Ever wonder why prowlers in BNB have to wear beret even at night? Cos it was believed that the crest on the beret has the ability to ward off spirits!

 

X had just completed his OJT (on-job training), starting his first night prowling with Y, one of the senior CISCO guy. As usual, they got their bicycle at CISCO guardhouse, mounted onto the bike and straight to their first check point, old armory, at a moderate speed.

 

Old armory is a small little house where the BDS unit dumps their used ammo there. It was initially a place to store ammo. The house has a small opening with metal grill, which is about the size of our HDB toilet flap. The door to the inside is made of heavy metal, armed with alarm. But of course, whether the alarm sounded off during the day or night for whatever ridiculous reason (it's quite faulty also), we still have to run there to take a look. The surrounding behind the old armory is an open grass, in front of it is blocks of single storey concrete hut that had been abandoned many years ago. The only narrow track (which is about the length of a car) that leads to the old armory bypasses a stair that leads to the gym and swimming pool which are located on the slope.

 

The time was between 10 pm to 12 midnight. Cycling along the narrow track, they bypassed the stair on their right and the block of concrete hut (since it had been abandoned, it was in total darkness) on their left. The squeech coming from the bicycle brake was exceptionally loud and crystal clear, when they came to a halt in front of the armory. 

 

Despite a few OJTs in prowling, X was still a bit scared. It was not the darkness that diminished X's courage, for the soft white light that emitted from the long light tube just outside the ceiling of the armory, eliminated much of human's wild imagination that could result under these surrounding. In fact, it was the soft white light that enabled X to see the 'ba gua' and the talisman very clearly, that hang just above the heavy metal door.

 

Ignoring all those stuff that made us people shiver, X probed the check point disk that is inside the check point box mounted on the pillar. Y hurried X for the next check point. Without turning back, they proceeded and returned using the same narrow track. They came to the pitch dark area again. Y was in front of X, but Y was already tens of meters away from X.

 

Not far from the stair that leads to the gym and swimming pool, X saw somebody sitting on the stair. He was wearing something like navy no. 3, looking quite pale. So pale that it made a great contrast with the dark. Strange, how come there is somebody sitting there in no. 3 in the middle of the night? As X approached the stair and by-passed, he was scared stiff in his heart. Cos he could clearly see that the guy in no. 3 was sweating profusely, and he stared at X with his pair of  eyes that was without pupil. He came to a speechless moment, but he did not want to alarm Y either. He just accelerated and tried to catch up with Y and continued their prowling.... 

 

Did X wear his beret?