The Hawker

Part 2: Little Extra

So, I got stabbed but I did not bleed. As though that was not confusing enough, the ingredients for char kway teow on my wok magically turned into a fresh batch of appetising food. The sizzling sound played a beautiful music to my ears, red pinkish Chinese sausage and bright accent on the prawns were competing to seduce me along with the perfectly tanned rice noodles. I haven't even got my hand into gripping Ah Ma's spatula, how in the world did this dish appear before my very eyes?!

Unknown Lady

You did not cook that. 

I turned my head around. I totally forgot Unknown Lady was there. She seemed to be reading my mind.

Unknown Lady

My knife did that. 

Her knife? Her knife that stabbed me? That got me back into my original confusion. 

Me

What did you do to me? How come I did not bleed? Why did you stab me?

She looked annoyed as I spat out a surge of questions. She nodded her head towards my wok. 

Unknown Lady

Serve them to your customers. Also, pack these for the delivery.

She laid out a piece of small note to me. There was a name and address. Below that it said three portions of char kway teow and two portions of chai tow kway*. And then there was another name and address. Below that another portions of char kway teow and chai tow kway. And then another one. And another one. 

Me

Who ordered these things? Our shop is not doing deliveries yet!

Unknown Lady

Now you do.

She seemed to be impatient towards my slow, confused responses. She picked up the plates herself and handed me out. 

Unknown Lady

Do you also need magic to serve this food?

Me

Magic?!

Unknown Lady

How do you think the food was made? Did you think the ingredients cooked themselves?

Magic?! Hello, this is the 21st century. There is no such thing as magic anymore! I wanted to tell myself that but I could not. I knew for sure, something was not right. This food did not just cook itself but neither did I. I would deal with this later. I started packing things when Chasa popped her head and yelled at me, asking me if I had any idea what I was doing. I did not answer Chasa. I just appeared with plates of char kway teow on the tablet and handed them over to her to distribute to the customers. 

Chasa

How did you manage to do it?

Me

Magic.

Chasa looked amazed, or precisely shocked. I knew that she was not expecting much from me. I was not even expecting anything. I started packing for the deliveries.

Unknown Lady

You should start making the chai tow kway.

Me

I don't know sh*t how to do it!

Unknown Lady

If you can imagine it, then you can do it.

I was about to tell her that her motivation was not helping at all, when all of a sudden my wok was filled with freshly cooked chai tow kway. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! Unknown Lady smiled faintly. She seemed to be satisfied with the way those chai tow kway appeard on my wok. 

Unknown Lady

Now you know how to pack them. 

Pack them how — HOLY SH*T! A stack of plastic containers piled up on the messy table next to me. My wok was now empty. There was nothing but traces of soy sauce that got burned and sticky. As I was still in shock, Unknown Lady had already started packing things into her cube-formed bag. She put it on her shoulder and moved out of the tiny kitchen. She did not sweat a single drop despite her attire and the blazing hot air. She put up her helmet.

Me

Wait! Who are you?

I tried to stop her before she took off. She slid up the wind shield on her helmet. 

Unknown Lady

Jodie. My name is Jodie.

Me

But who are you?

Unknown Lady

I said, I am Jodie. Which part of it didn't you understand?

Me

But, who EXACTLY are you? 

She paused for a moment and gave me a little smile, a smile that seemed to be covering a big mystery belonging to her that she did not intend to share with me. 

Jodie

I am a person, just like you, with a little bit of extra, unlike you.

I could not understand what she was trying to say and I got irritated by the way she presented herself in a very secretive manner. But her next words got me stunned, confused and wondering. 

Jodie

But just shared you whatever extra that I have and you seem to be having it too now. 

She closed the shield on her helmet and really left this time, without giving me anymore chance to ask her further questions. I completely had no idea what she was talking about. I still did not have a clue who she really was. I did not understand what she came here for, why she stabbed me on my side, why my kway teow cooked itself and my chai tow kway organised itself into delivery containers. And the one thing that really bothered me was: was she ever going to return to explain me everything? 

I really would think I had gone bananas if Chasa did not come to me afterwards and asked me about Jodie. But the way Chasa described her sounded very different than what I saw. Chasa said, Jodie was wearing a pink delivery jacket from one of the delivery companies which I knew truly existed in Singapore (I ordered quite a few times through that company before). Definitely, the name on her jacket was not Jiak Cao as according to Chasa, but the name of that famous delivery company.

Chasa

Since when we have *********? (Sorry, I really have to censor the company name)

Me

Since I don't know? 

Chasa looked at me like I was so stupid. In fact, I felt so stupid. Was I imagining things? What phenomenon could explain all these? Since I could not find any answer, I simply told myself that perhaps I was dreaming. I returned to the kitchen with some more orders from the customers and magically popped more char kway teow and chai tow kway on their plates. I chose to enjoy whatever privilege I had at that time. Even if it was a dream, it's okay, I made a full use of that strange gift in my dream, which hopefully would give me strength while facing the reality the next day. 

But deep in my cells I knew I was not dreaming, I just chose to believe that way to not further fry my brain cells. Later, it was confirmed that I was not dreaming AT ALL. There WAS indeed an explanation about what had been happening in my kitchen, and it was REALLY HARD to believe but in the end I chose to believe it. Not because I had seen it with my own eyes but because I had a greater purpose to serve then: revenge.

***

To be continued.