“The hieroglyphics on the crumpled paper must have meant something to someone”
“Hey there! Did you drop that piece of paper?” I called. The stranger just kept walking having not heard my cry of assistance and disappeared into the supermarket. It took me about 30 seconds to get up to where the crumpled piece of paper lay on the ground. I do object to people throwing rubbish on the ground. It is an aggressive act against the environment. As I often do, I bent over and picked up the piece of paper to eventually take it to the rubbish bin thinking little of the contents. However, there was something really curious about the crumpling. The paper was folded in from each corner and then crumpled. My curiosity got the better of me. I untangled the piece.
The characters appeared to be all in Chinese. But, as I glanced at the piece of paper it caught the sunlight so I could see a set of words faintly embossed in the paper. They read: “See me ….” The rest was obliterated by the folding and so the sunlight was unable to show up the hidden characters.
I walked into a nearby restaurant and asked for a coffee. As my coffee was being delivered the waiter slid a gun out of his right hand pocket while holding the coffee in his left. “Follow me or you die” he said in a very Chinese accent.
Gordon MacAulay
24 January 2011
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3 comments:
A stranger drops a piece of paper with a message. Is it specifically directed to our character? Is he in danger? Why does the waiter point the gun at him? To be continued?
So many questions which could be answered in a longer version. The gun threw me completely but then when you only have a minute left to wrap the story up I'm happy to end with some drama.
Loved the description of the curious crumpling of the paper. Such minutiae somehow gave the note some sharper significance.
Kerry
Heather said:
This gets off to an interesting start, Gordon. There is a kernel of character development; the setting catches our interest; the plot sets off in a flurry.
I'd love to see more...
Peta said
Ah yes another mystery and many unanswered questions. Was he followed to the restaurant? or did he coincidentally end up there? how did the waiter know him? Chapter 2 perhaps???
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