CHAPTER 9: HOLD THE DOOR! CHIVALRY IS ALIVE!

No, I am sorry. I am not ready to continue the journey on the MRT. Not yet. I need a long respite. My battered body needs to recuperate.  So, instead, let me tell you a story about chivalry in Singapore.

Firstly, a question for you. Do you hold the door for the person behind you? Or do you pretend not to know that someone is just right behind? Thank you for your honesty. BUT, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am proud to say that chivalry is not dead. Not in Ang Mo Kio anyway.

I happened to be at AMK Mall. From a short distance away, I saw a young man entering one of the shops. Holy cow! He actually held the door open for whoever was coming in behind him, wearing the most charming smile on his face. I wanted to go up to him and chope him with one of the three packets of tissue paper I always keep in my pockets. Just for such rare events. This one is son-in-law material, never mind that my daughter was only 13 at that time. Chope first.

Unfortunately, the person he was holding the door for, about 3 meters away, turned out to be none other than Mighty Mouth, my MIL, the wife's big mama, my nemesis. I changed my mind about him being son-in-law material. He simply had bad taste in women!

MM looked so pleased. No one, but no one, had ever done this for her before. She  quickened her steps towards the door.  And that was when it happened. The most beautiful ending of any story I ever told. For at that point of time, a sweet young thing overtook MM, smiled at my future son-in-law as she entered the shop. And chivalry died! The young man immediately let go of the glass door as soon as his young lady entered the shop. It slammed smack into Mighty Mouth’s face! My heart was in my mouth! And in that split second,  this fine young man became  my hero! But  my new found hero did not realize how perilously close to death he was! This will cost him at least an arm and a leg, literally! I held my breath and prayed for his deliverance. I thought of protecting my future son-in-law, contemplated rushing forward to stand between man and beast – and came to my senses after one second. What’s the point of protecting him if I don’t live to tell the story?

But my prayers were answered. You see, Mighty Mouth caught a glimpse of herself on the glass door and was pleased with her vastly improved looks!

It is strange what a slam in the face by a glass door could do what, in my opinion, even reconstructive surgery couldn’t.


PS: I meant to include my MM's "before & and after" photos following the door slamming incident. But MDA wanted to impose "PG16" rating on both even though my MP intervened, on the grounds that youngsters in Singapore could benefit from fear factors and nightmares,