Flying Burger Page 2

  Grace was at the drink vending machine. She got herself two cups of hot coffee. She walked back to her table and settled down next to Bruce, putting down the cups on the table. Bruce thanked her. He handed a cheese burger to her and began to munch on his burger. The hot coffee aroma wafted through the air.

  Trevor had ordered two bowls of chicken broth from the canteen menu system. He had punched in his orders on the right-hand panel on his table and scanned his debit card using the attached card-reader input device. He also requested the canteen vendor to add more pepper to one bowl of chicken broth and to add more ginger to the other bowl. Vivian loved ginger like crazy. He knew his girl friend’s taste too well.

  Max ordered two bowls of fish-ball noodle and punched in his orders. He paid for his orders using debit card. He also requested the vendor to add black vinegar to one bowl of noodle. Elaine liked to eat fish-ball noodles with black vinegar. The menu system began to sound an alarm, "oinng...oinng...oinng..", with flashing lights. Everyone looked up and stared at him with big eyes, as if he was an alien from outer space. Max smiled, he was used to this kind of expression whenever he ordered fish-ball noodles with black vinegar. He found his girl friend’s taste a bit strange too.

  Nikita was eating her breakfast by herself. There was a large crowd in the canteen already as it was the Academy Open House today. Out of a sudden, someone spoke to her, asking whether she could share a seat with her. There was no more empty seat available in the canteen anymore. She agreed readily and shoved her books aside to make way for her.

  “I’m Melissa. Nice to know you.”

  “I’m Nikita. Nice to know you too. You look familiar, have I met you somewhere before?”

  “I don’t think so, I’m afraid.”

  “Wait. Let me think. Oh, I remember now. You danced during one of the morning school assemblies. The cultural folk dance, the costume was very colourful.”

  “I performed last week.”

  “I like dancing too.”

  These two girls who just got to know each other found they had something in common. They went on to talk more about dancing and forgot to notice that time just wheezed by.

  There was already a large crowd at the academy main entrance, curious parents, toddlers, students, prefects, teachers on duty, even maids could be found. It was the Academy’s Open House and enough publicity had been done beforehand to attract a roaring big crowd. Many parents wanted to know more about this premiere space academy. Everything from the course curriculum, school facilities, admission criteria, to the intangibles, such as teaching staff qualifications and credentials, principal’s charisma and support staff’s credibility, fell within the parents’ areas of concern.

  Suddenly, an announcement came on the air, “Ladies and gentlemen, please board the speedboats to get to the academy’s auditorium. We will be waiting there for you.” A short while passed before many gliders, approximately fifty of them, approached the main gate. They looked like large speedboats, and could easily accommodate twenty people at any one time. These gliders flew low and slow. Teachers on duty and prefects were ushering the people onto the speedboats. Very soon, the main gate became relatively empty of people. Mrs. Andersen boarded the last speedboat glider and made her way to the academy auditorium for the morning assembly.

  It took only a short while to reach the school auditorium. Mrs. Andersen stepped down from the speedboat glider and made her way into the auditorium. Many parents and students were assembled there already, sitting comfortably on red-cushion chairs. Before long, the School Principal walked up onto the stage and made a long opening address, as was usual his style.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for taking the time off to attend our Academy Open House. Many exhibits have been put up for you specially by our team of dedicated staff who have worked very hard for the past few months. Our academy has the excellent tradition of producing top students every year and this year is no exception. We achieved outstanding results in the field of Astronomy in last year’s National Examinations. We scored the highest in terms of individual and level rankings, beating the National Average by more than ten percentage points. A remarkable achievement! Once again, I must thank all the teachers for their hard work and the students for their perseverance. Let’s all put our hands together. Bravo!“ The Principal raised his clenched right fist in a sign of victory.

  People began to get up from their seats and walk to the exhibition hall which was joined to the auditorium by a well-decorated path. There were three main exhibition areas, namely the spaceship sector, the alien sector and the galaxy sector. Each exhibition sector was the fruit of labour by the respective Department Manager, who had spent many hours of planning and coordination work on this project.

  At the galaxy exhibition sector, a young professor was busy introducing the galaxy map to the curious bystanders. “Welcome to our galaxy sector. This is the map of the galaxy. Here, you have the Orion Constellation and that is the Crab Nebula. Can you see the shape of this star cluster here that looks like a crab?”

  “Oh yes,” Melissa said.

  “Really look like a crab,” an interested mother was looking closely at the star map as if she was inspecting a crab at the market.

  At the alien sector, a large crowd was present. Many curious parents and students flocked to this sector to find out more about aliens. They wanted to know how aliens looked like, how tall were they, what kind of food do they eat and whether they were hostile. In short, everything about aliens. Antonio and Samuel were fascinated by the different kinds of alien life-forms on display. They did not know there were so many different types of alien in the Universe.

  “Are these aliens for real?” Antonio asked the professor on duty. He looked up at the aged old man with his innocent big eyes.

  “Of course. These photographs were taken by our unmanned space probes. One hundred percent genuine,” the professor replied.

  “Oooo, this alien has got two horns on its head,” Antonio said excitedly, as if he had discovered gold.

  "Eeee...," somebody said in disgust.

  "Yucks!" another person blurted out.

  “Look, this one has got five eyes and two tails!” Samuel broke into a laugh. Soon, many joined in the laughter.

  Melissa and Nikita walked close together viewing the different exhibits with great interests. They were attracted by a commotion over at the spaceship exhibition sector. They walked into this sector to take a closer look. Many people were standing by the sides of the spaceship exhibits but nobody paid any attention to them. There were simply too many people present. There was hardly any standing ground. Many students and parents were seated comfortably on chairs, facing a mini-stage. On the stage, there was a white grand-piano. Dressed in a bright green long-sleeve shirt and white long pants, Chen Wei was sitting next to the grand-piano. He was getting ready to perform for the audience.

  Roger, the compere for this performance, walked up on to the stage and took the microphone.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, our two most outstanding students in spaceship faculty are going to sing a song for all of you. The song title is ‘Amigos Para Siempre’, meaning 'friends forever'. Let's welcome Chen Wei and Diana!” Diana walked onto the stage wearing a yellow evening gown. She looked stunningly beautiful. Immediately, someone screamed at the back of the crowd. Another softer scream followed.

  Silence.

  Chen Wei struck the piano keys skilfully. A soft melody filled the air followed by a shrill, feminine voice. Diana sang beautifully. Chen Wei sang the next stanza, with his clear masculine voice, which was a low tenor. Together, they sang the ending part in perfect harmony.

  Grace, Vivian and Elaine were standing close together at the back of the crowd as they came late. Their boyfriends also came along with them.

  “What are they singing?” Grace whispered to Vivian.

  “I’m not sure,” Vivian said.

  “I like this song,” Grace said.

  “You don’t know w
hat they are singing and yet you like it. I find this odd,” Bruce said.

  “But I really like this song,” Grace insisted.

  “If you like that song, you can listen to the song. Don’t talk to me,” Bruce was jealous. He was a rather good-looking macho guy and could not tolerate his girlfriend admiring other guys.

  “Okay, okay, I don’t listen to the song. Please talk to me,” Grace uttered these words without even thinking. She was afraid to antagonise Bruce, for she had gone to great length to secure his affection.

  "Give me your hand, we'll listen to the song together," Bruce said in a rather commanding tone.

  "Errn," Grace uttered softly and complied.

  “Look, he has a dimple on his left cheek. So cute!” Vivian exclaimed softly.

  “Vivian, I also have a dimple on my left cheek, am I cute?” Trevor was jealous.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “But you never even look at me!” Trevor complained.

  “Chen Wei is a snob. He seldom talks to people,” Trevor continued.

  “That’s what you think. He’s a very nice guy,” Vivian defended The Hunk.

  “So far from here, yet you can see his dimple. You never cease to amaze me,” Trevor was very jealous.

  Vivian turned her head and glared at him.

  “Okay, okay. I zip my mouth,” Trevor gave in at the end. He made the corresponding ‘close the zip’ action, pretending his mouth to be the zip. Whenever Trevor and Vivian had a disagreement, it was always Trevor who raised the white flag at the end.

  “Look at his porcupine hair, so ugly,” Max muttered to himself.

  “What did you just say?” Elaine asked in a rather harsh tone.

  “Ooops. No, no, no, I did not say anything,” Max shook his head and waved both hands frantically. Before he knew what happened, he received a slap on his shoulder from his girl-friend, Elaine. He felt sorry for himself and pouted. He kept very quiet henceforth.

  Evon was also with this group of friends. She did not have a boyfriend at the moment and kept asking many questions about Chen Wei.

  "Does Chen Wei have a girlfriend, huh, huh?" she asked Elaine. She looked and sounded desperate enough.

  "I heard Diana is his girlfriend. Don't they look like a couple?"

  "Are you sure or not?" Evon displayed a look of dismay.

  "Well, I only heard about it from someone."

  "You must have heard wrongly," Evon sounded very sure.

  "Does he have a brother?" Evon asked unexpectedly. She was not one who gave up easily.

  "That I'm not sure."

  "He looks just like my pop idol, so handsome," Evon said softly.

  By this time, Chen Wei and Diana had finished singing their song. A thunderous applause followed. Diana did a curtsy and left the stage. Roger announced the next song title.

  "Chen Wei will sing the next song. This is an old time favourite, 'Together in Electric Dreams'."

  A guitarist came onto the stage. He began to strum his electric guitar several times, testing it. It worked fine.

  Silence.

  "This is one of my mum's favourite song. Mum, this is for you," Chen Wei said.

  Mrs. Chen, who sat in the middle of the audience clapped her hands loud and long for her son. The background music slowly flooded in through the giant speakers on both sides of the mini-stage. The guitarist began to strum his electric guitar in tandem with the background music. The two pieces blended perfectly. Chen Wei's clear masculine voice filled the air. "I only knew you for a while...I never saw your smile..." He began singing. The whole hall listened in silence. Everyone picked up the dancing rhythm and felt the urge to get up and dance. When he reached the high-note, "We'll always be together..however far it seems..We'll always be together..together in electric dreams," there was absolute silence. When he finished singing this song, the applause from the audience was resounding. Chen Wei waved his hands, bowed to the audience and was about to exit the stage, when someone yelled for more. It came from the back of the audience. It was Evon! Another "more!" came from the right side of the audience. Shortly after, someone from the left side shouted "more!" too. Many screams were heard once again. The crowd was electrified!

  Watching her son performing on stage, Mrs. Chen followed his every movement closely. Her eyes lit up when Chen Wei sang "Together in Electric Dreams." He reminded her of her husband who was away on an oversea business trip. Her breath caught suddenly in her throat. She missed her husband badly.

  "Thank you. I will sing the next song 'First Love', by Paran. This is for all of you out there," Chen Wei nodded to the guitarist who gave him the thumbs-up signal.

  The music came on. Chen Wei began to sing, "I believe in you..ooo..yea...Hello I believe you...." This was a contemporary hit song. When he was about to finish singing the first stanza, he pointed at the audience with his left hand, and then suddenly pointed the microphone on his right hand at them when he finished singing the first stanza. The audience carried on singing the second stanza! It was perfect coordination. When he started to sing the third stanza, "...say that I love you," the whole hall echoed him, "...love you.." and sang along with him. Suddenly, a small group of audience sang, "..love you..," adding a ripple-effect to this song. Many clapped and tapped their feet in harmony with the song's tempo.

  Chen Wei hopped around on stage with the spot-light close at his heels. His mother's eyes never left him. Chen Wei held the microphone close to his mouth, stretched out his left hand, closed his eyes and reached for the high-note "..yea...so sweet..." He sang his heart out. Many young hearts stopped beating for one minute. Chen Wei exuded youthful charisma. The whole hall was jubilant. When the song ended, Chen Wei smiled and waved to the audience. The applause was resounding. A female fan ran up to the stage holding a bouquet of red roses. She was overly excited and slipped. Chen Wei caught her in his arms and helped her up. She gave her roses to Chen Wei.

  "Thank you," he said.

  Before he knew what happened, this female fan hugged him tight. She left the stage shortly after.

  "Isn't that Evon on the stage? When did she sneak out to buy those roses?" Pointing her finger at Evon, Grace asked her friends.

  "I'd like to know the answers too," Vivian said.

  "She's fast," Elaine said.

  Chen Wei once again thanked the audience before exiting the stage holding his bouquet of red roses.

  Roger addressed the crowd. He was all smiles.

  “Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Now, I must make an announcement. Our department will be organising a space excursion next week. To be eligible for this space excursion, you need to sign up for our Spaceship Course next year and to answer a simple quiz. The forms are on the third level in this building.” Before Roger barely finished his last sentence, a mass exodus of female students from the exhibition sector occurred and more screams followed. The screams could be traced to the third floor of the same building. Mr. Arumugam was at the third level, inside the Administration Office. Looking at the huge, young crowd fighting for the Spaceship Course application forms, Mr. Arumugam nearly shed tears of joy. The vice-principal, who stood next to Mr. Arumugam, patted him on the shoulder. He gave Mr. Arumugam his look of approval, something so rare that it was like having found a needle in a haystack.

  Later in the evening, at the fresh food section of the shopping mall, Mrs. Andersen was pushing her cart along loaded with groceries. She met Mrs. Lin who was coming in the opposite direction also pushing a fully loaded cart.

  “What a surprise to see you here, Mrs. Andersen,” Mrs. Lin waved her hand.

  “Why yes, how do you do?”

  “I’m fine. My husband is also here, he’s at the wine section looking for his favourite red wine.”

  “I see.”

  “You wouldn’t, by any chance, know what is the ultra-warp speed, would you?” Mrs. Lin spoke in a hush tone, at the same time, leaning closer to Mrs. Andersen.

  “Excuse me?” Mrs. Andersen did not hear p
roperly what was said.

  “Why, you see, Nikita wants to go for this space excursion. To do that, she has to answer a quiz. One of the questions is on ultra-warp speed. I thought you might have some ideas,” Mrs. Lin said.

  “I’m sorry, but I do not have the slightest clue what is this ultra-warp speed that you are talking about. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

  “It’s all right, I guess others may not know the answer too. Thanks, anyway. You have a very good complexion. May I ask what is your secret formula?” Mrs. Lin paid compliments to the mature lady.

  “Why, thank you. I’m using a special avocado face-mask formula. My friend gave it to me,” Mrs. Andersen felt exhilarated.

  “Avocado, I see. Thank you. I have to get going now, my husband will be worried if he doesn’t see me. Good bye.” Mrs. Lin took note of the ingredient for she intended to try that later.

  “Good bye.” Mrs. Andersen echoed.

  After arriving home from shopping, Mr. Lin was helping his wife to prepare dinner in the kitchen.

  “'Amigos para siempre', that is so sweet. I knew this singer is a nice guy,” Mrs. Lin muttered to herself.

  “What amigos, what nice guy?” Mr. Lin overheard his wife and was a bit anxious and a teeny weeny bit jealous.

  “Your darling Nikita saw a dashing guy singing in the academy this morning. He sang this song, ‘Amigos Para Siempre’,” his wife said.

  “I see.” He was relieved to hear his wife’s explanation, else he would get really jealous, such was his love for his beautiful wife. They had been happily married for more than twenty years and their love for each other seemed to get better with each passing day, month and year. It just got better and better. No turning back.