Why Would I Write

  • Dinnertalk

    Tom held Sophia’s hand in his, grasping tightly like they used to do on their long walks in the park. He felt a spark, a little ignition, a tiny fire – a mere representation of the burning love they used to have. Sophia smiled at him, as though she was feeling the same way.

    Tears begin to well up in his eyes. He wasn’t sure if they wear tears of sadness or joy.

    “Do you think we just forgot?” he asked her, blinking his tears back.

    “Forgot what?”

    “This,” said Tom as he gripped her hand tighter. “All of this,” he motioned to the surroundings of their favorite table at their favorite restaurant. “We used to be so happy together.”

    “No, we didn’t forget. I didn’t. I chose not to remember,” she replied turning away from him. “After what you did, I told myself I’d never put myself through such pain again.”

    Tom looked aghast. “Then why are you here? Why did you choose to come out tonight?”

    “To make sure you remembered how I felt when you broke my heart.”

    Sophia put her cigarette out, got up from her seat and waved over a man who had just walked into the restaurant. “Ah, he’s here.”

    Tom stared speechlessly at the man approaching their table. As he got closer, Tom noticed that he was a very attractive man. Dressed stylishly but not over the top, a strong jawline, and broad shoulders complementing a confident walk. Tom didn’t need an introduction as he watched Sophia swoon into the man’s arms.

    “Goodbye, Tom,” she said as she left the restaurant, arm in arm with the tall handsome man.

    “Goodbye,” Tom said to himself as he downed his whiskey and lit up another cigarette.

    Writing Prompt from Reddit: “Do you think we just forgot?”

  • Face down receipts

    You know, one thing that has puzzled me for the longest time is how mamaks handle their receipts. If they don’t stick it in a cup or fold it up, they always hand it to you face down. And one of the first things you normally do is flip it the right way up to see how much the restaurant is going to extort you for that piece of fried chicken. This isn’t a rare occurrence or something strange that happened once in my life. It happens all the time.

    I can’t think of any reason why they would want to put the receipt face down. It’s not like it’s going to make the meal any cheaper. The numbers don’t change. Are they aware of the exorbitant prices they wrote down that they’re too ashamed to hand you the bill face up? And that by the time you finish turning the piece of paper around, they would have already walked away?

    I’m not complaining about the prices – after all I chose to go to that mamak in the first place. So why hide the price? No other restaurants seem to do this. Hell, you’d be hard pressed to get a bill in the first place if you eat in a Chinese restaurant that wasn’t serving “tai chow”.

  • 10,000 Summers

    While it sucks that bands break up, I’ve learnt how to deal with it. I relisten to old records – after all they’ve already been recorded. They aren’t going anywhere. You can always put them on and listen to them again (just like when your favorite bands change style and you don’t dig their newer stuff). But there’s one good thing can come out of bands breaking up – members going on to form new bands. Case in point: No Devotion.
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