The Coffee Shop---- The Father Talk
It was good news for the school students because the school break has started! With the aim of earning pocket money, I have been hired to work in a coffee shop, Starbucks. After a few days working there, I find that there is an old man who will come to the shop at 5pm everyday. Drinking a coffee is a routine for him. What is strange is that he orders two cups of coffee every time but drinks only one, leaving the other cup opposite him.
I am curious about this old man. A cup of coffee in here cost RM16 which to me cost an arm but this old man leaves a cup of coffee every day. Let’s say a month has 30 days, he has wasted RM480 per month and RM5840 a year! Oh man, I think this old man must be rich! However, my perception changed after I heard this old man’s story from my manager. The poor old man has a tragic past.
There was a youngster who used to sit I n front of him and drank coffee with him always. The youngster called the old man, “Daddy!”. The story went back to three years ago when Starbucks had just started the business two months before in Klang’s Must Go Malls. A youngster, named Casey, saw the name of the coffee shop and asked his dad Mr. Yeo, an old wifeless man, to visit it. They ordered a cup of hazelnut coffee. After trying for a mouth, the son loved it. Since that day, both of them became VIP of the café. They visited the shop almost three times a week. However, the harmonious situation did not last for a long time. A tragedy occurred.
“Freeze! The building is surrounded and there is no where to run!” the policemen yelled to the robbers. A bank was robbed by a dangerous group of robbers, Xylence. This gang of robbers had robbed many shops including Boh Gong, Barkson, COMB Bank and other 49 shops and escaped arrest by the police. This was the golden chance for the police to arrest them because their boss, Anthenite was here too. However, the robbers ran away to Starbucks. Mr. Yeo and Casey were inside the café too. “Do not come near us, we have hostages!” Casey was the hostage!
Suddenly, a gun shot was heard. Then, the atmosphere was filled with gun fire. Mr. Yeo tried to save his son from the situation and his arm was shot. His palms were full of
blood but when he observed carefully, the blood came from Casey’s neck!
“Sorry, we have tried our best.” said the doctor. The shootings were started by a panic newbie cop. Although the police caught the Xylence gang, they had caused the lost of an innocent life.
Since that incident, the old man, Mr. Yeo came to the coffee shop to drink coffee at 5pm, their time in the café. Thousands of tears fell from my eyes when I heard the tale. The situation turns gloomier when I see Mr. Yeo mumbling alone. He thinks that his son is sitting in front of him and they are chit chatting!
When I return home from work, my parents are curious about the sad look on my face. Without hesitation, I hug them and say, “I love you! Mum and dad!” I am afraid of the time when we have to leave each other. I want to be with them and treasurer our time. Parents and their children have a bond that cannot be broken. We both cannot live happily without the other. Mr. Yeo’s story is the best example to show the strong love bond between a father and a son. He cannot accept the fact that his son has passed away. So, from this moment, I will become a filial son who will always love my parents!
The Coffee Shop—The Talk of Friendship
I5 August 2010. I see today’s date on the calendar. Time really flow, today is the 1st anniversary of the “Miracle Day” between a friend and I. After a call, we promised to meet at the old place, the Old Town coffee shop at Jalan Kapar.
I reach the venue much earlier than the promised time. The sky turns dark, follow y the tiny droplets of rain and then the rain starts to pour. Time moves much slower than usual. I enjoy my Mocha while I wait for his arrival. I look at the clock, 2.15pm. The time reminds me of the incident that occurred last year. During that time, the hands of the clock were showing the same time, 2.15pm.
5 August 2009. I had a date with Jaywin in Old Town coffee shop but he did not turn up. He told me he would like to celebrate my birthday with me and wanted to give surprise me. I wondered what the surprise was. Could he have forgotten our date? I waited for him for nearly an hour and finished about five cups of Mocha but he did not appear. Not even a call. I was pissed off when I tried calling him a few times and my calls went to his voice mail. With a burn in my heat, I wondered what kind of punishment I should inflict on him when he arrived.
At 2.15pm, my phone rang. A foreign number was calling me. I was dumbfounded as I picked up the phone. It was from the hospital. Jaywin was in the emergency room. Without any hesitation, I rushed to the hospital. When I arrived, Jaywin had not come out from the operating room. There were few cops outside the room. They came to me for questions.
Jaywin was an orphan and I am his grow up friend and also the only sworn brother. I am the only person who knows him well. After I gave them the information they wanted, the cops told me the story of his accident. According to them, Jaywin was speeding at that time. Suddenly, he fainted. Most probably was due to his anemia. He knocked to a lorry. The lorry driver was not injured but Jaywin was in critical condition. A birthday cake was found in the car.
My heart dropped when I saw the smashed cake. It was the Special Chocolate Cheese Ice-cream Cake from Faraway Cake House. The cake could only be obtained with one month advanced booking and the cake shop was in Puchong. He knew the cake was my flavor and he must have been excited to present the cake to me. That must be why he was speeding. My tears were falling and I was afraid I would loss the dearest sworn bother.
The doctor came out. He said that they needed O¯ blood to save Jaywin life. I took the blood test and passed! That day, I felt like I had donated almost half of my body’s blood to Jaywin. I was glad when the doctor said he was saved! Another thing that was on my mind that day was I felt dizzy.
I am glad and I giggle when I think this old story. Suddenly, I receive a call. It is a stranger’s number! Oh no! Please do not tell me it is from the hospital! When I answer the call, there is no sound at all. Suddenly, a hand grabs my shoulder from my back and I yell in terror. A voice comes out from the phone, “Gotcha!” “It is you, Jaywin!” I say. Jaywin appears in front of me, holding a cake, my favorite cake, the Special Chocolate Cheese Ice-cream Cake from the Faraway Cake House in Puchong! Oh well, it seems the celebration of Jaywin’s miracle survival, the “Miracle Day” finally turns into success!
Jaywin, thanks for your hardworks. I really appreciate your gesture. The Old Town coffee shop has turned into the symbolism of our friendship. I wish we could spend every 5 August in this coffee shop! Thank you so much!
The Youths, Television and Violent Behavior
In the 21st century, we find that there are many social cases around us involving teenagers. The violent cases such as bullying and fighting are often reported in newspapers. Violence is a quite common among the youths. However, who should be responsible for leading them to this misbehavior? The answer is television programmes.
Television programmes are easily accessible and are influential to young people. They are attracted to the interesting graphics and sound effects which heighten their enjoyment of the movies. Teenagers are too exposed to violent films, video and music. Some of the 18 and above movies such as the Saw series, Hostel and Resident Evil series are viewed by teenagers.
The Saw & Hostel
They may mimic the violent action from the movie and become antisocial.
In order to watch 18 and above movies, parent supervision is vital. However, research shows that our country still has weak and inadequate parental supervision. Some of them have poor understanding of the rating system. They watch movies without noticing the different ratings of U, 18PL, 18PG, 18SX and 13PL.
Furthermore, kids nowadays love movies with horror themes that involve violence. This is because the movie makes them feel adventurous and interesting. Due to this good response, the film companies could earn a lot of money. Since the films promise them profit, the producers produce a lot of such movies.
Although children enjoy the shows very much, there are some side effects. Horror movies contain much spooky elements. The children may become timid and frightened of the things around them.
Furthermore, horror and violent movies may lead the children to become insensitive to real-life violence. The movie “Mafia” may encourage the culture of gangsterism which results in bullying, vandalism, extortion and so on.
Not only that, it also leads to aggressive behavior. Children may choose to fight to solve problems rather than talk or discussion.
To handle this issue, family plays a very important role. The elder or parent should supervise and guide the young people whenever they watch movies. They have to help the youths to differentiate what is right and wrong, and to derive moral values from the movie. It is important for youths to avoid getting the wrong information and bad examples from the movies.
In a nutshell, violent behaviors are influenced by violent movies. In order to control this violent behavior, family plays a big part to guide the youths and lead them to the right path. Only when the family carries this duty, the issue of violent behavior may be avoided.
By Jimmy Soh
Eclipse
Everything went wrong that morning. My hands were trembling when I see the examination paper. It was the PMR History paper!
The questions were like strangers to me. It was not because they were hard or new to me. My heart was broken because I studied Science yesterday!
Oh, no! When I turned my head to Shengkai, I was dumbfounded. He was answering smoothly like the questions were as easy as a pie. I wanted to curse you! Shengkai, you told me yesterday that today we will be having Science paper! You are a “fair weather friend” I ever have! How dare you trick me! There was a lot of foam at my mouth now!
the story began yesterday. After I came back from tuition and wanted to start a revision at 3 pm, I called Shengkai. The examination schedule that I had stick on the wall of my room accidentally fell into my dustbin and my mum threw all the rubbish to the garbage collector. I lost the direction on the schedule so I phoned to Shengkai to inquire for tomorrow schedule. He sounded busy when he picked up the call. He asked me to hold the call until he finished the chapter. I waited for quite a long time, what I could barely to hear was his whisper. “Science, Science, Science. What should I do for tomorrow Science paper?!” Due to I had out of patient, I ended the call and assumed that there will be a Science paper on the next day. However the paper that I am holding now is the History paper!
My precious tears dropped on the paper. After a few seconds, I could not hold the tears anymore and they burst out in sudden. Everyone was looking at me, some of the serious types put a shut-up-sign in front of their mouth while the others curious at my action. The invigilator came to me and asked what was happening but I chose to remain silent. In the end, I spent up my one hour examination time for forty winks after I was tired of crying. I will never forgive you for what you have done, Shengkai! PMR result came out after a few later, the grades beside the subjects were As except a D for my History. The alphabet D indicated the ending of our friendship.
today, 8th August 2010, a 3A class reunion party is holding in Shengkai’s house. All of the 3A classmates are here. At first I am not willing to go to this traitor house but I change my mind after some begging from my classmates. I am barbeque with others throughout the party and do not bother on Shengkai at all.
I wish the end of the party will be reached soon because it is very torturing to face on him. Suddenly some yelling and crying sound comes from Shengkai’s room. Later a few girls come out from the room and near to me and then they pull me to his room. I am out of the condition until the girls point their fingers on the wall. There is a frame with a certificate of some sort of competition. However the certificate seems to be torn into pieces before because there is some mark of cellophane tape on it.
within the moment, Shengkai come from the back with a cup of tea. He pats my shoulder and when I turn around, he bends down his knee down and kowtow at me.
The atmosphere turns solemn when he explains the conflict between us that time. He feels remorseful because he did not know that I wanted to ask for the examination schedule that day and asked me to wait for so long. He feels regret for not calling me back and ask me the purpose of calling him. He thinks that he is the culprit who causes a D in my PMR result and consequences me to enter the fifth class of the form. If he did not make the mistake, I will be study with him in the first class right now and our friendship will not end up with such awkward condition. He heard from others that I claimed him lying to me. He was upsetting for it and today he want to apologize for his careless mistake.
shengkai says that the certificate in the frame is the National Science Competition he took part two years ago. He grabbed the champion in the competition but he was unhappy because the price for this honor was sacrificing a precious friendship. He should not state the words, Science, when I called him. When he took the certificate home, he tore the certificate into piece as a sign of remorseful and cried in his room. His parent was shocked with his action. They were pity to the certificate, so they stick the piece one by one and framed it and then pass it back to Shengkai. After a few talk with his parent, he took the frame and hanged it on the wall of his room. He wanted it to be a reminder of not to repeat the mistake. After the explanation, Shengkai passes the tea to me and ask “Will you forgive me?”.
droplets of tears slump blob by blob from my cheek. I am touched with his action. I should not act like a child because it was my fault too in the incident! I hold his hand and say “I’m sorry for misunderstanding you Shengkai. I should not angry with you for two years. You are my best friend I ever have!”
after the gathering, our friendship has bonded even stronger than before! Thank you my God for granting me a truth friend!
