Once again, I've something along the line of "asking for money" to share... It's just that I'm not really involved in this as compared to the "10-cent" story.
So here it goes...
Having finished my Old Chang Kee curry puff, I reached into my pocket for a piece of tissue to clean the grease on my lips but there were none. But well, I did enjoy the curry puff experience - Old Chang Kee's curry puffs are always the best.
I moved towards the left side of the bus stop having disposed the yellow paper bag which contained the curry puff. Before me was a mother with here (approximately) 6-year old son discussing about the uniqueness of the Chinese Garden. Hm... the Chinese Garden... I thought it became non-existent already, but I heard on...
"Boy, what's so special about the Chinese Garden? Why do you want to go there?"
"I want to go there because... because there is a big fish..."
"and?"
"tortises."
"Like that only? That doesn't make the Chinese Garden special."
"Oh... there are also lion dance performances..."
"I see, I see, anything else?"
The bus came and I boarded the bus, instinctively withdrawing my $1.50-wallet from my back pocket. "Beep beep!" the usual nice double-beep sound followed after I brought my ez-link card to the card reader. I glanced around, looking for a seat and I found one next to a middle-aged woman.
"Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep !!!"
"Ah...it must be someone who've just displeased the card reader with a card with its value depleted...," I thought.
The old lady held her wallet on one hand, with a few bags of NTUC groceries clinging on her feeble elbow, screaming in fear as it was on the verge of dropping to the ground. She frowned, placed her ez-link card to the card reader and received another rebuke from the card reader.
"Poor lady," I thought.
The old lady then looked into her purse, squinting her old, cloudy eyes. She shook her head slowly and explained to the bus driver that she didn't have any coins with her. She only had a 10-dollar note. The driver stared at her and I was disgusted.
"You better find coins this time," the bus driver snapped.
"This time? Hm..." I thought.
After nodding her head with eyes so pitiful, the old lady made her way down the center walkway, asking other passengers for coins to exchange. Not many people had coins with them, obviously. As she approached me, I can't help but to shift towards my right, away from her. The old lady was, though pitiful, like a haunting, evil witch, similar to the ones illustrated in fairy tales such as The Little Red Riding Hood. Nonetheless, I looked into my wallet for some coins, though I knew didn't have any - I have used my last coins on my Old Chang Kee curry puff. Feeling somewhat guilty, I glanced at her face, and told her that I didn't have any coins... She shook her head and sighed before moving on. It really made me feel really bad, but what could I do then?
The old lady moved on, and on, and on until there was one passenger who happened to have enough coins with her for exchange. The passenger was accompanying a child. Though I didn't look back, I can imagine the look on the child's expression upon meeting the old lady.
The passenger took a pretty long time to find the coins. Through the process of searching for the remaining coins, a few dropped onto the ground. The child whined, "Mummy, you see lah! You so clumsy, now the coins drop already".
I became speechless.
Upon hearing this from the child, she turned back, went to the front of the bus, and alighted at the next stop.
"Hey aunty! You don't want coins already ah?" the passenger called out, but the lady moved on, letting out a long sigh, shaking her head.
