An Anonymous Call

Chapter 6- Culprit

25th March, 2014:

10:20 a.m.:

We sat on a curb nearby. I sat with my knees below my chin, hugging them tightly. Sai was sitting on my right, cross-legged. We were gazing out onto the empty tarred road; not even a single car passed by for the past twenty minutes. 

The houses were dangerously quiet, but they did not look any sort of haunted or abandoned. They just looked like ordinary terrace houses. We took a break from analyzing the details we gathered; our brains were completely shut off. 

The calm, slow gushing stream, relaxed our minds. We were very calm, indeed. We would jerk in shock if a loud eagle swept by, but let's not hope that happens. 

11:30 a.m.:

We sat for about an hour. Clearing up our minds, doing absolutely nothing. The wind blowing my long, silky black hair to the left and the afternoon sun beaming on our faces was delightful. We felt as if we were on a beach; two best friends going out for vacation, alone, from our hectic lifestyles.

11:40 a.m.:

I suggested, "Shall we call another time? We didn't get much info we deserved earlier. And he hardly spoke."

Sai agreed. This time, she was also required to speak. Calling with my own personal phone was a bad idea, so that's why we chose the public phone, in case you're still wondering. 

I inserted a coin. She dialed. We waited for the beeps. We planned to speak in our local language, to see if this person knew.

The call on the other side was picked up. But, this man did not offer a greeting.

Sai spoke first. "Boleh tak kita cakap dengan Encik Stevens?" That meant, "May we speak to Mr. Stevens?"

He answered, in a language Sai could not understand. I heard mumbling, as I stood quite far away from the payphone. 

Sai quickly hung up and hung the phone back onto its cradle. She looked at me, and gave an explanation. "I had no idea what he was talking about. All I heard was 'Ching-chong-ching-chong', like he was speaking in another language."

We took another break, hoping that John Doe would not realize that we've been calling him for the third time already. 

Then, Sai realized, "I think he was speaking in Mandarin. I'm not so sure, but he could've told me to not call anymore and ask who I was. Well, I really don't understand or speak any of the Chinese dialects."

If he really WAS speaking in Mandarin, then it means that this person does not understand both English or our local language. Could it mean that he's a foreigner? Or just a low-educated person in the country who could not speak our national language? We had to find out more.

I could speak only the slightest Mandarin and Cantonese. I took the oppurtunity to speak this time. Sai replaced my position. I was willing to speak to this person for the first time. 

11:45 a.m.: 

Was it too soon to make another call? Only 5 minutes had gone by since the last one. I began to have double thoughts. Sai observed me. She knew what was on my mind. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it now," she motivated me. Sai had always been my motivation and my leader. She would cheer me to go on. I was just a weakling.

I picked up the handset, trembling. If I took this chance to speak in Mandarin, Cantonese, or whatever other dialects, could I possibly find the answers?

I dialed as fast as I could. My heart was thrumming in my chest. My palms were sweaty, and the handset was shifting in my grip. The dialing tone was sounding, and Sai was very close to me, very close to the handset, eager to listen. 

"Hello??" the sound rang in my ears. 

I had to do it now. I finally gained my courage. I told myself, I have to do this.

I replied in the best way I could, I had no introduction, no greeting, just a straight-up question which blurted out of my mouth. 

"Ni shi shui?" I spoke. It mean't: Who are you?

The man replied: "Huh?"

Why is he always confused? Was my voice not loud enough to travel through cables into wherever he was? 

I asked another question, "Ni jiao shi me ming zhi?" which mean't, "What is your name?"

I realized I was too desperate, and I made a wrong choice pressing him with questions.

He did the same to me. He raised his voice, "Ni shi shui? Ni zhao shui? Weisheme ni zong shi guan wo jiao?" 

Those were at least words I could understand. He had said "Who are you? Who are you looking for? Why do you keep calling me?" 

I slammed the phone on its cradle. I turned so that I faced Sai, and I told her, "This man. I do not know who he may be, but he definitely does not know how to speak English and Malay, and he is definitely, not from our country."