Black Vanilla - A Short Story

Good day, folks. I return with another short story. This one was inspired by an event during a regular lunch hour a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Black Vanilla

“Ewww! Are you really sure about this?” Joanne asked.

“I…” Frank hesitated. He was so sure a moment ago.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Paula tried to convince Frank from taking the plunge. It was after all, not something conventional, not something that a typical person would attempt.

I shouldn’t let others dictate or influence me! Frank thought and went ahead anyway. It is not every day such a unique opportunity presents itself. On top of that, it is cheap! I’ve got nothing to lose. Frank handed over the $1 bill to the cashier and stepped aside for his two colleagues to make their own purchases. Thereafter, they all stood patiently and waited along with other customers for their sundae cones. You see, the convenience store was having an opening week sales promotion. The cheapest items were the sundaes. Unfortunately, based on last three days’ sales ledger the sundaes were the only products that the people were attracted to.

Three flavours were offered — mango, charcoal and a mix of the both. Naturally, Joanne, Paula and most people opted for mango. The more adventurous chose the mix because a swirl of yellow and black was quite hypnotic. Only a special few courageous ones had the guts strong enough to try the pure charcoal sundae cone. A truly light absorbing, dark sundae that topped the brown cone.

Joanne, Paula and a few others could not help but stare as the crew passed the black mass to Frank. Everyone started to reach for their phones. It was pure coincidence that one of the customers was carrying a huge Hasselblad with a 100mm lens. Frank and his sundae cone became the centre of the universe at that point in time. Although it hardly qualified as a significant ripple to the space-time continuum, thousands would spend the next few days discussing about the man and his charcoal sundae.

Frank was not used to being the spotlight so his hand that held the cone trembled a bit. He thought he would feel a sense of accomplishment for taking such a bold move but instead he felt like he needed to stick his head into the ground. A bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple. It was an eternity that he could not bear so he turned and left the convenience store without waiting for his companions.

Frank stumbled out on to the sidewalk. Even though it was high noon, the humidity was welcoming. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. He hardly noticed it — maybe it was the darkness of the cone that absorbed heat at a tremendous rate or maybe it was the hot weather or maybe it was just the machine not able to cope with the demanding load — but the sundae had begun to melt. Dark streaks flowed down onto the cone and onto Frank’s hand.

“Ewww...” Joanne grimaced again as she suddenly appeared by Frank’s side.

Frank ignored her and brought the sundae to his mouth. By now both hand and cone were covered in a web of melted black sundae. Drips of darkness stained the pavement as if to mark its territory. Frank had intended to slowly enjoy his dessert but its current melting state called for more drastic measures. He managed to gulp down the sundae in record time. There was nothing he could do with the stickiness until he reached his office a block away.

Frank’s only experience with charcoal was when doctors prescribed the black tablets to relieve his diarrhoea so he expected the sundae to taste like the pills — dry, powdery and tasteless. He was pleasantly surprised to find that shrouded within all that blackness was the essence of vanilla. He was quite satisfied with his bold choice and the lingering aftertaste.

He turned to Joanne and Paula to see how they were doing — both of them were in a similar predicament in struggling to eat their sundaes before they melted — and grinned, revealing dark, charcoal-stained teeth.

Why did I Write "A Janitor's Simple Wish"?

I hope my first short story is not a lullaby. If it is, do come back often when you are suffering from insomnia.

***** Spoiler Warning! ***** Do not proceed unless you’ve read the short story! *****

In A Janitor’s Simple Wish, I wanted to share with you about how things are after a movie ends – viewers would just leave (unless it’s a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie where there are post credit scenes one after another *grin*) and left the cleaners to pick up the trash. While I don’t see old people working, I wanted to explore the questions “what if they were old? Would there be any difference?”

I might never have added the social media portion had I not been reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell while writing the short story. The early chapters about how something interesting could tip and becomes viral inspired the part where a couple went back to their hometown – possibly being away in their youthful years to chase riches – to discover the bad habits of cinema patrons. It was further compounded when they noticed elderly people were doing the cleaning.

I wish to showcase both positive and negative effects of social media but at the same time did not want a bad ending for the main characters. My initial plan was to have the janitors fired because the boss felt they were no longer productive but that didn’t materialise because it’d be sad. I don’t like sad.

Just for the fun of it, I took this opportunity to add in an exploitative boss and illustrate what I think how such greedy people live in their own self-righteous, selfish world...

Well, it’s supposed to be a simple story about a janitor but I tried to add some complications to spice up the story... such is life. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!

A Janitor's Simple Wish - A Short Story

This idea came to me as a thought after a movie had ended. After the credits rolled and the lights were up, I turned to leave. Cleaners had already started their work, cleaning up the trash that everyone left behind... so here you go, my first very short story and one of the reasons this blog exists (so that I can share some stories).

A Janitor’s Simple Wish

All his life, Shen had worked as a cleaner in a movie theatre. A cleaner was a cleaner as far as he was concerned but in this part of the world, the folks called him a janitor. His primary duties were to make sure the place was always clean – within and without, and the boss emphasised that washrooms must be free of stains and always smelled pleasant. Whenever a show reached its end, Shen entered the hall to pick up the trash and swept, or mopped the floor. He silently wished that the patrons would just bring their trash – cups, wrappers, cartons, etc. – with them when they left. Sometimes, on a bad day, he let himself imagine pouring those leftover popcorns over arrogant patrons’ heads.

During the early years, he worked alone because there was only one screen. As business flourished, the company relocated from a shop lot to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of town. As far as the boss was concerned, she was doing the community a favour because she had bought over (cheaply), repaired the dilapidated building and made it into a revenue generating piece of real estate. She converted it into a five-screen multiplex – something rare, something new – for the town folks.

While Shen’s position remained the same, his wages, at the very least went up, even exceeding the inflation rate by a single percent. He thought the boss was kind to have employed a female co-worker so that he did not have to clean the women’s washroom anymore. He was always fearful he might accidentally enter the toilet when someone was still inside. He could not afford a lawsuit because his immigrant status was not favourable to him. His new colleague, Min, freshly out of retirement, was also tasked to vacuum the halls while Shen continued to pick up the trash.

In a nutshell, he and his colleague had to ensure that the areas under their jurisdiction did not receive complaints from patrons nor management. Both of them got along well and were a great team, covering for each other if they overlooked something. Whenever he missed a wrapper, she would not hesitate to vacuum it. Where the floors used to be cement, the new halls were now carpeted so a spill always proved catastrophic. Shen, with the assistance of modern chemicals, would help Min remove the stains, more often than not, through vigorous scrubbing. Shen and colleague agreed that liquid should be banned from cinema halls.

When a young couple returned to the town after years of city life, they decided to visit the cineplex for the first time. After the movie ended and the lights came on, they were appalled by the mess that the moviegoers left behind. Cartons and paper trays were strewn across the aisle, their contents scattered all over the floor. Paper cups and plastic bottles were left in the cup holders. Some were on the floor on their sides, spilt cola soaking into the carpet.

The couple were outraged when they spotted an old man (Shen was in his late-fifties but he certainly looked like he was a decade older) straining to pick up a crumpled wrapper. A similarly aged woman was at the other side of the aisle vacuuming the carpet. They were quick to write a post and upload photos of the scene on their blog. Friends shared the post. More friends of friends shared it and so forth. The post went viral on social media within days. By the end of the week, half the town had read it and a quarter of that felt slightly ashamed. The post’s initial intent to admonishing litter bugs turned into an uproar on elderly abuse.

At first, Shen and colleague had not noticed it but a week later, they were pleasantly amazed at how little they needed to clean up after each show. Both of them wondered how long would such obedience last. Rarely, they had time to pause for a chat. They did not bother after trying a few times to shout over the sound of the vacuum cleaner. It was way too exhausting but recently they had more time on their hands.

“This is interesting. I never imagined we could find time to sit down for a cup of tea,” Shen said.

“The world is changing for the better, old man. I always tell this to my grandchildren,” Min smiled.

One fine afternoon, the boss called them into her office. She did not tell them she had wanted to fire them because she felt they were getting old and lazy. She was well aware of the potential backlash. It would destroy her entertainment business. She also did not share how frustrated she was to be stuck with them until they reached retirement age.

Instead, she put on her best smile and told them how much she appreciated the effort they put into their work. She told them how concerned she was about their well-being. She told them she was bringing in younger (she conveniently skipped the cheaper and illegal parts) immigrants to help them out. Shen and Min only needed to supervise them to make sure they did their work efficiently. A few weeks later, she even put up a plaque to showcase the company’s recognition of Shen’s and Min’s contributions. She was confident this was a brilliant move to bring in much, much more profits for her company...

- End -

The First Post

Welcome!

Here’s a quick note on what this blog is about. I realise it’s always important to have an introduction. Otherwise, with such a blog title, you might expect to find the Ultimate Guide to Gambling and have to go away disappointed because this blog is all about my quest to look for reading materials that peak pique* my interests. Some of them include general fiction (who doesn't like fiction, right?), fantasy and sci-fi. While I love fictitious stuff, it’s also compulsory to read non-fiction materials because they are supposed to be informative and improve life. Besides reading, I seek to improve my creativity because I sure hope to become a bestselling and awesome author one day.

Since I have way too many interests, I've named this blog Random Shuffles. While the main focus is on reading and creative writing, the topics can vary greatly and randomly. 

What to expect next? Right now, I'm working on a really short story. It’s something that came up after a movie at the cinema. Well, nothing to do with the movie. It’s about the mundane happenings in a typical cinema after the lights came on so stay tuned. It’s going to happen this lifetime. It won’t be long now.

*Note:

pique vs. peak! Something that I've forgotten but felt strange when I typed the sentence with "peak". Google is a good thing so luckily I did a check by typing "that peak my interests" in the search bar. It would’ve been rather embarrassing to make such a glaring mistake in this blog's first post. ;)