Never ever had a Javan myna called so loudly in my kitchen at night...
Never ever had a Javan myna called so loudly in my kitchen at night. I thought it was a crow because of its black body and its cawing call.
Its black eyes with outer luminous yellow rings darted at me when I peeped into the dark kitchen. It turned its gel hairstyle head away and called two more times before flying off towards the direction of the crescent moon into the dark starless night.
They don’t usually roam at night and not in pairs or groups. I was puzzled.
I guess I’m overthinking again.
A mobile message notification disrupted my thoughts.
"Hey Anmedan, check your school email!"
It was from Jenne.
Jenne is my colleague and fellow teacher at Creative Talent Kids School. She teaches music to the children in the school. She is very passionate about music and teaching. Therefore, I always hang out with her every time there is an animation or illustration class for me to teach there.
Before the strange occurrence, I was having my dinner while watching my favorite talent show on my mobile YouTube.
Guess what!? When her message popped up, the show was screening a talent contestant mimicking Michael Jackson’s moonwalking. A purely random coincidence?
For almost one year, I have encountered countless Michael Jackson’s coincidences. I don’t reckon it’s just a purely random coincidence anymore.
I tapped and read Jenne’s message. I quickly switched to the school email and saw one unread email from Professor Redd.
This should be the one that Jenne was referring to.
I tapped it and the email message expanded onto my mobile screen.
I reread it a few times.
Hi fellow Teachers,
A friendly reminder of tomorrow’s sharing of your research paper and findings.
My advice for all of you is to prepare yourself before tomorrow's Judgement Day. We are inviting an esteemed Professor from the University of Top 5th Worldwide Ranking to critique your paper. Good luck!
Yours sincerely,
Prof Redd
Research & Exploration Division
What is this all about?
I could not make out the email.
Jenne was uncertain too. She said, “I guess only Professor Redd knows. A surprise? Maybe…”
Surprise from a Professor? Hmmm
I only knew I felt uneasy.
___________
My advice for all of you is to prepare yourself before tomorrow's Judgement Day. We are inviting an esteemed Professor to critique your paper. Good luck!
My heart was thumping, and my head was throbbing in pain. Tossing side to side on the bed. Those words from Professor Redd's email kept echoing back to me as soon as I tried to forget. I could not sleep at all. I grabbed my mobile phone and looked at the time.
It’s 2:34am. 3 hours just whizzed past!
I looked out of the window. A crescent moon in the dark starless night sky.
Why do we need to have a Judgement Day in school?
More questions emerged. What do we need to prepare? What’s going on that we don’t know?
Dear Moon, Dear Universe, please tell me why it is so hard to help the children, help the people?
No reply, as expected. Only the usual classic noises of the night insects - katydids, crickets and probably some dozens of cicadas too.
Can’t stop the noise, then be the noise.
I started humming with the insects. I was not sure when I dozed off. It didn’t matter. What matters is that the strategy worked!