After the Rain: 7/20/10

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Today it started to rain and thunder and then it stopped. After class, puddles were everywhere as I walked to my favorite restaurant. It was closed. For good. The man keeping guard in the gutted space spoke Chinese of course so what he told me I supposed was that the restaurant had moved because of the construction of the overpass that was going on outside down the middle of the road, but where the restaurant had moved to, I couldn’t find out; perhaps I didn’t understand, but the man didn’t seem to know. In 2006, 07 and 8 I had eaten many meals at this place with students and by myself too when I needed a welcome break. The shrimp was good, the beer cold, and there was a whole squid sliced and baked brought sizzling in cumin on a hot iron plate. It was one of the reasons I had come back to China, just to bite into the succulent flesh. As I walked back to the hotel, I saw the buildings and legs reflected in the puddles, a kite flying high above, and two lovers on a bench. The sight of them made my gentle sadness vanish into happiness walking on a pebbled path through what yesterday was a lawn and today dug up clods of mud. Do you know what? When I get back to New York, I’m going to make that squid I want so much and it’s going to be good.

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