?' said Jolene, chiefly for the sake of changing the dreary subject.
'I think Xinrong ought to be the leader,' said Marissa; 'she's been too demure and gentle to stand up for herself. Where will you take us?'
'What about going to visit Zeena?' said Xinrong. 'She's the nice chronic girl I told you about.'
Everyone agreed to this and off they went walking briskly and with a sense of urgency. Xinrong proved a good leader. At first she wondered whether she would be able to find the way, but she recognized an oddlooking Chinese New Year decoration in one place and a dirty hongzhi in another and brought them on to where the ground became uneven and into the corridor and at last to the very door of Zeena's classroom. But there a terrible surprise awaited them.
The heavy wooden door had been wrenched off its hinges and broken to bits. Inside, the
classroom was dark and cold and had the damp feel and smell of a place that had not been inhabited for several days. Zeena's many worksheets lay all about the floor; the four realised that she had been failing almost all her subjects. Her stationery lay smashed on the floor and the picture of Zeena's mother had been slashed into shreds with a knife.
'This is a pretty good wash-out,' said Sera; 'not much good coming here.'
'What's this?' said Marissa, stooping down. She had just noticed a piece of foolscap paper with grey letters 'Nanyang' at the top stuck to the whiteboard with a magnet.
'Is there anything written on it?' asked Jolene.
'Yes, I think there is,' answered Marissa, 'but it looks more like a piece of abstract art. The curved lines are probably words, but I can't make them out.'
Xinrong snatched the paper over and started to decipher the words.
'The former occupant of these premises, the chronic girl Zeena, is under arrest and awaiting trial on a charge of HIGH TREASON against her Imperial Majesty Tieh, Queen of Nanyang, Chatelaine of the guard house, Empress of the bus stop etc., also of comforting her said Majesty's enemies, harbouring spies and fraternizing with Hwa Chong 'gers'.
signed MAKGRIM, Captain of the Secret High Investigative Team (S.H.I.T), LONG LIVE THE TIEH.'
The girls stared at each other.
'I don't know if I'm going to like this place after all,' said Jolene.
'Who is this Tieh, Xinrong?' asked Marissa. 'Do you know anything about her? She sounds bloody wicked.'
'She isn't a real queen at all,' answered Xinrong; 'she's just another horrible witch who calls herself the Tieh. Everyone, all the chronic girls, hate her. She'd made an enchantment over the whole land a century ago so that it is always the weekdays and never the weekends. '
'I-I wonder if there's any point in going on,' said Jolene. 'I mean, it doesn't seem particularly safe here and it looks as if it won't be much fun either. And it's getting more and more frightening by the minute, and we've got nothing to eat. What about just returning home?'
'Oh, but we can't!' said Xinrong suddenly. 'Don't you see? We can't just go home, not after this. It's all my fault that poor Zeena's gotten into trouble. She hid me from the wicked Witch and showed me the way back. That's what it means by comforting the Queen's enemies and fraternizing with Humans. We must try to be the superwomen of the day!'
'A lot we could do!' said Sera, 'when we haven't even got anything to eat!'
'Shut your bloody trap, you!' said Marissa, still livid with Sera. 'What do you think, Jolene?'
'I've a horrid feeling that Xinrong is right,' said Jolene. 'I don't want to take a step furthur and I wish we'd never come. The truth really does hurt, but I think we must try to do something for Ms -whatchammacallit- I mean, Zeena.'
'That's what I feel too,' said Marissa. 'I'm worred about starving my ass off.. I'd vote for going back and stealing some cup noodles from the staffroom, only there doesn't seem to be any certainty of getting into this country again when you've gotten out of it. I think we'll have to go on, but if only we knew where that blusbering idiot is!'
They were still wondering what to do next, when Xinrong said, 'Look! There's a pig! Maybe even pigs can fly here... But it really looks as though it wanted to say something to us.' Then she turned to the pig and said, 'Please, can you tell us where Zeena the chronic girl has been taken to?' As she said this she took a step towards the pig. It at once flew away but only to the next classroom ledge. There it perched and looked at them very hard as if it understood all they had been saying. Almost without noticing that they had done so, the four children took another step or two nearer to it. At this the pig flew away again and once more looked at them very hard.
'Woah, pigs really CAN fly...' said Xinrong, ' And you know what, I really believe it wants us to follow it.'
'Xinrong! Are you alright?' asked Jolene, putting her hand to Xinrong's forehead.
'Stop being sarcastic, will you? I have an idea that this bird wants us to follow it too...' said Marissa.
The pig appeared to understand the matter thoroughly. It kept going from tree to tree, always a few metres ahead of them, but always so near that they didn't have to practice their 2.4 KM runs. Presently the clouds parted overhead and the glorious sun came out and it was nice and sunny again. They had been travelling this way for about half and hour, with Xinrong and Jolene in front and Marissa and Sera following. Sera then said to Marissa, 'If you're not still too high and mighty to talk to me, I've something to say which you'd better listen to.'
'What is it?' asked Marissa.
'Hush! Not so loud,' said Sera; 'there's no good frightening Xinrong. But have you realized what we're doing?'
'What?' said Marissa, lowering her voice to a whisper.
'We're following a guide we know nothing about. How do we know which side that pig is on? It may well be the Tieh, who may even be able to transform herself!'
'That's a nasty idea... But well, it's the only clue we have left.'
'Ok, we'll let that be then. But does anyone know the way back home from here?'
'Oh damn!' said Marissa, 'I hadn't thought of that... We should have done a Hansel and Gretel
with the stones at the flagpoles!'
'Yeah... And now we have no chance of dinner either,' said Sera.
5:31 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Chapter 6: A day with the Baovers
While the two were coagulating behind, Xinrong and Jolene suddenly cried 'Huh?' and stopped.
'The pig!' cried Xinrong, 'the little icky piggy. It's gone with the wind.' And so it had- right out of sight.
'And now what are we to do?' said Sera, giving Marissa a look which was as much as to say 'What did I tell you? Now go and 'refract'.'
'Shut up! Look!' said Jolene.
'Si mi? (what in Hokkien)' demanded Marissa.
'There's something moving among the books over there to the left.'
They all stared as hard as they could, and if looks could kill, the poor creature would have been dead.
'There it goes again,' said Jolene presently.
'I saw it that time too!' exclaimed Marissa. 'It's still there. It's just gone behind that big encyclopedia. Let's attempt to throw it into the ecopond.'
'What is it?' asked Xinrong, trying hard not to sound nervous.
'Whatever it is,' said Marissa, 'it's a bloody coward and is avoiding us.'
'Let's go home... Don't bother about that stupid creature,' said Jolene. And then, though nobody said it out loud, the fact Sera had whispered to Marissa in the last chapter suddenly dawned in their dull brains. They were lost.
'What is it like? I really hope we don't have to stay here like in Lord of the Flies...' asked Xinrong apprehensively.
'It's- it's a kind of animal that's gonna gobble you up,' said Jolene, attempting to frighten Xinrong; and then, 'Oh damn it. It must come out now right?'
The creature had a head that looked like a bun; pointed tip at the top of the head, two beady black eyes shining like beans, donning a pink miniskirt and looked rather like a girl besides that. 'She' put her hand against her mouth just as humans put their finger on their lips to shut people up when 'refracting'. Then she disappeared again. The children wondered if this was the land of Hogwarts, where people could just apparate.
Sadly, their hopes were dashed as the 'creature' came out a moment later. She glanced all round as if afraid someone was watching, said 'Shut up!', made signs to them to join her in the pile of huge dictionaries where she was standing, and then once more disappeared.
'I'm enlightened!' said Marissa, pointing her index finger to the sky and continued mysteriously. 'She's a baover.'
'Hey... She wants us to go to her,' said Jolene, 'and she's warning us to shut up. To go or not to go?'
'I seriously have no idea...' said Marissa. 'What do you think, Xinrong the genius?'
'I think she's a nice baover,' said Xinrong sagely.
'Yes but how do we know that? By your powers of enlightenment again?' said Sera.
'Jeez... Just take this as a game of Jeopardy alright?' said Jolene, but seeing the look of intense dislike, then said, 'Fine. If you hate that show that much, take it as 'Wheel of Fortune'.'
At this moment the Baover again popped her head out from behind another classroom door and beckoned earnestly to them.
'Good Lord...' sweared the Catholic Marissa, 'let's give it a try. All keep close together. Wait for my signal to pounce on her and throw her into the ecopond if she turns out to be an enemy.'
So the children all got close together and walked up to the classroom next door, and sure enough, they found the Baover; but she still drew back, saying to them in a hoarse throaty whisper, 'Walk on, walk on... Come in here. We're not safe out in the corridor!'
Only when she had led them into a dark spot where grey desks were set so close together that they could barely squeeze past them did the Baover begin to talk.
'Are you those irritating people who got Zeena into trouble?' she rudely demanded.
'No, it wasn't us. It was Xinrong!' retorted Sera, but was only given a painful pinch by Jolene in return.
'Do forgive my irritating sister, Baover, we beg your pardon...' said Marissa, 'but it's true that we did get Zeena into trouble.'
'Shut up!' said the Baover, 'don't talk so loudly. You're speaking as though you wanted to beat Chenlili's tuneless mass dance music! Keep quiet alright? We aren't safe even here, under the desks.'
'Why, who're you afraid of?' said Jolene. 'There's no one here but ourselves, unless you're afraid of Big Brother...'
'There are the desks,' said the Baover. 'They're always listening. Most of them are on our side, but there are desks that would betray us to her; you know who I mean... And as the saying goes, walls have ears,' and she nodded her bun-shaped head several times.
'If it comes to talking about sides,' said Sera, 'how do we know whether you're a friend or foe?'
'Not meaning to be socially inept, Baover,' added Marissa, 'but you see, we're strangers.'
'True, true...' said the Baover. 'Here is my token of redemption.' With these words she held up to them a little white object. They all gaped at it like goldfish, till suddenly Xinrong exclaimed, 'Oh, of course! It's the wad of high quality Kleenex facial tissue paper I gave to Zeena!.'
'That's right,' said the Baover. 'Poor girl, she got wind of the arrest before it actually happened and handed this over to me. She said that if anything untoward happened to her I must meet you here and take you on to-' Here the Baover's voice sank into a silence like that when a teacher announces one to be the top student, and it gave one or two very unfathomable nods.
Then signaling to the children to stand as close around as possible, so that their faces were actually tickled by her smooth silky hair, she added in a low whisper-
'They say that Ah Soh is on the move- perhaps has already arrived.'
And now a very curious thing happened. None of them knew who Ah Soh was any more than you do; but the moment the Baover had spoken those golden words everyone felt quite different. There was an aura of fear, awe, joy, like in a dream when someone says something totally unintelligible like those Math teachers do, but it feels as if it had some enormous meaning- either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life. It was like that now. At the name of Ah Soh each one of the children felt something jump in their innards. Sera felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Marissa felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Jolene felt as if she was hallucinating that the holidays were here- half frightening yet joyful. And Xinrong got the feeling you have when you dream of one's Prince Charming.
'And about Zeena,' asked Xinrong hesitantly; 'where is she?'
'Shoosh!' said the Baover, 'not here. I must bring you where we can have a real talk and also dinner.'
No one except Sera felt any difficulty trusting the Baover now, and everyone, including Sera, was vey glad to hear the word 'dinner'.
They therefore all hurried behind their newly found friend who led them at a surprisingly quick pace, even faster than the rounds they had to run during PE. After an hour of going this way, everyone was feeling very tired and hungry when suddenly the number of classrooms seemed to become lesser and there was a staircase. A minute later they came out under the open sky and found themselves looking down at another ecopond look-alike.
They were standing outside a Science lab, gazing into a pond and -at least it should have been running if not for the number of rubber bands shot by chronic girls during boring lessons which had clogged up the drainage- a fairly large fountain. Just then, a puff of warm smoke rose into the air and around them. Xinrong gave a little scream and moved back a step while the others had incredulous looks on their faces except for the modest look the Baover had on her face.
'What's this? Mutated fish becoming volcanoes?' demanded Sera sarcastically. 'No, no. I'd added a water boiler into the pond, and with that bamboo steamer from Bangkok,' here she gestured to the huge cylindrical spaceship-like object next to her, 'I can finally steam our food!' Then she added proudly in a low whisper, 'I got that huge bamboo steamer at only $12! Wasn't it a bargain?'
Sera then added impatiently, 'So you made us go one big detour just to see this? Good Heavens!' and only stopped after Jolene had pinched her. The Baover turned angrily and said 'Shut up if you have nothing better to say!'
There was an uncomfortable silence until Marissa apologised to the Baover, and out of social aptness praised the aesthetic appeal and great gradient in colour of the bamboo steamer. The Baover's anger was then appeased, and they carried on walking.
Walking on, the others were busy admiring the sugar white walls but Sera noticed something else. Towering above everything was none other than the infamous clock tower of which the Tieh resided under. She thought of the delectable chocolates, and about being a princess ('And I wonder how Marissa would like being my little minion,' she asked herself) and horrible ideas came into her dull little head.
'Here we are,' said the Baover, 'and it looks as if dear Irene's -she's my classroom mate aka classmate- been expecting us. I'll lead the way to our little 'den'.'
The top of their den was wide enough to crawl through, though not (for humans) a very nice place to crawl in because it was covered with flour ('My classmate's a little vain,' said the Baover shyly) and made them look a hundred years older. Finally, they managed to slip through and got into the den, which was actually, a discreet hole in the wall of a classroom just huge enough for them to get in.
The first thing Xinrong noticed as she went in was a burring sound, and then she saw another kindlooking Baover running around acting like a kamikaze pilot. 'Oh, sorry. I was just rehearsing our attack on *ahem*. So you've come at long last! Do you know how long I've waited for you? Good Lord... Did you all crawl here or something?' she said, putting her ink-stained hands to her hips. 'Looks can be deceiving,' whispered Jolene to Marissa. 'But well, at last you people are here. The potatoes are boiling happily in the pot and the kettle's singing the school song and,' she simpered here, 'Bao, won't you get us some fish?'
'Of course I will,' said Bao with a fearful look on her face, and she went out of the house (Marissa went with her), and back all the way to the ecopond to steal some koi. Bao sat down quietly at the edge of the pool, looked hard at it as though attempting to levitate, then suddenly shot out her hand (which had a fish net in it), and lo and behold, one of the koi was there. 'Ah, this one. I've been meaning to catch it for a long, long time!' she said triumphantly. Then she did it all over again until they had a fine catch of fish.
Meanwhile the girls were helping Irene fill the kettle and lay the table and cut the bread (Sera did this really well with that Aikido background of hers) and set the plates out and draw a huge jug of pepsi for everyone. 'Don't worry about the rule which says 'No eating in class',' said Irene, 'we're not in a classroom by rights. We're in a HOLE that links from the classroom.'
Bao and Marissa then came walking in through the door, Marissa looking tired while Bao proudly passed the catch of the day to Irene. 'Koi sashimi!' Irene exclaimed happily. They sat down to a glorious meal of Japanese food, and at the end of it, Irene produced a bag of 10 'Mamee Monster Snacks'.
As they all sat happily eating away, Bao said, 'Now, let's get down to business since we're all well fed and watered. It's raining again,' she added, cocking her eye to the window. 'All the better to block Tan Poh Yee's view from the Science Lab.'
A/N: Thanks to Xinrong for her idea of a 'Baover'. And sorry to Bao if you're offended, but you did volunteer to be in this before :).
5:31 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.
Chapter 4: Back on this side of the closet
Because the game of hide-and-seek was still going on, it took Sera and Xinrong some time to find the others. But when at last they were all together, Xinrong burst out: 'Marissa! Jolene! It's all true. Sera and I both got in. We met one another in there, in the quadrangle. Go on, Sera; tell them all about it.'
'What's all this about, Sera?' said Marissa.
And now we come to one of the nastiest things in the story. Up to that moment Sera had been feeling sick, and sulky, and annoyed with Xinrong for being right, but she hadn't made up her mind what to do. When Marissa suddenly asked her the question, she decided all at once to do the meanest and most spiteful thing that she could think of: She decided to lie.
'Are we going to wait till sunset for you to open your golden mouth?' asked Jolene sarcastically.
Sera, who was becoming a nastier person every minute, thought that she had scored another great success, and went on at once to say, 'There she goes again. What's the matter with her? That's the worst of young kids... Or maybe she's merely schizophrenic...'
'Look here,' said Marissa, turning on her savagely, 'shut your fat trap! You've been perfectly beastly to Xinrong ever since she started this bullshit about the broom closet, and now you go playing games with her about it and setting her off again. I believe you did it simply out of spite.'
'But it's all nonsense,' said Sera, very taken aback.
'Of course it's all nonsense,' said Marissa, 'that's just the point. Xinrong was perfectly all right when we left home, but ever since we've been down here she seems to be either going queer in the head or else turning into a most frightful liar. But whichever it is, what good do you think you'll do by jeering and nagging at her one day and encouraging her the next? Trying to become a schizophrenic to get our attention as well?'
'I thought-,' said Sera; but she was speechless.
'You didn't think anything at all in your pea brain,' said Marissa; 'it's just spite and stupidity!'
'Do stop it,' said Jolene; 'it won't make things better having a row between you two. Ignore that bird-brain for once, Marissa, she's not worth your attention. Let's go find Xinrong.'
It was not surprising that when they found Xinrong a good deal later, Jolene nearly slipped on a puddle of water beside her. Nothing they could say to her made any difference. She stuck to her story and said:
'I don't give a damn about what you idiots think and say. You can tell Ms Koh or do anything you like. I know I've met a chronic girl in there and- I wish I'd stay there and you are all bloody assholes!'
It was an unpleasant evening. Xinrong was miserable and Sera was beginning to feel that her plan wasn't working as well as she'd expected. The two older ones were really beginning to think that Xinrong needed a psychiatrist. They stood in the passage talking about it in whispers long after she'd gone to bed.
The result was the next morning they decided that they really would go and tell the whole thing to Ms Koh. 'She'll do something if she thinks there's really something wrong with Xinrong,' said Marissa; 'it's getting beyond us.' So they went and knocked at the staffroom door, and Ms Koh said 'Come in,' and got up and stole chairs from Ms Lily Chua's and Mrs Vivien Chan's desks for them. She then sat listening to them with the tips of her fingers pressed together, swivelling on her black Osim office chair, pulling the lever at times to raise and descend herself and never interrupting, till they had finished the whole story. After that she said nothing for quite a long time. Then she cleared her throat and said the last thing either of them expected:
'How do you know,' she asked, 'that your sister's story is not true?'
'Oh, but-' began Jolene, and then stopped. Anyone could see from the benign Ms Koh's face that she was perfectly serious (and a little nuts). Then Jolene pulled herself together and said, 'But Sera said they had only been practising their Choral Night performance.'
'That is a point,' said Ms Koh, 'which certainly deserves consideration; very careful consideration. For instance- if you will excuse me for asking the question- does your experience lead you to regard Sera or Xinrong as the more reliable? I mean, which is the more truthful?'
'That's just the funny thing about it,' said Marissa, 'Up till now, I'd have said Xinrong every time. Maybe it's the evil forces of Hwa Chong acting on her...'
'And what do you think, my dear?' said Ms Koh, ignoring Marissa's rather snide remark and turning to Jolene.
'Well,' said Jolene, 'in general, I'd say the same as Marissa, but this couldn't be true- all this about the quadrangle and the 'Zeena'. We've learnt in our "Philosophy for teens" sabbatical that it's a logical fallicy. She doesn't have any proof at all.'
'That is more than I know,' said Ms koh, 'and a charge of lying against someone whom you have always found truthful is a very serious thing...'
'We were afraid it mightn't even be lying,' said Jolene, 'we thought Xinrong had gone nuts.'
'You may think she's mad,' said Ms Koh, 'but just one look at her and you know she isn't. Either of you would look even more mad than her!'
'But then,' said Jolene, and stopped. She had never dreamt that a sensible grown-up like Ms Koh would talk like that.
'Logic!' said Ms Koh, half to herself. 'Why don't they teach logic at school? This is the million dollar question: A. Your sister is telling lies. B. She is stark raving mad. C. She is telling the truth. D. You are the ones who are mad. I'd do the 50-50 for you... A and B are out. Pick one of the remaining options. I know it's a hard choice...'
'Uh, both of us are obviously not mad,' Marissa said hesistantly, 'so it only leaves the choice that Xinrong's telling the truth...'
Jolene looked at her green Baby G watch and decided that Ms Koh wasn't pulling an April fool's joke.
'But how could it be true?' said Marissa.
'Why do you say that?' asked Ms Koh.
'Well, for one thing,' said Marissa, 'if it was true why won't the police come? It may well be the entrance for mankind into alien world. And when we looked, there was nothing; even Xinrong didn't pretend there was a chronic girl and Tieh in there.
'What has that to do with it?' asked Ms Koh.
'Well, if things are real, they don't go hopping away joyfully into the sunset.'
'Really? Wasn't it you who said that the last time you failed to hand in your history assignment?' asked Ms Koh, and Marissa didn't know quite what to say.
'But there was no time,' said Jolene. 'Xinrong had no time to have gone anywhere, unless she managed to borrow Hermoine Granger's time turner. Sadly, she probably didn't as she came running right into us the very moment we'd finished changing and playing hide and seek. It was less than a minute, and she pretended to have been away for eons.'
'That is the very thing that makes her story so likely to be true,' said Ms Koh. 'If there really was a door in this place that leads to some other world (and I should warn you that this is a really strange staffroom, and even I suspect it's either haunted by teachers who were murdered or something)- if, I say, she had got into another world, I should not be at all surprised to find that the other world had a separate time of its own, like in Teletubbies. On the other hand, I don't think many girls of her age would invent that idea for themselves. If she had been pretending, she would have hidden for a reasonable time before coming out and telling her story. And well, if you see Twinky Winky in that land, please send my regards to him.'
As Jolene and Marissa stared stupidly at Ms Koh, the latter stared back with her round Harry Potter-like glasses. Marissa then spoke.
'But do you really mean,' said Marissa, 'that there could be other worlds- all over the place, just round the corner- like that?'
'Nothing is more probably,' said Ms Koh, taking off those glasses and beginning to polish them, while muttering to herself, 'I wonder what they do teach them at schools besides the wonderful me and some of my colleagues...'
'But what are we to do? Borrow Aladdin's wet blanket -oops- magic rug and attempt to fly into that world?' said Jolene. She felt that the conversation was beginning to get a little looney.
'My dear young respected member of society,' said Ms Koh, suddenly loking up with a very sharp expression at both of them, 'there is one plan which no one has yet suggested and which is well worth trying.'
'What's that?' said Jolene.
'We could ask Lala if there was such a land,' said Ms Koh, who, looking up and seeing incredulous looks on both Jolene's and Marissa's faces, then went 'okok, I was just kidding. Well, we might all just try minding our own business.' And that was the end of the conversation.
After this things were a good deal better for Xinrong. Marissa saw to it that Sera stopped jeering at her, and neither she nor anyone else felt inclined to talk about the broom closet at all. It had become a rather alarming subject. And so for a time it looked as if all the adventures were coming to a sad end; but that was not to be.
This land of Hwa Chong was so old and infamous that people from all over the land used to come and ask permission to enter it. It was the sort of place mentioned in '101 haunted places' and such books. And when parties of sightseers arrived and asked to see the house, Ms Koh always gave them permission, and Uncle Heng, the housekeeper, showed them round, telling them about the drawings and longan trees. Uncle Heng was not fond of children, and did not like to be interrupted when he was telling visitors all the things he knew. He had screamed to Jolene and Marissa almost the minute they stepped into the house (along with a whole long list of other instructions), 'And keep out of my way whenever I'm taking a party over the staffroom!'
'Just as if any of us would want to waste half the morning of our precious lives trailing around a crowd of strange grown-ups!' said Sera, and the other three thought the same.
That was how the adventures began for the second time.
A few mornings later Marissa and Sera were looking at the longan tree and wondering if they should do a George Washington when Jolene and Xinrong rushed into the room and said 'Danger! Radioactivity: Uncle Heng's here with the whole gang!'
The four of them made off through the door at the far end of the room. But when they had got out into the classroom again, they suddenly heard voices ahead of them, and realized that Uncle Heng must be bringing his part of sightseers up the back stairs- instead of the front stairs as they'd expected. And after that they lost their heads or that Uncle Heng was trying to capture them, or that some evil powers in Hwa Chong had come to life and were chasing them into Nanyang, they seemed to find themselves being followed everywhere, until at last Jolene said, 'Oh damn it! Here- let's get into the classroom till they've passed and hope they won't saunter around in their high heels.' But the moment they were intside they heard the voices in the corridor- and then someone fumbling at the door- and then they saw the handle turning.
'Quick!' said Marissa, 'there's nowhere else,' and flung open the broom closet. All four of them bundled inside it and sat there, panting, in the dark and dust. Marissa held the door close but did not shut it; for, of course, she remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never shut yourself up in a broom closet.
4:31 PM- Please send all comments to thegreatestwriters@gmail.com.