Edward Whittemore - Quin’s Shanghai Circus

Quin picked up a handful of sand and nodded to himself. He thought of leaving some money in Geraty’s pocket, but then he realized there were already too many scavengers there waiting like Geraty for the night to grow old, some not yet too drunk to go through his pockets before they fell asleep, before they in turn were robbed of all they had.

Another time, thought Quin, not knowing he would meet Geraty only once again in his life, three months from then when he was about to leave Japan on a clear autumn day that happened to be the feast day of the saint Geraty revered above all others, Edward the Confessor, three months that he would spend tracking down the lives of the men and women whose secrets lay encrypted in the code name Gobi , perhaps because not until then would Quin be ready to witness the final performance of this raving giant who had spent a lifetime posing as a clown.

The year Big Gobi went to sea he heard innumerable accounts of the nights the sailors spent on the beach. There were stories about tattoo parlors and whores, cops and whores, pawnshops and whores, camera stores and whores, whores and bars and whores and special shows and whores jiggling their things in front of jukeboxes that had colored lights. Big Gobi had never left the ship as it went around the world, and that was the reason he was excited the day Quin took him to the beach.

On the train Big Gobi took out his small gold cross and rubbed it against the side of his nose. Polishing the cross helped him when he felt dizzy, he had discovered that as soon as they arrived in Japan. It kept him from being confused, it kept his hands from wandering. Big Gobi continued polishing the cross all the way to Kamakura.

They left the station and began to walk. Quin said they should have looked for a bus but Big Gobi didn’t hear him, he was dreaming. After an hour or thirty years, a mile or two or ten thousand miles, they reached the end of the continent, the eastern shore of Asia. Quin was walking across the sand but Big Gobi didn’t move. He was staring into the distance.

Hey, he whispered. Hey where are we?

The sand was hot on his feet, his mind was a jumble. Below him there was a nearly deserted cove, ahead only the endless stretch of the sea.

Hey, he whispered. Where is everybody?

Big Gobi sifted sand through his fingers. He turned away so that Quin couldn’t see his face.

Where are the parlors? he whispered softly.

Quin rubbed himself with a towel.

Which ones, Gobes?

The ones for tattooing, the ones they have on the beach. They were always talking about them when I worked on the freighter.

Liberty port. Yokohama.

I don’t know the name of the place, but it’s where they have the jukeboxes. You know, the jukeboxes with colored lights where the girls stand around and jiggle their things.

Yokohama.

Well where is this?

Kamakura.

Well what’s it for?

How do you mean?

I mean is this a beach or is the other one a beach?

Both of them. One’s for swimming and one’s for whores and tattoos. Aren’t you going to take a swim?

Big Gobi shuffled down to the edge of the water and put his big toe in. Cold water made him feel lonely. He dragged himself along the shore kicking sand, wondering why things never happened the way he wanted them to, never, no matter how long he waited and waited.

His foot touched an oyster. He pried it open, gazed at the pale, swelling meat.

There was a reason why those things never happened, and he knew exactly what it was. He was afraid. That was why he hadn’t gone ashore with the other sailors from the freighter, and it would have been the same today if they had gone to the other beach, the one not for swimming. He would have been afraid, too afraid to do anything.

Yokohama. Quin had been there in the navy. Probably he’d been there a hundred times and knew all about it.

Big Gobi sipped the juice from the oyster, poked the soft meat with his nose, sucked, swallowed it. All at once he jumped in the air.

He was running back up the beach, running as fast as he could, running so hard his legs ached. He fell down on his knees near Quin and scooped up a fistful of sand, threw it down, scooped up another. He pawed with both hands, pushing the sand behind him through his legs. He knew Quin was watching him but he was going to say it anyway.

Hey, he shouted. Hey this is a nice place for swimming.

He stopped digging. Why was he yelling like that when Quin was only a few feet away? Quin would think something was wrong. He leaned forward and rested his elbows at the bottom of the hole he had dug. He tried to grin.

I like it, Quin. I like it a lot.

He was whispering now, but Quin smiled and nodded, a warm smile that made him feel better.

Glad you do, Gobes. I was wondering what you were thinking while you were walking down there.

Were you, Quin? That’s funny, because I had an idea just then, just now I mean. I was walking along thinking how much I like this beach and that got me thinking about the other beach you were talking about, and then I remembered you’d been there and knew all about it, I mean you know, you’re a friend so why shouldn’t I ask you?

Big Gobi hung his head.

That was my idea, he whispered.

Right, Gobes. Sure. Let’s hear about it.

Well you have to understand it’s not much of anything, I mean I even feel kind of silly bringing it up but it’s just that I’ve never done it before, I mean gone right up and said it, said what you have to say, and if there were any misunderstanding I’d feel terrible.

About what?

Me, Quin. Me. I mean just suppose she didn’t know what I was talking about, suppose she got frightened or something and started backing away.

Who started backing away?

The girl jiggling her things in the colored lights. I mean what do you say to a girl at a time like that? Let’s fuck? Something like that?

Just a minute, Gobes, let me get it straight. Where are we, Yokohama?

That’s the place.

All right. We’re in Yokohama and we pass a tattoo parlor and come to a bar where there are a lot of whores standing around. One in particular is over by the jukebox keeping time to the music. I mean she’s bouncing and they’re big ones and you know she’s ready the second you walk in. Is that it? Something like that?

Big Gobi whistled.

That’s it. That’s the place all right, and she’s the one I’m talking about.

Quin nodded. His face was serious. Big Gobi leaned on his elbows, his chin on the sand, and waited. When Quin didn’t say anything he was afraid he had upset him.

Thinking about Yokohama, Quin? Thinking about the other times you went there?

No, Gobes, but listen. Have you ever had a girl before?

No.

Never?

Well I mean I never left the ship the year I worked on it, you know that. And where else would I have found a girl?

I don’t know. On the bus trip maybe.

Well maybe, I mean I suppose I could have if I’d ever left the bus but I didn’t. I mean I got off lots of buses lots of times, but I always got right back on another one again. And before that I was in bed with my shoulder and after that I worked on the farm at the orphanage. The only girl I’ve ever really talked to, I mean the only girl who’s ever talked to me, was the nurse who gave me the water injections in the army.

All right, Gobes, that’s settled. Done. Finished. Tonight we’re going to Yokohama and have a session.

What?

It’s on the way home, more or less. We might as well drop in and see what’s doing.

Tonight?

Sure.

One of those places?

Sure.

The one jiggling in the colored lights?

Sure.