[ilikeoldchangke]

Hong : No idea… the others are coming too….

Hong’s right.

The others started arriving. Aaron, Seven, Kamal, Declan.

Only the men.

I served everyone drinks and no one is the wiser what is going on.


11.30pm

There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see Yiling standing outside.
She’s dressed casually in shorts and singlet and in her hand, she carried 3 glass jars filled with walnuts. It’s like she was ready for a drinking session.

Jackson : hey….

She nodded and I asked her to come in.

I shut the door and offered her a drink but she declined.

Yiling : everyone’s here…. I want to have a quick chat with all of you…

We made space for Yiling and she set the stuff she brought down on the table.



Yiling looked at everyone around the table and said that she has something she wants to ask all of us.

With the glass jar set in front of us, Hong instinctively reached for one, popped the cap off and reached in to grab a few only to get smacked on his hand.


Hong : Owww !!

Yiling : It’s not for you to eat Hong !

Hong : Ok sorry… sorry….

He put it back and sprinkled his fingers to dust the bits off back into the jar and Yiling grabbed it away from him.

Yiling : I….. i….

Yiling chose her words carefully. She told the room that she has a very difficult decision to make and she wants all our buy in on how to make it.

Yiling : So in front of you…. There are 3 jars… the contain different amount of … of….. food….

Looking at Hong, Yiling asked Hong if he needed to pick 2, which one will he pick.

Hong looked at Yiling before glancing at the rest of us.

Hong : Is this… a trick question… ?

Yiling : No…. they contain different amount… Jar A, the least…. And Jar C the most…

Hong : ok… ok… I know… I know….

Hong picked jar A and Jar C.

Yiling : why… ?


Hong : Because just now I put my hand inside C, I know some of you particular about food mah… people touch and put back…. Don’t want to eat… so I choose C, then since I already take the biggest bottle, I paiseh to take B, so I went for the least….

Yiling : No… no… no… I don’t mean it like this… you got me wrong….

Seven pointed to A and pushed both B and C back to Yiling, gesturing to the contents and shaking his head.

Yiling : No Seven… I’m not asking you to eat them… I know you don’t like walnuts… !... it’s…

Aaron : what is this about…. You are being very cryptic about this….

Declan : Are you ok Yiling… ?

Yiling : I…. I don’t know how to put what I want to say in words…. But if given a choice…. Out of these 3 jars… you can … you can only choose 2…. All things being equal…. Which one would you logically choose…. ?

Declan : ok… I’m on a diet…I take A and B….

Aaron : I’ll take B and C…..

Everyone started talking at the same time about their choices and I could see Yiling’s frustration grow.


Yiling : No… no.. I don’t mean this… !!!

I interrupted the group and set all 3 jars on it’s side and I rolled it over to Yiling.

Jackson : I think what Yiling is trying to say is…..

I gestured for her to roll the jars back towards me. She did and as the 3 jars wobbled and rolled towards the edge of the table, I caught onto 2 of them.

I caught onto B and C. The bottle that contained the most nuts.

A went over the side, crashed onto the floor spilling it’s contents all over.

Hong : Awwwww….. that’s a waste…

I looked at Yiling and I told her that all things being equal, logic dictates that we save the 2 bottles with the most food in it.


Jackson : Then there is more to go around isn’t it… ?

Aaron cut in at that point, saying that was exactly what he wanted to say before I said it.

Aaron : I mean, seriously…. If you are going to let the food drop to the floor and waste it like this…. Choose the one with the least in it and let it drop…. Minimal wastage…

Kamal told Yiling that if we were to approach it from that perspective Aaron and i just shared, it would make the most sense to take B and C.

Hong : Hmmm… I don’t know… this feels like a trick question… is this tied to our performance bonus…

Declan : Oh come on Hong…. !


Yiling didn’t say anything as she just looked at that jar of spilt nuts on the floor.

Hong : Actually hor…if you roll to me ah… I can catch all 3…. Left hand right hand, then I use my leg like that…. KIAP!... catch the 3rd one…

Kamal : Diam la… ( shut up ) which part of catch 2 only do you not understand… ?


Hong : Why catch 2 when I can catch 3 leh ??

Jackson : Yiling… what is going on…. ? can you tell us… ?

Yiling snapped out of her daze and looked at everyone around the room.

Yiling : Is everyone agreeable with what Jackson said…. Save the 2 bottles with the most food….

The rest nodded slowly.

Yiling : ok………… ok….


She got up , thanked everyone for our time and walked away without a word.

Hong : It’s her PMS day I tell you… confirm…. Stay the fuck away from her….hahah


The group dispersed and I spent some time tidying up the place before getting ready for bed.

Just as I was about to switch off the lights, there was a knock on the door and I was surprised to see Yiling again.
She didn’t give me a chance to speak, she just blurted out what she wanted to say.


Yiling : Jackson …. What if I say…. I know something bad is going to happen…..and….

Jackson : and what… ?

Yiling : no matter what I do….there’s no way of stopping it….

Jackson : what nonsense…. If you know something bad is going to happen… stop it… just stop it…

Yiling : What if I can’t… ?


I pressed her for more details and she seemed reluctant to share. I don’t blame her. Especially not after the previous leak.

Jackson : I know you can’t share the details…. But… can you give an example… of what you meant by something bad…. Is going to happen…
I could tell she wanted to say something but could not find the right words to express them.


Jackson : Look Yiling…. simple…. If 2 hands is not enough to catch 3 bottles, you find 4, if 4 is not enough, you find 6…. If 6 is not enough you find 8…..and so on…. What is going on… ?

Yiling : Jackson ….. we only have 2 hands….and we can only save 2 bottles…. !!

Jackson : Yiling… what’s wrong with you… ? then we save the 2 bottles with the most walnuts…. Simple math…

I never expected Yiling’s eyes to turn red and a stray tear rolled down the side of her eye.

Jackson : why are you crying… ? don’t scare me like this…

She turned and left the farmhouse without a word.




12th March 2017

Sunday

5pm

Yiling gathered everyone in the study with exception of the girls.

Hong, Kamal, Seven, Aaron, Declan and me. 6 of us.

Yiling : hand over all your phones…..


All of us did as we were told.

Yiling : As of this moment….no one leaves the pantry…. No one….

We nodded and Hong asked Yiling if everything is ok.

Yiling : i don’t know…. I hope so….