CHAPTER 9: A DEATH & A BIRTH

Friday, 28 September 2001

Fish died today.

I walked into office only to realise that my fishbowl was empty - all cleaned out with a little note stuck on it. Written on the note was the Chinese character one normally saw at funerals.

Surprisingly I didn’t feel the least bit sad. I guess it was probably because I felt that Fish had finally been put out of its misery. It did dawn upon me that a goldfish swimming upside down for the last 4 months or so wasn’t exactly what nature intended it to do. Oh well, I’m sure Fish is very likely now in an aquatic heaven somewhere surrounded by loads of other good looking goldfishes it can frolic with till eternity. Swimming the right way up I hope. Rest in peace my little gold buddy.

As for the matter of the note and who cleaned out the bowl, I didn’t have to guess any further because Kev chose that moment to pop his head around the corner.

“Hey.”

I smiled at him. “Morning.”

“Fish died.”

“I know.” It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. I mean, it couldn’t have gone for a walk could it?”

“I took care of it for you. I figured you wouldn’t have been able to bring yourself to do it.”

I nodded. The note with the Chinese character - it made sense now. One, it couldn’t have been Jess cos she was never in so early; two, she was totally illiterate when it came to Chinese; and three, she would have likely squirmed and whined, ‘Ewww, your fish is dead’, instead of doing anything about it. It could only have been Kev. No one else could or would have bothered.

Actually, I was pretty grateful that he took care of Fish’s 'funeral'. He was right as well, you know. I don’t think I would have been able to bring myself to do whatever it is one does with dead goldfishes. I didn’t want to know either and I just left it as that.

“Want to do lunch today?” he asked.

Was he looking at me hopefully? Oh boy. Then again, I felt obliged to have lunch with this guy.

“Sure,” I nodded.

“Great!” His mouth broke into the biggest grin. “See you at 12.30!” he shouted before going back to his seat.

Sigh. I hope I wasn’t leading him on. It was only lunch, for goodness sake.

“Good Mor...eh?! Oh no, why’s the bowl empty? Oh no! Fish is dead?!” Jess screamed.

“No, it went for a walk.”

“Huh? It did? Where?”

Maybe it was still too early for Jess. Maybe her brain wasn’t fully functioning yet. Maybe she really did think Fish went for a walk - I wouldn’t put that past her, anyway. Whatever it was, I wasn’t in the mood to fuel her silliness.

“Eh, what are we doing tonight? Are we doing anything at all tonight?” she asked suddenly.

Oh. What with the death of Fish and all, I nearly forgot. The birth. The birth that took place 31 years ago today. The birthday boy in question? Mr Bowie Cheung.

I shrugged. “Louis is supposed to be the one organising. I guess he’ll call later to let us know.”

We ended up having dinner at Oz - Mag’s husband’s restaurant. There were 7 of us - Louis, Jules, Bowie, Jess, Mag, yours truly and...Chris. I didn’t know what in her mind possessed Mag to ask Chris along. She had called earlier to say that she was going to bring a friend. Little did I know the friend she had in mind was Chris! I very nearly strangled Mag when I saw her that night.

And Chris. Oh boy. She had the same effect on me as when I first saw her. She looked absolutely breath-takingly stunning, gorgeous, beautiful...there weren’t enough adjectives to describe her. She wasn’t even in a ballgown or anything - it was just normal work clothes! But this woman exuded style and charisma. And I wasn’t the only one that night to think so too - judging from the attention the three testosterone-charged musketeers were giving her.

Jules was the worst. For the first time since I’ve known him, I saw Mr Playboy lose his slickness. He looked like a little doting puppy, all wide-eyed with wonder and admiration for this Goddess who was sitting next to him. Chris seemed to take it all in her stride - smiling and entertaining him occasionally.

But was it my imagination or was Chris paying more attention to me instead? I was a nervous wreck. I hope Mag didn’t tell her about the conversation we had the other day. I would just die if she did. I quickly shot Mag an apprehensive glance. She simply shrugged and grinned. I noticed Jess staring at me inquiringly too. Oh oh. Did it look really obvious? No, it couldn’t be. Those three guys didn’t seem to suspect anything. Then again, they *were* guys.

It was almost 2 am when we finally decided to leave the restaurant. Surprisingly we were still very much sober.

“Hey, we’re going over to Flo’s place to hang out some more,” Bowie said.

“We are?” I asked dumbfoundedly. No one told me about this.

Bowie smiled at me and nodded. “Yea, you don’t mind do you?”

Before I could say anything, he turned to Mag and Chris. “Come join us?”

I distinctly felt that the invitation was directed more towards Chris than Mag. I think Mag felt that way too by the discreet look she was giving me.

“No I don’t think so. It’s getting late,” Chris said. Mag mumbled some similar excuse too.

“Awww, come on. It’ll be fun,” Jules said.

“Yea, c’mon,” Louis joined in with the cajoling.

Secretly I wished Chris would accept the invitation, but it wasn’t to be. The guys eventually gave up and we said our goodbyes to Mag and Chris. But not before Chris had discreetly pulled me aside to ask for my phone number. And I? I did the most uncool thing. No hesitation. No playing hard-to-get. I gave her my number. Just like that.

I was thinking about how easily it was for me to give Chris my number when the question finally popped. We were in the car then and I knew they had been dying all night to ask me. Jules was the first. “So, how do you know Chris? She’s one amazing woman, isn’t she?”

I could feel all eyes on me. Even Louis, who was driving but kept looking at my reflection through the rear-view mirror.

“She’s Mag’s friend. That’s all I know.”

“So, is she single? Married? Available?” Bowie continued for the rest. My Bowie. It was *my* Bowie who was asking this. I sighed.

“I don’t know, okay. This is like, only the second time I’m meeting her,” I explained.

“Boy, she sure is hot,” Louis remarked with a soft whistle.

Jules nodded. “You can say that again.”

It suddenly dawned on me that one person had been really quiet the whole night. That was totally unlike her. I shifted my gaze towards Jess. She was just staring at me intently. The guys were still going on and on about Chris.

“She’s lesbian, isn’t she?”

All the babble stopped at once. Jess still had her eyes focussed on me. I felt my jaw slackened. How did she know?

“Jess, what are you saying? Who’s lesbian?” Louis asked.

“That Chris woman whom you all are going goo-goo-ga-ga over.” Jess was still looking at me. I swallowed back a gulp. Was it my imagination or was there extra stress on the ‘all’ when she said it?

“And how do you know this? She told you?” Louis continued.

“I just know. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know, okay.”

“So, is she?” Bowie turned back round from the passenger seat and looked at me.

“Apparently so,” I mumbled my reply.

“Damn! That’s so cool!” Jules exclaimed. Then after a short pause. “Ermm...maybe she’s bi? Hmm...I wonder whether she’s into threesomes...”

There were hoots and laughter from the three guys. Jess and I were the only two not laughing. Her gaze still hadn’t shifted from me and I was beginning to get really uncomfortable. She knows...and I knew that once we got rid of the guys, she would start her interrogation.