A Fight in the Food Court


Toh Sing Yee


The noon sun pulled no punches with its intense rays, invading every nook and corner. Father drove my brother and I to the nearby twenty-four-hour coffee shop. Along the way, my brother and I chatted about the food we would like to order. Not long after, we reached the coffee shop. The aroma of the different types of food greeted me.
We scouted around the coffee shop looking for a place to sit down. After an agonising wait, a family finally left and we occupied the seat. Father and my brother ordered a plate of noodles each. I went to get some drinks for everybody. Afterwards, I went to queue up for my plate of chicken rice. The chicken rice was a favourite of many and therefore, the queue was very long.
I made a beeline towards the snake- like queue. After what seemed like eternity, I was finally near the stall. Out of the blue, a burly man shoved a woman who was waiting in the queue. She staggered backwards, nearly falling down. A surge of anger rushed through the woman and she hollered,” Who do you think you are?! You have no rights to jump the queue!” The woman also gave him a stinging slap hard on his face. With a monstrous glare, he started shouted vulgarities at the woman.
Before long, they were engaged in a heated argument. However, a moment later, a fist-fight broke out. Many people were shocked beyond words to react while others tried to mediate but to no avail. The man and the woman rained punches on each other mercilessly and refused to stop. With bleeding noses and bruised faces, they continued to fight. Someone called for the police and ambulance.
A short while later, the police and ambulances arrived. Two policemen pulled the man and the woman away. They were whisked away to the nearest hospital in the twinkling of an eye. The crowd dispersed eventually and I returned to the queue. After buying the mouth-watering plate of chicken rice, I settled down at the table. I thought that they should not have quarrelled over such a trivial matter. From this incident, I learnt that we should never jump queue or it might lead to some serious matters.

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Agnes Lee
The gentle warmth of the evening sun stroke the land bidding farewell to one and all. I was resting on the comfortable bed in the hospital. I stared out of the window, guessing when would I recover. I touched my head to feel the bandage. I was regretful of what had happened. I will never forget that horrible incident. I never will...
  The mouth-watering aroma of noodles filled the food court. I was queuing at the noddles stall, waiting for my turn to buy the mouth-watering noodles. I tapped my feet impatiently as the queue was
really very long. muttered angrily to myself. How long will it take. I was starving.
  All of a sudden, a burly man queuing behind me came to the front of the queue, turned to me and gave me a violent push. I fell backwards and fell onto the ground with a loud thud. I stood up grimly and curled my lips with disgust. " How dare you push me!' I shouted to him.
  He glared at me and shouted vulgarities at me. Unable to restrain the rage boiling within me, I gave him a tight slap. We shouted at each other, trying to reason with one another but it turned out to be
a heated argument. Soon, everyone crowded around us to witness the argument. Soon, everyone crowded around us to witness the argument. I was irritated by his behaviour. He was rude, ill-mannered and arrogant. We pointed fingers at each other, blaming each other and called each other funny names. I did not expect that the burly man would punch me. He is definitely not a gentleman. Instead of stopping
us, the onlookers cheered and goaded us on.
  I dealt a powerful punch right on his nose. Almost immediately, a fist-fight broke out. Neither of us would give in. With bleeding noses and bruised faces, we continued inflicting pain on each other
mercilessly. We refused to stop. The burly man gave me a punch on my face and I fell backwards hitting my head no the wall. Fresh, red blood oozed down for my forehead. Someone tried to mediate, but to no
avail. I could not faint, I just not. A man whipped out his mobile phone and punched in the number for the ambulance. I was giddy and closed my eyes to rest. The people around me were so noisy that I could not. The burly man was not apologetic and gave me a kick. I fainted instantly.
  When I came to, I saw nurses attending me and a doctor talking to the burly man. I shouted at him, ignoring where I was. The burly man apologised profusely to me and begged for my forgiveness. He said he had thought it over and was truly sorry for what he did. I smiled weakly at him and apologised too. We should not have quarrelled over a trivial matter. We shook hands, and once again, apologise to each other. After chatting for a while, I waved goodbye to him. I heaved a sigh of relief. I was fortunate to be alive. I touched my head to feel the bandage. I will never forget this fateful day...
  'Thud thud!' Someone was knocking at the door. I immediately snapped back to reality. I smiled to myself as I limped to the door. I promised never to quarrel over trivial matters again.

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Law Yu Jie
        At mid day, the sun hung high up in the sky, like a lamp bringing light to the world. It was a usual afternoon. I decided to try out the food at the new food court that had opens recently near my house.
        As it was lunch time, the foodcourt was packed like sardines.  Although it was crowded, I managed to find a seat. There was a lot of stalls, each selling different types of food.  I was spoilt for choices!  What caught my eyes first was my favourite fishball noodles.  I frowned at the sight of the long queue.  However, I could not resist the warm, comforting smell of hot, cooked fishball noodles that filled my nostrils. I decided to give me a shot.  I was tapping my heel, playing absent-mindedly with my finger nails when at a corner of my eye, I saw a burly man’s face turned as black as thunder when he saw the long queue.  I was curious at what he would do next.
        To my surprise, he smiled suspiciously and started walking towards me.” What is he going to do with me??” I wondered. His smile faded as he came nearer.”Shoo, let me stand here!’ the burly man shouted at me.  My eyes grew wide with rage and I gave him a monstrous glare. He pretended like nothing had happened and ignored my glare. Unable to restrain the rage within me, I shouted vulgarities at the ill-mannered man.
        His face turned red with anger. He could not hold his anger anymore and rained torrents of abuse at me. We started raining punches on each other mercilessly.”HOW DARE YOU HIT ME!!YOU BIG BULLY!”I screamed. I was furious as a billing pot so I spew vulgarities with a malicious glee crowd gathered to witness the heated argument. Someone tried to mediate but to no avail. Their faces froze momentously when they were confirmed by their worst fear. The burly man gave me a punch on my face and I fell backwards, hitting my head on the wall. Fresh, red blood oozed down my forehead. The following events were a blur to me.
        When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying on the hospital bed. My family members told me that the burly man was caught by the police after I fainted. Luckily, I recovered steadily and was in pink health again. I hope that the man would be more patient and not jump the queue again.

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Ng Woon Neng
     “Grr! Grr!” my stomach growled hungrily. I was starving and decided to go to the food court to buy some food. On my way there, I saw a man and women shouting at each other. This reminded me of an argument I had with an unreasonable man not long ago. I remember that day…
      The food court was very crowded. The aroma of chicken rice wafted into my nose. Mmmm! My favourite food! I walked to the stall selling chicken rice and sighed when I saw the long queue. I tapped my feet impatiently as the queue moved at a snail’s pace.
        Out of the blue, I felt a violent push behind me. I swung around and gave a monstrous glare. I realised that a burly man was trying to jump the queue. His anger knew no bounds and he shouted vulgarities at me. Neither could I restrain the rage within me and I gave him a stinging slap. “How dare you push me! You ill-mannered man! ” I screamed furiously. We got into a heated argument. Many people gathered around to witness the fight. Someone tried to mediate but to no avail. The man started raining punches on me mercilessly.
        Although I was able to dodge the punches, a ghastly white spread over my face. Luckily, some police walked by and saw the commotion. They also stopped our fight and nobody was hurt. It was only then did the man and I realised that we should not fight over a trivial matter.
          “Hey! Get out of my way!” a voice said. I quickly dodged as the person cycled past me. The man and woman were long gone and I continued my way to the food court, to a plate of delicious, mouth-watering chicken rice.
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Lim Zheng Yu
It was a bright and energy-zapping afternoon.  Fluffy white clouds dotted the azure brilliant sky.  The  scorching hot sun beat down on me mercilessly as beads of perspiration dripped from my forehead. I decided to satisfy my hunger at Victoria food court.  As it was a weekend, the food court was packed like sardines with people from all walks of life.  Children were fussing over their food, adults were eating noisily, taking occasional sips of their can drinks. Some old folks were chatting happily at a table and stirring their coffee listlessly, taking sips of it when they were thirsty. There were also serpent-like queues in front of the stalls. The vendors were yelling orders at the dog-tired cooks at the stoves.
            The aroma and sight of the food filled my nostrils and teased my tastebuds mercilessly. I lingered around the food court, spoilt for my choice.  I decided to make a bee line towards the snake-like queue in front of the famous Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice stall. I could not resist the temptation to taste the mouth-watering chicken rice. Out of the blue, a burly man appeared out of nowhere and gave me a hard shove so that he could jump the queue.  As I was a bad-tempered, I burst into a blistering rage and shouted, “What do you think you are doing?”
            The irate man replied harshly, “Shut up! It is none of your business!”  And he gave me a stinging slap. Unable to restrain my anger, I punched him in the stomach. The man was incensed beyond words and punched me right in the face.  Soon, a fist-fight started. We rained punches on each other.   A crowd had gathered at the scene to witness the fight.  Some of them were in a state of shock.
            A civic-minded patron tried to mediate but to no avail. When he threatened to call the police, we stopped fighting but shot monstrous glare at each other.  The patron said, “We should not fight over such a trivial matter. As diners, we should obey the rules and should not be too ill-mannered to prevent accidents from happening.”  Upon hearing  that, I was hot with shame.  Finally, we shook hands and apologised profusely to each other.
            After the incident, I filed out of the food court and went home blushing as I was embarrassed.
            Sigh! What  an unlucky day!