The Creatures

Unnoticed by shops still deep in their drunken slumber, the first rays of dawn creep through double-paned windows into the shopping mall. The mall barely stirs, and the rays of light get bolder and bolder, stalking closer towards the centre of the mall. But as one sees them peeking through the shop windows, one clearly perceives that they are unwelcome intruders. They have allowed life into something which clearly rejects it. Exposed by the early, innocent daylight, the mall is a man-made no-man’s-land. The silence is a dead one. It is a waking midnight.

Or is it?

In their fitful sleep after yet another night of vainglory and glamorama, the fashion chains dream of small insects scurrying across the floor of their golden palaces; restaurants, stubbornly refusing to open their eyes—the early routine being an indicator of one who leads a boring life and preaches a frigid philosophy—are irritated by the pitter-patter of tiny feet, but even more so by the fact that these creatures pass without stopping to marvel at their menus; supermarkets, sprawling entire floors like lions on thrones, do not even bother flaring their nostrils at these creatures that they do not consider worthy of their appetite. The bowels of the mall refuse to stir for these lowly beings; except for their occasional pitter-patter, all remain eerily silent.

Yet, as one begins to adjust to the dim light of the mall, one discerns that these pitter-patters are attached to small, hunched shadows. They do not care to converse with the light; in fact, they seem indifferent to it. Some stay within the vicinities of the shadows; some totter about in the light, crossing into darkness just as easily.

Are they hard to spot, you ask? No, not really. And yet, we seldom notice them even though they’re right under our noses. Look, here’s one! Quietly sitting on a bench opposite a hair salon, it appears to be reading a newspaper. Reading a newspaper! In a mall, a grand palace which boasts collections of strutting peacocks and sleek leopards! Another one, over there, next to the tutoring centre! It seems to be flicking through the paper as well. Quietly sitting in the corner, one can imagine him having been there since the beginning of time, not having moved an inch, flicking through the same paper at an unfathomably slow pace. But beware, something else will catch your attention and when you look back it’ll be gone as if it had never been there. Fascinating creatures, they really are…

Regardez-vous! One is trudging across the floor of the mall in broad daylight, yet we would sooner notice that the dormant clothing store is offering a clearance sale than notice the moving creature. Let us follow its movements closely. It appears to be carrying a plastic bag filled with…vegetables! What a sneaky creature, to have beaten everyone to the freshest groceries of the day, and yet to remain almost unnoticed by all…there, it has disappeared behind one of the doors marked “Exit”. The swinging doors remain the only sign that it has ever trudged the earth, and even they cease to move as I finish this sentence.

Over there, outside the music shop. It appears two of them have crossed paths and are engaging in friendly conversation. Those two males greet each other without any formal preludes. Their conversations characteristically lack any formal beginning or polite rounding off; no remark of the weather or inquiry of the other’s plans are necessary. An “Oh!” or an “Ah!” reminds both of their friendly acquaintance, and immediately this one tells the other about the queue at the dim sum shop, while the other tells this one about his bets on the horses this evening. And then, without biding each other farewell, they continue on their separate paths, knowing they will meet again, and their acquaintance will remain as friendly as before. Each time one eavesdrops on an occasional conversation, it is as if one is catching the fragments of a dialogue that goes on forever.

Shall we put one under the microscope, or perhaps a couple? I see you’re noticing a lot more of these creatures around the mall, but once the world wakes up, they will slink back into oblivion. Come, let us find ourselves a good sample.

The dim sum restaurant is one of the only open places in the mall at this ungodly hour, hence it is naturally the hub of many of these creatures. We hear the faint banging sounds of plates and cutlery within these restaurants, but outside the creatures wait quietly in their mutually acknowledged, un-patterned manner. A number is called, and one or a few of these creatures enter, while some exit after having enjoyed a hearty breakfast. The dim sum restaurant seems to facilitate a perfectly independent and self-sufficient system within the belly of the mall. 

Here we see two creatures, a male and a female, sitting side by side on a bench outside this dim sum restaurant. To the eyes of a passer-by ignorant of the behaviour of these creatures, these two individuals could well be strangers to each other. They neither talk, nor show any awareness of the other’s presence. But to me, a veteran observer of these creatures, I proclaim them husband and wife! How, you exclaim? First, consider this. If you were sitting next to a stranger on a bench, the first thing you do is acknowledge their presence by trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation. You fumble for your phone, you turn your body sideways slightly, or you close your legs and hug yourself closer. Or. You notice the stranger is an attractive one. You therefore straighten up a little bit, clear your throat to subtly get their attention. Then, you won’t do the bold thing and talk to them, but rather, you will take your phone out and pretend to stare at your phone when in actuality you’re sneaking a look at their phone screen out of the corner of your eye and try to form a picture of their life right there and then. I’ve hit all the points, haven’t I?

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make it personal. Let us focus on the task before us. At the end of this observational experiment you’ll know whether my hypothesis is right or not. Now, let us focus our attention on the male. The typical male creature has barely any hair on his head; this one has none. Age spots dot his wrinkled face, which he keeps himself cleanly shaven. He sports a neat, plain-coloured polo shirt, which he keeps tucked into his formal, straight-legged, grey trousers, exposing a bulging stomach. No, he doesn’t mind; he’s not vain like those peacocks that will strut in hours later. Instead of matching his formal trousers with leather shoes, he walks around in sandals. Having observed them through wind and rain, I have come to the conclusion that the aforementioned attire is what the male creature wears irrespective of circumstance. Perhaps, at home, he will take of his polo shirt, revealing a white undervest underneath, but this is what he wears all day. It is the attire of a humble working man, and even though he has long retired, his industriousness has carried through into old age. He is reading a newspaper through his gold-rimmed glasses, and the page seems to be filled with numbers and columns. Perhaps he is checking the statistics for the horse race tonight, or perhaps he is looking at today’s stock index, but I don’t bother myself with trying to understand all that. What he does with his personal assets is not my business, and in my line of work one must always remind oneself to respect the privacy of others, as contradictory as it may sound.

As I expected, the female has not made any acknowledgement of the male’s presence all this time we spent focusing on him. Neither has she established that the creature next to her is in fact a stranger. My hypothesis remains to be contradicted. Now, let us observe the female closely. She wears a flowery-patterned cardigan with a woollen pullover underneath. The female creature often carries a slinging pouch with her, and this particular one seems to be fumbling for something among its contents. She appears to have found a headband with which she slowly crowns herself. Her hair, while completely white with age, remains abundant, cut short just before the nape of the neck, and is neatly combed. As she raises her arms, her sleeves drop slightly, and we perceive a jade bracelet around her wrists. These jade bracelets are common decorative accessories of these creatures, often given to them at a young age. As they grow older, their hands grow bigger and their wrists grow wider until they can no longer take them off. They say the colour of the bracelet tells a lot about the wearer’s age, just as the number of rings of a tree trunk indicate that of a tree; the green of the jade bracelet has a lifespan similar to that of an average human female. Any creature who wears a completely colourless jade bracelet is sure to have experienced epochal shifts in its lifetime.

As we observe her movements and her attire, we notice that the female creature resembles a little girl in a lot of ways. She delights in simple things, enjoys wearing colourful things, and is very emphatic about her neatness. All this she does without trying to call attention to herself. Her face shows a meek and humble expression, even when her bracelet is perhaps the most colourless one I’ve seen.

What is old age, my dear Watson, but a return to simpler times? Or perhaps these creatures speak the wisdom of simpler times, wisdom which does not have to be shouted in order to be heard. They have always followed their own laws, never adhered to ours, even as they live right in the heart of what is most characteristic about us.

Oh, but look again! A number is called. The male creature folds his paper, nods lightly at his partner, and they both walk towards the entrance of the dim sum restaurant. What did I tell you now, fellow?

Do they operate alone or in packs? That question has bugged me for quite a while. I suppose one reason for my bafflement is our own perception of what working alone and together means. In our society, we often glorify working alone. Studying hard means concentrating on your work alone; success means believing in yourself no matter what people say; to be a highly successful individual is to define yourself against others. Of course, we also live in a community and work ‘in packs’, so to speak. A company requires different people doing different duties; a restaurant has someone to cook, someone to serve the dishes, and someone to take orders; we have family gatherings and parties because we enjoy the company of those we love—or those we want to take advantage of. Ultimately, however, the notion of working alone stands in contrast to that of working as a team.

These creatures seem to treat it differently. You don’t often find them working in large groups, unlike those schoolchildren who would take up a table of ten at lunchtime. They often go about their business alone; two or three at most would sit on a bench for a game of chess while discussing politics and bitching about the government. Yet, they treat each of their own kind the same way, and a stranger could just as easily become a friend. I once witnessed a female creature crossing paths with another female creature, and a short query on where the other one bought her flowery sweater immediately kickstarted a comparison of discount shops at the other mall, upon which the conversation just as quickly diverted to fresh vegetables at a certain wet market. Standing in the middle of the shopping mall, they seemed quite oblivious of the peacocks strutting about them, tutting as they sidestepped the two creatures happily chattering away.

Yes, you may laugh at me and say this is exactly the way people make friends with each other. But tell me frankly, would you—could you—start a conversation with the person waiting in line at the supermarket without feeling awkward and guarded about yourself? Would you start chatting with the cleaner in the mall without thinking you’ve done a charitable thing today? In taking a good look at these creatures, perhaps we should take a better look at ourselves, we who are so different from others, so unique as individuals. We who believe we work best alone and push others away, who take advantage of others in order to be our best selves…

But I digress. Let us stay professional and stick to the task. The sun is rising, and the time left for us to observe these creatures peacefully at ease is scarce. Let us take note of their environment and make observations on these creatures’ adaptability. They may look wrinkled and fragile, but these creatures are perhaps one of the few species who demonstrate the greatest adaptability against the most relentless force of nature: Time. Look at all these shops in the mall. Most of these will be gone within two years; some lucky ones may survive five; none will remain standing in ten. Even the mall itself will have to shed its skin by then, changing its name, re-branding itself as something fit for the next generation. In other words, they cannot survive in harsh, competitive environments. Not a shred of their current glamour will remain, torn apart by the canines of the next generation.

You look surprised, Henry. Perhaps it is my graphic description of what time can do which surprises that young, ambitious mind of yours. But I will not beg your pardon this time. I have observed these creatures for years now, and I have witnessed how they survived the harsh tests Time has thrown at them while their rivals wither all around them. Once these shops open their jaws wide, revealing all the glitter and glamour they have to offer, you may forget what I have said, but mark these words: even the most glamorous jewellery store is nothing compared to these creatures. During the 2020 global pandemic, all the shops in the mall closed down. Eviction notices and apologetic notes stuck on shop windows and doors as far as the eye could see. It was a barren land, Henry. A devastating sight unparalleled in history. Perhaps during the world wars, yes, but that’s as good as prehistory to you. Everyone was in a state of mourning, unsure what to do with their lives. The idea that peacocks once roamed this area was unthinkable.

Yet, amidst that epochal moment in history, those creatures went about their daily lives as usual. Yes, perhaps they could no longer visit the dim sum restaurant; perhaps they had to sit two spaces away from each other on a bench; perhaps they had to sanitize their wrinkly hands every half an hour and talk to each other through face masks. But nothing stopped these creatures in their livelihood. Nothing stopped them from getting up at the crack of dawn to sit on a bench and read the paper. Even as people hid in their homes, complaining and then suffocating from the complaining, even as the whole nuclear family structure broke down, still they quietly tottered about with their bags of groceries. And the world barely noticed. Yes, Henry, they may not look much, but they are the toughest species that I have come across.

But despite their survivability, these creatures are headed towards extinction. Unfortunately, they are not reproductive. Their survival depends not on evolutionary traits, but values hard-fought to be preserved. As our attention span becomes shorter and shorter, it becomes harder for us to appreciate these values and to even see how these values apply to us, but I’m sure you’ll agree that their adaptability definitely points to something worth preserving, yes? And so, my dear Henry, it is up to people like you and I to observe these phenomenal creatures in their habitat, to observe them at work, and to pass on these values to other species worthy of being their successor. Yes, time is relentless, and there’s no point working against it, but it is my grand ambition to use what I know to direct humanity away from an imminent decline.

You’re eager to start? Well, I sure am glad a young fellow like you can appreciate the significance of my life-long work. Let us not waste time, then. Why don’t we start by talking over a nice meal of dim sum? Come on, and don’t forget your notepad.

Picture credits: Chloe Chan (follow her on Instagram: @czm.jpg)