Dating Day

The boys were otherwise occupied. My wife and I took time away from our various computer screens and drove down to the mall. It was the early part of the week. The Gardens,  Kuala Lumpur, was sparsely occupied, quiet, like all good malls should be.

We crossed into Mid Valley and immediately saw the change. It was older than The Gardens, more crowded, the toilets in need of repair and upkeep. My wife was buying art materials. I wandered, lonely, but not at all cloud like, looking for a place to be quiet again. There was this chap, sitting at a table, in Starbucks, Borders. He was bending down, reading a book placed on the floor.  I watched him for a few minutes, wondering his reasoning.

The air was warm, not hot, my eyes were longing to close, the coffee keeping them open. My thoughts drifted to Knightsbridge, other coffees and other times, seeing black cabs instead of the Malaysian blue and red.

England had suffered a storm. It was in Malaysian newspapers. I had said that was the problem thinking of holidaying in the UK during Winter. The Malaysian Prime Minister had made noises of disappointment,  as his visit to Manchester was cancelled.  United breathed a sigh of relief and went off to the pub.

I remembered the great storm, back in 1987. That too was in October (16th) Rail tracks were blocked, roads too. I silently praised lesser known deities and took the day off from the sign maker's where I reluctantly worked, just out from university.

The tree outside our two bedroom house fell, luckily missing eveything important. Winds whipped and prevented pedestrian transport. We were home bodies that day,  with me wanting that devastation to continue, legitimately keeping me from work, caught in some J.G.Ballard dystopian tale where I would be the hero instead of a sign designer. But the next day all was right with the world and my heroic fantasies were revealed as just that.

Back in my current reality, the Malaysian midday was characteristically bright outside. The cappuccino - cinnamon.  My wife returned bearing books, my reverie was broken. Our dating day continued.