Four Random Anecdotes

May 26:

Anecdote 1: The metro is crowded. I sit on the bench between two people. The woman on my left exits. An old Chinese man sits beside me. I try not to take up too much room, I realize that my shoulders are wider than the average MTR passenger, my legs are longer than the average Hong Konger. The old man, short and fat, spreads his legs. After a few minutes of rubbing against me, he asks in perfect English, “Do you mind moving your legs closer together? I want more room.”

Anecdote 2: On a bus, a boy plays with a package of Trident chewing gum. He wears a blue and white elementary school uniform. Tired of the game, he reaches into his mouth. The chewing gum becomes silly putty in dirty fingers. The bus hits a bump in the road. The gum falls onto the bus floor. The boy picks it up, examines the speckled crumbs, brushes them off, pops it back into his mouth. I laugh, and the mother wakes from her daze. She appears to scold the boy without conviction. The boy continues to chew his gum. I laugh. People give me dirty looks.

Anecdote 3: Men and women fish from the South Horizons oceanfront. I sit for a few hours around sunset. I see one man catch a three-incher. He puts the fish in his cooler and leaves.

Anecdote 4: Nighttime pedestrians walk and run along South Horizon’s oceanfront path. An elderly man speaks in an American accent to a young Chinese woman. He’s balding and wrinkled. She has a luxurious black mane and tight pants. “Baby, I wanted to talk to you about…”