Xiaolu Guo - A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers

I must have stayed in front of door nearly an hour watching all those fascinating guests. Then I see a taxi coming. And a man comes out from the taxi. That is him, the man I met two hours ago! Why did he arrive so late? Are Italian mans all like that?

“Antonia!” I shout.

Perhaps right name because he doesn’t correct me, or maybe he didn’t understand I am actually shouting his name.

He walks to me and apologise:

“I am very sorry about this. My friends changed their mind. They wanted to go somewhere else instead. In fact, it was better than this party. Let me take you to the other place.” His English accent is almost inunderstandable.

“All right.”

I don’t want to tell him I wait here for so long. It would be not cool to let him know. So I follow him and get into his taxi.

Inside of taxi, so close, I can see his face clearly. He looks bit formal in his plain suit and black leather Made-in-Italy shoes. His hair is very few in the middle of his head. He seems sincerely but a little boring, if I can judge like that.

“So what you do?” I ask.

“I am an avocado,” he replies.

“Avocado?” I am surprised to hear. Is a fruit also a job? “Please explain me,” I ask.

“If you are going to be put into prison, you can hire me to help you in the court,” he says.

“Ah…is like a lawyer?”

“Yes! Yes! Avocado is lawyer.” He is pleased that I understand.

“What about you?” he asks.

“I am…just a tourist. Actually I am studying English.”

“In Venice?” His interests are aroused.

“No. No. Studying English in England,” I say.

“Oh, your English is good.”

“Thank you. But why you are to do with this Asian culture festival?”

“Because of my friend. He gives legal advice to this organisation so he said, ‘You must come along too.’”

“I see.”

Not another avocado!

The taxi stops in front of a disco. Behind the disco is really the open sea. Is like a big pond full of black ink. I feel dangerous, as I think it’s very easy to fall into that black pond.

It is a public disco, not “private party.” It is already 2:30, the endless night. The music is so loud. American disco, it is too much for me. Lots of teenagers dancing inside. I want to leave immediately. But Antonia pull my arm into the dancing floor, and I see his friends are all there shaking their shoulders and tingling their heads. So we are dancing right in the middle of the floor, everyone tripping over my rocksack, and my head being hit heavily every single second by the crazy music. Oh, I can’t dance like that, this is not my culture. My movements must be really ugly. It is a battle between the violent music and my boney body. And Antonia, he looks OK. He seems enjoying the music. His dancing style is a bit serious, but I am sure it better than mine.

I am getting so bored. So bored in the crowds. I can just stand there and fall in sleep like a horse.

“Are you OK?” Antonia dances towards me. His dancing almost like a slow walking.

“I am bit tired. Actually I want to go,” I say.

“Really? Where you stay?”

“I don’t have a place to stay yet.”

“You don’t? So where you are going to go now?” Antonia is talkative in the extremely loud music.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if you want, you can stay in my hotel. My room has two beds.”

“Really?”

“Yes, no problem.”

The taxi puts us in the middle of nowhere. Suburb, definitely suburb. There is a very simply looking hotel in front of us.

“Look, the sea is just over there.”

I look to where Antonia is pointing but there is only inky darkness.

“Do you see it?” he asks.

“Kind of,” I say.

He presses the door bell. I feel embarrassed. It is already half past four and if the hotel people know he brings a Chinese girl back, what they will think?

He presses the bell again.

“You know the man inside, his ears are not very good,” he explains.

“OK,” I comfort him.

Eventually there is a very old man opens the door. He even doesn’t bother to raise his eyes to look. He says, “ Buona sera ” and then straight back to his room to sleep.

Antonia’s room is in ground floor, just by main door of hotel. I am thinking tomorrow morning the reception will discover me easily and shame me.

He opens the room, and switches on the light. Then he shouts something like swear in Italian. He is scared.

“What is it?” I ask.

“There are some little animals here,” he shouts.

“Where?” I can’t see anything.

“Here! Look the floor!” He points. There are some ants, big ants. They are moving around.

“Oh, just some ants.” I comfort him again and start put my feets on the ants, crush them with my shoes.

Antonia looks disturbed deeply. He runs into bathroom and pulls some toilet paper out. He kills rest of ants with paper, and flushes the paper into toilet.

There are two single beds. He didn’t cheat me at all. I remove all my clothes, only left underwear. My pyjamas bottom of rocksack and don’t want unpack. I cover myself tightly while he is in toilet brushing and flushing. Two minutes later he comes out and looks around for several seconds. He must be surprised to see how quick I am inside of the duvet. Then he asks:

“Should I turn off the light?”

“Yes. See you tomorrow,” I say.

In the darkness, I hear his snoring quickly comes. Honest snoring. I can tell. I am thinking he is quite a nice-heart man, but somehow he is not very interesting. Or maybe he is just normal. I count the hours to the morning. Two hours later it will be a sunny morning, and I will leave this damn island Lido and go to Venice…

I am almost fall sleep. Thinking of sex, no, I am having a dream about sex. Lesbian sex, me and a woman who has an unrecognisable face. Maybe she kisses me or touches my breast. Then I am suddenly awake. I feel somebody’s lips press my lips. I open my eyes. Antonia is kissing me. He looks very stupid in the dim light.

“No. Go to sleep, Antonia,” I say. I feel a little disgust.

“Antonia! My name is Andrea,” he says, then obediently, he goes back to bed. He looks funny. Wears a shorts but still with his white shirt. His two naked legs are a bit skinny and hairy.

I give up sleeping. I can sleep anytime in my forever Unlimited Inter-Rail train, so why waste time here in Lido? I get up and dress up. I brush my teeth and take all my belongs. Very quietly I close the door behind me.

The morning is never been so bright and fresh to me. The wind is blowing my yellow skin. I feel free. I feel my body is entirely free. I walk to the seashore. There are some little boats are swinging on the sea. The sea is truly blue. Pure blue like a dream. The water is like a magnet, attracting my body towards it. I agree with you, sea is beautiful.

“I feel sad about my life,” you once said to me.

“Why?”

“Everything feels empty and endless.”

“What you want then?”

“I want to find happiness.”

“You can’t have happiness at all times. Sometimes you will be sad. Don’t you think?”

“But I don’t see any happiness in my life.”

“Then what’s your most near happiness?”

“…The sea.”

That was our conversation one day, in our home in London. Now it is like a replay. It echoes above the waves.

Tavira is situated in the southeast corner of Portugal; it is considered to be one of the most picturesque towns of the Algarve region.

A very slow and old train, clink, clink, clink…it is so slow that it’s like I am sitting on a real time machine. I can feel the time moving in the space physically. It is much more interesting than watching clock.