"I want everything"

If you want everything,
you'll end up with nothing.
If you want the world, you'll never have the girl;
If you want power, you'll never have love.
If you want all the gold, the days will be lonely when you're old

but if you want happiness, then have what you have now.




.

You got me at....

Hachi! Hachi!

Her sneeze cut through the silence, followed by the rhythmic sound of falling raindrops. She felt a touch at her elbow, which startled her and caused her to turn around.

"Do you need a tissue?" the man asked. His eyes were looking straight into hers, when she suddenly sneezed.

Hachi!
She expected him to laugh, as most people when they heard her sneeze, so she was surprised when he was looking calmly at her. "Do you need a tissue?" he repeated, as if the sneeze wiped her short-term memory. She grabbed his offer, took the plies out and clumsily gave the rest back. She wiped her wet hands with her back to him, away from the man, for she was embarrassed of herself. After she dried her hands, she sat up straight and looked towards the road, as if nothing happened. Suddenly she remembered her manners and turned to thank the man. Her gratitude however stopped halfway, as her books fell off her knee in her rush.

She quickly picked them up before he could even react, piled and sat them back on her laps. She didn't turn to him, instead stared straight into the road and stuttered her thanks.
"T-t-thank you. Thank you for the tissue," she said while her mind cringed, 'hey, they rhyme!'

"You're welcome," the man replied. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a thin smile on the man's face. The smile slowly fades out and the silence began to crept in. The awkward silence, the one which is filled by an OST in the movies. However, he suddenly spoke, to which she was grateful.

"You have quite a lot of books," he said. She nodded, eyes facing the road, "I worked at The Borders."
"Aha, I see. I always wanted to work in a bookstore," he added. "It's fun," she answered stiffly.
"That seems like an interesting book," he said, his eyes pointing at her stacked books. Her eyes followed his as she dumbly read the titles.
"Oh, this. Yes, it's quite interesting."
"Quite? 'The unicorn who yelled curry!'" he read it out loud. "The title isn't really something you might say quite interesting, right?"
"Well.. well, it is VERY, interesting," she answered as he turned to him.
He smiled at her and asked, "What is it about?"
"Urm, it's about.. the book is about a unicorn.. this unicorn sells apples in a market, so one day he went to the market to sell his apples. I think it's his, because it doesn't say what the unicorn is. Then..."

Then she sneezed.
Hachi!

Promptly a pack of tissues was offered to her and she was about to take it when it was pulled away. She looked up and saw him standing, looking at a bus coming towards their direction. He waited until the bus was closed enough to read the numbers before sitting back. A few passengers got off the bus but they quickly scampered away into the rain, leaving them both alone as before.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Here's the tissue." She took three plies, stopped, and took a few more just in case, and returned them back.
"Thank you." she said. "Anyway, where are you going?"
"Oh, I'm going to Shah Alam."
"Then why didn't you take that bus?"
"The bus wasn't going to Shah Alam."
"Yes it was."
"No it wasn't. It says going something jaya, not Shah Alam," he said seriously. She however, began to laugh.
"Sorry for laughing. Of course it didn't say," she stopped to breathe, "because there is no bus that goes directly to Shah Alam. You have to change to train and trams."

She smiled and he blushed.
"There. Here comes a bus. This bus can take you there. It's my bus too."
"So, why are you going to Shah Alam anyway?" she asked him as they sat in the almost empty bus.
"To visit my mother."
"So, your mother also came to Malaysia?"
"Came? What do you mean, came? She lives there."
"Urm I mean, did she came with you to Malaysia?"
"CAME? She never left Malaysia."
"You mean she's born in Malaysia? She's a Malaysian?"
"Of course she is! She lives there all her life," he said, to which the girl laughed.
"I honestly thought you were not Malaysian, plus you didn't know how to go to your own hometown and when you speak..." she stopped as she saw his face.

She puckered her mouth and stared straight forward. It was he who spoke again.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be mad at you. It was a normal mistake."
"No, no. I shouldn't have laughed at you. I.. oh no!" she said as she pushed the stop button. "It's already my stop, got to go. Don't forget to take the number 34, okay. Bye."

She rushed down the bus with her books in her arms and sneezed as she climbed the building's steps.

Hachi!

****
"Awal balik hari ni."
"Yala, takkan nak balik lewat lak, birthday papa kan hari ni," she said as she smiled to her father.
----
"Kenape sampai lambat sangat?"
"Tadi tak reti la nak naik bas, tunggu sejam sebab dunno bas mane nak ambik. Next time, mak suruh la adik g ambik I balik kerja. Bagi rosak kereta orang reti."

*****

"Where are you going man? Don't want to eat with us a?
"Haiya, he want to go to borders again la, you don't know?"
"Which borders? Why? Got cun one cashier there?
"Which borders?" he suddenly chipped in. "You mean there's another borders?"
"Yeah, the one in Tropicana. You tak tahu?"

----

"Jom, tinggal lah buku tu dulu. Hari ni hari last kan?"
"Aah, sedihnya rasa nak tinggal tempat ni, kak, " she said.
"Nanti bila dekat negeri omputih tu, ingat-ingat lah kami kat sini."
"Tu lah, nanti bawak la boipren omputih sorang untuk aku."
"Bawak balik untuk ko buat ape, die mesti cari untuk sendiri dulu, ye tak?"
She laughed and replied, "Pandai lah akak ni. Dah la, jom kita duduk. Ambik seat belakang pokok tu. Hari ni I belanje."
"Wah, seronoknya orang nak fly, belanje!"

----

"This group behind us so noisy lo, from we came until now, still talk talk talk."
"Of course la, pompuan ma. What do you expect. Many also."
"What do you guys want to eat?" he asked.
"Wah, you want to belanja us eh?"
He smiled and was about to reply, when his friends cut him off, "Mesti lo. He forced us to come and eat all this way. Went searching in the book store for what book I don't know. Now mesti belanja lo. So penat come all this way."
"Okay, okay. Sorry guys, I led you guys to a wild chase. Wanted to find someone who I think, works at Borders," he said. One of his friends said, "There's another one in Penang.."
He laughed. "I don't think she lives in Penang and commute to KL."
"Sheee.. No wonder la this guy act like this. Awek loo. No wonder so angau."
"I thought already awal-awal. Awek borders nia."
"It's not like that," he said with a smile, "she was just some girl I met at a bus stop. It was raining and she.."

Hachi!

He stopped, stood up and went around the decoration plants.
"Do you need a tissue?" he asked with a smile.


.

The blinding shadow

Marion was a little child who live down the road. One day Marion went to pick the cherries in the bushes, where the blueberries scattered among the leaves like freckles on a lovely smiling face. As the basket was getting full and the picking began to tire her, Marion sat beside the little spring nearby. A rabbit passed by, looked with its dolly eyes, and went away. A refreshing breeze blew but with it the clouds were dragged along, exposing the ground to the open sky. Marion edged herself to a nearby tree, when she noticed a man standing close by. He was sweating under the direct sun, that Marion asked him whether he would like to come under the shade.

The man declined. "Oh how I wish I have a shadow, so I can sit with you in the shade," he lamented.
"What happened to it," Marion asked. The man sat cross-legged and began to unfold his story.

"It began a long time ago, when I was only a boy, slightly older than you. I was like any other boy of that age. Our life consisted of playing in the day, sleeping in the night, and eating in the lapse of time in between. My life was simple and if anyone asked me then and there, what would I want to be when I grow up, I would straightly answer a policeman. The uniform held its magic to me like any boy and to add to that, we always played hide-and-seek, pretending one was a policeman catching robbers. And on one of this games when I was the one who had to seek the others that my world changed. In the excitement of the moment, I had already caught two of the robbers and I saw another one running into the crowd at the market. I took a route between the stalls and jumped onto my friend, rolling ourselves on the ground. I stood up laughing when my voice suddenly stopped as I noticed the person lying on the ground was not my friend. What's more it was not alive. Only a black shape lying on the ground."

"My body began to shake with fear and I began to run away. I heard a voice cried, shouting after me. I looked back and I saw an angry man with a very large nose and eyes burning furiously, cursing at me. He chased after me but I was faster. I was losing him and was just about to cross the bridge when something tugged me sharply. I looked back and saw the man holding a crumpled black cloth in his hand. My body felt cold at a sudden, knees trembling that I had to grab the bridge to prevent myself from falling. The man pulled the cloth sharply which caused my body to jerk backwards. Only then I realized the man was holding my shadow by its neck and pulling me to him bit by bit. "Come to me, boy!" the man's voice echoed hoarsely. He continued pulling the shadow, tugging hardly. I clawed hardly at the ground, frantically pulling myself away.

""Come to me booooyyy!" he shouted again. His eyes was blazing and foams are coming out of his nose and mouth, dripping all over his beard. I do not know what would happen if I didn't run, but I ran. I stood and with all my might I took a step over the bridge. And another. And another. Suddenly the force pulling me back snapped, sending me stumbling over the bridge. I didn't look back as I heard the man shouted and for that few days I walked without stopping. That was 14 years ago but I still remember it clearly like it was yesterday." There was a short silence as he finished his story.

"You don't have a shadow now, do you?" Marion asked.
"Yes, I lost my shadow to that man. I wish I have it back. Now I can't stand under the shade, fearing my shadow cannot find me when it escapes, or worse, if a wild shadow comes to me."
"That is so sad," Marion said, "can't anyone help you find it back?"
"Well yes. You can help me, if you want."
"Really?!" Marion dusted herself and stood up.

"Yes. It is quite simple. I just need you to stand over there. There. There, not under the shade. Come away from the shade. A bit further so your shadow will appear. Right there, brilliant! Now, walk to me. Come to me now, closer. Closer. Come to me now, girl...

thy or thee -Part 1

Apathy empathy sympathy,
I can't ever discern one from the other.
All I know is what they've told me
They said I have neither of the three
I'm inhuman, heartless
A human without sympathy.



.. .

"If you had not...."

There was once a time, when Humpty Dumpty was running around. Faster and faster he went with his laughter filling the air. He was very happy running around.

Humpty however forgot that when one ran too fast, he was bound to fall. Thus Humpty fell and hurt himself. There was a small crack on him which ran just above his chest. Fortunately Potsy Potter came along and had with her a patch of bandage, which she applied while saying how clumsy Humpty was. “I’ve told you before not to run around,” she said.

After that they went to the park, for Miss Potter had some errands to do. Along the way they spotted a dandelion, alone by itself as the others were already blown away by the North Wind.

“How lovely that dandelion is. It is dancing happily, that one can hardly stop oneself from swinging along to its rhythm. How I would be so glad to plant one,” said Miss Potter.

Therefore Humpty went to pick the dandelion when suddenly a gush of wind blew it away.

“Run for it Mr Dumpty, run!” Humpty ran but he was too slow. The dandelion was already far away, a tiny speck. “If only I had not fallen and cracked myself,” said Dumpty as he pointed to his chest, “I am sure I would have caught it.”

“If you had not run stupidly around, then you would not have fallen in the first place,” said Miss Potter as she stomped off angrily. Suddenly Humpty saw another dandelion and quickly pointed to Miss Potter. She however coldly replied, “I dislike dandelion. There are always so flimsy and waving around, one can only wonder when they are going to be blown and fly away.” So they continued walking for a while in silent.

The road came to a bridge and below this bridge flow a pristine stream. As they crossed over, Miss Potter looked down into the river and saw a water-lily, with its blossoming flower in pink. “How lovely that flower is with its petals poised at the verge of blossom. Its colour reflected on the river, like the cheek on a young girl. I would so very happy to have one.”

Upon hearing those words Humpty eagerly reached towards the flower. He kneeled on the bridge and stretched his hands but it was a grasp to short when suddenly the root of the water-lily snapped. The flower and its pad were taken away by the flow, followed by Humpty’s disappointed eyes. “If only I had not fallen and cracked myself,” he said, “I could have lie on the bridge and reached for the flower.”
“If you had not run around, you would not have fallen,” Miss Potter said, as she walked away with Humpty following sadly behind.

Shortly afterward they finally arrived at the park. Around the park ran a wall and on that wall grew vines and vines intertwined. Miss Potter eyes’ happen to rest on a morning glory which was full-bloom on the wall. “It is almost afternoon yet the flower is still in bloom. It is said that a morning glory plucked full bloom at noon, will bring such good fortune,” she said. Thus Humpty quickly climbed the wall towards the flower, plucked the flower and showed to her. Suddenly the crack on his chest began to widen and Humpty lost his grip and fell. He broke to a thousand pieces and even all the bandages in the world couldn’t put him together again.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Poor Humpty. If only he had not ran around. It doesn't matter what you do afterward Humpty, it's the fact that you ran in the first place.



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