"You're right," he said and resumed his journey.
The thug had been patiently waiting for him. he let him come as close as he liked, but when the now-red shirt man unleashed his attack, the thug shot him on the forehead before his attack could yield anything.
my heart raced violently. I feared that i might have heart attack. Mah's chest implied similar processes running beneath the chest cavity.
the thug occupied the 90 degrees angle seat previously occupied by the white shirt man turned red shirt maniac.
"What have you done?" the hijab woman asked, with her plate still pressing down on one of those dead snakes that had contributed to the disaster. her question was directed to the waitress who was still standing next to the dead nurse and Dan, her hands together.
"He was outnumbered. it was unfair," The waitress replied in sincere tone.
the hijab woman sighed in disbelief, "I had no idea you are with him."
"I'm not with anyone. I only helped him because he has treated everyone with fairness. He doesn't deserve unfairness." the waitress responded, concern evident in her voice.
"New rule!" the thug hollered, holding napkins to his wound, "You shall never look at me and get caught."
Now that was a very tough rule. Perhaps the promulgation came as a result our frequent stares at him.
the scenes of the horrifying and heart-wrenching events moments ago kept replaying themselves in my head. i kept shuddering. They were likely to stay with me and haunt me forever. I sometimes, wondered if survival was possible and necessary. I gritted my teeth and said under my breath, "I'll survive and yes survival is necessary. there's a lot to do out there. more songs to make. more lives to impact."
sometimes, I would feel a pang of remorse and guilt. i might have done something, we might have defeated the thug. these thoughts tortured me and i thought they would keep on forever.
I shifted on my seat again and again and so did all surviving diners expect the thug. at one point, i caught sight of him eating a chip.
He wasn't even half-way down his meal. i sharply turned away when he raised his gaze. i shivered and shallowed, he nearly caught me.
"Give them medicine tea. i salute them for making it this far." he ordered, "and i do not want to kill them because they fail to continue their business of dining."
the waitress complied, she hastened to serve us the medicine tea. the tea did not heal the pain of sitting in one place for many hours. it gave us a little more strength to withstand it for a little longer. sometimes, i would begin to agree with the waitress about the thug's fairness. at the end i would deny myself to do it.
We spent the next two or more hours drinking the bitter medicine tea in silence. the waitress moved around refilling our red marble cups.
"Everyone, keep your gazes down!" Mah shouted. Indeed, i found it difficult to avoid stealing glances at the thug. i often narrowly avoid being caught. keeping gaze down was the solution. the hijab woman practiced it already.
Mah and the old woman were in good position, the thug was behind them. in stark contrast, i, the hijab woman and the elegant lady faced him.
the tea had one side effect, it urged for excretion. that was not an issue concerning our situation. restraining was not an issue. Besides, ruining pants was too little of a problem to worry about when in risk of death.
suddenly, the old woman broke into tears, "this is terrible, God I don't deserve this. God in heaven, see my troubles and rescue me and my daughter."
As usual the elegant lady consoled her, only this time around it was in vain.
"Lord Jesus Christ, you are the most kind-hearted of all men. Please have mercy on me. Just like you did with Bartholomew. God you are my shepherd. Free me as you freed Israelites from captivity in Egypt and in Babylon. Father in heaven i have served you my entire life. in my service, i have saved countless lives."
"You are getting on my nerves!" the hijab woman barked.
the old woman glanced up at her and said; "Girl, I'm praying. how does that bother you?"
"You overestimate yourself. Thinking you are a better human than all of us. We may have not saved countless lives but we have done many other good deeds. We all are equally qualified to be saved," the hijab woman explained.
I possessed exactly opposite opinions. I did not see why God should bother saving us. While we humans do many good deeds, our misdeeds have piled up to form great mountains.
"Girl, I'm praying for myself and my daughter. How about you pray for yourself too?"
"I have already told you that i think everyone here deserve to be saved. if i am to pray i have to pray for everyone."
"Go on then!" the elegant lady yelled, "exclude us from your prayers."
"that's right, i would not want to be included in a prayer that ends in the name of Muhammad," the old woman commented in soft voice but we all heard it.
"Our prayers doesn't end in the name of anyone. We pray to one and only God. Jesus and Muhammad are just prophets of God. You Christians deny Muhammad, a prophet of God. that has terrible consequences."
"Huh," the old woman and the elegant lady looked at the hijab woman with contempt.
"I don't give a damn about an Arab called Muhammad. I have Jesus Christ the son of God. He's my messiah, savior and king." these powerful words emerged out of the elegant lady's mouth.
"We indeed deny and will always deny him. About the consequences鈥�" the old woman's broke off upon my interruption.
"Gaze down!" that's how i launched my intervention, i faced down, "look, you know exactly how these fights end."
"how do they end?" the hijab woman demanded, her tone cold.
I glanced up at her with my head still lowered.