After walking out of Albertina, I wandered around the city with no intention of going to another museum. The weather was great; the air was favourable along with the cool breeze. It was a wondrous time of the year and the autumn foliage of golden yellow, brilliant orange and gorgeous red were embracing the streets.

After walking for a while, I chanced upon Wiener Stadtpark. I went in and sat on one of the benches lining around a pond. In the pond, there were ducks swimming gracefully, singing to one another—or perhaps—to the park visitors.

While being absorbed with the ducks swimming in the pond, I heard waves of laughter. I shifted my eyes from the pond to the bench opposite me on the other side of the pond. There was a couple sitting there; holding hands and laughing. One made jokes, the other was laughing and giggling. There was something that attracted my eyes to them—their attires. The man was wearing some kind of robe with Art Nouveau style; printed with geometric patterns and subtle swirls on mustard-yellow background —or perhaps gold— because I swear it glowed. The woman was wearing a lovely dress like these online burgundy prom dresses, also with floral prints with the same mustard yellow background, with a crown of flowers on her head. Nonetheless, they were both glowing amidst the autumn foliage—even the pond was glowing with their reflection. Can you imagine such a beautiful setting?

I looked in awe trying to memorise the scene so that I could draw it later. I dared not capture the photo of them because that would be rude, not to mention that I had to get consent first to be able to take their photo with my camera. I remember the incident when I was visiting Wiesbaden, the capital of Hessen, with my sister-in-law. She was capturing a photo of a building in front of her when a guy in a car screamed to her to delete the photo as he thought that my sister-in-law had included him in the photo. There was a heated argument and she had to show the photo on her phone to the man. The man laughed and drove off, never even bothered to apologise. Both my sister-in-law and I looked at each other while uttering ‘perasan!’ simultaneously.

Anyway, back to the couple. The man, I reckon, was at his mid-40s while the woman in her 20s. He had curly dark hair while the woman, curly orange. From the way they talked, laughed, hugged, kissed, I could tell that they were so in love with each other. I looked at them for quite a long time before they got up from the seat and walked. My eyes were still following them until they walked toward me. I was totally caught off-guard and was blushing. I could feel my heart pounding faster. Before they could say anything, I said hello to them and apologised for looking at them. They giggled and said they were used to it and told me not to worry. We talked a bit and they introduced themselves as Gustav and Emilie. When I told her my name is Amelie, we laughed. What a coincidence that we have a similar name!

“Where are you staying?” Emilie asked me.

“I stay at the Azimut Hotel in the city centre. Und du?” I replied while asking the same.

Emilie told me that they live in the Upper Belvedere, 2 kilometres away from the park. They invited me later to their home at 3 pm. It was 12 in the afternoon and I promised them that I would drop by later after lunch. After having lunch at a restaurant near the park, I turned on my Google map looking for the way to Upper Belvedere. So I followed the direction before reaching the majestic gate of Upper Belvedere. I went inside and to my surprise, it’s a museum!

I could not enter without having a ticket, so I bought one. I went straight to the information counter and asked whether Gustav and Emilie were around. I was told to go to the first floor. I was sceptical if people are living there because it’s a museum. Furthermore, the receptionist seemed composed and calm when I asked about them. I was certain that she was asked the same question a lot.

So I went to the first floor, peeking all the rooms looking for the couple. There were so many original paintings that my jaw dropped. Entering a large hall with a sign ‘Vienna around 1900’, there I saw Gustav and Emilie, immortalised. The kiss said it all, and the note beside them said:

Gustav Klimt, Kuss / Liebespaar, 1908 (completed in 1909).

This is for Prompt #22: The kiss that said it all, July 2020 writing prompts.

One fine afternoon while walking along the Museumsufer street in Frankfurt after visiting some of the museums, I noticed that my shadow was tired, it walked too slow behind me. I turned my back and confronted her, “are you tired?” She said yes, so we walked to the Main River and sat on a bench under a red maple tree. Soon as we sat, the wind came and blew some leaves to the ground. They lay on the grass and tried to cover the shadow. Being a shadow is a privilege, it still is on top of everything on the ground.

I saw a stall selling French fries, so I went to buy and then sat back. While eating, I asked the shadow about the regretful happenings in her life.

“Well, regrets, I had a few…,” she said with a long deep pause. “I regretted that I wasted my younger years not doing anything significant. I didn’t work hard enough to put myself on higher education,” she said with a sigh.

I listened carefully and while she talked, I hand her some of my fries. “I could’ve saved money and pay for my education but I did not. Instead, I went partying all night, spending all my money with my friends,” she added. “That money could’ve earned me a BA (Hons) Fine Arts,” she went on.

“I realised it twenty years too late. Then I taught myself intermediate art because basically I learnt the basics in school. Then I learned from multiple art books that I bought, I experimented and wasted a lot of papers, canvasses and colours, to get it right. Right in the sense of getting that satisfaction when I put the last touch to a painting,” she added. “I spent more money to buy art stuff, you know how expensive they are.”

“Yeah, but come to think of it, the money is well spent. If you sell a piece, it’ll be 10 times the investment but of course maybe a hundred years after you are dead, your paintings might worth One Million Ringgit or more. Just look at Latiff Mohidin; his ‘Mindscape’ fetched RM313,000 at an auction in 2019. He is still alive and well,” I said.

“Haha! That is such a big comparison; he studied in Berlin, France and New York, while I…, school of life. You compared an ant to an elephant, not fair,” the shadow laughed. “Yeah, the money actually well spent. I did not regret buying art stuff as much as I regretted spending all my money like water back then and later feeling poor come the 10th every month. I had to borrow money to pay for my fare to work and eat,” she added.

So I said to her, “your friends were there for a few different reasons. Those regrets and those mistakes were really important. You have to embrace it because that is how you learn. You learn from all your mistakes.”

We both agreed and sat there quietly watching the sunset while eating fries together. A flock of geese swam gracefully in the river while people strolled along the river.

While watching, I did not notice that a flotilla of gulls perched near my legs. A policeman approached and told me that my littering attracted the gulls. I quickly collected all the fries and put it back in the holder and later in the bin. I said thank you and left with regret as I had to pay 20 Euro for littering.

• 

This is for Prompt #10: regretful happenings, July 2020 writing prompts.

Every time I went to the grocery store, I would pass by a bungalow that a single middle-aged lady resided. I never saw any man at her house so I just guessed she was single. The walls were covered with vines and I swear the leaves changed colours in October, although we all know the fact that in Malaysia there is no autumn. Some parts of the bungalow were all mossy. The windows were decorated with lacy white curtains and the main door had a large antique lion’s head knob.

One day while passing by, I saw that the lady waved to me and calling out to me to come to her house. I parked my car at the roadside and walked to her.

“How are you?” She asked. “I am fine, thank you. And you?” I asked her back.

“Oh, I am fine too. I am Joan, welcome to my house,” she replied. “I am Amelie,” I introduced myself while following her inside. “I often saw you looked this way, so I thought one day I invite you for coffee,” she continued.

Once inside, my jaw dropped upon seeing the interior of her house; it was contrary to the exterior! The living room looked so modern that it has the main furniture in white while the rest in shades of grey.

“Please sit down, I am going to make us coffee.”

“Let me help you,” I said while following her to the kitchen.

“I have all sorts of Arabica, what variety do you prefer? Just name it, I got it,” she smiled. “Do you have Hawaii’s Kona by any chance?” I asked.

“Sure! Hold on, I will get it from my cupboard,” she opened a door to a storeroom I reckoned, and closed it. She came out five minutes later with a pack of Kona in her hand. “Excellence!” I said astonishingly.

We had our coffee in the living room. I never tasted Kona and after a sip, my eyes rolled. It was the best coffee I ever tasted! We chatted a bit and from her story, I found out that she is an avid traveller. And while chatting, my eyes wandered around the living room. I saw a cupboard full of mini dolls from all around the world. And her furniture was not local, they were all imported. Her walls were decorated with original paintings; two of them I noticed were the works of Wassily Kandinsky and Jan Vermeer. After a while, she got up from her chair and asked me, “do you like some biscotti?”

“Italian ones!” I said jokingly.

“No problem!” she said while giggling.

She went to the storeroom again and a little later came out with a pack of authentic biscotti from Italy; Claudio Biscotti.

We continued talking and I told her about my experience in Tuscany where I worked for a free stay. Joan apparently had done it before and we laughed! Then both of us mentioned, ” Fettunta!” We laughed and Joan got up her chair again and said, “Wait here, I have something for you.” She went to the storeroom again and came back with a real Tuscan bread, some garlic cloves, a bottle of fresh-pressed olive oil, and a small bottle of table salt.

“Wow, you have everything,” I told her while helping myself to the Tuscan bread.

“The whole world is in the cupboard,” she replied with a grin. “Tell me, what is top on your bucket list?”

“Well, Ireland! When I saw the movie ‘PS I Love You’, I straight away fell in love. Been wanting to go there but no opportunity yet,” I explained.

“Ok, close your eyes and hold my hand,” Joan said. I obliged. I heard that she opened a door and closed it. She opened another door and then asked me to open my eyes.

A chill sent shivers down my spine. We were both at Wicklow Mountains, Ireland.

This is for Prompt #07: The Cupboard of Abundance, July 2020 writing prompts.