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Falling Star

Posted on May 31, 2007
Filed Under The Stories |

His name was Farid and he was nursing a Tiger at New Asia Bar. As he looked around the darkened innards of the bar seventy stories above the glittering island city he had to wonder what was truly new about the bar. Sure the décor was ‘modern’ and the music was almost post-modern in its techno senselessness but really the social interactions at work across the length and breadth of the bar were no different from the way they must have been when the white man ruled the roost a few decades earlier.

It was a well-known fact that the bar was where you went if you wanted to see really old white men hanging out with really young Chinese girls. The same ‘girls’ who hung out in the malls and salons by day in their super-short skirts and punishing high heels and drank Singapore Slings or expensive wine at bars like this one during the night. They bought three hundred dollar (US not SG) skin creams recommended by their doctors to reverse the ageing process and attempted to snag a rich white man to help pay for it.

He had fallen for a local girl, not too many years ago, an elfin creature named Mae Ling who worked the counter at HMV until a gay DJ put her on the cover of his next CD and changed her life. He liked the attitude she projected behind the counter and she impressed him with her knowledge of music. She had no idea who he was and since it was obvious he was gay she didn’t really care. When his people came calling however, she cared a lot and that first kiss of fame made her hungry for more. People sometimes recognized her as the girl on the CD cover and asked her for her autograph. Soon Mae Ling wanted more.

Farid saw her picture staring at him from a rack at HMV. He made a few calls, asked a few questions and finally made contact with her while she was window-shopping one afternoon in Vivo City. He invited her to the ad agency offices near the Outram MRT station and within two months he had helped her book her first job. When she saw her first pay cheque she was very appreciative. She called him at various times of the day, laughed at all of his jokes and hung onto his every word. Everything she said to him in return sounded like an erotic promise, even if she had done little more than say hello.

There was a time for which she was referred to as ‘Farid’s Girl’ at the agency. His co-workers hadn’t been as quick to see her potential so they were appropriately deferential to his judgment after the first magazine shots came in and it became clear that Mae was sensational in front of the camera. Excited by the developments in her career Mae was more than willing to show her gratitude and it wasn’t long before Farid was intimately familiar with every inch of the model that had become a small sensation on the Singapore circuit.

Unfortunately for him, only one of them was in love. It wasn’t long before more important people on the social scene were interested in having Mae by their side. He barely had the opportunity to adjust to the idea of Mae appearing on the arm of visiting actors and local businessmen at social events around the island.

They didn’t ever actually break up. She simply stopped calling. On the few occasions he attempted to get in touch with her she either screened his calls or hurriedly whispered that she was busy and would call him back later. Later never came but on one of those occasions he thought he heard a man’s voice in the background. After she had disconnected and the nausea had worn off he wondered whether she had answered the phone that time to deliver the message that she had moved on.

That was three years ago. Over the past nine months she had begun to fade from the public eye. Her disappearance was probably hastened by the music album she had released. When he first heard about it he knew it was a bad idea because he had heard her sing in the shower. The same throaty voice that oozed sex when she spoke dripped nails on a chalkboard when she tried to straddle a tune.

It was all finally water under the bridge as far as he was concerned.

He knew better than to let one of his ‘protégés’ break his heart again. He was meeting a young woman at the bar, an aspirant who knew him as the man who gave Mae Ling her first break. He didn’t bother to correct the misconception.

That’s when he saw her.

The not-as-young-anymore Mae Ling was allowing an incredibly old white man to run his hands all over her. When he patted her ass she giggled appreciatively and when he tried to slip a hand up under her blouse she leaned in to allow him better access. He was so surprised to see Mae in the element of a girl on her downward spiral that he actually went up to her table to say hello.

Her white friend was trying to free a breast when he stepped up, “Hello Mae, it’s been a long time.”

For just one moment she looked like a rabbit in the headlights and then she managed a smile, almost as cheerful as the ones she wore in the early days of her carrer, “Farid! It’s been so long. Darling, this is Farid, he gave me my first break as a model.”

The man nodded disinterestedly and leaned forward to nuzzle her neck. With a squeal and flailing arms, Mae attempted to regain her balance. Over the man’s shoulder she smiled at Farid, a tired smile, “Let’s do lunch some time. I’ll call you.” Farid watched them for a moment even though they seemed oblivious to his presence.

When he returned to his table the aspirant was already seated. She was more beautiful than Mae had ever been and so young it was almost painful to look at her. She stuck her hand out, “Hi I’m Ju Jin.” He took the small soft hand in his and shook it. A sound caught Ju Jin’s attention and her eyes widened as she said, “Oh my god is that Mae Ling?”

Farid nodded.

“I heard you discovered her.”

He nodded again.

“So what happened?”

Farid looked her in the eye and said, “she thought she could manage her own career.”

The girl looked at the ex-model and her wrinkled consort, shuddered and nudged her chair closer to Farid’s.

Farid signaled the waiter, who brought over a bottle of wine more likely to impress his date by the price on the bottle than the taste inside. He raised a glass and smiled at the eager young woman before him, “Cheers.”

To Mae Ling and all the amazing sex I will have because of your pathetic display.

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