Lucky Escape

Daniel is walking along Oxford Street. He is going to do some last minute shopping before going home. His university mates told him there are some really good bargains in Selfridges. There is an end season summer sale in Selfridges. He has already missed the famous Selfridges January sale due to preparation for his final exams and he is not going to miss this one. This famous department store on Oxford Street traditionally opens its door early on Boxing Day and thousands of bargain hunters would queue up from as early as 4.30am to get their hands on the goodies. The weather is gorgeous today with the friendly sun inviting Londoners to come out to embrace and celebrate its wonder. After walking along and window shopping the shops, he finally walks inside Selfridges. Bargain hunters are all over the store. Everyone looks happy and upbeat, with some frantically searching for their favourite items which today are all selling at discounted prices. The store is displaying men’s wear, women’s swear, accessories, beauty products, furniture, children’ wear, luggage, dresses, ladies handbags, leather wallets and home accessories with some items with an enormous 50 percent off some items. But, Daniel is focused on getting one thing. He is looking for a ring. He wants to Janet with a beautiful romantic ring. One exquisitely looking ring catches his eyes. It’s heart shaped sapphire is lightly bound by pretty, fully faceted diamonds. “This ring represents my love, loyalty and devotion to Janet”, Daniel is very pleased with himself. It would seal their love till death sets them apart. He picks it up to admire all the grandeur and beauty the ring could offer. At last he flips over the price tag to find out how much it costs. £9,999! “ Oh no. Can’t afford it”, Daniel takes hold of himself. “I shall get one at home. I am sure our Eastern jewelry is beautiful and good quality too but at cheaper price”, he tries to console himself. He excuses himself and walks towards the elevator to go up to the second floor which is the men’s wear department. As he is standing on the ascending elevator, he saw a little girl squatting in the corner at the base of the elevator, covering her face with her tiny fingers, sobbing. When he reaches the top, Daniel turns to his left and steps on the descending elevator. He wants to find out what happened to this little girl. “ Are you ok? Why are you crying little girl? Where’s your mum and dad?” he asks. “I don’t know. They have left me alone here!”, the little answers in between sobs. “What’s your name?”, Daniel enquires. “Jill…Woo wooo…”, the little gives her name and then starts to cry out loud. “Ok. Don’t cry. Don’t worry. Stay here. Don’t go anyway ok?. I will find your parents for you”, Daniel tries to calm her. Daniel alighted the elevator which took him to the ground floor. He walks hastily towards the department store’s entrance to seek out the elaborately decorated doorman. He told the doorman of the little girl’s plight. After a quick conversation, Daniel then went back to check on the little girl. Soon after, the public address system made an announcement informing the shoppers that there is a little girl wearing polka dotted pink dress has been separated from her parents and urged the parents to go to the security on the top floor. After awhile, a young couple with worried looks on their faces appeared; carrying bags of goodies with them, came rushing towards the little girl. “Jill! Thank God you are here! We have been looking everywhere for you darling”, the mother exclaims. Daniel then slipped quietly out of their focus and took the ascending elevator to the men’ floor to look for some men shirts for himself as well as for his father.
There some really nice long sleeved working shirts selling at bargain prices. He is spoilt for choices, unable to make up his mind whether to buy plain ones , color shirts or with stripes. Abruptly, he felt someone is tugging at his sleeve. Daniel turns round and sees a stern looking white man looking straight into his eyes. He has a serious as if wanting to tell him something. “You better go outside. Your friend is waiting for you”, the man says. “A friend waiting for me outside? No. I am here by myself”, Daniel tries to correct him. “I am sure of it. When you were talking to the little girl. Your friend asked me to tell you that he is a friend of yours, he comes from your country and he is waiting outside the departmental store for you. He says he has carried something from home for you”, the man insists matter-of-factly. Curious, Daniel then walks out of Selfridges to find out who this friend is? The man is following behind him. “Well, where is he?”, Daniel asks him. “Round the corner. I am positive.”, he answers. And so, Daniel starts walking further down the street towards the corner. Suddenly, a loud bang! Instantly, shoppers begin to rush out from the store with some covering with blood. People are crying and shouting, running in all directions. There was an explosion inside Selfridges and is now all dark, bellowing with smokes. It’s all very confusing. Worried, Daniel starts running too. He kept running and soon found himself in the Hyde Park corner. A bomb has been exploded inside the famous departmental store. Daniel walks hurriedly along, thinking how lucky he was. He shudders to think what would have happened to him had he not come of the Selfridges in time. Suddenly his thoughts are interrupted on the sight of a man sitting on the bench in the Park, reading newspapers and eating his sandwich at the same time. “Hello. I recognize you. You are the guy who told me to go out of Selfridges to meet my friend. Thank you so very much my friend, You saved my life!”, Daniel stretches out his hand, wanting to shake hands with the man. “Nay, don’t have to thank me mate, It’s nothing”, he replies coldly. “Those bloody terrorists would have blown us up in pieces!”, Daniel says angrily. “Terrorists? What do you mean?”, he sounds annoyed. “Haven’t you read in the papers? The IRA are carrying out bombing campaigns in the streets of London to force a political solution in Northern Ireland”, Daniel tries to give a reason for his outburst. “You are not Irish are you?”, he hopes that he is not, lest he may have offended him unsuspectingly. “I am Irish!”, he replies proudly. “You are Chinese. What do you know about Irish politics?”, the man replies. “It is the fault of the English. They asked for it! You must not believe all the things being written in the papers. You must understand Irish history ”, he seems deeply affected by the politics in Ireland. “No. I am not from China. I am from Malaysia”, Daniel told him.
“You see, the British had ruled us for centuries and then they decided to split us up in 1920. They created two Irelands. An independent state in the South which is predominantly Catholics, with Dublin as its capital and a smaller district in the North which is called Ulster, with a Protestant majority which remained part of the United Kingdom. The Catholic minority, many of them with nationalist sympathies, found themselves faced with discrimination for jobs, housing, and in their treatment before the law. The Protestants controlled the patronage that doled out government jobs, and they are fiercely loyal to the British crown. Northern Ireland 's shipyards, linen mills, and other manufacturing hubs contributed significantly to the economy of the British Empire. Yet the Catholics were largely excluded from this prosperity, with many of them remained unemployed in their own country. Naturally tensions arose between the Catholic minority and the Protestants. This then led to the British government deployed army troops, ostensibly to protect the Catholic minority. These conflicts split the IRA too. And in 1969, the IRA splintered into two groups; with the Dublin-based members n the South advocated a united socialist Ireland by peaceful means, and the Belfast-based Provisional IRA in the North, we called them ‘Provos’ who opted to use violence as a catalyst for unification. The Provos conducted many paramilitary campaigns in Northern Ireland and England. Their aim is to end British rule and to create a united Ireland”, the man is explaining Irish politics to Daniel. “So, can a political solution be found then?”, Daniel enquires. “Very difficult. Irish people are divided by religions”, the man answers. “Again, this has to do with the English!”, this man really habours some unfriendly negative feelings towards the English. “This has to do with the English?”, Daniel wants him to talk more on this. “You see, England used to be a Catholic country, until Henry VIII broke away from Rome”, he begins. “Because he wanted to get rid of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn?”, Daniel tries to show off his knowledge, albeit limited in this subject. “Precisely!”, at he agrees for a change. “Well, what has his marital problems got to do with the Irish people?”, Daniel enquires. “The English Reformation started in the reign of Henry VIII and it has far reaching consequences in Ireland. It was the period when England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. He was a Roman Catholic and the head of the Church was the Pope who was based in Rome. The Roman Catholic faith believed in marriage for life. Husbands could not simply decide to divorce their wives and re-marry. The Catholic Church in Rome simply would not allow it. But, Henry went ahead and ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury to grant him a divorce in 1533 and declared himself the head of the church. He also declared himself the head of the Irish Church. However, for the Irish people, the whole English Reformation issue was a sign of English supremacy over them. They began to change our laws to be subservient to the English laws. The Irish people by nature, were nationalistic and fiercely protective of their Catholic faith. And so they disliked the way the English monarch had placed them in such a dilemma. But in 1533, few were brave enough to question him, for the consequence for doing that would certainly lead to death. By then, the seed of division between Catholics and Protestants was already sown. “But, history books wrote that the English at the time were also unhappy at the way the Roman Catholic Church had used them as a source of money, right? The English civilians had to pay for everything to Rome. For example, they had to pay to get married, to bury someone on their land and even had to pay to get their babies baptised”, Daniel remembers his history texts. “Sure, but this is a different issue”, the Irish man replies.

“The English are still clinging to their past glory. They must know that their empire is crumbling, nations of the world want their freedom and that means independence from foreign rule. All the Irish people want is self-rule.”, the Irish man says. “But, can’t you find a solution by peaceful means?’ None at the moment. That’s why other means are necessary. Like Mao Tze Tung says that ‘power comes from the barrel of the gun”, he quotes. “But, such actions would also alienate you from the peaceful loving nations, including people from your country. Aren’t you disgusted by the act of terrorists few years ago in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich whereby members of the Israel Olympic team were taken hostage and murdered by the terrorist group called Black September? Isn’t the IRA’s bombing campaigns which also resulted in the loss of innocent lives, tantamount to terrorism?”, Daniel continues to evolve him in this debate. “If you want to equate it with terrorism, then all political struggles are terrorism in nature. From the days of Alexander the Great, Jenhis Khan, Kublai Khan to the two modern day World Wars, millions of people were tortured, killed, murdered and butchered in every conceivable way you can imagine. Isn’t it so?”, the Irish man replies in defense of the IRA. “All political struggles are terrorism in nature? That’s a difficult question to answer. But if it involves the killing of innocent people, then the means may not justify the end”, Daniel tries hard to find an intelligent answer.

“I need to know this. Why did you alert me of the bomb threat?”, Daniel wants to know before they part company. “Because of what you did for the little girl”, he reveals. “Would you have alerted me if I had not spoken to the little girl?”, Daniel asks. “Probably not”, the Irish man replies without hesitation. “Are you a terrorist?”, Daniel suddenly pops the question. “Terrorist, me? No. No way”, he answers with his commanding voice convincely. Before Daniel could shake his hands, the Irish man promptly stands up and walks towards the London underground and quickly melts into the busy crowd.