The show took place in a friend’s cafe. After the show, autumn was drumming. A yearning for adventures thundered. Solo, in 2015, I unzipped Beijing.
Somewhere near the end of the zip, I stood at the bottom of a footbridge. With a pregnant suitcase and a bulging backpack, the steep footbridge felt like a skyscraper, seemingly unconquerable. Up and down the three fl ights of steps, like a nineteenth-century slave pulling the ship to the shore, I climbed each with a considerable break. Pleased by a sense of victory, I began to scroll the streets. The afternoon sunshine radiated. Almonds yellowed and sparkled. Vehicles roared past. Strangers loomed. I imagined Guo picking me up from somewhere with a car. But Guo only bragged. Therefore, hunting from hotel to hotel for a cheap, non-smoking room was defi nite. And it must be near Mei.