[b]Part 9: The Whistler Strikes[/b]

[i]Continuation from:
1. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P222]The First Engagement[/url]
2. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P225]Old Clear-Oof to the Rescue[/url]
3. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P226]Dog Tricks[/url]
4. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P229]Serving God, Queen and Country[/url]
5. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P232]Vern’s Dilemma[/url]
6. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P240]Betty’s Woes[/url]
7. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P254]The Mysterious Whistler[/url]
8. [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P260]The Truth About Fattie[/url]
[/i]

“Oh blast it, Fattie! You’ve let the Whistler go!” Larrie groaned in frustration.

“Didn’t you know that the Whistler can’t be bound by ropes or handcuffs? He’s a pro at freeing himself from things like that. Why do you think we have had such a hard time nabbing him?” Vern said. “You are not very intelligent after all, are you?” It was so unlike the normally good natured Vern to say things like that.

Poor Fattie. For the first time in his life, he felt dumb under the wrathful looks of his friends. It was a most unpleasant experience.

“I’m sorry, guys. I…,” before Fattie could continue, he felt something pressed against his back.

“Drop your guns,” a smooth voice said behind him.

Larrie and Vern looked dazed with shock and anger. How could they failed to see the Whistler sneaking up behind Fattie? They put their guns slowly on the ground.

“Now, step back and get into the shed. All of you,” the Whistler continued in a deadly calm voice as he pressed Fattie forward with his gun.

The three men marched glumly towards the shed. The Whistler will get away yet again. This was too awful to contemplate. They glanced at each other helplessly, they must do something!

Suddenly, a miracle happened. They heard the sweetest and most welcomed voice ever.

“Oi, what’s going on ‘ere?

Goop was awake!

Bettie was sitting by her window sill, wondering on earth had what happened to the guys, when Dottie suddenly burst into the room. Her chubby face was pale and her ample frame was shaking.

“What is it, Dottie?” Bettie cried out in alarm. “What happened?”

“There was a shootout at Goop’s. Fattie, John and Vern were somehow involved in it and now they are at the hospital. Goop called and I tried to get more details from him but he wasn’t making sense after a while. He kept slurring and sounded like he was on drugs or something.”

Bettie felt faint and clutched at her bedpost to keep from falling, “W-why are the guys at the hospital? Are they hurt?”

Dotty looked at the younger woman with a pang of pity. She shuddered to think if Phil was one of the guys sent to the hospital. She felt very sure now that Bettie had given her heart to one of the men. But now wasn’t the time to find out exactly who it was.

“Come, Phil’s outside waiting in the car for us. We’ll find out the truth at the hospital,” she said as she led Bettie out of the room.

Bettie nodded silently. Tears threatened to course down her cheeks and she tried her best to hold them back. No use worrying unnecessarily until the facts are proven. She kept chanting that to herself until her mind went numb. But the icy hand that gripped her heart remained.

[b][i]To be continued…[/i][/b]

] I was having a gala of a time shopping at the MPH sales yesterday when I spotted this book. The first thought that came to my mind was, “Oh not another boy-girl relationship (BGR) book!” I’ve read tons of those before and came out without gaining much after the reading experience.

But still, being a relationship book junkie, I just couldn’t resist picking this book up for a brief perusal. Instead of the usual “How to Spot and Choose the Right One” or “Courting is Better than Dating” type of titles, it simply zooms into the heart of the matter – Am I the One? The first few sentences got me hooked. This book seems to be different from the rest and I just had to find out what it was. Who knows, I might learn a thing or two. So, I ended up buying it.

As I read it over dinner (an absolutely nice buffet at Oliver’s Sandwich – their sandwiches are to die for!), I was amazed at the skillful and humourous way James R. Lucas wrote about this much talked-about subject. Right off I saw that it was written with youth (students) in mind. But a middle youth like me still found it extremely engaging and I actually learned more than just a thing or two from it.

In a very friendly manner, Lucas painted very real scenarios of people who think they are doing things that promote their personal growth and enhance their desirability towards the opposite sex but were actually just kidding themselves. In the same likeable manner, he also talks about people who look hot on the outside but have some real icky character issues on the inside.

Instead of shelling out a list of do’s and don’ts, he focusses on getting the readers’ hearts and attitudes right with God. He teaches about timeless principles in a refreshing and relevant manner.

Blow me down, I should have read it eons ago! It may have helped me make better choices and prevented me from turning perfectly good friendships into lousy dates. Ah, still… If I hadn’t made the mistakes I had made, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. Plus, when one is young, reckless and in crush, would one listen to advice from anyone? Some people just have to learn things the hard way, I guess ;)

I am only onto the first few chapters but my bro is hurrying me up to finish the book so that he can read it by this weekend. Yeah, the book is that good… or was it because of my enthusiastic promotion of it? Heh, whatever it is, I highly recommend it. (*****)

I feel sorry for my boss sometimes.

Last week, Helen baked a chocolate cake for my birthday. It tasted heavenly and I brought it to work to share the joy (and the fats) with my colleagues. After a meeting, Mike came out of the room feeling ravenous. He spotted the cake and ate a piece with gusto. Having tasted it and found it good, he asked the bosses to come and eat it.

My MD ate a piece and declared that it was really tasty and called my other boss (the one I [url=http://www.coolcatalyst.com/index.php?id=P314]wanted to kill[/url] recently) to have the last piece.

My boss took it and asked me, “Is it homemade?”

“Yes, my friend made it for me,” I said with joyful pride. “It’s really yummy.”

He paused for a while to drop this comment before eating the cake, “You know, friends sometimes bake cakes and give them away so that you will then place orders with them in future.”

I felt rather offended at that. Why did he have to drop such jaded comments? What does he know about my friend anyway??

I replied a little coldly, “She made it for my birthday.”

At that, my boss was taken aback and he actually looked sheepish, “Oh… it really tastes great.” For someone that seldom sings praises of anything, it was a rare compliment indeed.

Later on, I found out from another colleague that on his birthday, his wife’s friend baked a cake for him but with ulterior motives. She had just opened a cake shop and gave him the cake as a sampler. I imagined that she would have said something like, “You try and see har? If nice, then you order from me next time, ya?”

When I heard that, I felt bad for being offended.

My poor boss… No wonder he’s jaded when friends do something nice for each other :(

I know not of a sweeter blessing than marrying one’s first love. In a world full of break-ups and hiccups and emotional/mental crank-ups, it’s nothing short of a miracle to see someone doing just that.

On Sunday, my best friend Florence married her first love, Chee Hong. It was the culmination of four years of courtship complete with 3 long years of conducting it long-distance. It was tough but they both made it through and went through it victoriously.

When Florence was a kid in braids spending many happy hours dreaming about Prince Charming with me, little did she know that Chee Hong was already in the fringes of her life.  He is the brother of our classmate, Siew Fun and when he got his driving license, he would give a lift home to his sister from school. Although he said he was very much aware of her then, she was blissfully ignorant about him.

About 4 years ago, we started this tradition of visiting a selected few friends’ homes during Chinese New Year. One of the stops we made was Siew Fun’s house for lunch. It was the first time that Chee Hong had the opportunity to finally converse with the girl of his dreams. Not one to miss out on striking while the iron was hot, he was soon in hot pursuit of this lovely girl and she, knowing a good guy when she saw one, accepted him into her life.

Last Sunday as I stood beside her on the stage during an ice-breaker session, I saw such happiness, contentment and peace emanating from her eyes. Never had I seen her so happy before and the sight made my heart soar.

Congratulations, my dear friend :)

I’ve got loads to update but free time was hard to come by these past few days and the internet connection’s always erratic at home.

Anyway, I just came back from a client’s meeting. The company driver dropped the boss off at another client’s place before taking me back to the office. Upon arrival, the secretary asked, “Where’s da boss?”

“Oh, we killed him and buried him before coming back.”

“So fast?” she looked impressed.

“Yeah, so today we can all cabut (leave) early. Now also can.”

Yeah…. if only lah…

Note1: My boss is nice and I have nothing against him. Just feeling a bit wicked today.
Note2: My boss is still very much alive and kicking.
Note3: Thanks for all your bday wishes, guys! They are much appreciated :)

Am meeting the Editor of a women’s magazine this evening to talk about a possible job opportunity.

Everything I’ve heard of thus far sounds ideal but it requires a possible hefty pay cut. I hope that we will be able to negotiate something that will be acceptable to both parties. I don’t mind having a pay cut but the pay should be enough to cover my financial commitments.

But as always, I trust that God will shut the door if it’s not His will. Even jobs that are actually unsuitable for me but I would have taken up anyway to escape from my company during a very rough patch were slammed shut on my face.

That has saved me from having lots of sleepless nights, I can tell ya that.

Oh, ya – tomorrow I shall turn a year older. Still a couple of years to go before I hit the big three O but I honestly don’t feel ancient. Must be the result of hanging out with my youth cell members so much :D

I belong to the Lovers’ Club. We meet once a month. And our meetings are always a blast.

At least that’s what my mom said on Sunday.

Last Sunday, Eldest Sis dropped by our house with her hubby in tow. And soon, they got to talking about me, among other things.

“What’s little sis up to these days?” was the inevitable question.

Mom gave a proud smile, “Ah, you know how busy she normally is. Why she’s been out the whole day today! So many things to do, so many people to meet.”

Eldest Sis nodded and said conversationally, “Really? What exactly did she do?”

“She went to church and then to the Lovers’ club monthly meeting, and later to a counseling class and visited some friends after that,” my mom said without blinking.

“Lovers’ club meeting?” Eldest Sis’s eyes were all agog. “And you are ok with that??”

“Well, she always enjoys herself there and she brings back all these books,” my mom cheerfully replied. “They seemed to be an educated lot.”

Luckily, my brother was present at the dining table and after swallowing his laughter and the piece of food he was chewing, he explained that my mom missed out a word from the club’s name. The word was ‘Book’. Almost immediately the whole house was filled with laughter.

And there I was tapping hard at the keyboard upstairs, wondering what had happened. My bro soon came upstairs to give me a blow by blow account of the incident.

Garn, what I would give to be downstairs to witness my mom being so cool about her daughter being a member of the Lovers’ Club.

Heh heh.

[b]Note:[/b] The Book Lovers’ Club monthly meeting is actually a combined meeting between [url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Malaysian-Bookcrossers/]Malaysian[/url] [url=http://www.bookcrossing.com]Bookcrossers[/url] and [url=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bookcafe/]Book Cafe[/url] members. So as to not make things complicated, I told mom that we are just a bunch of book lovers. At least Mom just dropped a word. In Dad’s case, ‘Bookcrossing’ may very well become ‘Crossdressing’. But that’s just one of quirky things about my family that I love :)

Life would be so bland without moments such as these.

[url=http://www.wordspy.com/words/middleyouth.asp]middle youth[/url] noun. The age, now generally considered to be from the late 20s to the early 40s, when a person is too old to be a youth and too young to be middle-aged; the state of mind of people in this age group who resist the usual trappings of encroaching middle age.
~ [url=http://www.wordspy.com]Word Spy[/url]

My eyes literally shone when I came upon this new word yesterday. Can start using it once people stop mistaking me for a college student when garbed in T-shirt and jeans. Hee hee hee.

Usage example:

Someone: Soooo, how old are you anyway?
Me: I’m in my middle youth *mysterious smile*

This word is so cool, it shall last me till I reach forty. Yessss!!!

[url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001Z3TX4/coolcatalystc-20][img]“http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001Z3TX4.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”cover” hspace=”3″ vspace=”3″ align=”left”[/img][/url] [b](****)[/b] Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up once again in 50 First Dates. Their first foray together in The Wedding Singer was a raving success. I enjoyed that one so much that I watched it more times than I could count. I love the 80’s theme and the cutesy song he composed for her at the end of the movie.

Ok, back to 50 First Dates. I can find no fault with this movie and found it very touching at some parts. Both leads were ok when they were together but there was more focus on their interactions and relationships with the other supporting actors in the movie. It’s like a community love story.

This movie about commitment-phobic man Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) who strives to capture the heart of a cute girl Lucy (Drew Barrymore) every single day because she has a weird brain disfunction. Lucy could not remember a single thing that happened after a bad car accident she was involved in. They made the car accident bit into a spoof of Mission Impossible 2 which was hilarious in a corny kind of way. So day after day she meets Henry, falls in love with him and forgets all about him when she wakes up the next morning. The perfect girl for a commitment-phobic guy? You bet, but not in the way that you think.

The comedy factor was good. There were some hilarious shots of what two people who are giddy with the euphoria of finally meeting the person of their dreams would do. However, I did not enjoy the parts where Adam Sandler made fun of his earnest German colleague by calling her a man. Surely, there is no need for cruel humor of this sort.

It was a treat to see Dan Ackroyd in a cameo role of the doctor (or was it the neurosurgeon?) and the other supporting actors who played Barrymore’s dad and brother were great in their respective roles.

But the biggest treat of all was seeing Rob Schneider as the Hawaiian, Ula. He was so convincing as a Hawaiian bum that I did not recognise him as the Hot Chick Rob Schneider. Imagine the shock I had seeing his name when the credits were rolling.

I loved how the movie started (won’t share it here because it will spoil your enjoyment of it) and how it ended. It was amazing to see how a commitment-phobe like Sandler turning 180 degrees because of the challenge of getting a girl who is worse than he is. He forgets a girl after a week but she can only remember him for 24 hours or less.

While I admire the transformation and tenacity of the man, it makes me wonder if someone who has no short-term memory like Lucy is really the cure for commitment-phobic people. Hmmm…

I was having a real good hair day yesterday and man, oh man, did it bring out the vainpot in me. Met some friends after church who introduced me to a couple of new faces. It was blazing hot and I had my sunnies on.

“Girls, this is Ariel. She will take her sunglasses off so that you can take a good look at her,” said Hooi Ee.

Being the vainpot that I was, I needed no further encouragement to make a good first impression. I not only took off my sunnies with a flair, I flounced and flung my hair ala Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels and grinned sassily. I mean, it’s all just for an audience of girls, right? No harm done. We all had a good chuckle until I happened to glance at my back and saw my godmother staring at me with her mouth gaped open in horror.

She came over. She patted my shoulder while shaking her head. “My dear girl, I never knew that you can be so… so… mischievous!” she said before walking away.

This time, the girls including my new-found friends hooted loudly with laughter.

Darn, there goes my stellar reputation and hopes of making a great first impression.

Note to self: Try to keep a lid on vain-pottishness next time.

Note to self #2: Yeah, right.