I had to return all my borrowed books on 3rd of June because my card was going to expire. So today was important. I had a goal. Only one thing on my to-do list, this needed to be done. It was to jot down all the content that i needed, self-notes, inspiring-notes, reminders, words that made me understand 'whats going on' around me, transfer them from book to notebook, for future reference when im back in KL. and i had 10 thick tiny sized font books to go through (again).
(side story, by the time i carried all the books to the table, i could barely write because of giving my hands do 300 push ups)
Note to self: do it straight away the first time.
Thats not really the story. I was lining up to buy coffee at starbucks around the corner of my uni. This place was always busy. I ordered the same caramel machiatto, waited to watch the barista squeeze the caramel drizzle and handing the white cup to me. It took particularly long this time. There was a cup already on the counter and it had the name Mike on it.
To my left, was a white haired old man wearing one of the old-people caps, a flat cap. He too was waiting for his coffee. I gave him a glance and asked umMike?
"oh no, thats not me, mine is not mike, but youve given me a new name"
I just nodded as if what he said to me actually made sense, feeling kind of embarrassed because of both reasons, not having a clue what he's saying and him not being Mike.
His drink arrived 2 seconds before mine. I was able to catch his name, in black marker, scribbled the name: Napoleon. Sort of a human instant reflex thing, I glanced to look at this old man again to check if he looked like a Napoleon dude and he caught me looking.
He let a out an amusing laugh, and i gave a whats-so-funny look. I blurted out N-na-napoleon?
He picked up his coffee, and said to me in a this-is-a-secret kind of tone (it was the cutest), with like eyes popping out serious-you-better-believe-me feature across his face.
Little lady, heres a lesson on life, i never give my real name to anything or anybody! You never know these days what they can do with your name, steal anything. Its so scary. So i never give my real name! Everyday i have to decide on one name to use if i want to order coffee or anything.
(in my head: oh mike makes sense now/ youve got to be joking/ he reminds me of my grandmother)
So today, you decided to be Napoleon? Thats a good one.
What did you write on your cup?
NISA. Thats my name.
Oh little lady, thats a very nice name. But dont give your real one!
I will keep that in mind next time. You have a nice day Napoleon!
You too little lady. be careful!
Then I turned around to the sugar-packet-stirring station. Suddenly, a voice kind of unexpectedly jumped me from the back.
Little lady, my name is Andy. Bye-bye now.
(Anisah, 5th June 2016)
