“What do you want, Pak Ismail?”
“Your children with you?” Ismail asks.
“Yes. What do you want?” I raise my voice, more out of anxiety.
“Just stay inside ncik. Maybe you should move to the upper floor.”
“Why?”
There’s no response from the other side. He must have moved back to join the others.
The noise outside is getting louder. I can hear people screaming, cheering, laughing, and steel rods and wooden sticks banging against each other. I can smell burning, may be from shops across the road.
I join my kids on the upper floor.
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“What are they going to do to us?” my seven year-old asks.
I hug both of them, fighting back tears and trying not to let them know my own fears, but I am sure they must feel my heart beating hard and fast.
“Get out of the way! Out of the way!” I hear people screaming outside.
“No. Move on. Move on. Not this store.” Comes another voice.
“This is a Chinese shop, just like all the others here. Don’t you watch the news? They are the reason for this crisis, they are the reason we are poor. Move aside.”
“No. Don’t you touch this store. Please move along.” I recognize the voice of Pak Dayat, the neighborhood chief.
There is more shouting between the two sides but I cannot make them out as their voices are drowned out by other noises.
I cannot stand it anymore. I have to look out of the window.
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I see Pak Ismail, Pak Dayat and others from the neighborhood forming a barrier around the store keeping the crowd at bay. There is pushing and shoving between the crowd trying to get to our store and the human barricade.
I hear more screams and shouts from both sides.
“Burn! Burn!”
“Break the door down! Break it down!”
“We won’t let you pass. Move along.”
And then the pelting starts. One by one, glass windows break.
I move the kids away from the window. We can’t see what’s happening outside but we can hear the noise even louder now that window glasses are broken.
I hold on tight to both children. They are crying so hysterically and as I try to calm them, I simply ignore the noise outside.
Then I realize the noise outside is dying down. I dare not look, but sounds like the crowd is moving away and heading onto the next store.
