Coelho's small stories #1 : The Missing Brick

Once, when I and my wife were traveling, I received a fax from my secretary.

'There's one glass brick missing for the work on the kitchen renovation,' she said. 'I'm sending you the original plan as well as the plan the builder has come up with to compensate for it.'

On the one hand, there was the design my wife had made : harmonious lines of bricks with an opening for ventilation. On the other, there was the plan drawn up to resolve the problem of the missing brick: a real jigsaw puzzle in which the glass squares were arranged in a higgledy-piggledy fashion that defied aesthetics.

'Just buy another brick,' wrote my wife. And so they did, and thus stuck to the original design.

That afternoon, I thought for a long time about what had happened; how often, for the lack of one brick, we completely distort the original plan of our lives.


(Taken from Like The Flowing River)

Lullaby for The Dreamer

She sat there alone
Her mind wandering
Floating in another realm

Just waiting
For the wind to come
Passing her on its journey

She's singing
her heart out silently
Through the dancing
of her hands

And when the wind blows
She would whisper
her love notes
For it to carry away

And when night falls
The stars shall sing
A lullaby for the dreamer

Men and Shoes

A friend of mine once said that men are just like shoes.

He (yes ladies & gentlemen, HE) said that if they don’t fit, then just ditch them and try on another pair.

If only it’s really that simple…

What if one day you set out to find that perfect pair. You browsed and you searched high and low, until you finally found one that’s just oh-so-perfect.

Problem is, they’re ‘out of reach’.

You were only made for such levels like Charles & Keith, but your ‘perfect’ pair is a Manolo.. You tried to forget it and look for another pair that’s more of your level, but you just can’t seem to find one that’s the same (or even close) to the Manolos.

Then what?

Should you just give it up? Just move on, compromise with yourself, and settle for another pair that you don’t really feel for. Or should you keep on trying to get that dreamy perfect pair, eventhough it means lots of sacrifice and hard work?

Yes, it’s never that simple, at least not for me (and for many other ladies out there, I’m sure!). Be it men or shoes, they’re sometimes just the same. More or less.


P.S. : Okay, this piece may sound silly, weird, & a bit Sex And The City-ish, but I’m just trying to make a simple comparison that’s easy to understand.. especially for women =P

Setia

Detak jam terdengar
Beradu dengan keheningan

Asa melayang..
Jiwa berkelana..

Cuma sepi yang ada
Cuma hampa yang ada

Selalu datang menemani
Selalu hadir di sisi

Setia..
Dalam kesendirian

Whispers

Should I just sit here
and see you fade away
When with all my heart
I just want you to stay

Should I just wait here
For you to come my way
Ignoring whispers of my heart
That you may never come to stay

For you’re the river
I can’t stop from flowing
For you’re the wind
I can’t stop from blowing

You're Just

But you're just like the wind
Just blowing every now and then
with its presence felt
yet unseen

But you're just like the shadow
Just following around, lingering
with its presence seen
yet unfelt

It Has Yet to Begun

There once lived a lady. A young lady full of questions -- in her mind and her heart.

She lives in a cage, a humble but beautiful cage. Showered with love and protected from the cruel world, though not entirely an outcast from the outer world. She had experienced happiness and a great deal of pain in her younger years, and had learnt a lot from it. All those experiences, bad and good, sculpted her into the person she is now.

And of course as the years gone by, as the world turns and changes, so does her. Always changing, always a work in progress.

Full of curiosity she is, but at most times she's just afraid to take risks. And all because of fear. Fear of failing, fear of getting hurt, fear of being humiliated, fear of being crushed.

Humble and down-to-earth she is, but she does have a great pride. And it's one of the thing that often stops her from leaping forward to take chances. Aside from thinking too much and always questioning about things, about life in general.

Bright and bubbly she is from the outside, but deep down she's a shy, reserved, and (sometimes) too sensitive person.

Now the young lady has just embarked on a journey in search of the missing link, the missing piece in her life that would complete her. In search of the answers to her questions. Just going where the wind blows. But at times she likes to take control, reading signs and directions, and deciding her direction. Though she's not really sure where she's heading...

Sometimes she came across an intersection, not knowing which to take. Sometimes she came across a broken bridge, one that she must fix before crossing. Sometimes she came to a dead end, forcing her to go back down the road to where she begun.

Sometimes she feels so tired and wanted to stop but she kept on going forward. Sometimes she feels so tired and drained, and stopped for a while to rest.

She's taking one step at a time, one leap at a time. Trying to discover a bigger world. A world full of colors and wonders, of tears and laughter, of opportunities and loss, of pain and pleasure, of evil and kindness.

The journey just begun.. who knows when and where it would end? =)

Insignificance

I am
but a drop of water
in the sea

Small
Insignificant
But not meaningless

Or so I hope

Reasons

Why do we fall
for someone?

Do we fall for them
because they loved us
or because of
who they really are?

Do we fall for them
because we loved
the way they treated us
and the way
 their loving made us feel?

Or do we fall for
the person who existed,
whether we see it or not.

The person who's
imperfect
who has a lot of flaws.

Supermums

Tuesday afternoon and the weather was as hot as usual (but thank gawd for aircons!). I was having a late lunch with a friend and her cousin at a famous Chinese restaurant at Arcadia Senayan. It has been quite sometime since I last saw her (in person), so it was really nice to actually see her again. At least we both had something to do on our agenda that day, since we’re both officially unemployed now. LOL

Between munching on the painstakingly overpriced dumplings – we’re unemployed, remember? – and sipping tea, we talked about life in general. Catching up on each other’s news and mixed it up with a little gossip plus (unimportant) news, i.e. what’s on sale. LOL.

And somewhere along the way, we started talking about mothers.

Pain and Living

A few days ago I was chatting with a dear friend. And as usual, daily conversations then steered around guys, love, and the likes of it.

We’re very different, she and I. Me being the logical, analytical, critical, and (sometimes) too rational kind of mind; and her being the non-logical, emotional, and always-following-her feelings kind of mind. I often conceal my real feelings, trying to look in control and composed at all times; she’s the open book, you can tell her feelings by her actions.

That makes me, as one of my guy friends said, the ‘Ice Queen’: cold, steely, (too) calm, (too) composed, and emotion-less; thus I seem distant and hard to approach. She’s the social queen, everyone loves her warm, fun-loving, happy-go-lucky personality, spontaneity, and quirkiness.

Lost

Lost in the middle of nowhere
In the middle of a sea of people

Tried to find an exit
but it's nowhere in sight

Tried to cry for help
but no voice came out

Tried to hold on to somebody
but no one can feel

Lost and alone
sick and tired

Will anyone find me?

Up and Away...

Restless mind, wandering soul..
flying high above the clouds
running free between the stars
wishing not to touch the earth

Fly away, runaway..
to the home of your heart
before the wind stops blowing
and you fell down to ground