Mingmei Yip - Petals from the Sky

Michael pointed toward them. “Meng Ning, see the couple over there? They’re a trustee at the Met and his wife.”

“You know them?”

“Yes.” Then, to my surprise, Michael rose from his chair. “Excuse me, Meng Ning, I need to say hello,” he said, then walked to the couple.

Michael shook hands with the man and engaged in a brief conversation with him. He looked eager to please; the two responded with faint smiles and slightly nodding heads.

As I was wondering what they were talking about, Michael had already come back. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” I nearly asked, Then why didn’t you introduce me to them? but Michael was already speaking. “Benjamin Hill has one of the best collections of Chinese paintings in the West. I’d have introduced you, but I didn’t want to interrupt their dinner. Hope you don’t mind.” He buttered a bread stick and handed it to me.

Feeling my upset wane, I asked, “You know a lot of people in the arts?”

“Just a few. Michael Fulton knows most of them, in Oriental art anyway. It’s through him that I’ve met a few. I enjoy talking about art, but most of the art collectors are not very nice unless you are at least as rich as they are.”

No wonder he hadn’t looked entirely at home when he’d talked with the trustee.

Just then the waiter came back with our food.

Michael reached to squeeze my hand. “Let’s enjoy ourselves, Meng Ning. It’s so good to have you here.”

I started to eat my soup and Michael dug his fork into his greens. He looked happy and ate with great relish. I felt touched, while also wondering: why wasn’t he acting upset that I’d turned down his proposal?

After we had finished our appetizers and were waiting for the next course, a very handsome man in a silvery gray suit and matching silk tie came over to greet Michael. Michael introduced him as Philip Noble, a dear friend, and invited him to sit with us. “Enchanté,” the stranger said-then to my surprise, bowed and brought my hand to his lips.

Michael put his hand on my shoulder. “Meng Ning, Philip has been my best friend since high school. Nice guy and a great theater talent. Used to play Romeo in our school drama club, so be prepared for his theatricality.”

Philip slapped Michael’s shoulder amicably, flicked his thatch of thick blond hair, rolled his long-lashed eyes, and flashed his perfect white teeth. “Oh, no. Michael is the genius. We used to call him ‘the professor.’ Actually he liked that. He knew he was good.” He winked. “And now, of course, he’s the best.”

Michael smiled, looking almost boyish. After the two men had exchanged a few more pleasantries, they told me bad jokes from their training at Johns Hopkins.

I could see the bond between them despite their different temperaments and physiques. Noble cut a striking figure-well over six feet, broad-shouldered and athletic, like Achilles stepping from Greek mythology into the twentieth century in a tailored suit. Next to him, Michael, quieter, with a medium build, more resembled an artist or a scholar. I didn’t understand the affinity between them, but there were surely many corners in Michael’s life still waiting for me to explore.

Watching Philip Noble’s glamorous features and manners, I almost felt I was interviewing a movie star. I was conscious of his curious, fresh blue eyes on me.

When Michael went to answer his beeper, Philip asked, “Meng Ning, how long are you going to stay in New York?”

“A few weeks,” I said, feeling a little dazed. “Can you suggest places to go?”

“ Fifth Avenue, the Met, SoHo, Central Park -” He paused. “I think you’d better ask Michael. He knows all the cultural places, though he’s always so busy.”

“Are you also a neurologist?”

“Oh, no. That’s Michael’s field, takes a lot of brains. I’m a cosmetic surgeon.”

“That’s interesting.” No wonder he was so flashy.

“Oh, yes. I love it. I like to make people look beautiful. Vanity, isn’t it?” he said, then tossed his blond hair again and shot me a young Paul Newman stare.

“But if that makes people happy, why not?” I smiled.

“Exactly. God gives a woman a face, but she wants a different one-that’s where I come in. People care about themselves so much that they don’t want to be themselves. But I shouldn’t complain.” He shrugged. “I live off people’s vanity.”

“Or taste,” I added. “If faces are works of art that reflect the taste of their owners, then we should appreciate their efforts to enhance.”

Noble looked at me deeply with his sparkling, fathomless eyes. “Good. I like that, Meng Ning. But I’m afraid I’ll never see you as a patient. Not only do you not need a different face, but I’m sure many of my patients would want one as naturally beautiful as yours.”

Embarrassed by this flattery, I sipped my water, then uttered a shy “Thank you, Philip, but you’re overpraising me.”

Noble signaled with his head to an elegant, fortyish woman at the table across from us. “See the lady over there? You find her beautiful?”

I looked and exclaimed, “Oh, yes!”

He shook his head, his silky hair shifting like waves under the moonlight. “To be blunt, I find her look totally repulsive.”

I was horrified to hear this. “But why?”

“Because there’s nothing natural about her. It’s all work under a skillful knife.”

“How can you tell?”

“I’m the expert. Too bad she didn’t come to me. I could have taken another ten years off her original fiftyish face.”

“Oh, heavens!”

Philip reached to pat my hand. I noticed his gold cuff links-miniature sculptures of that Egyptian queen who may be the most beautiful and mysterious woman in history.

“Meng Ning, your naïveté is very charming.”

I studied Noble’s perfectly chiseled features. Was this beautiful Romeo’s face also the masterpiece of an adroit knife?

As if he were a mind reader, Philip smiled. “While I’m a plastic surgeon myself, I don’t trust any colleagues in my specialty. So I’d never put my face at risk in their hands, not even twenty years from now.”

I didn’t know how to respond to this.

Philip cast another glance at the fiftyish woman who looked forty before he resumed the conversation-in a different thread. “How long have you known Michael?”

“A few weeks,” I said, feeling a little tense. “And you’ve known Michael for much longer.”

“Almost twenty years,” he went on, creasing his thick brows. “Since high school, Michael has never failed to amaze me. When we all went out to movies or a bar, he’d stay in the dorm burying himself in all kinds of books. He always said life is too short to learn about all the things he’s interested in. This guy never wastes a minute and works like a dog to get what he wants. Back at Johns Hopkins, often he didn’t even bother to eat, so I’d bring him back pizzas or Chinese takeout.”

I enjoyed watching Philip’s facial expressions swim effortlessly from one emotional zone to another. How many more faces did this Romeo have?

He continued. “Michael went to Hopkins on scholarships, you know, because his parents died when he was a teenager. It was very hard for him-”

Right then Michael returned as the gray-haired waiter came with our entrees.

“Enjoying a good conversation?” Michael asked. I felt his hand warming the nape of my neck.

“Is everything OK?” Philip shifted sideways for the waiter to put down our plates.

“Fine, it was just a patient asking for a prescription.”

I smiled up at Michael. “Philip was telling me how smart you are,” I said, feeling stirred by his soft, caring touch.

Just then Philip Noble excused himself and went back to his table.