Er shi jiu ri (29 day)
Shanghai, China
Looking out WindowSome say that the worst part of a nightmare is that brief moment when you wake up not knowing fact from fiction. But theirs actually begins with the acclimation back into reality. The sounds were maddening; even for the few minutes I was in there. How the hell she and her husband found solitude in slumber knowing that the 6 a.m. sounds that used to be a day beginning had been bartered for the resonance of their existence cast aside, all in the name of “catching up”.
I shot for as long as she gazed, which might have been 2 minutes, it might have been 20. When she finally turned around, I could see, even through the dust that she wasn’t going out without one last stand. She pulled down her calendar and pointed to the 29th of July, pointed at me, and then to my camera.
She wanted me here in a week’s time.
After politely refusing an offering of ice cream, I thanked her with an awkward embrace, left her alone in the room, walked out and shook hands with the curious crowd that had gathered outside, but instead of receiving the normal Shanghai goodbye (zai wai) I heard them all saying the same thing:
Er shi jiu tian
29 day
I’m sure there are those out there that would have stayed longer, offered money, or more. All I wanted to do was get out of there. China had suddenly, in the matter of an hour, gone from a place that entertained me to a place that I had suddenly experienced, a place that I used to watch from a distance had made its way up to my door…a door still on its hinges.
So, what will become of them?
I have no idea; hopefully their allotted one child will have room.
Will this continue?
As long as China keeps dreaming of more red mansions.
Will I go back on the 29 day?
I honestly don’t know. China might have gotten too close.
