Crypto Mall (Again) (April24)

Last minute decision for fried kway teow at the Haig. Horrid swine at the front table from which the street and the bus-stop could be surveyed leaving heaps of regurgitated food, gristly meats, &etc. The cleaner of course canna be screwed cleaning up. Perfunctory wipe leaving rice grain, globules and smears. Blasted stallholder away from his wok what’s more, having his own lunch when it was only half-two. Fattie office-worker wasn’t counting on being shamed like that caught only half-heartedly acting on her impulse. Rose-bud lips, premature auntie blouse, skirt and heels. She had taken her lunch at the adjacent table, the six-seat rectangular hard against the Tray Stand. Tray Return Point. Thank You For Returning Your Tray; three shelves, 1.3m length. If you wanted to stretch it you could place trays right on top too, though that would need Inspector Gadget. Giving up too easily on the crowded piles the woman was encouraged to go the extra mile; with smile of acknowledgement easier. But what had been intended here was something from earlier in the day in the mall that had recently featured in the US publication, a paean by this author that had struck the editors in the Northern hemisphere, where they had their own malls & associated. OneKM had opened about eighteen months before, the first fully developed mall in contemporary form in Geylang Serai. Four-five floors of retail, apartments and parking top. Water spouts in front, green fringes, buses and MRT 100m. Attracted all the best tenants — Starbs, Superhero, KFC, Popular Bookstore. The PO, briefly. City-state winning plaudits all over; including down in the homeland, where the PM there just days ago crowned the Republic & close ally top of the urban planning pops. (Malcolm Turnbull, former merchant banker.) Chase for the apple cider vinegar and maybe brekkie cereal. Nothing, only the super-size litres and the Less Sugar package latter. Approaching the front escalator to exit, the little alcove on the right held the usual couple of bods soaking up the aircon in the comfy chairs. Late morning no nodding as yet. These were not the massage chairs that one needed to fill with coin; the developer had been lent on by the city burghers, recreational freebie in the commercial space. Rest your limbs you sick, lame & weary. Come unto me. In Singapore. Four or five seats facing the thoroughfare. 4-5 comfy chairs (at home plastic stools reigned). Two-three occupants. And, what was that? Another single in the corner against the wall the other side of the carbonated drinks dispenser? Unnoticed previously. A gap afforded a narrow prospect. Without the familiar figure in the chair the additional furniture would almost certainly never have been noticed. Was that?... Back a couple of paces in retreat… Ah! Yes indeed. Squinting to be sure. None other. The chap from the Haig between jobs a number of years, who was keeping a close eye on the virtual crypto-currency market before he decided to take his plunge. Block 1 he must have been; he had been seen ghosting through the covered walkways upper end. Forlorn loner mornings at the Wadi tables months now and beginning to alternate Mr. T. T. beneath the market. Shirts fraying at collars. (Never tees.) Beltless trousers with shiny seats from the catalogues of the time of Mr. LKY’s first tilt at the throne. Slight-build coolie like his grandpappy before him, staring at the opposite wall over the heads of those seated facing the passage. Noggin eight inches from the dispenser and fourteen the inner long wall on the other side. Modicum of elbow and breathing room. There were at least one or two free chairs along the front. Hardly a jitter. More than serviceable English, of the kind that drew attention to the working of the jaw like in a ventriloquist’s doll. Bursts of earnest conversation that suddenly seized up left the man rabbit-eyed staring into the glare. Late-fifties. He had watched that market with great caution before moving to plunge. (Does one still strike the counterpart in country towns here & there over the globe? The housing estates of the cities?)