People Watch

Enie
Blk 892B, Woodlands Dr50 #11-165

 

National Library, beautiful place with beautiful people.

There was this girl, around my age. She sits by the wall inside the children’s section. I happened to be at the children section, scouting for old Enid Blyton’s book and I looked at her and thought “wow, she has such mysterious allure to her” and so I sat down, behind the bookshelves with magazines and heavy books. She was clad in leggings and an oversized black and white checkered male shirt.  Inside she wore a black tanktop, quite visible because she only buttoned up the last couple of buttons of her shirt. She wore black sandals and had several rings on her pudgy fingers. She wasn’t fat, but her fingers were pudgy. They say when you wear more than 4 rings on your hand/fingers, you have low self esteem. I couldn’t see what she was reading but whatever it was, it had alot of photos. There was a whole stack of magazines, designs, arts, fashion, political magazines laid beside her. She doesn’t look like someone who reads politics but hey I may never know. The bag was a black sling bag. It looked expensive but then again, with the right attitude, anything cheap can look expensive. Her eyes never stayed at one spot for long, she scans through. I know she doesn’t read, she only looks at pictures. She’s a visual person and a kinesthetic too. Sometimes while “reading” the magazines she pauses and her eyes moves to the upper right hand corner. I wonder what she might be thinking. Probably the pictures she saw triggerered an old memory, kindergarden, primary school or  someone she saw on the bus today. An old granny or perhaps, a boy. After some time, she digs into her bag, took out a notebook and diligently scribbled something inside. An idea or something inspirational because she continued scribbling around 4 pages all the while glancing at the magazine.

Occasionally, while pouring the contents of the magazine, her right hand will dig into her bag and she’ll take out a box of sweets. Initially I thought it was a box of cigarettes, but it wasn’t. She’ll chuck the sweets into her mouth and instantly looks up. She looked sad somehow. But prettily sad.

 

There was a moment where she paused scanning through and looks up. Her eyes scans through the room and again her hand digs into her bag. This time, the wonderful box of sweets didn’t come out. Her left hand joined in the rummage and it took her almost a minute to get her handphone out. From all those digging, she had a huge plastic bottle, several notebooks, a sketchbook, a pencil case, a frame, a discman, a headphone and 2 scarves in her bag. She could passed out as an Art student. Urgently with swift movements, she looks into the screen of her handphone, then she looks up. Her lips parted slightly, I think she sighed but I couldn’t be sure. She looked disappointed, as if people don’t really care about her. She placed her handphone on the pile of magazines.

She isn’t neat and proper. By now, her boxes of sweets were all over the place, her magazines are now scattered around her and she gently chucks her notebook (which she had on her lap all the while) back into her bag. 

There was a group of boys nearby. Her eyes stayed at them. They came in and she instantly (awkwardly) looked down. I thought it was funny, the way her eyes immediately avoid the boys. The group of boys were in tight jeans, t-shirts and carried those big big files. One looked adorably cute, i think.

At this point of time, I continued reading my magazine and after a while I got up. She was still there, her posture … changed. She was leaning in, the magazines still on her lap but her legs were crossed (imagine left knee in touch with the floor, right leg crossed over left leg) She had her face cupped in her right hand, her right elbow on her knees and she was fiddling with her handphone. The boys were opposite her, outside the children section lounging around the black chairs. One of them I noticed seems to be fiddling with his handphone too. I walked past her (because I had too), she looked up at me. She smiled. I smiled. I thought she was really nice. Not many people smile at strangers. 

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Michiels Tania
Sarkies Rd #02-02 

 

Tanglin Supermarket, a cosy place with cool people.

I got to admit, I enjoy grocery shopping without buying anything.

 

She wasn’t old, but she didn’t look young either. Broad shoulders, athletic. Either she’s a health conscious freak or she’s done alot of exercise when she was young. Somehow I could already picturing her doing yoga or pilates in her free time. She wore a marooned tank top and slim fit jeans with black heels. 7inch? 5inch? But it was high, or rather it made her look tall. She had in her hand a long list of I assume groceries she needed to buy but strangely, she didn’t carry a basket. And there was no sight of a trolley anywhere in that particular alley. She stood there pretty long. Well not long “long” but around a couple of seconds. After the long 10secods of “doing nothing” and just standing there, she reached out for a carton of milk. I’m not sure what kind but people who looked like her would definitely get the more expensive SLIM milk. By now, I was half expecting her to just walk away with that carton of milk to the cashier or something. Heels + Slim body + Tied-up frizzy brown hair + a carton of milk in your hands = Tres Chic, she’s definitely fashionable though just in simple jeans and tank top combination. But she didn’t walk away, she hesitated and pondered for another 10seconds.

 

Her contemplation all these while is strange and it makes me ponder too, does she even know what she is doing here? Or just a random “I need to grocery shop” idea without the intent of buying?  The carton milk box shift position back to it’s original place.

 

Got a call, a silence ringtone because instantly she fished her handphone out of her bag which she had hung on her arm. Her voice was demure but loud. But not in that boyish loud rough voice, it just projects rather loudly, maybe cause of the empty alleyway. She greeted in that very professional English speaking voice the likes of Andrea Fonseka. She’s definitely someone who predominantly speaks English, either that or she’s not local. When she speaks to that other person on her phone, it’s very polite, very caring, very sincere. The call continued, I didn’t listened. She seems like a nice person, I didn’t want to eavesdrop or anything. So she walks away, smiled to the staff boy at the entrance and just walk away.

Tres chic.