UK Hodder Cover, July 2006
Ever wondered why Mummy bear and Daddy Bear slept in seperate beds?
Ever pondered over the real reason Goldilocks was in the bear's house that morning?
Ever racked your brains over the thermodynamic impossibilties of simultaneous porridge pouring?
You did? Then hold onto your porridge spoon for:
The Fourth Bear
A Nursery Crime
'...However many photos you see of the Gingerbreadman, nothing can ever prepare you for seeing him in the flesh. He was a dark brown colour the shade of mahogany and at least six foot eight inches tall with heavy limbs and a large head. His jacket was open revealing several large pink icing buttons that ran down his chest. He had large glace cherries for eyes the size of tennis balls’and a huge dollop of red icing for a nose. His mouth was two slivers of licorice, the corners of which rose into a smile as soon as he saw them. 'Alan!' said the Gingerbreadman with a deep yet friendly tone, 'What a pleasant surprise! And most timely, too. See here, I have bred a new rose which, in honour of your work to cure me of my criminal tendencies I take great pleasure in naming after you. Behold, Mandible's Triumph! ...'
The Gingerbreadman: Psychopath, sadist, genius, convicted murderer and biscuit is loose in the streets of Reading. It isn't Jack Spratt's case. He and Mary Mary have been reassigned due to falling levels of nursery crime, and The NCD is once more in jeopardy. That is, until a chance encounter during the Armitage Shanks literary awards at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club lead Jack and Mary on the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldilocks' Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Mole. She had been about to break a story involving unexplained explosions in Herefordshire, Pasadena and the Nullabor Plain; The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood.
But all is not what it seems. How could the bear's porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time? Was Goldy's death in the nearby 1st World War themepark of Sommeworld a freak accident? And is it merely chance that the Gingerbreadman pops up at awkward moments?
But there's more. What does a missing scientist with a terrifying discovery in subatomic physics, a secret weapon of devastating power, a reclusive industrialist known only as the Quangle Wangle and Colonel Danvers of the National Security all have in common?
Published on the 10th July in the UK and the 24th July 2006 in the USA.
It's not found in Singapore yet. If you see the book in a store, please drop me a message! I have been waiting a year for this book.
"Please Minyi - if you are not interested, don't give your number! You are giving him false hopes!"
I understand his point of view but personally I find it very hard to say no. Can you imagine my reply when he asks "Can we be friends?"
"No."
This seems too brusque and rude. That was why I gave my number. Plus, I like to give him the benefit of doubt and assume that he could be asking for fun and would never contact me. If this is the case, then at least he can have a happy memory that he got my number. Instead of a traumatic experience that I rejected him flat out. Not very nice on his ego. I can imagine the humiliation if I was the one who had asked a guy for his number and he rejected me! (Which I had done once when I was in Secondary Three. Luckily for me, he gave me his number.)
I kind of expected him to call or drop me a message within a few days if he was going to contact me so when 5 days passed and there was no news; I was estatic. I honestly thought he had forgotten all about me.
Unfortunately, he messaged me on Monday. It was an ordinary message asking how I was doing. I took 3 days to reply his message, hoping that perhaps he might get the hint that I'm not really interested and am really busy. My reply was simple and curt - "Hello! I'm doing fine with work."
He replied me 2h later. With an apology. For replying late as he was in the middle of work. He also asked whether I was giving tuition that night. This message really made me feel bad. I replied 3 days late and did not even apologise for my late reply.
It has been 3 days since and I have not replied to his second message. The same guy friend told me to ignore his messages. He thinks I'm giving him further false hopes by replying.
I'm thinking I'm too lazy to be nice anymore.
Someone tried to pick me up at the bus-stop this evening when I was on my way to tuition.
I took 186 to give tuition this evening at Bukit Timah. As I alighted at a bus-stop along Farrer Road to change bus, I sat there waiting for 174 impatiently. Then out of nowhere, this guy alighted from this bus and sat at the far end of the same bench I was on.
"What's that you are wearing on your wrist?"
Then the conversation started about how the orange band I was wearing on my wrist was a blessing I obtained from the Myanmar Buddhist temple.
The conversation continued into asking me where I worked at (answer: investment bank - I did not not reveal the name of my company), how long I have worked and so on.
Finally, the dreaded question came:
"Can we be friends?"
It has always been a personal policy of mine to reward and encourage brave and out of the ordinary behaviour. So as a point, I always give my number when a guy stranger like this asks even though he may not be very good-looking (granted on the condition that he does not give me the impression that he's a psychopath).
And so I did.
I hope he doesn't call.