The Riot Act by Sebastian Sim

Author:Sebastian Sim
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-981-47-8575-4
Publisher: Epigram Books
Published: 2019-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Lacerating Tongues

Chapter 7

This was not the first time Hashwini had entertained the fantasy of picking up the ashtray next to the roulette wheel, smacking it down hard onto the Beast’s temple and then admiring the sight of blood dripping down his face onto the colonnades of betting chips.

All the croupiers agreed that the Beast was a nightmare. If Teddy Toy Boy epitomised the angelic high roller at one end of the spectrum where celestial harps played, the Beast stood at the opposite end where he presided over purgatory and made croupiers cross a bridge of knives that stretched over snake pits and fiery rivers.

The first time Hashwini had dealt roulette for the Beast, he had dipped her into a cauldron of boiling hot oil and scarred her badly. It was really her fault. She was careless enough to chortle aloud when she heard him repeatedly chant, “Give me bigly money. I want bigly money, bigly win!”

The Beast looked up from the ball spinning rapidly around the ball track and glared at Hashwini. “What is so funny?”

“I think you meant to say ‘big money, big win’,” Hashwini smiled politely.

“No, I said ‘bigly’.” The Beast maintained his glare.

“Oh I see. I am sorry.” Hashwini became alarmed. She glanced at the pit supervisor for help but the latter pretended to be chatting with a croupier from the adjacent roulette table.

“You think my English is no good because I am from China?” the Beast pressed.

“Of course not.” Hashwini began to panic. “It’s just that I have never heard the word used here in Singapore.”

“Sure, you have,” the Beast proclaimed. He pointed at the humongous diamond ring he was wearing and said, “This ring is not small but…”

Hashwini saw his outstretched palm pointed at her and realised in dismay that the Beast wanted her to complete the sentence.

“Big.”

The word came out of her mouth in a timid whisper. She knew it was the wrong answer but she simply could not bring herself to utter the mutated, bastardised word.

The Beast shook his head and repeated himself. “This ring is not small but…”

Hashwini felt as though she were being pressed up against a wall by a hideous, malicious three-headed beast that threatened to tear her head off if she did not comply. She swallowed her pride and capitulated, “Bigly.”

At her utterance the ball dropped into the pockets, bounced thrice and landed on the number “7”. There was a monolith of betting chips sitting on single bet “7” and an additional obelisk of smaller stature straddling the split bet between “7” and “10”. The Beast yelped in delight and clapped his hands joyfully. The pit supervisor and the other croupier cheered.

“What do you call this?” The Beast swivelled around and beamed at Hashwini.

“A good win,” Hashwini struggled to give him the word he wanted but simply could not do it. It went against everything she believed in to utter such an abomination to the English language.

The Beast shook his head but maintained his wide beam. He tapped

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