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The Papaya Thief



He never liked papayas- they were too slimy for his taste, but he felt the urge to get back at life somehow, so he yanked it off his neighbour’s tree when nobody was looking, for he had never gotten a free gift his entire life; he was never even given a pamphlet at the mall. Only the sweet lady in the skirt below her knees who waited at the bottom of the stairs at the train station would hand him a booklet with too big a smile, and although she was the only person who would smile at him for days on end, he could never bring himself to read them.


“The Mystery Of Life,” “Do You Wonder About Life After Death?” and “Do You Feel The Void?” are all stacked neatly in the corner of his room, ready to be sold to the sao gao poh ji man in return for small change that he could then exchange for something else.


But as for now, he has a huge papaya in his hands, and he still doesn’t know what to do with it.

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