Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square (14 page)

“That’s Ok. It is for kids and the Westerners who think these are our delicacy,” said the little man behind the table. Sure enough, two tall and red-faced Westerners came and each bought two.

“One is too small. They usually buy two to three,” said the little man.

“Let’s go,” said Dagong and walked toward the big tan brick building, the “Xidan Shopping Center”. .

As soon as they walked into this newly renovated old building, Baiyun got lost. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Everything had changed. She was so amazed to see the freshly painted balconies inside with elevators that had glass walls. Many colorful banners were hanging down from the third floor. The old wooden escalators had been replaced with a shining new one with lights all round. The atrium was full of well-dressed merchants with shining new products like Rolex watches, Gucci purses and Sony cameras. In the center a giant chandelier hung emitting soft white light. Many spotlights on the vast ceiling were shining down like many stars. TV screens along the walls of the balconies were flashing ads constantly. The whole place made her dizzy but she was in high spirits.

“I’m totally lost now. Where is the restaurant that has the deep-fried cream puffs?” Baiyun was really excited to come in here with Dagong. Before the only person who took her to restaurants was Meiling. Even though the food was always good, Meiling often was in a bad mood. It was so refreshing that she could come with such a handsome and fun company.

“It’s a surprise!” Dagong grabbed her hand pulled her toward an elevator. “Let’s try this brand new elevator.”

“Ok. I’m afraid of elevators,” confessed Baiyun. “But I’m sure you would be able to protect me if I get sick. I’m afraid of getting stuck in the elevator. Now I’m looking forward to it as long as you are with me.” Baiyun looked at Dagong’s eyes and smiled. Dagong pulled her toward him and gave her a squeeze, just short of kissing. At this moment, the elevator stopped and they had to get on with a few others. Baiyun was a little disappointed. Fortunately they got pushed together closer in the elevator. Baiyun got to rest her head on his chest.

“Don’t just stare at me. Are you surprised how handsome I’m?” Dagong teased her. “Look outside the glass wall. You are missing all the fun.”

Baiyun gazed out and all the colorful banners, merchandise and the chandelier became a blur as the elevator travelled. She could feel her stomach churn. She quickly looked away.

“Are you sick?” Dagong asked and looked a little concerned. Just at the moment, the elevator stopped and everyone swarmed out.

“No. I just need some food.” Baiyun was so relieved that they were out of this fancy glass elevator.

As they walked to the restaurant together hand in hand, Baiyun could see some people watched them in admiration. A sense of pride hit her. She tried to remember when was the last time she had felt this way. Growing up in shame and humiliation due to her father’s troubles from being a professor and Meiling’s many liaisons, she couldn’t remember an instance when she felt proud except when she got an “A” for her class at school which had not happened for a while. She really could feel it and liked it.

As they entered the brand new restaurant, Baiyun was surprised to see it empty and a group of waitresses standing in the corner chatting. When they noticed Baiyun and Dagong, one of them scurried over. She wore a red embroidered Chinese style top and a black mini skirt matched with a pair of red patent spiky high heels. She asked them where they wanted to sit among many shining wooden classic Chinese styled tables and chairs. They chose a table for two by the wall that had a red rose in the bottle.

After ordering some watermelon juice, they looked at the menu.

“What do you think? Should we sample some seafood dishes here before having their famous desert, the deep-fried cream puffs?” Dagong asked. “I don’t make a lot of money. But what the heck! Life is too short.”

“I have some money. Mother always makes sure that I have some money with me. I agree. Life is too short,” smiled Baiyun. “Let’s have our last meal before we die for the good cause.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you are ready to die already. Don’t you think you are too young to die? Would you have any regrets?” Dagong winked.

“I don’t know. Because of my harsh childhood, I felt like an old woman by the time I was 15. Now I feel so happy, so I’m actually getting younger. So maybe I’m too young to die. I want to experience true love.” Baiyun stared at Dagong and her eyes were brimming with tears.

“Are you ready to order?” The waitress showed up all of sudden.

“Sure,” Baiyun switched her mood, a skill for which she had plenty of training during her complicated childhood. “I would like to order a plate of sliced beef tongue and a plate of pig ears.”

“I would like to have some crispy shrimp. That’s it,” said Dagong. He handed the menu back to the waitress, who walked away wiggling her hips.

“I hate that she interrupted our nice conversation about the life, death and love, especially the last one,” said Dagong. “I’m still curious about your childhood story of your mom and the knife. Do you care to tell?”

“Why not, even though it might give me nightmares tonight,” said Baiyun mater-of-fact as thought she was commenting the furniture.

“You don’t have to if you want to. I don’t want to wreck your mood.”

“No. It is about time for me to tell everyone that I’m different and strange sometimes because of this. It is time for me to come out as a young woman instead of staying as an old one.” Baiyun felt good after saying this.

“Great. I’m glad that I helped you to come out. Whether you still like me or not after that, I don’t know. But I’m willing to risk that for your sake.”

“Of course. I will still l-i-k-e you,” said Baiyun. “Well. In a stormy night, my mom came home with a bloody leg. Oh, sorry. That’s a different story. One day, I arrived at my apartment after school. After walking through the dark hallway and opened the door, I saw my mother sitting smoking by our round dining table and on her right standing by our double bed was a young man. He was mumbling chants and waving a knife in his hands. Scared as I was, I froze and didn’t know what to do. My mind was racing and searching for solution frantically. Should I go to the neighbors and ask for help? Which one should I go to since most of them were still working? Would that be soon enough? I stood there silently and was too afraid to say anything since none of them noticed me anyway. I was telling myself that I was ready to leap forward to protect mother if the young man decided to attack her.” Baiyun stopped to take a breath.

“What happened then? What were they talking about?”

“Of course, Mother is still alive. She didn’t even get injured. Nothing happened. But it was the most intense moment in my life.”

“Has it been giving you nightmares?” Dagong sounded a little concerned. He was so focused on Baiyun and he didn’t even notice the dishes had arrived and Baiyun had already started eating. “I guess you don’t have nightmares. Ok. Just wondering.” He joined in the feast.

“I didn’t say I didn’t have any nightmares. I’m just hungry,” said Baiyun with a mouthful of food.

“I see. As long as you are eating, you are doing fine. Otherwise you wouldn’t have grown to be a college student. You would have perished a long time ago.”

“You are right. I’m doing fine. Don’t worry about me. Nightmares come and go. Am I full of surprises?” Baiyun looked at Dagong hard and was trying to gauge whether his attitude toward her had changed. She regretted telling him so much. But whom else could she talk to?

“Just talk to me about it if it bothers you. I love the fact that you are full of surprises.” Dagong touched Baiyun’s hand.

Baiyun held his hand and said, “Thank you for understanding me.” Then as though she remembered something, she asked “How about you? Do you have any secrets?”

“Of course. But I think we have revealed enough secrets for today. Do you still want the deep-fried cream puffs?”

“Oh. I forgot. I think I’m full. How about you?”

“Let’s go.” After putting down 10 yens, he stood up.

As they walked out of the Xidan Shopping Center, Baiyun encountered something she wished she didn’t. She saw Meiling riding on Lao Zheng’s motorcycle followed by a group of young men on scooters. She was wearing a new shinning leather jacket and a pair of leather pants. Only half of her face could be seen from under her helmet. Yet she had no trouble seeing. Baiyun tried to turn away swiftly because she didn’t want her mother to see her with the new boyfriend. But it was too late. Meiling greeted her before she could say anything.

“Hello, Baiyun, Baiyun, my daughter.” Meiling’s loud yelling could be heard a thousand meters away.

“Mother, what… are you doing here? It looks like you are leading a motorcycle gang.”

“Yes. What an observant daughter! We are called ‘The Flying Tiger Brigade’ and ride our motorcycles and scooters around to pass information to people in Tiananmen Square,” said Meiling proudly.

“I told you motorcycles would become a popular transportation in Beijing,” said Lao Zheng and gave Baiyun a wink. “Do you want one? I can buy you a new BMW motorcycle.”

“No. I don’t need one. I’m a reporter. If I travel too fast, I will miss crucial details.” Baiyun shook her head. The last thing she needed was to accept an expensive gift from Lao Zheng.

“Who is this young man?” asked Meiling.

“A friend I met around here. Not in Beida,” lied Baiyun. She decided that it sounded better this way.

“A handsome boyfriend! Good for you,” cheered Lao Zheng.

“Stop.” Meiling slapped him on his arm and turned to Baiyun. “How many times do I have to tell you? You should study TOFEL and go to America?” Then she pointed at the crowd. “Do you think this will turn into something?”

“Why are you so active in it? It is so unlike you,” whispered Baiyun.

“It’s fun. Besides how many years do I have left to have fun? I’m getting old,” said Meiling.

Now a circle of people was forming around them. People were curious about what was happening with these motorcyclists.

“Hey, Dagong,” shouted the young man on a scooter behind Meiling.

Dagong looked toward him and realized he was Pumpkin’s son, Broomstick. His heart sunk. A neighbor saw him with a young girl. He would be in trouble. At least they were not kissing, Dagong told himself.

“Hi. You look good on a motorcycle. I bet your mom would be proud of you. I’m here to grab something to eat and later we will go and organize the workers to help the students. Nice to see you and see you later”. Dagong started to walk away.

“Hey, mother. Can ‘The Flying Tiger Brigade’ join our ‘The Spirit of May 4
^th’
march? It would be a great if you could ride along with us.” Baiyun couldn’t believe she said this to Meiling.

Meiling thought about it for a minute and said loudly, “Sure. We’d love to support you students.” Then she lowered her voice, “Baiyun, after this march, you have to try hard to go to America.”

“Ok.” She nodded. “Bye. Mother. We have to run,” Baiyun quickly ran after Dagong.

“Come home sometimes,” yelled Meiling.

“Yes,” said Baiyun and didn’t care whether Meiling had heard her or not. If she was ever going home again, it had to be her own home.

As they were walking fast and disappeared in the crowd, Baiyun gave a thumb up to Dagong. “Good job for getting us out of here.”

“Anytime.” Dagong squeezed Baiyun’s hand. “I hear that you students will have a ‘Spirit of May 4
^th’
demonstration in three days. I will try to organize a group of workers to protect you.”

“Ok. That would be great.”

They quickly swam through sea of people and arrived at the Beida station.

“I have to go,” said Dagong. “I will see you soon.”

“When?”

“In three days during the ‘Spirit of May 4
^th’
march.” Dagong quickly disappeared.

He would just leave me alone here? Baiyun said to herself. Then she remembered that she should start interviewing people again. And she could probably write about the “Flying Tiger Brigade”. She congratulated herself for picking up a news item during lunch with a worker’s representative and guaranteed a worker’s protection squad for their May 4
^th
march.

She happily found a quiet street, sat on a bench and started writing.

Chapter 9

At 5:00pm, Dagong’s wife Zhang Ping unlocked the wooden gate of their house and pushed it open. The old door led out a squeaky sound, shook and soon balanced itself.

“Where is everybody?” The yard was quiet and her voice echoed.

“Mom, look!” Her son Little Turnip, pointed at the white cat who was comfortably nestling himself in a tray of rice on the porch.

“Go, go away!” Zhang Ping woke the cat and chased him away. “I don’t need more fleas in my rice.”

Zhang Ping opened the door of her apartment, one of a circle of rooms around the enclosed yard.