Continuous Writing (Picture) – An Unattended Bag in a Mall

Jamie and Joy, were at Hougang Mall to have lunch with their mother. Since they were early, they decided to do some window-shopping.

The mall was not crowded that afternoon. They almost had the whole basement to themselves. Jamie and Joy strolled past a cake shop and a fashion shop for their favourite shop, Poh Kim, to browse at the latest DVDs.

"Come on, Joy. We have another ten minutes to spare before meeting up with Mum. Let's go Poh Kim to see if we can find what we want," proposed Jamie, an avid fan of action-packed movies.

"Yes! We should!" Joy's eyes sparkled in excitement at her sister's suggestion.

On their way, Joy suddenly stopped in her tracks. She turned to her sister. Pointing a finger to a huge potted plant, she remarked, "Do you see what I see?"

Jamie took a few steps towards the plant and caught sight of a duffel bag. Well concealed behind the plant, the plain beige bag was not at all noticeable. It however, did not escape Joy's sharp eyes.

Images of the video clip on terrorists' threats played in their minds. They had read about how terrorists had planted bombs in harmless-looking bags in the papers. They were also cautioned by teachers not to take unattended suspicious-looking bags lightly.

"What should we do?" Joy asked her sister, her voice quivered a little.

Jamie's brow furrowed in thought. “Let's inform the security," she answered Joy after a moment of deliberation.

It was not too difficult for the girls to find Mr Vijay for they were so familiar with the mall. Mr Vijay was spotted near the entrance of the mall where he usually was. The girls informed him of their discovery. Looking serious, Mr Vijay followed the girls to the basement. He radioed his colleague with his walkie talkie about the incident on the way.

When they arrived at the spot, Mr Vijay gestured to the girls to keep a distance while he advanced towards the bag. He stood, towering over the bag, and stared at the bag intently. Slowly, he stooped down before the bag.

Jamie and Joy watched with bated breath. Who had left this bag there? Was there a motive or was it plain carelessness? Would they be expecting some action-packed scenes like those in Bruce Willis’ Die Hard movies? So many questions raced through their minds. So many questions but no answers.

Mr Vijay reached his hand gingerly to unzip the bag. The girls literally held their breath for that moment in anticipation. As the bag was unzipped enough to reveal its content, Mr Vijay lowered his head. He turned around, expressionless.

The girls' hearts beat harder and faster. Their palms grew cold and clammy.

My Vijay turned his attention back to the bag. This time, he dug his hand in and rummaged through the inside. Joy was all ready to let out a scream as she saw Mr Vijay pulling out something.

Out from the bag was what they girls least expected. It was not a bomb, much to their relief laced with a tinge of disappointment.

It was only an empty Columbia water bottle!

Though they understood the grave consequences of stumbling on a bomb, they could not help longing for those exciting actions in the movies to come into real life.

Mr Vijay brandished it and smiled at the girls. The girls smiled back sheepishly.

Mr Vijay’s colleague arrived. Mr Vijay showed him the water bottle. He picked up the bag and told the girls that he would place the bag at the Lost and Found counter.

Joy and Jamie took their leave to meet up with their mother.

"You and your obsession with action-packed movies!" the mother chided, "but then again, girls, what you did is right. It is better to be safe than sorry. I am glad it is only a water bottle."

The girls grinned. "Let's go for lunch now! I'm famished," Joy said.