Two sick days, the pipe guy and the handsome lock picker
I never believed in Feng Shui, I have told myself before, but sometimes you just need to compromise and think; could it be coincident or really, the fault of bad Feng Shui. An acquaintance of mine walked into my rented house one time, I remember he was getting something from me which I have forgotten what it was. As I sent him off, we were at the entrance to my house then, he pointed to the ceiling where there was a piece of rotten from water leakage three-ply wood. Water leaks when the rain gets heavy, I explained to his gesture. What is on top? He asked me. Attached bathroom for master bedroom, I replied him. He suggested me to move out from the house as soon as possible, the Feng Shui of the house is not good; indeed it is quite bad, according to him. The last time I met this guy was one and a half year ago, I have even forgotten about this guy until I recalled him recently. Things just connect each other. I’m not superstitious, but just analyzing.
My health has not been really good since the beginning of the year, or it might because of the finding of my blood test result that makes me felt unhealthy – some indexes has gone abnormally high. How can it be? I was quite shock then. But no high indexes could have interrupted one’s normal daily life, so why not just live a normal life, just as usual. However, usual life will mean a healthier one: no more awake at late hour, no cigarettes, no alcohol and no etc. Then I got this chronic cough disease, it will not recover before it stick to me for two or three months. You cough is it? Someone will ask me. Yeah, it’s been a long time. I reply and mark a full stop, seldom have I gone to the length of explaining the disease, It’s getting pointless. I think I have grown tired of it or maybe I just get used to the disease. It has become a norm to me, like periodic pain that girls experience. The pain experience that not everyone will concern, because it is just nature of thing, no people question about nature of thing. One would only start to worry if they don’t feel a thing, as if something has gone wrong. Could you be pregnant? Someone will start to ask.
We have this pipe system in the house where all around the year, the water leak, different pipe at different time. Sometimes, water just blasted out in the middle of night. The house itself is not considered old; it could be a decent nice house if you put up a capital for renovation. At first there was a broken pipe under our car porch – the worn metal pipe was cemented dead underground and the house owner fixed it by introducing a new pipe into the house. The water tank has given us problem for four to five times and the result of water tank leakage was: raining twenty four by seven outside my room window, I guess my side of the roof was lower, that is why the water chooses that side to drip. There was once the water ceased to come out from my bathroom shower, my neighboring housemate fixed this issue, I didn’t really know what happened then. And the latest pipe problem, the new pipe (Those changed from last fix) just cracked and from what the pipe guy said it was a ‘sun burnt’ that caused the crack. If I’m the fellow who came to my house one and a half year ago, I will silently point to the broken pipe and say, this is why you are still so poor. Feng Shui.
Not too many problems given they all happened in nearly one year, but it could be a lot if you are being superstitious about things. For my case, I just summed them up, I don’t give any judgment. However I have been modest, I just listed those significant events, those that big enough to cause a fuss, while there were still a lot of issues which I decided to make it as reserve and I won’t be mentioning it here.
I suddenly realized I have so many things to do in two days time, and mind you, the two days times were actually my off days of illness – The chronic cough disease. I guess it’s not only me who busy about errands during their sick leave; there could be a lot of them out there, and some of them take sick leave as excuse to do their personal business. For me, I realized I got a lot of personal business after I took the sick leave, which is totally different thing and it has to do with which one comes first; personal business comes first or sickness.
So, it is about the latest broken pipe. Basically, the pipe extended from the water tank at the rooftop connecting to the water tap at my house backyard, the water tap is in turn attached to the wall at the back of my house though. The house itself is a terrace, so don’t expect it is some backyard with garden and greens. It is just a rectangular piece of cement floor. There is this overhead cage that extended from the cement ground to the first floor of the house, completely enclosed space, so if you look at me from my neighbors’ window, it is as if looking at the monkey in the zoo cage. To make thing very simple, you have to be outside of the ‘cage’ to be able to climb up to fix the pipe. And of course there is a door for us to go out, but the thing is; no one has seen the key for ages. That was obstacle number one in my effort to fix the pipe. I told my apology to the pipe guy as he waited for me to retrieve the long lost key. No luck, I told him. I will call you up if I can open up the gate some other day, I said. I called my housemate in Shanghai, not that how-are-you kind of call, but I started a quick run down of how another pipe has gone broken and he seemed all too used to it. Then I asked him the key’s where about which he told me he hasn’t seen it for ages. I was resolved to hire a lock picker.
Gold lock, I overheard people calling the guy, it rang to my ears like a bunch of hints to something: someone with experience in about anything related to locks, someone ages mid fifty, haggard looking, no glasses, carrying a toothpick in his mouth that can be his lock picking tool, checker shirt and Bermuda utility pant. Surprisingly Gold Lock turned out to be a young chap, not even in his mid twenty, black spiky hair, tall, fair skin, and handsome. He was wearing a deep blue Nike jersey, light blue jeans and all terrains Adidas sport shoes. He could easily be mistaken as a form five student if he doesn’t carry the utility tool box. So you are Gold Lock, I heard the shop’s boss calling you that. I asked him as he skillfully sticking some fine iron string and picking tool lead into the key hole. Yeah, that is my label. He said that with a satisfying smile while nodding reassuringly, still concentrating himself with the tool on the lock. He did it as if finding a point to trigger something and all the while his eyes were fixing at somewhere else. He was either feeling or listening to it, what was he searching in that small key hole of the lock, he knew better than anyone else. It was not even five minutes, two locks were opened. Like a breeze, no ice melted. He wrote me his name and mobile number before he left. Feng was his name. So you are Gold Lock Feng, I joked and we both burst into laughter.
Like a theater performance, you will not remember every scene that plays before your eyes. In fact, chances are that you only remember the first part and the last part of the play. The first part, because you are still excited about the play, but as the performance continue, you just get bored and distracted despite to your own will; trying to understand what the story are all about. Then come to the last part, because you just want to know the ending as eagerly as everyone else do and go home, sleep. I called up the pipe guy, saying the lock was dealt with and within thirty minutes he fixed the leaking pipe. I could not remember what he was telling me as he handed me the receipt with boastful amount, something about strategic of dealing with my house owner. Then a local made car zoomed pass the road where we stood by, disturbing debris and dust and sent them into the air like slow motion play on VCR. We paused for a while then he thanked me for the business. You too, thank you. I said.
And I guess none of the pipe is going to break again, just yet. I hope so.
My health has not been really good since the beginning of the year, or it might because of the finding of my blood test result that makes me felt unhealthy – some indexes has gone abnormally high. How can it be? I was quite shock then. But no high indexes could have interrupted one’s normal daily life, so why not just live a normal life, just as usual. However, usual life will mean a healthier one: no more awake at late hour, no cigarettes, no alcohol and no etc. Then I got this chronic cough disease, it will not recover before it stick to me for two or three months. You cough is it? Someone will ask me. Yeah, it’s been a long time. I reply and mark a full stop, seldom have I gone to the length of explaining the disease, It’s getting pointless. I think I have grown tired of it or maybe I just get used to the disease. It has become a norm to me, like periodic pain that girls experience. The pain experience that not everyone will concern, because it is just nature of thing, no people question about nature of thing. One would only start to worry if they don’t feel a thing, as if something has gone wrong. Could you be pregnant? Someone will start to ask.
We have this pipe system in the house where all around the year, the water leak, different pipe at different time. Sometimes, water just blasted out in the middle of night. The house itself is not considered old; it could be a decent nice house if you put up a capital for renovation. At first there was a broken pipe under our car porch – the worn metal pipe was cemented dead underground and the house owner fixed it by introducing a new pipe into the house. The water tank has given us problem for four to five times and the result of water tank leakage was: raining twenty four by seven outside my room window, I guess my side of the roof was lower, that is why the water chooses that side to drip. There was once the water ceased to come out from my bathroom shower, my neighboring housemate fixed this issue, I didn’t really know what happened then. And the latest pipe problem, the new pipe (Those changed from last fix) just cracked and from what the pipe guy said it was a ‘sun burnt’ that caused the crack. If I’m the fellow who came to my house one and a half year ago, I will silently point to the broken pipe and say, this is why you are still so poor. Feng Shui.
Not too many problems given they all happened in nearly one year, but it could be a lot if you are being superstitious about things. For my case, I just summed them up, I don’t give any judgment. However I have been modest, I just listed those significant events, those that big enough to cause a fuss, while there were still a lot of issues which I decided to make it as reserve and I won’t be mentioning it here.
I suddenly realized I have so many things to do in two days time, and mind you, the two days times were actually my off days of illness – The chronic cough disease. I guess it’s not only me who busy about errands during their sick leave; there could be a lot of them out there, and some of them take sick leave as excuse to do their personal business. For me, I realized I got a lot of personal business after I took the sick leave, which is totally different thing and it has to do with which one comes first; personal business comes first or sickness.
So, it is about the latest broken pipe. Basically, the pipe extended from the water tank at the rooftop connecting to the water tap at my house backyard, the water tap is in turn attached to the wall at the back of my house though. The house itself is a terrace, so don’t expect it is some backyard with garden and greens. It is just a rectangular piece of cement floor. There is this overhead cage that extended from the cement ground to the first floor of the house, completely enclosed space, so if you look at me from my neighbors’ window, it is as if looking at the monkey in the zoo cage. To make thing very simple, you have to be outside of the ‘cage’ to be able to climb up to fix the pipe. And of course there is a door for us to go out, but the thing is; no one has seen the key for ages. That was obstacle number one in my effort to fix the pipe. I told my apology to the pipe guy as he waited for me to retrieve the long lost key. No luck, I told him. I will call you up if I can open up the gate some other day, I said. I called my housemate in Shanghai, not that how-are-you kind of call, but I started a quick run down of how another pipe has gone broken and he seemed all too used to it. Then I asked him the key’s where about which he told me he hasn’t seen it for ages. I was resolved to hire a lock picker.
Gold lock, I overheard people calling the guy, it rang to my ears like a bunch of hints to something: someone with experience in about anything related to locks, someone ages mid fifty, haggard looking, no glasses, carrying a toothpick in his mouth that can be his lock picking tool, checker shirt and Bermuda utility pant. Surprisingly Gold Lock turned out to be a young chap, not even in his mid twenty, black spiky hair, tall, fair skin, and handsome. He was wearing a deep blue Nike jersey, light blue jeans and all terrains Adidas sport shoes. He could easily be mistaken as a form five student if he doesn’t carry the utility tool box. So you are Gold Lock, I heard the shop’s boss calling you that. I asked him as he skillfully sticking some fine iron string and picking tool lead into the key hole. Yeah, that is my label. He said that with a satisfying smile while nodding reassuringly, still concentrating himself with the tool on the lock. He did it as if finding a point to trigger something and all the while his eyes were fixing at somewhere else. He was either feeling or listening to it, what was he searching in that small key hole of the lock, he knew better than anyone else. It was not even five minutes, two locks were opened. Like a breeze, no ice melted. He wrote me his name and mobile number before he left. Feng was his name. So you are Gold Lock Feng, I joked and we both burst into laughter.
Like a theater performance, you will not remember every scene that plays before your eyes. In fact, chances are that you only remember the first part and the last part of the play. The first part, because you are still excited about the play, but as the performance continue, you just get bored and distracted despite to your own will; trying to understand what the story are all about. Then come to the last part, because you just want to know the ending as eagerly as everyone else do and go home, sleep. I called up the pipe guy, saying the lock was dealt with and within thirty minutes he fixed the leaking pipe. I could not remember what he was telling me as he handed me the receipt with boastful amount, something about strategic of dealing with my house owner. Then a local made car zoomed pass the road where we stood by, disturbing debris and dust and sent them into the air like slow motion play on VCR. We paused for a while then he thanked me for the business. You too, thank you. I said.
And I guess none of the pipe is going to break again, just yet. I hope so.
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