saturday, 21 july 2007 -end-

in the car, i watched the view from the window blur past. streaks of neon lights in the dark belonged to bars and lounges that were still open into the night.. or day, as 4.00am was fast approaching. i had only one thing on my mind; and, i assume, so did another hundred would-be witnesses.

once we arrived at KLCC, the magnificent building was still sleeping in the dark except for little twinkling lights on the top ten floors and the slight movement of security guards patrolling outside. since the place looked deserted, we decided to circle the place for a round or two.

suddenly, our ride came to a slow drive and i peered ahead to look for the cause. it seems that several police officers had detained a few gang members, for what i don't know but my female acquaintance suspected drug traffickers.

not wanting to be there 5.00am on the dot, my chauffeur parked opposite the center court entrance and us foursome went down the claustrophobic spiraling basement car park, instead of going to the park mall entrance as tipped by the media. the chauffeur of mine decided to keep an eye on the car, leaving my roommate, female acquaintance and i waiting patiently with no more than two dozen others for the door to open at a supposedly 5.00am.

"garasu no bara yori mo hakanakute moroi no ni
yume miru koto wa naze sadame na no deshou"

after half an hour of wait, my chauffeur phoned to tell us that there's a good thousand others waiting at the entrance of park mall. then, a man approached us (two dozen people) to inform us that the park mall entrance was about to open and directed us to go there. everyone made a mad dash to get back to the surface and so did i.

true to the words of my chauffeur, there was a mob of people waiting two or three feet away from the park mall entrance. then, the staff of kinokuniya informed that the wait will be extended to 5.30am. it doesn't matter how long more they want to extend it because the fanatics are not leaving the building without "it".

as the clock ticked, cameras were flashing away; some by casual citizens, some were reporters from the media. every now and then, someone would exit from the mall and a small part of the crowd would go "hurray!!!" whatever.

when the staffers began to place "obstacles" (as labeled by the crowd around me) at the tall glass doors, the tension began to heighten. all of a sudden, one end went roaring like spartans and i was slowly pushed forward. it was then i realised that the crowd had began moving towards the open doors.

if i needed an example to teach how the liquid molecules look (or feel) like, i would tell a class to fit through a two-door entrance all at once and let yourself move forward like a wave would. highly saturated too.

once i saw that the escalators were jammed by the amount of people, i ran towards the ramlee mall escalators to get up. once i was on the third floor where TGV (the starting point of the queue) was, the path was absolutely obstructed by metal fences. imagine that, fences in a mall? this is too serious.

the run down the escalator to reach TGV had consumed an amount of energy and i was getting low on stamina, but i went on. while i was catching my breath, i noticed that the whole mall was echoing a certain movie background OST. by then, i was queuing up alone behind several hundred people. my roommate and female acquaintance was no where in sight. at least, in the bevy of colourful people.

"haruka na hoshizora ni yume wa mada miemasu ka?
osanai ano hi yori azayaka desu ka?"

then, we got in touch again on our mobile phone and i walked along the indescribable long queue as i peeled my eyes to join them again. on my way i saw a couple of witches or wizards too. i also saw one other muggle armed herself with a wand.

at the end of the line was my female acquaintance, so i quickly slipped into line with her. as for my roommate, unfortunately, she was not agile enough to bypass the watchful eye of the traffic control staff. by 6.00am the first thirteen people in line were led up to kinokuniya in glory. upon my arrival outside kinokuniya itself, sad to say we were 31st in place instead of 13th in place.

the case was almost solved as then, i was only queuing up to pay for "it" instead of being the lucky thirteen to receive a complimentary copy. the line extended on and on behind me. at least i had the chance to share the moment with my female acquaintance; my roommate was (not in queue) stranded across the kinokuniya entrance. so near yet so far.

not long before 7.00am, the first hundred or two were let in past the fat lady at the "gryffindor entrance" with the password "gillyweed violet" to witness the countdown to 7.01am. on the dot, the "curtain" was "magically" lifted into the air revealing the books covered underneath. the books were flying off the shelves to the jittery cashiers who have been waiting to punch the first one into the register.

7.11am. i paid for my hard cover, first edition, children's version, 607 pages of harry potter and the deathly hollows with a complimentary oliwander's original quibbling (goose feather) quill, and we foursome left for home.

Case closed.

-end of part two-

all names could not be disclosed to protect their identity. ;-)

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