David Chiu

Here’s another essay from the workshop.

Anger
By David Chiu

It was a happy warm summer day. My fiancé and I were driving around Manhattan beach looking for a place to hold our rehearsal dinner. We just had left an upscale restaurant and were walking across the parking lot, hand-in-hand, towards our car. Ahead of us, two guys had entered the lot as well, holding fishing rods and a cooler, obviously returning from fishing. As we walked in their direction, they looked intently at my fiancé and I as we passed them. The fact that they were looking at us didn’t really bother me, and I didn’t pay much attention to them. But suddenly, I heard one of them say, “What a waste”. It didn’t register at first. To me it was just a piece of a private conversation I had been privy to. But then my mind started to put it all together. They were talking about my wife. They had been looking at her and I together with a look of disgust and disapproval because they thought that someone as attractive as my wife shouldn’t be with an Asian guy. Deep inside I felt the heat of anger start to boil my blood. I was stirred to action.

“Did he just say what I think he said?” I asked my fiancé.

“Just let it go” she replied.

“Those fucking rednecks.” I said aloud as I started to turn around.

“It’s not worth it. They’re stupid and ignorant. Let’s just go.”

I turned around and looked. They were gone. For the next 2 weeks i was filled with anger which spurred thoughts of violence and destruction against rednecks.