If I’d told Day (which isn’t exactly how his name is pronounced, but I’ll get to that) that I’d turn his life into a novel, he would have said that I’m out of my mind, and he would be right – at least from his own perspective. We all fall into such a norm in our daily lives that most of our stories have been experienced by everyone one way or another. Thinking back, I wish I’d immersed myself into Day’s world but, like all investigative journalists, I stood by the sideline to keep my views “objective”.
I’m not saying that it’s BAD to be an investigative journalist – I wouldn’t have met him if I hadn’t been actively looking out for stories to write. I really feel lucky to have met Day, and after seeing the TV news about nobody offering help for a person with an open knapsack in the middle of the busy World Expo Shanghai, perhaps he was lucky to have met me too.
Anyways, I should begin at the beginning, which is how we met…
* * *
Mar 15th was very cold. In fact, it was the coldest Mar 15th in recorded history. The streets of Causeway Bay was full of people and traffic around 6pm, which is of no surprise to anyone who lives here. I was having a bad day at work and thought to ask some friends to go to a bar to chill but everyone was like it’s only Monday and doesn’t want to start partying yet. A story I’ve worked on for the past month was just rejected by the Editor as being dull and un-trendy. It was the same loser who’d told me to do that assignment. I needed my job so I didn’t remind him of that little fact. I did learn two things though: one, don’t treat your work seriously; two, I have no friends.
What brought me to Causeway Bay was the crowd. I didn’t want to be alone and sob. I wanted to be among people. It’s actually quite fun to pick on a person at random and follow him/her around and create a back story for that person. I’ve created a princess who was looking for her pair of glass slippers and needed to look for clues in the toys section of a department store to an average joe who wentto buy dessert to impress a girl – so that he could get close to the girl’s boyfriend, to a mom who took her kids to a fast food restaurant to eat the dinner she’s prepared at home (it actually was quite a touching story if I might say so myself). Causeway Bay has no shortage of interesting people worth studying.
And there he was, a normal teenager who looks around 16. I couldn’t remember what he was wearing but it probably was not something remarkable. What caught my eye was his expression. He was walking by himself while looking up left and right with a sense of wonder. Of course I use the term “sense of wonder” now after I’ve met him. At that moment all I thought was he was someone who was missing a few screws.
I began coming up with a back story for him. I imagined him to be a crazy delinquent who was secretly abandoned by the mental institution. The staff at the facility was all afraid of him because he was always smiling and you never know what one thinks with a smile. He was found smiling holding a bloody knife and a corpse. He could not remember why he was there and what he was doing when he was found. Psych tests suggested him to be normal but no expert could explain why he was always smiling. They concluded that he must be crazy to be happy all the time. He was sent to the institution for being relentlessly happy.
Most of the staff there was very friendly and they appreciated Day’s happiness. It was like the icing on the cake. But not everyone wanted to work there. Some resented having to take care of the crazies and took it out on the patients. Day’s cheerfulness just fueled their hatred. They started taking away food from him, and when that didn’t put a frown on his face, pushed him around like a rag doll. When even the verbal abuse and the occasional punch in the stomach had only resulted in more smiles coming out from Day, even the normally good natured staff was worried. Here was a person who was capable of killing without a blink because he had no moral boundaries. To him it’s just a matter of when he feels like killing everyone. But how could you convince other people about the danger this person possesses when all Day’s done was nothing but smile? Out of fear of happiness they secretly kidnapped Day and left him in the middle of the city.
I surprised myself for coming up with such a detailed back story in such a short time.
KenT the Author's Ravings 