homemade blues

Story is - I went to the gym as usual this morning, after sending D to school... There is a bench just before the entrance to the gym, which I usually see people sometimes sit there, usually after my gym session. But today, there was a guy sitting there. I didn't take much notice of him at first, and just walked straight towards the gym without looking left or right.

As I approached the bench, I heard someone giving me salam, and I was surprised that it was the guy sitting on the bench. I was like, "What? Do I know this guy?" and he gave me another salam, and then proceeded to say something like, "Kak, boleh bagi saya duit 4 ringgit? Saya lapar, nak beli makanan." (Loosely translated - Sis, can you give me 4 (Malaysian) ringgit? I'm hungry, I want to buy food.)

This all took about 5 seconds? But it was like slow-mo(tion) at the time - Matrix style - and I was still just walking along towards the gym while looking at the guy the whole time. I didn't say anything. I didn't acknowledge him. I didn't even blink (I think). I sort of went into auto-pilot mode and just walked past him, straight into the gym.

I've been replaying this scene repeatedly in my head, with various possible endings to this encounter, and I don't know... First of all, I was taken aback. This is in Subang Parade, ok? IN the shopping mall... I've never come across "beggars" (loosely labeled) IN a shopping mall before. Then again, there's always a first of everything... Secondly, the guy didn't look like he was "begging"... He looked like a guy in about mid-20s, wearing a white t-shirt, not clean shaven but not scruffy looking either, can't remember what pants or shoes/slippers he was wearing... Thirdly, is this guy for REAL?

In any case, I could see him leaving the bench after my 10-minute stationary bike warm up. I told Nora about it as we drove to Kelana Jaya (which we didn't even get to our destination because it was pouring rain!) and she told me I did the right thing. With so many cases of people being robbed via pukau (loosely translated as hypnotism) these days... You can never be too careful. Scary!