Chicken

She was in his arms, both of them sitting on his couch in the living room.

Their lips brush each other's, in between sweetly uttered words.

I was livid.

I was so damn pissed off. I only knew the betrayal. Especially from him.

They were oblivious to me standing some way behind them, lost in each other's embrace.

In my right hand, I held a chicken. Silent, I kept it steady with a bag over its head and it hasn't made a sound.

In the darkened room, they had not heard me until I spoke.

"I trusted you, asshole."

They whirled and eyes were wide and uncomprehending.

"You knew I love her and you went ahead and did it." I turned to her.

"I, I... no...", she began.

"I'm not angry with you. I'm angry at him," I said, gesturing at him with my free hand.

"You. I'm just disappointed with."

And then I pulled the hood of the chicken and threw it at him. I walked back to the other hens I had just outside the open door and took the whole bunch and lobbed them one-by-one towards the both of them.

He's deathly afraid of chickens.

I walked out with a smile on my face.

Fractured Conveyance 2

The message beeped through as I drove pass the Tanjung Aru lights.

S: "Hey gym buddy, are you coming? Am here suda"

Me: "No, not today, sunday's bball day with the guys"

A small twist of fate and it affected my life for the next three weeks. If only I'd gone on straight pass the Finance Ministry intersection to Beverly Hotel's gym instead of turning right to play basketball.

Thinking back on that day, there was nothing else after that prevented what happened. The chances of it occurring seemed to jump as I got closer to the court.

It was one of those rare sunny days that we played on. More players turned up on the court at Taman Lumaku than usual. I think there were all together 15 people.

I'd been training hard everyday before that. Five days a week was spent at the Ujana Rimba. Sit-ups, push-ups, the whole she-bang. Hardening my body.

I think that's when the fatigue set in. Because, the body needs to recover after every workout. Even if it's only bodyweight training.

Moving into the paint on the left side of the basket, I was aware of Tim, the Australian guy playing with us that day, vying for the rebound with Dexter, though I only knew that some time after.

I swerved out of Tim's way, trying to get out of the bounds of the court but before I could, I was hemmed in by Tim as he lost his balance. In trying to get the rebound, he fell backward onto me, pushed by the momentum of the other guy struggling for the ball with him.

Falling and falling, I could not get clear of Tim and his back fell on my ankle, twisting it. That was the first injury. Within an eye-blink, I felt a second crush on another part of my leg as if I was experiencing a play-by-play of my something happening to me.

I screamed.

I have had ankle twists before but none of them hurt like this. I felt my body spasm. I continue to scream. Trying to reach for my leg as if it was a baby I was saving.

I did not know it at the time but the distal bone in my right leg has just been fractured.

(CONTINUES)

Fractured Conveyance

How would you feel if you broke your leg or your foot? Or any other limbs?

Do you even find something like that fathomable if you have not experienced it?


When we were young boys, my brother indulge in mock-sprint challenges with our cousins. Dashing about 50 metres, they'd do it over and over again.

I have only done it a couple of times before I got bored with that game. My brother however, invariably beat our cousins and was quite proud of it. One day, he just tripped. And landed on his left elbow. Hard.

That put him in a cast for a month. He never got back to sprinting again.

The point is: even for us, his family members, it was a muted affair. I'd never really got to know his experience during those days with his elbow in a cast.


(CONTINUES)