CAFE AU LAIT

As the sun's rays pierced through the crack in the dark velvet curtains, Jings rubbed her eyes and wondered if she had just awoken from a dream. The events of the previous night seemed surreal, and she wondered where Pengyi had gone. Seeing him again stirred up emotions she thought were long dead. Here she was, for all intents and purposes, happy... it was like that Abba song, "The Day Before You Came". Life goes on, and you never realise that something is dreadfully amiss, until that defining moment.

She reached for her mobile at the side of her bed to check for any messages, secretly hoping that there would be one from Pengyi. That would be wishful thinking though, as he didn't even possess her contact number. But he's always been ever so resourceful, he managed to get her ticket to watch the Osmonds when no one else could, back in 1979. She pressed the speed dial no 3 for Sheena, who answered gruffly. "Oh my god, was it a dream? Tell me it was a dream", Sheena mumbled. "What did you tell Moondog", Jings asked. "He was asleep like a baby when I got in, and must have assumed the smell of gunpowder and explosives were part of a smokey lounge", Sheena replied. "Any word from Pengyi?", she asked. "Sigh, I don't think he even has my number", Jings said resignedly. "Don't worry, he'll find it, IF he wants to find out how you are", Sheena encouragingly replied.

"Honey, are you awake? Shall I make you some breakfast?", Moondog shouted from below. How will her life ever be the same again? After such drama, how can Sheena return to her humdrum, Little House on the Prairie kind of lifestyle. "Gotta go, Moondog's calling", Sheena hissed at Jings.

Sheena slowly descended the staircase, trying to shake off the migraine the way one tries to brush of an irritating fly. She was dreading the onslaught of Moondog's chirpiness. The only time she had seen him really depressed was when he was at his mother's deathbed. Otherwise, he seemed to be perpetually high on some drug of life.

As she walked past the phone table, she froze. Scrawled in Moondog's writing, was a post it note saying, "Please return call to Shigeru, 015-4404440".