Larry burst out laughing. “That’s a nice way to greet me. You disappeared for almost two months.”
“I–I was kidnapped by Shinjee’s friends.”
“Where did they take you?”
“I can tell you about it later,” I said, noticing all the people staring at us. “Can we talk in private?”
“Absolutely. Can we make it later? I have a big crowd waiting for me.”
“Yeah of course.” I hesitated. “Larry, I hope you don’t take offense at what I’m about to do.”
“What do you—”
I grabbed his shirt and lifted it up to check his stomach. Sure enough, there was a tattoo of a frog and even the misspelled Mandarin. It was Larry alright. I couldn’t believe it.
“There’s a lot we need to talk about, man,” I said to him.
“You can start with where you’ve been. But we’ll talk more later. Unless you want to join me? I’m sure they’d love to drill my DP about my films.”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
He was whisked away by a big crowd. I felt happy for him, seeing how much acclaim the movie was getting from fans.
“You okay?” Rebecca asked.
“I feel like I’ve seen a ghost,” I answered. “Except the ghost came back to life.” I put my hand on her arm. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“F-for everything.”
“You look like you need a drink.”
“I could use one. In fact, I wouldn’t mind getting drunk.”
She smiled. “There’s a million bars right outside the convention center.”
We hit up one that was welcoming fans of Japanese gangster movies and they had all sorts of saké on sale. The waitresses were dressed up as white-masked geishas and the waiters had plastic guns strapped to their belts. We ordered a sampler of ten different sakés and guzzled them down.
“Am I crazy?” I asked her. “Did I even see anyone dead? Maybe I got it all mixed up.”
I tried to recollect the specifics of that night, but it was blurry in my head, aggravated by the fact that my world was spinning from the drinks.
“Mistakes happen,” she offered.
“You ever hear about a guy who mistook his best friend for a corpse?”
“No.”
I looked at my empty glass and pointed at the bartender who filled it up. “Did you see all his fans? Larry was worried nobody would care about his movies. But looks like people do care.”
“I love them,” Rebecca said.
“We were making movies we believed in. I didn’t care if anyone watched them or not.”
“Is that just something all you artist types have to say? Because I don’t believe you.”
I chuckled. “I guess I did care a little.”
“You guys can get back to making more movies.”
“He was talking about making a big epic. Something to do with the Baldification.”
“Can I get a walk-on role? It can be something small.”
“Of course.”
“So, connections do matter,” she said.
“Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” I replied. “Drink more. Everything’s on me tonight.”
V.
I had a hundred questions, none of them explicable. If Larry were alive, why had Shinjee kidnapped me, even if she did give me a way out? I owed her a visit. I owed a lot of people visits. Rebecca was singing and dancing and I wondered why she was spending so much time with me. Was I incapable of reading signals? Was she interested in me? She was beautiful. Not as beautiful as Beauvoir, but still very attractive.
“They’re sending more colonists to Mars,” Rebecca said, pointing at the news.
Trillions of dollars were being spent so a handful of astronauts could live on an enormous red rock when millions of people were starving in Europe.
“I heard Venus used to be like earth until pollution wiped it out and made it into a big poisonous ball of gas.”
I used to love looking at stars with Linda. We’d make up our own constellations and draw imaginary patterns through the lights.
“I guess it’ll be okay as long as we don’t end up like that planet between Mars and Jupiter. Kaboom!” she yelled. “I think it’d be nice to live on Pluto.”
“Why?”
“Wherever you go, it can only get brighter.”
I stood up, then stumbled from the drink. She grabbed me before I fell. I was about to thank her when I saw her face right in front of mine. Her lips were just inches away. I could feel her breath on mine. I wanted to move my lips forward just a bit. We both hesitated. I wilted first. “I think I need to step out and get some fresh air,” I said.
“Don’t get lost,” she answered.
I rubbed my eyes and walked out. It was pouring rain and I had no umbrella. The thunder boomed and the skies were painted black.
I still can’t believe you’re alive, Larry.
“Why did you come back here?” someone asked.
I turned around and saw a teen in a black trench coat. He had a translucent umbrella and white hair that reminded me of Tolstoy, the cricket champion. But this guy had a much leaner nose, smaller eyes, and bulkier frame. When I tried to examine him more carefully, he withdrew. I was too drunk to persist.
“This is my first time at the convention,” I informed him, wondering if he’d mixed me up with someone else.
“They have such a nice arrangement now. You’ll ruin it for them, Nick Guan.”
How did he know my name? “Do I know you?”
“You’re going to disrupt their plans if you stay.”
“What plans? Who the hell are you?”
He laughed. “I know you’re confused. Don’t you get the joke?”
“No.”
“You should be laughing.”
“Why?”
“You’re the punch line and you don’t even know it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” he asked. “I’m a brewer of storms and I’m going to show you a storm unlike any you’ve seen before. Make sure you get out of the rain.” He tossed me his umbrella, then ran off.
I went back inside and overheard Rebecca talking on a communicator to someone.
“—doing my best to keep him busy…What do you mean you gotta leave? You’re the one who told me to keep him here…I’m not gonna sleep with him just to — no, no. I don’t care how important it is. That’s your problem. He doesn’t know anything. At least not from what he’s told me…You’re just being paranoid.” Who was she talking to?
She spotted me and ended the communication.
“Larry’s manager called,” she said.
“Where we gonna meet him?”
“Larry had to cancel because of an emergency press junket in America he had to fly out to. I think it’s something related to presenting at the GEAs. He did ask if you’d be willing to go on a few press junkets in Europe.”
I felt disappointed. There was so much I needed to talk with him about.
“Come back inside,” Rebecca said. “I hate drinking alone.”
VI.
The teen’s words nagged me. Was everything going too smoothly? Maybe it was nothing, just all in my head. Rebecca had passed out and I carried her back to her place. Drunk and barely conscious, I helped her into bed, tucking her in. “It’s so hot,” she muttered, then wrestled off her shirt and bra to lay in bed. I saw her dark nipples clash against her skin.
“Larry,” she called. “Larry, come to bed.”
What the hell?
I forced myself to the bathroom and washed up; exited the apartment, flagged down a cab, and asked for the train station. I was taking the bullet train to Beijing. Maybe Rebecca’s slipup meant nothing. But I owed Shinjee a visit. I also needed to see George and see if I could procure some new gadgets.