Tie Ning - The Bathing Women

Mike said, “Isn’t that good manners in China? They were so courteous, how could I interrupt them? Besides, you seemed to be listening so attentively.”

“That wasn’t attentiveness. My eyes were fixed because I was holding the pee in so hard.”

Mike said, “Me, too. I squeezed so hard, tears almost came out.” They spotted a restroom by the side of the road, stopped talking immediately, and rushed in. When they came out, they looked relieved, and their walk turned to a leisurely stroll, ease written all over them. Their shared trial and embarrassment brought them closer to each other and they laughed with tacit understanding.

It was late at night, and they were walking on the quiet Changan Avenue. Stepping on the rectangular concrete bricks with sharp edges, Tiao asked, “Mike, do you know what’s underneath these bricks?”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Let me tell you. There were toilets here. Years ago — you were probably not born yet, or just born — when Chairman Mao received the Red Guards during a parade for National Day, because of the crowd, they had to build temporary facilities at these spots underneath our feet.” Mike lowered his head to observe the ground. “I can appreciate latrines, because now I understand how painful it can be if you can’t get to them.”

“They were restrooms, not just latrines,” Tiao corrected him. Mike looked into Tiao’s eyes and said, “Do you know you’re very lovely?”

Tiao said, “I’ll accept the flattery.”

“It wasn’t flattery. It was what I had on my mind, particularly when you became serious and had to correct me. You were just like a schoolteacher.”

Tiao interrupted him. “Let’s talk about something else.” She suddenly ran off the pavement and onto the empty street. Mike caught up with her from behind and took her hand.

She didn’t try to avoid his hand. They stood on the street holding hands. Looking at the occasionally passing cars, both started to recite the rhyme about the car at the same time. “‘The car is coming but I don’t care. I’ll give the car a phone call over there. The car turned around, and ran my little feet down …’” This children’s rhyme made their hand-holding intimate and innocent, with no ambiguity or awkwardness. It was a perfect connection, Tiao thought.

She already sensed Mike’s love clearly, and she liked this young man who was holding her hand. But love was not easy for her. The inoculation from the plague of that other love still had its impact on her. Love would never again come easily for her.

But she told Mike that she was going to America to attend a conference. Mike said that coincidentally he would be in the States during that time and hoped that, no matter what, she would accept his invitation to visit Texas.

The left-handed man on her right side lifted up his tray and Tiao realized the aeroplane was landing. She’d arrived at Austin.

Mike welcomed Tiao at the Austin airport. While rain and snow took its toll on Chicago, Austin in the south was still very warm. Tiao saw Mike, who had on an eye-catching red T-shirt and was waving at her. Tiao felt a little nervous; the closer she was to Mike, the more she wanted to run away from him. She resented this urge, which she often had when she decided to take action. It made her seem neurotic, like an actor with stage fright. She finally got close to Mike. She reached out her hand, and he opened both his arms to her.

He hugged her, and naturally she hugged back. The urge to run away disappeared, and her heart calmed down. It was the first time she was close enough to breathe in his scent, a healthy light smell of mutton mixed with the lingering fragrance of Tide detergent. For many years after, she’d persist in using Tide for the comfort of its distinctive smell, which always reminded her of the Austin airport, Mike’s hug, her racing heart, and the fleeting confusion caused by it.

When they left the airport, it was already dark. Mike drove Tiao home, and his parents gave Tiao a friendly welcome. His father, a graceful man with a scholarly bearing, who was a professor at the University of Texas, told Tiao, “We all saw your picture. Now I want to tell you that you’re even more beautiful than the picture.” Puzzled, Tiao looked at Mike, and he explained that it was a group picture from that conference. Mike’s mum took Tiao to her room and told her it was Mike’s sister’s room before she got married, and her clothes were still hanging in the wardrobe. She said that as long as the clothes were there, she could feel as though her daughter were still living at home, so she liked having them, but, really, a daughter can never manage to take all her stuff out of her parents’ house. Then she led Tiao out of the room and showed her the guest bathroom.

Mike’s parents made a very good impression on Tiao; their sincerity and effortless hospitality put her at ease. They said to her, “It’s the weekend, and maybe Mike has made plans for you, so we’ll say good night right now.” After his parents said their good-nights, Mike took Tiao to his father’s study. He showed her an exquisite folding fan, explaining that it had been brought back from China by an ancestor and passed down to his father. Carefully he opened it to its full length of over a foot, a mass of brilliance immediately appearing before Tiao’s eyes. A group of lively, colourfully dressed girls were embroidered on the fan, and their bean-sized faces of inlaid ivory shone with a soft and delicate luster. Tiao had never seen a fan like it — the fine embroidered clothing and the ivory-inlaid faces made those festively dressed girls look like they were about to walk off the fan. Tiao felt pride at her countryman’s superb craftsmanship, particularly in front of Mike. Mike said his interest in China started with this fan, and also with food. In his childhood, whenever he and his sister were reluctant to finish what was on their plates, his father would say, “Do you know there is a country called China in the Far East? Many people there still don’t have enough to eat.” Mike said it was very hard for him to associate these two things with China, a country that could make such an exquisite fan but couldn’t afford food. A little bit uncomfortable, Tiao didn’t respond to Mike’s comment. Although not having enough food was a thing of the past, and Mike’s father meant well by teaching his children to value food, Tiao still felt herself the object of pity. Maybe she thought too much with the deep-rooted insecurity of a third world citizen. Her uneasiness came precisely out of her sense of being pitied; she didn’t like to be pitied. Noticing Tiao’s quietness, Mike said, “What’s wrong, Tiao? I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

Tiao said, “I wasn’t sad.”

“Then why were you so quiet?”

“I was listening to you.”

“No, you weren’t listening to me; you were spacing out,” Mike said. Tiao had to admire his careful observation. She said, “Okay, I’ll stop spacing out and listen.”

“Do you want to see my room?” Mike asked.

“Yes, I do.”

They came to his room, which had a few pieces of simple furniture, and a bed only partly made. The top drawer of his dresser was half open, revealing the neatly folded underwear, leaving the impression that Mike had forgotten to close it after looking for clothes. The neatly arranged undergarments and well-organized dresser gave Tiao a comfortable and warm feeling because she had similar habits. Even Mike’s messy bed seemed natural, because it was a clean disorderliness. Then she saw a paper cup on top of the bureau. Mike took it down and asked, “Remember this cup? It’s the one you used in Beijing.” Tiao looked at the cup without remembering at all and saw the light red outline in the shape of a new moon, the imprint of her lipstick. She hadn’t expected Mike to keep the paper cup and bring it back to the States, which she hoped was just his exaggerated way of demonstrating that he missed her. Already she had the sense she would not be able to return his feelings for her. She allowed for his age, twenty-seven, when she was already thirty-four. To keep the cup a woman used might seem normal to a twenty-seven-year-old, but a thirty-four-year-old woman wouldn’t necessarily be excited by the gesture. She cautioned herself and suggested to Mike that they go back to the living room.