Hazia’s Reflections

Yesterday, my ex-roommate and I spent the whole afternoon at a shopping centre nearby. We stuffed ourself with a huge Japanese lunch, and were shocked to see the bill. LOL!

Then, we went shoe & clothes shopping. She didn’t buy anything but I ended up with a satisfying pair of dark gold shoes. That’s another thing, I was desperately in need of one, just like the cosmetic rendezvous case (refer older entry), I’ve waited too long. On the first day of my new job 2 months ago, I realised that I didn’t have a decent pair of court shoes to wear to work. After some ‘digging’, I found a pair I hadn’t worn since my hotel days 2.5 years ago. Thank god it is still good. Imagine… shopping had become a neccessity, no longer a luxury. What happened?

Anyway, we had coffee at the end of it and I shared my 2nd version short stories. She liked Nose Job, she said it was brilliant. I think that will be my best story, complex character, complex theme & complex plot. That’s what my instructor meant by ‘keep on pushing yourself.’ It’ll be ages until I can write something of that calibre again.

She also gave good feedback on ‘The Kebaya King’ (yeah, going into the 6th revision now, I never have more than 2 revisions before, and the story is too precious for me to throw away). I’ve also changed the heroine 3 times, LOL! Oh, I don’t have to ditch the plot for ‘The Other Woman’. She deviced a way to save it:)

Nose Job - 2nd Cut

A year ago, I lost my memory in a road accident. Nevertheless, I thanked God that I survived though I had no recollection at all of my previous life. Tried as hard as I did, I could not remember anything. My mind was like an empty jigsaw puzzle board with thousand of pieces to be filled. The police said I did not have any identification document on me. Despite the many television and newspaper announcements, nobody came forward or claim that they know me, no loved ones or next of kin. There was nobody to tell me who I was and help me juggle my memory. The doctors predicted my age to be around late 40s. I had to call myself something and I settled on Shannon, I thought it was a beautiful name.

After I recovered physically, I moved out to a women’s shelter in Arau, Perlis. I befriended a volunteer at the home who later got me a job at a small gift shop down the street. The white counter facing a row of shop lots was where I sat from 10.00am to 9.00pm six days a week. The place housed a wide variety of items, from office deco to plush toys and potpourri. I enjoyed attending to customers, giving suggestions on the best presents and wrapping them up for special occasions. Mrs Chin, the owner, was a gentle lady around my age who came to open up in the morning and stayed till noon. In the evening, her son would come to lock up. He was a handsome young man and soft-spoken like his mother. Whenever I looked at him, I always wondered if I have children, and a husband…

~more~