Monday
Life
on the island. Hot. Humid. Too many cars. But the fruit is delicious.
The roads are too narrow for four lanes of traffic, but it happens.
There's an advertisement on every building along with a store name,
making every street a colorful spectacle. This isn't the west,
though. This is Taiwan. Farms still merge with city life. Look over a
bridge or behind a storefront and you can see where some of your food
just came from.
And
occasionally, you see a rarity: a westerner. This is the life
Christopher has known for the past twelve years. It gets boring at
times, but it's incomparable to the secluded life back home in
California. Christopher came to Taiwan with a better job prospect
than his own country could offer. It helps a lot when you're fluent
in two languages, especially two very important languages.
Christopher's
family is Taiwanese, but he was born and raised in L.A. As there were
plenty of needs for translators in Taiwan, Christopher took the
opportunity, exploring his family's country for the first time. Today
that dream is going to disappear. He's about to tell his manager he's
flying back to L.A. on the next available flight.
His
manager has no idea what's coming. Christopher didn't want anyone to
convince him otherwise. He speaks in English and the more he shares,
the more heated he becomes.
“I'm
leaving. I'm leaving because I can't stand to do this monotonous job
any longer. There's no purpose. I should be doing something important
with the skill set I have, but I'm stuck behind a computer everyday.
And then, when I get off work, I have to walk through this
smog-filled city with people who think I'm superhuman just because I
speak English.
“The
food's oily, the ground's dirty, the people are ignorant, and I just
don't fit in. It smells terrible here and I'm getting on the next
available flight out of here. Thanks for the job and I hope you find
someone else to translate all of your marketing gimmicks. Goodbye.”
“Christopher,”
his manager, Mr. Chen, starts to plead with him, “will you
consider...”
The
door shuts. Christopher already has the stuff he needs. He knew he
would stay if he listened to what his manager had to say. It's time
to go. It's time to go home.
L.A.
has a less shocking Monday for Mary, the newest movie star who just
became the face on everyone's news feeds. It's partly because of the
creativity of the show she's on and partly for her talent that she
hit the big time. The show is a futuristic melodrama filled with
crazy gadgets and unbelievably cool characters. All the classic
ingredients are there: deception, revenge, scandal, betrayal,
romance, and plot twists with every episode. It was an overnight
success and its main actress is Mary, a girl from middle of nowhere
America. Now she's another L.A. Star, enjoying time off after the
smash ending to the first season.
She
had to adapt to the new fan base: big clothes, wigs, alien
sunglasses, and lots of make-up. There's no escaping the fans,
though. Especially the crazy ones. She walks down the busy skyline
filled with people and cars and shops, not because she's trying to be
seen, but because she still refuses to give up the normal life she
once had, as well as the chance to find a decent guy. Now it's all
the same. They are either much too crazy and sick, or too scared to
say anything. There's always dating another star, but that feels too
much like caving in. She's about to meet one of the crazy ones now;
one of the fans before she made it big. That's what they all say.
It's
a private tea house. You can get a snack, escape the sun, and relax,
but how does someone uninvited find himself in the bathroom of an
invite only shop?
That's
Domitian. He has a job that mainly pays on commission, but he still
sacrifices his time for the chance to make a great first impression.
Today his timing is perfect. He has his chance to meet Mary. The one
hundred and fifty-eight centimeter Latino department store worker
leaves the bathroom with his hair slicked back and his shirt too
tight around his chest.
Mary
takes her seat and sighs deeply at the first sight of him. 'Here
comes the speech,' she thinks to herself. And it will come.
Domitian's face gets hot and his stomach twists as he stumbles over
the floor, catching himself before coming within two meters of her.
“You
are so stunningly gorgeous my love. I've seen all your shows and you
are the most talented...”
Before
he barely gets started with his well-rehearsed speech, a security
personnel is already in his face, telling him to leave or he'll get
arrested.
He
shares the abridged version as he walks out, “I'll see you in every
re-run. Just think of me. It's Domitian. I'm watching you. I love
you.” The end trails off as Mary orders a drink and blocks the
memory from her mind.
'Why
can't guys just be normal?'
Sitting
in the private shop alone gives her time to reflect on the last year
of her life. She can't believe things could have changed that
quickly. It's time to make a choice. Is all of this what she really
wants? Will she give up the chance for a normal family to become the
next big star?
She
didn't know it would mean all this, but here she is: face plastered
all over the country and yet hiding away from all the flashes. 'It's
already here. I just have to admit it. Goodbye all you crazy men.
It's time to flirt with Hollywood.'
The
airplane takes off around evening time. It will be a half a day
before Christopher touches ground again. He'll get to L.A. in the
middle of the night because of the time difference. It's like he's
flying into the past, going back to his old life. He's about to get
his reality checked, though, because everything has already changed.
He's a zombie when he jumps into his dad's car. It was short notice,
but his dad had the time and a taxi would be too expensive.
“Hey
Dad.” Christopher says in Chinese, jumping into the car. His family
always speak Chinese to each other.
“Welcome
back, Christopher. Did you bring everything?” His dad is referring
to the usual dried snacks and cakes his family always buys when they
make trips back to the island.
“I
was in a hurry, so I just picked some things up at the airport.”
“So
no pineapple cakes?”
“There's
probably a couple in the variety packs.”
“Did
you eat yet?” His dad asks the important question. His mom is
already preparing their nightly meal at home.
“Not
yet.”
His
dad focuses on the road. Christopher lays back and listens to
whatever pop radio station is on. It takes about an hour to get back
to their house. As soon as they walk-in, they remove their shoes and
the feasting is on. The house is huge compared to anything
Christopher was living in in Taiwan. They have a front yard and two
stories. For California standards, though, it's on the small side.
The
evening marks a safe passage home for Mary. She drank three different
drinks filled with sugar and ate a New York-style cheesecake. It was
a little celebration for her. She no longer has to worry about
strange guys. She's going to make it single and enjoy all the work
she put into getting here.
The
pictures start flashing with her first step out of the store. She
puts a hand up and keeps walking. It's like there's no escape from
the hound dogs. The sooner she makes it home the better, but it
shouldn't be this way. Can't they just watch the re-runs if they want
to see her again? This is curiosity turned approval turned excitement
turned obsession. 'Remember your dream.' Which one?