Chapter 6
?
“Get up!”
Every sleepy head in the bunk jumped at the bellowing voice of Arnold. Those who were awake could see the fury of the man by the sheer number of veins that look like they were about to explode on his biceps.
“Didn’t I say Breakfast was at 6:30am? It is 7! Everybody, downstairs now!”
The room was filled with recruits trying to dress up as quickly. They put on their physical training attire, which was comprised of a grey singlet and a pair of black shorts. End was still snoring, and nobody woke him up. Rob and Bob began slapping him on his face but all to no avail. This was not good.
The entire platoon assembled downstairs. End was the last one down. Arnold was crossed. As End came down finally, Arnold shouted his famous words.
“Get down!”
“Yes Arnold!” echoed everyone. It was drizzling just a while ago but now it was pouring. The ground was muddy.
“Do you like barbeque? All of you are different kinds of meat, but on the same barbeque pit. Out there on the war field, if you are not going to look out for one another, there will be a different kind of barbeque. Today I am going to teach you that new kind of barbeque! Get on your back now!”
Everyone laid down in the mud. No one had a clean shirt after that.
“Give me a hundred sit-ups!”
The recruits struggled to do about fifty. You could see their hair stained with mud, and the brown water spraying all over the place. Arnold bellowed again.
“Turn over, now give me push-ups!”
The men turned over. Their hands met with the muddy patches once more. Before they could finish ten push-ups, Arnold switched them to sit-ups again! Back and forth they went, until their entire bodies were colored in different shades of soil. Mud, rain and sweat dripped from their faces to the ground as Arnold tortured them with no mercy in the early morning before they even had breakfast. End could move his arms no more as he was too tired from the lack of sleep and the number of push-ups he did on the previous day. Finally, he fell face first into the mud water. Arnold got down face to face with him on the floor, and picked his shoulders up to see his face.
“What happened to your face?”
Arnold was crossed. He stood up to look at all the recruits.
“Did any of you do this to him?”
The platoon went silent. End looked at them.
Beef was rolling his eyes around, confident that End would be too timid to tell on him. End knew that though he hated Beef to the gut, he could not let his entire platoon down.
“I fell,” answered End.
“What?”
“I fell,” repeated End, “I fell in the shower.”
“Oh no, then you better go to the medical center. I can walk you there since it’s on the way,” said a feminine voice from behind Arnold. End turned around to see whose voice it belonged to. To his most pleasant surprise, he froze like a statue the moment he found out. It was the nurse he had seen earlier in the Chamber. Every recruit was speechless at her beauty. Beef, like any lecherous young man would, could not help himself but whistle.
“Whistle in the mud for me! Give me twenty!” said Arnold. Beef got his face into the mud and blew out some bubbles. After that, Beef got up and asked Arnold for permission to join End.
“Arnold, I swallowed mud. It’s in my lungs too, May I be excused to go to the medical center as well?” asked Beef.
“Do you like trees?”
“Yes Arnold.” Says Beef.
“Good. Do you see that tree over there? I want you to run a hundred times around it while declaring to the world your love for trees.”
Beef ran over to the trees and began shouting “I love trees! I love trees!”
“The rest of you, march to the cookhouse now! End, I want to see you right after your medical appointment!”
“Yes Arnold.” said a feeble End. End looked at the nurse and she looked back.
“Perhaps you should get changed first. I’ll wait for you.” She said.
The platoon began marching to the cookhouse. Beef could only blink in despair as he watched the pretty nurse waiting to escort End to the medical center.
Inside the medical examination room, End was seated on the bed, and looking at the nurse the entire time. She was pretty indeed, but she thought nothing of it, and seemed like the type of person who just wanted to go about doing her daily duties. The way she walked was really down to earth. It looked nothing like a model’s strut down a fashion runway that her looks would have suggested. Her mode of travel could be described as plunking. Yes. She plunked from place to place, walking with a tint of laziness and seemed heavier than the obvious light frame she possessed. She placed her hand about one centimeter away from the forehead of End, and used her viewfinder to take End’s temperature. From that obstructed angle, End saw only her lips, which were pretty. When she removed her hand, their eyes met, and for a moment, both paused for a moment, before she looked away and seemed to think nothing of the paused moment. End on the other hand, seemed to think everything of that paused moment.
When it came to asking a girl out, there were two types of guys in the world. There were cheeky guys and shy guys. A Shy guy would conjure up a whole life-time of excuses of why he should not ask her for her name, for fear of failure. A cheeky guy however, would have asked her name in a heartbeat. End was a shy guy, but sometimes, as mysterious as the big bang itself, a shy guy can be forced by a mysterious emotion to do something out of the ordinary.
“What is your name?” asked End, which was most uncharacteristic of him since all through his life, he had been that shy guy. On the other hand, as many times as the pretty nurse had heard this line, she felt a strange happiness that End of all people had dared to ask her that simple question. This was because, quite simply, of the fact that she was fond of him.
“?” she said.
That was no syntax error. It was her reply. The way she said it, sounded like a “huh” in high pitch. And so naturally, mistaking it as a question, End asked again.
“I asked you what your name was,” repeated End, mistaking her answer for a question.
“My name is ‘?’” said the nurse.
“Oh?”
“Not ‘Oh?’. ‘?’!”
The nurse put a finger on both the wrist of End to measure his pulse. Her viewfinder did the rest.
“No fever, perfectly healthy,” said ?
“My name is End. Nice to meet you.”
? heard him loud and clear, and ignored him at first, then suddenly she laughed out long and hard.
“Why are you laughing?” asked End.
“That is the strangest name I have ever heard in the world!” laughed ?. As she broke into a contagious laughter, she was unaware of the complete and total irony of the sentence she had just spoken. In that instance, End understood that all pots on Earth were born to call kettles black. But it did not matter, because looking at her, made all the past pain of training and all the torture he had endured, go away. She took a bite of some snacks on the table. It was a few plates of Cantonese snacks that were collectively known as Dim sum.
“What are you eating?” asked End despite knowing the answer.
“Dim Sum. Want some?”
End hated Dim Sum.
“Of course!” he replied, as he reached his hand to the plate to grab one. He could see that ? loved Dim Sum, by the slight puffed up position her cheeks take when she was chewing them like a happy child. Her eyes would be smaller due to the puffiness of her cheeks, and it was all quite an endearing sight for End. Good Dim Sum had a way of being very authentic to the fragrant of the meat that was used, and this fragrance was what put off End at times. He chewed one of the meatballs with some degree of difficulty.
“Do you like it?” asked ?
“Delicious.” Said End as he chewed the meatball with an ugly expression on his face.
“It is the best in town”, said
? before she noticed that End did not seem to quite enjoy it, “Hmm, you don’t like it do you?”
“I love it.”
“Don’t lie to me. You can’t lie to me, I can see through you. But I can lie to you.”
“Then why is it that you can lie to me?”
“Because you can’t see through me?”
She had a point, thought End. He suddenly realized that of the millions of people, whose emotions were as transparent as glass to him, he couldn’t read a single emotion from ? except for the emotion of happiness.
The nurse turned around to reach some documents before turning back to face him. As she did, she did so with a look of familiarity.
“You are that boy that almost went through the Sphere of Influence process aren’t you?”
“How did you know?”
“I read the papers.”
“I’m on the papers?”
“Yes. Everybody is curious about the boy who escaped the Sphere’s punishment and ended up in the ILC. How did you do it?”
“I don’t know.” Answered End.
The nurse did a soft nod and zipped out of the room for a moment and End was left alone. It was a strange minute of silence. But all that was in End’s mind was ?. It was not easy for End to take his eyes off her, but when he did, he managed to spot a half finished Essence of Guava drink on the table. It probably belonged to ?. What a coincidence, they loved the same drink.
? came back into the room again and was busy going about her work.
“Is Essence of Guava your favorite drink too?” asked End.
? stopped for a moment.
“Yes. How did you know?”
“I’m a secret agent.” Said End.
? looked at End. End looked at himself, reflecting as to where on earth did that amount of cockiness come from.
“And I also have telepathy,” said End as he looked at the drink on a forgettable part of the table. ? must have been too busy to remember she had that drink.
? smiled.
“What am I thinking now?”
“That I am lying?”
? looked at End.
“You’re good. The doctor will be in shortly, End.” She said, as she took a sip of her Essence of Guava drink. ? emphasized the word “End” at the end, as if mocking his name. End actually smiled for the first time in this story, or have I mistaken? He thought that her imitation of his name was a kind of flattery and he smiled.
“I checked your Viewfinder. It seems that you do not have any credit to pay for this consultation.”
“I don’t? I mean, yes, I don’t”
“Hmm. Ok. I need to draw some blood first.”
“To pay for the consultation?”
“No, just for a blood test.”
“Why do you have to do a blood test for a bruised face?”
“Exactly, right? The strange instructions I get sometimes.” Said ? as she looked at the notes on her electronic clipboard.
“Did you perhaps mix up the instructions?”
“Never. I am flawless.”
? was a proud creature, End concurred in a heartbeat. He was still skeptical about drawing blood, but since ? sounded so sincere, he went with it. ? began preparing a needle, and tried to find a vein in End’s arm.
“So how will you pay for the consultation?”
“Well, actually, I have not seen the doctor yet, so there was no consultation.”
“True. But how about the blood test? You have to pay for the blood test.”
“Can I not have a blood test?”
“Of course you can!”
“Why didn’t you say so? OWWWWWWW!”
Suddenly there was blooding spilling everywhere because ? made a mistake.
“Sorry!” said ?. Blood was spilling out of End’s arm like ink from a broken fountain pen. End screamed in agony. How did this happen? A young dashing doctor with a small pony-tail dashed in and used his viewfinder to close up the wound.
“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it!” said the doctor with a little too much gentleness and patience towards ? for what she just did. He seemed unable to shout at the pretty girl.
“I’m sorry,” said ?
“It’s quite alright.” End glared at the doctor with a “No, it’s not quite alright” look. The doctor looked back at End. They gave each other a look of rivals. Love rivals have a way of spotting each other early in the game. ? nodded her head in apology as she walked out of the room. End noticed that the doctor was staring at her butt all the way as she left the room. The doctor noticed that End saw what he was doing and reinstated his love rival glare at End. As ? was no longer in the room, his kind doctor act disappeared. A much more weasel like look replaced the kinder version of his face.
“For her mistake, we won’t charge you any fees, if you can keep this incident to yourself. Now get back to camp and rejoin your platoon. And don’t you dare skive ever again!” said the doctor as he pushed End out of his clinic. Yes, he really did shove him out with brute force. End looked at the name tag of the doctor. It read “Dr Lecter”. As he walked out of the clinic, he saw Dr Lecter putting an arm around ?’s shoulders to tell her that everything is alright. A surge of uncontrolled jealousy breached the thick walls that once locked up the cold heart of End. The name “Dr Lecter” was now stored in his brain as his heart began beating once more with renewed purpose and vigor.
As End almost left the medical center, ? raced up to him.
“I’m so sorry about that!”
“It’s ok.”
“Look, I’ll make it up to you. Whenever you have a canteen break, I’ll bring you some food from the city.”
“Is that too much trouble?”
“Nah. I smuggle food in from the city all the time.”
“Shh! Keep it down.”
“Don’t have to. Everyone knows, but they let me, because I share.”
And so, strange but brighter days followed. It was fortunate that End did begin to have canteen breaks. Canteen breaks were sessions where the entire platoon was allowed to go to the canteen for thirty minutes to an hour depending on the free time they had in between their training programs. Whenever End was blessed with a short canteen break, he would check to see if ? was in the medical center, and ask if she would be interested to spend the break with him. I am beginning to think that my initial thoughts of End being a pure shy guy were all wrong. With his newfound courage, reward came hard and fast. Whenever her boss was not around, ? would sneak out with End, and they would enjoy some snacks together. ? began to think of new innovative ways to share that special time together.
“I made you this stamp album.” Said ? one day.
“Stamps? Nobody uses or collects stamps anymore.”
“Oh, but this is different.”
? opened the album. Inside were spaces for a certain stamp to be stuck there. Each space was a name of a particular City of Lion food.
“We are the lucky ones that never went through the Dark War that our grandparents suffered in. During their times, the Garment issued Food stamps for them to collect food. For every food that I smuggle in for you, you can have the sticker for it in this album. For instance, Mee Bok.”
? uncovered from underneath the table, a bowl of noodles.
“It’s my favorite! How did you know? And how did you bring it in?”
“I am a secret agent! And also a telepath.” Said ? And so, ? showed End the first sticker which had a photo and name of “Mee Bok”. End laughed, as he peeled the sticky portion of the stamp off, and both of them stuck the stamp down together. There was a brief moment where both looked into the other’s eyes before deciding that it was too mushy a moment to sustain more than ten seconds.
“You are laughing. You should laugh more often. You always looked so moody. And I don’t want you to give up hope in this ILC until you complete the book with me. Is that clear?”
“Yes mam.” Said End.
As the days followed, End began eating and collecting m
any more stickers in his album. They included “Satay”, Hokkien Prawn Mee”, “Hainanese Chicken Rice”, “Bak Kut Teh”, “Roti Prata”, “Rojak” “Laksa”, “Char Kway Teow”, “Carrot Cake”, “Black Pepper Crab”. All of them served of course with Essence of Guava in every meal.
One day, ? brought back her personal favorite classic dish.
“Dim sum!” said? She opened many small little containers that contained steamed food like Char Siew meat buns, meat buns, stewed chicken feet, stewed pork. The usual. Her favorite.
“Try the siew mai. It’s delicious.” She said as she placed some on End’s plate, “But not as delicious as those found in the City of Dim Sum. One day, I want to go back to the City of Dim Sum!”
“Are you from the City of Dim Sum?”
“I am from the City of Tigers. I can speak Cantonese, and the people of the City of Dim Sum speak Cantonese too, so I definitely can hang out there. But of course, the Cantonese spoken in the City of Tigers is never going to be as authentic as their Cantonese, so they were always going to pinpoint our little language flaws and laugh at our colloquial Cantonese.”
“We won’t laugh at you.” Said Andy Wa.
“Yeah. If we can have some.” Said Larry Wa.
When the scent of the Dim Sum sneaked its way into the Wa Brother’s noses, there was no stopping the Cantonese brothers.
“Join us!” invited ?.
End and ? shared their food with much joy. ? started speaking with Andy and Larry in Cantonese much to the shock of End. He could not understand a word, but seeing ? in full Cantonese mode was relaxing because she seemed very happy conversing at speed in a language that she was comfortable with.
More recruits from his company came by to sample the Dim Sum, and the generous ? shared the food with everyone. There was plenty to go around and they were making new friends along the way. The only grouch in the scene is Beef who sat as far as he could, to resist the smell. He hated people taking all the attention away from him.
Over the weeks, many dishes passed before Beef could hold it back no more. Finally, it was on the day that ? sneaked in some black pepper crabs for End, that Beef felt that it was the last straw. Black pepper crab was his one true love. All of his gang members were already at the table. End saw a strange sight of Ed John, Mickey, Guile and Patrick, all desiring to have a taste of the food on the table. End and ? had the good heart to share it with them, though End still felt the bruises from their beating.
“Ok that’s it!” said Beef, who was sick of watching End get special service from ? everyday. He marched forward towards End. His eyes was on the Black pepper crab. The crab seemed to be telling him to come snatch it away quickly from the hands of End.
“Eat me!” screamed the black pepper crab.
“I will!” said Beef as he answered the crab’s calling. Beef came up really close. Without even getting up, ? looked at Beef.
“What do you want?” asked ?.
Contrary to belief, Beef may be barbaric but when it came to ladies, he still had some standards.
“I…want the black pepper crab…” Beef began to murmur. He did not know what went through his veins as he suddenly cowered before the smaller sized ?.
“Turn around and walk away.” Said ?
“Yes, mam.”
Beef turned around and began to walk.
“Hey!” said ?.
Beef turned back around to face ? ? handed him a really micro little crab leg.
“Take this. And don’t come back for more or I’ll slap you silly with that crab leg.”
“Yes mam.” Said Beef. As he walked back to the table he got really confused as to what just happened. But once his lips touched the black peppery goodness of the surface of the Black pepper crab, a surge of unexplainable happiness flowed into his belly, and all was forgotten. Hunger was a powerful ruler of men. End still had a crab leg in his mouth as he witnessed what ? just did.
“How did you do that?”
“That’s how you stand up to bullies. Never give them an inch. Only a crab leg.”
End was now even more mesmerized by ? than ever. His warrior woman, ahhh.
But just as End found himself seeing more of ? as the days went by, he also found that he was seeing more of Dr Lecter. Dr Lecter seemed to follow End and ? on their dates, preferring to hide in the shadows, and sometimes peek at them through tiny holes in his hiding places, with his creepy eyes. Maybe it was the lighting that made him look creepy on the colder nights. Or was it the dark corners that he chose to hide in while following End. The Lighting effects were truly cinematic, as the moonlight would often leave only a thin line for his green eyes to be seen as he stalked End and ?.
On one rare occasion when Dr Lecter wasn’t stalking the two of them, End saw Dr Lecter again, face to face. It was at the War Mart, and End had been forced to follow his platoon there to watch them restock their necessary training items. As usual, his own pockets were empty, so he could not even buy a drink to quench his thirst. The two stood there looking at each other as the world went by. It was a wide pathway, but neither were giving each other way.
“Hey! Endy!” said Hoofhearted Jr. He had popped out nowhere with his gang. “Have you guys been introduced? This is Dr Lecter. The two glared at each other, green eyes against blue eyes, both not interested in any form of conversation.
“Come, sit!” said Hoofhearted Jr. Dr Lecter sat down, followed by End, and they were separated by a distance that seemed like a few centimeters away but actually felt like a red sea away.
“Perhaps you two can find some form of conversation as I look for Uncle E.”
Hoofhearted Jr left them alone. The two had absolutely no respect or interest in engaging in any form of small talk. Not even the ones to show that pretentiously, everything was still cool between them. Nothing was cool between them. End raised his tow hands to cover Dr Lecter’s face. He did it to focus on his green eyes, reminding him that he had been spying on him and ?, all these nights. Dr Lecter slapped his hand away just as Hoofhearted Jr came back.