Chapter 8

I could feel my foot sag into the velvety grass with a loud squish as I scurried after the bully. After the lack of practice for running in a couple of weeks, I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage and oxygen drawn out of me. I felt like a human tin can, numbed and lifeless. My muscles were taught and I was aching for a break. Not a positive sign when you are on a chase that’s for sure. And then I wasn’t sure how but my infallible friend Violet started yelling at me. “Move faster you sotong!” I was appalled not only by the fact that she could still keep up with the speed she was running at and still being able to talk, I was also astonished by the fact that she was asking me to hurry up. Wasn’t I fast enough already? I didn’t bother to reply, it was a hopeless cause. Reasoning with Violet was as good as talking to a choo- choo train. I quickened the pace of my clumsy lumber and brushed my fringe which was soaked in sweat aside gingerly.
“We need a plan,” Violet called out to me, I nodded my head in silent agreement. I was too breathless to talk. “Any brilliant ideas?”she added. I racked my numbskull for one but all that came to me was a message from my brain to gasp for air. Instinctively, I panted heavily as the whirl movement of legs came to an abrupt stop. Violet upon seeing me halt, lectured, “Move it Jen, or we’ll lose this guy like we lost the kidnapper.” I didn’t bother to budge, “I have an idea, how about I rest and rejuvenate here while you go on your wild goose chase with that fatty?” Violet considered the idea for a fraction of a second and replied, “If we lose the guy it’s your fault.” “Sure, no problem,” but my answer was unnecessary, she had already vanished from my sight. I shook my head, if she had bothered to stay, I would have shared with her another one of my ingenious plans. Guess that’s Violet for you. Whipping out my communicator, I messaged the boys, “Group gathering at ten minutes past four, we meet at the starting venue, I have a plan to propose.”
*****
Violet was sweating profusely by the time she arrived. “So did you catch our criminal?” I queried as she shot me a scornful scowl, I needn’t ask to know that she had failed the task. “It’s your fault he got away so easily. And to think I followed him all the way while you were seated here, happily shaking your leg,” she scoffed. “Corrections, I was busy washing my shoe,” I corrected. “Besides, if you had bothered to wait, you would have heard about my brilliant plan which didn’t involve the both of us running about like chickens.” Violet threw her hands up in despair and covered her ears, “No more of your brilliant plans! It always turns out to be something impractical and crazy and more than three-quarter of the time you get us into trouble because of them!”
“Calm down Violet, this one sounds pretty logical I have to admit,” Jian Ming supported. I did an inaudible cheer for myself, feeling grateful towards Jian Ming’s support. Violet looked at me with doubt written all over her face. Is it that hard to believe that sometimes my ideas can be pretty fantastic?
“I can’t…” Violet caught sight my grin and quickly broke off. “Forget about what I had just said. If your plan is so ‘great’, Jennison, why don’t you share it with me?” she said sarcastically. “No problem,” I started. “In case you haven’t noticed, our criminal here Mr. Fatty was wearing his school uniform and I’m absolutely positive he came from the school Yishun City Secondary.”
“How can you be so sure of it?” Violet queried. “Because the school’s name was printed in big and bold letters at the back of his uniform,” I replied casually. Violet rolled her eyes, “But there has to be at least a thousand students in the school and if I remembered correctly, he didn’t wear a nametag. How do you plan on locating him? It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.” To her surprise, I broke into fits of laughter, “He was smart enough to remove his nametag, but he was dim-witted enough to leave another important clue pinned on his shirt. If I recall correctly, he was wearing a student counsellor’s tie and that shortens our list of suspects by a few hundreds.” “And I still don’t know how you are going to locate him, there are like a hundred students more left,” Violet challenged. “Simple, we check up the school’s student counsellors’ board,” I said smugly as Violet muttered the words ‘show off’.
“Ok, so this plan sounds reasonable but how are we supposed to do so?” she enquired relunctantly. I cast a glance at the boys giving them the cue to reply. “I’ve discussed with Jian Ming and Andrew and we decided that the best way to carry out the plan is to…” “Break into the school,” both the boys finished off. Violet pursed her lips and was staring at me with stunned expression.
“The plan sounds fine but… Break into the school? Have you people lost your mind? That’s would be the worst thing we have ever done before! Beside your idea on the strike but still, A BREAK IN? We could be jailed!” Violet preached. “We don’t exactly have to break in, we could enter as visitors you know,” Andrew said. Violet fumed softly. I could tell that she had already given in to my plan. “Alright, we will do the break in but if we get into any trouble, we will hold you ultimately responsible for it,” she finally uttered after five long seconds reluctantly. I clasped my hands together in glee, beside me, I could hear Violet’s self-protests, “Oh why did I agree to that raving lunatic’s plan?” And at that very moment as if in reply to her question, two splats of white pungent drips came searing from the sky landing on Violet’s yellow tee. The chirping from the birds overhead made it nonetheless clear what the splats were. I stifled a laugh, it was time for Violet to have a taste of her own – in this case ‘aromatic’ medicine.

Chapter 7

“Go on strike?” there was definitely disagreement in her tone. Yi Ying and Lin Fang just gawked at the idea. “A four men strike?” Yi Ying queried. I shook my head, “I was thinking of involving the whole Primary 6 student body.” “How? Pass flyers?” Violet suggested with a hint of sarcasm. “I am afraid I have to award you zero marks for your ingenuity,” I said waving my finger as I pursed my lips to make a ‘tusk’ ‘tusk’ sound. “I was thinking of passing the message through lead.com by sending an e-mail to all of the Primary 6 students.” Lin Fang shuffled her feet and opened her mouth to protest, “But that’s so troublesome and wild. Can’t we just write a letter of complain?” “They won’t take it seriously,” I said grimly. “We could bring Brian’s parents along to testify,” she continued. “They don’t know their son is kidnapped remember?”Violet responded. “Then tell them,” Lin Fang retorted. Yi Ying gave a frantic look around and placed her fingers on her lips, “Shhh… not so loud, there are people around you know.” Lin Fang ignored her, “Anyway I still don’t think we should go on strike.”
“It was just an idea,” I muttered under my breath. “Yah, one which flunked its logic examination,” she uttered loud enough for my ears only. Violet sensing the enmity between us deliberated for a moment and remarked, “It wouldn’t work anyway, the police are skilled in dealing with such strikes. We would be led away in handcuffs before we know it.” The scene of us – a bunch of Primary 6 kids – being shoved into a police sedan in cuffs cavorted through my mind. I shuddered incessantly at the thought. Ok, so another incident at the police station isn’t going to look pretty on my not so squeaky clean record but I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing.
I was about to launch myself into objection when Yi Ying piped in, “Since none of you guys will give way to each other, why don’t we vote? Majority wins.” Violet and Lin Fang seemed to consider this idea. I shot a grateful glance towards Yi Ying. “Alright, we will vote. But it’s for a lost cause. Because Yi Ying isn’t voting and we two are voting against you,” Lin Fang happily pointed out. I let out a frustrated sigh and added, “Not between the four of us duh. It’s between the whole class.” I could briefly see the expressions on my friends’ face change briefly for a split second before regaining their previous smirk. “And how are you going to conduct the vote. You can’t just march up to the class in front of Mr. Lim and ask ‘whoever is in favour of having a strike on blank day…” “I was thinking of next Wednesday,” I interrupted before allowing Violet to continue. “Ok, having a strike on Wednesday, raise up your hands’ and then record the number of people in favour down. Mr. Lim will personally deliver you to the Principal’s office and give you a Beta form.”
“Didn’t I mention anything about lead.com? We could also conduct the vote during our stay back on next Monday,” I remarked.
“Ding dong, ding, dong, ding, dong,” the cliché ringing of the school bell chimed overhead signalling the end of our heated discussion. With a start, we grabbed the newspapers and lunged for the stairs, “We will discuss about this later,” Lin Fang said as she sprinted upwards gracefully, step by step. Violet and I gave a brief nod before we all headed for our classroom, agitated.
*****
School was never a breeze, multitasking by preparing for our PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) and at the same time doing crime fighting only made it more hectic. I stared at the humongous pile of worksheets stacked messily on my desk with my mouth agape. That was the main reason why I dreaded weekends: it wasn’t a short break from the chaotic school life, it was a intellectual torture season! To me, I felt like I was buried alive in tonnes of assessment papers, struggling to free myself but always unsuccessful. Like that wasn’t stressful enough, my communicator had to start beeping fanatically.
“Urgent, urgent, there has been sightings of gangsters loitering around block 201. Please head there immediately, we will be sending you back up,” the professor’s voice rang loudly as I quickly hid the communicator under my shirt. “What’s that?” my mum enquired upon hearing the message. I tried to compose myself and come up with a logical explanation. “That was my new ringtone, I got it from Yi Ying,” I reasoned with a smile. To prove it to her, I retrieved my handphone from the table and placed it to my ear.
“Err, hi Violet!” I chirped as I eyed my mum cautiously, fortunately, my mum had seemed to have lost interest and had looked away. But just in case my mum was still listening in on me, I continued my phony conversation. “What? Go back for extra science lessons? Ok, I will be there by three. Bye.”
Turning back to my mum, I quickly added, “Mr. Lim’s afraid we won’t be able to complete going through our worksheets so he wants us to go back to school by four.” She observed me with unhidden suspicion but eventually let it pass. “Alright then, do you need to wear your uniform?” “Nah, it isn’t official so he doesn’t find the need to,” I explained further. “Can I go to school myself? Please?” I pleaded. Mum considered for a moment, “But remember to call when you reach school ok?” I nodded my head frantically and rushed for the door. “Remember to call!” was the last few words I heard before I dashed in a bolt of lightning. I knew that the pile of assessment on my table was inevitable and that I would have to face them later, but right now, given the choice between catching gangsters or doing homework; I’ll rather catch gangsters any day of the week.
Getting to block 201 in a jiffy was no problem at all. All I needed was some luck and a wad of cash. Luck so that I could hire a taxi in less than ten seconds and cash so that I could pay the taxi driver when I had arrived at my destination. When I had finally reached block 201, I found Violet waiting anxiously for me at the void deck along with Andrew and Jian Ming.
“You took ages to come and now that you are here, can we get to work? I have got to rush home to babysit my younger sister later you know,” Andrew said obnoxiously. I pulled a face at him discreetly and turned to face them. “So what’s the plan?”I implored. “You guys find eyewitnesses or victims and gather info while we go patrol the area,” Violet decided. I cheered at the idea while the boys looked thunderstruck; that was a nice change for a start.
“What do we say to the aunties?” Andrew queried. Violet rolled her eyes and scoffed, “Hello, we have heard that there has been some form of bullying and forced theft by gangsters around here, so may I know if you have seen any of such people? It’s easy. Just use your common knowledge. Now if there are no more questions we can start.” The boys were about to leave when I immediately reached out my hand to stop them, “Before you leave, I would like to know if you guys are in favour of having a strike outside the police post on next Wednesday.” Without much consideration, both boys uttered the reply ‘xiao’ and walked away. Violet smirked at me and I could feel my face burn. But still I wasn’t going to give up just yet, no way. I am certain that someone will support my idea, I just had to persevere.
Walking along the void decks of the neighbouring blocks was mind-numbing. And because of the recent fact that Violet and I weren’t on speaking terms, the patrol seemed even more dreary and dull. “Err so what school do you aim to go to next year,” I piped hoping to break the awkward silence between the both of us. “Don’t know yet,” Violet replied shrugging her shoulders. That definitely didn’t help. If we were going to strike a conversation, Violet was going to have to be an active participant, after all, it takes two hands to clap. “So did you read the book Princess Diaries book eight? It was really disgusting,” I commented, probing her to answer. “Yah,” Violet agreed sullenly. I felt a sudden urge to kick her shins; couldn’t she see I was trying to talk to her? I was getting very annoyed by her cold shoulder attitude.
“Hey Jennison,” Violet started. “So you are finally talking huh,” I snapped. “No but I just wanted to inform you that you had just stepped on a pile of dog poop,” she finished pointing to the soles of my shoe. “WHAT!” I screeched in horror as the fetid smell wafted up my nostrils. I scowled at the messy sight of my poop covered sneaker. Violet advised, “You should find a bathroom or a tap to wash your shoes, as much as we are in a hurry, I can’ stand the smell of that.” I cursed the irresponsible owner of the dog which had did its business here and trudged over dolefully at the same time nodding my head.
Lifting my head, I scoured about looking for a cafeteria or a water outlet. Violet promptly picked out a tiny female washroom near the exit of an open-air hawker centre. I definitely wasn’t going to waste my time with a MacDonald’s toilet, one sniff at me, and they would send me packing. Even as I made my way to the toilet, I could see nearby patrons shooting me disgusted and scornful looks. The degree of hatred I could see in their eyes was a good gage of how my sneaker ponged. I waddled over towards the female toilet as gingerly as I could manage, out of the way from the disgusted patrons, I was thankful that no one had the mind to throw rotten eggs at my face… yet. I turned towards, Violet, only to see her whistling away. Frustrated, I gave her one of my ‘could you come here now’ glares.
“Who are you staring at,” she queried directing her glance at me. Then facing the patrons, she reasoned, “She has nothing to do with me.” Grumbling, I grabbed a whole waft of toilet paper and chucked it under the flowing tap. “Next time she becomes the portable animal toilet bowl, I am so not going to help her clean up,” I promised as I wiped the dirt of my sneakers. While trying to wash up, I couldn’t help but listen in on some conversations going on nearby above the buzz in the hawker. Most were commenting on my unruly and inconsiderate behaviour which I had gladly directed them to Violet and the owner of the dog. Another conversation that was going on was this, “You better give me the down payment, if not I’ll bash you up.” See, another conflict going on between two young teenagers. Seriously, what is the world turning into? I shook my head disapprovingly and froze, that wasn’t a line in a conflict, that was an obvious threat! I cast my attention towards the direction where the source of the boy came from where I was standing, I could distinguish a burly youth in a white uniform standing across a skinny and frail boy whose face was covered with freckles near the rubbish chute. I crept closer, edging towards them. It was an unfair match up, I was tempted to scream jump to the boy’s protection but a hand slammed across my mouth and tugged me back.
“Wait, surprise is a man’s best weapon, we should devise a plan and use it to our full advantage,” a voice which I immediately recognised as Violet’s sounded in my ears. “That boy needs help,” I protested. “We should take a photo first,” Violet said. I stamped my foot in irritation, “You take a picture and I’ll go help the boy.” A shocked look spread across Violet’s face and I recalled that I had never thrown my temper in front of her. I disregarded it, there’s always a first for everything. Right now, there were other things to think about. Evidently, I had stamped my foot a little too loud, the big burly youth I nicknamed fatty was now glancing in my direction glaring daggers down. I could hear him mutter the word, “Idiots!” before he went shuttling off in a flash. “Jennison! Go after him!” Violet hollered as she dashed towards him. I bolted after Violet with a wave of a fury. No hooligan was going to escape in my turf just yet.