Kapitel 34: 1.34 Shopping Time

I fetched a trolley and passed one to the host to help me push and stock up on the items that I need for the kitchen. We walked to on the fist aisle and I saw some salt, pepper, sugar, instant coffee and I picked Douwe Egberts, Nescafe Clasico and Maxwell House granular coffee and picked two packs of Nestle Creamers. I picked 2 packs of sugar and a pack of black and white pepper, a pack of fine and rock salt, some Mccormick's herbs such as cinnamon, cloves and such.

Then I walked over to grab some instant cup noodles of various flavours and ready to cook ones as well. Even picked a few packs of dry plain egg noddle too. I picked a few dozen of eggs which I intend to boil some of them and placed them in the ref as well as raw ones in case I need to make some sunny side ups or scrambled eggs.

I moved on to the non-food section and got myself some Detergent, softeners, hair shampoos, body lotions, hand wash, paper towelettes, toilet rolls, some air refresher sprays, bleach and you know what else... Sanitary Napkins with wings for my monthly periods.

In the end of an hour, we had bought almost everything we see from the aisles, even some frozen sausages, chicken drums and thighs, meat chops, (cheaper than fresh ones) fishcakes, frozen lamcheong(Chinese sausages), Spanish Longanisa (Spanish Sausages) chicken drumlets, boneless chops and all those what you normally have seen in those chillers.

I picked only a few greens since they need to be prepared in airtight containers after lining them with paper towels and stored in the lower section of the ref. I had green cabbage, green, red, and yellow Bell peppers, lettuce, backchoy, mustard leaves, chives, spring onions, garlic, onion, red and green chillies (great at making pickles) cauliflower, broccoli and all the greens you can find at the vegetable sections.

Since it was not on a Saturday, so basically everything was weighed and packed in paper bags and I asked for extras since I could do with some of the wrappings of the frozen stuff for the freezer.

Two trolleys full later and after paying at the counter, we pushed our laden trollies to the Hilux and arranged the stuff at the back of the truck. After unloading the items, I went to the local produce to get some fruits and to the DG stores to get half a dozen of rectangular and half dozen square airtight containers for my vegetables and stuff.

Satisfied with the initial hunt of groceries, we returned back to the cottage and the host and several offscreen crews helped to move the bags of groceries into the kitchen area and filled up the dining table and the countertops. Since I'm going to be here for 6 months or so, I guess the first order would be getting stocked up.

The host excused herself and she left me when all the shopping bags had been carefully placed in the kitchen area. I slowly packed the stuff according to their contents and managed to clear everything up within an hour.

"Hyucks... That's country livin' cowgirl... Once you move, the first thing is to fill the kitchen. Same goes to moving into urban residences... You need to place food in the ref, dining table and cabinets to bring in the aura of 'Ong' or good luck." I murmured to myself as I cleared all the stuff into each respective places and folded the paper bags and store them under the sink.

Not bad... Not bad at all... As I looked around and found everything is in order." Whoops... I almost forgot... "I said and then places my duffel bag in the storeroom and went back to Bryson City to get more stuff in the cabinet above the sink. It's empty and needs some companions such as Jack Daniels, Johnny Walkers, some table red wine and some coke and a bag of ice.

There's a Coleman I saw underneath the cabinet and pulled it out and placed it on the kitchen counter and decided to get some ice after I washed the insides of it.

Since I got the majority of the things I need, I went to Ingles and take a basket this time and bought a Jim Bean to make bourbon, Jack Daniels to make scotch coffee, a Johnny Walker where I could sip near the TV, and some gallons of coke and a bag of ice.

I paid for it and went back to my bike and rode home to set up the rest of the concoction of drinks in the cabinets. I left the cottage again and this time I head down to Dawson where I'd be at the WAFFLE HOUSE and grabbed some sirloin for lunch and takeaways since I'd be going back to my former residence to get all my stuff out.

I look at my mobile and saw my SMS to HaiLoong was still not 'seen' and a foreboding sense of lonesome and neglect seems to creep in slowly. As slowly as I knived my steak and shove it down my throat. I sent another message and the status report showed only as 'sent' and not 'read'.

It had been 5 days and I hadn't got word from HaiLoong and I suddenly yearned for his touch, caress and embrace. I pouted my lips which were smeared with Barbequed sauce as I saw my rejection in the shiny napkin dispenser on the table. I looked like a goldfish and both Beast and Spotty were making guffawing noises and yeah... These cats can laugh too, you know...

I was contemplating of giving HaiLoong a call but I guess I'd drop by his office at the DEASTF to give him a surprise instead. "I sure dreaded times like this when there's not even a piece of news that I could get from HaiLoong at all... God, I missed his strong embrace..." I thought as I kept stuffing my face with the sirloin steak...

Beast growled for the fact that she missed the male presence around her too and started to prance around and making me yearn more for my insatiable yearnings. I made up my mind to travel to his office later since his office and my former apartment was en route in the same direction.

I quickly finished the steak, wiped down my face for any stains of Barbequed sauce and went to the counter and paid. I took my takeaways and straddle my bike and headed to BP to fill my tank full of gas. Soon I was heading towards 75 Spring Street SW and checked my time and discovered that I would reach there before closing time.

Its a 30-minute ride but it seems like hours before I reached there since I made a wrong entrance and ended up heading to Coal Mountain and headed to make a U-Turn at one of the exits and revert back on the right route. See la... So confident and never depends on the GPS at all... What's the use of having a GPS and never utilise it.

I reached the DEA office and walked the white concrete steps up to the main entrance. I asked for assistance since it is my first time being there and asked for HaiLoong. The receptionist gave me a glance over and dialled for the supervisor to attend to me.

His name was PaiLong, Lee PaiLong to be exact...a wiry frame guy that looked in his late 30s came over and introduced himself. He asked if I was his immediate family but I replied I sure wanted to have an immediate family with him. Get the joke?

He ushered me into one of the interview rooms through a walkway and seems that I would receive inevitable news in HaiLoong status. My heels clickety-clack on the polished ceramic tiles and PaiLong opened up a door for 'Interview Room #1' and ushered me in.

"Coffee for you, CheChe? It's Boncafe, black or white?" PaiLong offered and I just answered Black as usual with 2 lumps of sugar.

He left to fetch the coffee and I was left one in the room, the offscreen crews were being the two-way mirror and there's a CCTV camera on top and a sign on the table that says, 'All conversation and action will be recorded against your will... Hahahahaha'

PaiLong returned a short while later, carrying a tray with two cups of coffee, a creamer and sugar bowl and some biscuits with those sugary gems on it. He places it in front of me, took a seat opposite me and asked, "Plea guilty or innocent?"