John was desperate.  It had been one whole month since the Xpo had exploded onto the Changi entertainment scene.  They had left for their hometown already, presumably somewhere in the Philippines.  In that month, John had caught glimpses of Beatrice at the lecture halls, the canteens and the libraries, but there was no opportunity to engage in anything more than a few words of idle chat.  And Beatrice always seemed too busy to answer the telephone.  John could not help wondering where she was and with whom.  Another Lionel?  Another Leonard?  Perhaps someone had swept her off her feet.  Perhaps she was no longer interested in a pair of spectacles perched on a huge nose.  John could not bear the uncertainties any more.  He had to meet Beatrice.  So he dropped a note into her locker outside the library to arrange for a meeting beside the bookstore on the ground floor.

Beatrice arrived twenty minutes after the appointed time with a pile of papers tucked under her arm.

‘Hi!’ she greeted John.

‘Hi, I thought you wouldn’t come.’

‘Well, here I am,’ she leaned against the wall. ‘Well, what is it?’

‘Nothing, really,’ John shrugged hesitantly.  ‘Nothing really important.  It’s just that I had not been able to speak to you for one whole month… I… I couldn’t even get you on the phone…’

‘Oh yeah, I’ve been very busy lately.’

‘You’ve been going out,’ John bit his lip.  He had intended it to be a question, not an accusation.  He looked at Beatrice anxiously.

‘Yes, I’ve met this guy… he’s absolutely wonderful.’

‘A guy… is it Lionel?’ John cleared his throat anxiously, ‘or Leonard?’

“No, no,’ Beatrice laughed, ‘he’s a working man, graduated a year ago.’

There was a moment of silence.  His mind was in a turmoil.  What should he do?  What should he say?  He was at a loss for words.  He felt as if a tonne of lead was pressing on his head and shoulders, too heavy to move, too dense for clarity of thought.  He too turned and leaned against the wall to face the battalion of trees that stood like sentinels along the entire length of Kent Ridge guarding the hearts and minds of their vulnerable charges.

‘Are you in love with him?’

‘I don’t know,’ she flashed him a big wide smile, ‘but he did tell me that he loves me.’

‘What!’ John couldn’t help exclaiming.  ‘How long have you known him?’

‘About one and a half months.’

John could not believe his ears.  One and a half months!  He had known Beatrice for longer than that.  What about me, he wanted to ask, I could have told you I loved you too, I would have said those sacred words too – I almost did.  So what about me?  Would those words carry the same magic if they came from a pair of spectacles perched on a huge nose?  Do some magicians have more power over the hearts of others?  And the rest… are the rest so impotent that even the few magic incantations could not escape from their lips?

Beatrice glanced around the foyer.  She avoided John’s eyes and waited in silence.

‘Well that’s it then,’ John said lamely. ‘I just wanted… I just wanted to see how you’ve been getting on.’

‘Yeah, you know how it is,’ Beatrice said gaily. ‘I’ve got to run.  Coming?’

‘I… I’ve got to get some stationery,’ John pressed his lips together and continued with a vague wave of his hand, ‘so I’ll see you some other time.’

A nod.  A smile.  And she was gone.  John watched her shoulder-length hair swinging from side to side as she climbed the stairs and disappeared towards the library.  A few heads bobbed by, floating on their own self-contained missions to their lecture halls or the library or whatever.  But for John – time had stopped for John.  He felt numb in his heart and in his mind.  He remained slumped against the wall, sinking into his own silence.  He felt as wooden as the sentinels that guarded their hearts and minds of Kent Ridge Rise.

L