Girlfriend

I assume everyone has one or two old and honest friends. You never expect any compliments from them. Instead, they always have the gift to make you feel awkward or stupid of yourself. I firmly believe the power they own comes from the long term friendship. They grew up with you and know you too well.

Without exceptions, I have one. I got an email from her one day. In the email, she told me she would be joining another common friend of us for a three-months road trip in US. They planned to meet in Chicago. She would like to fly here couple of days earlier and stay with me.

I didn't hear from her for years. The latest updates about her was that she travelled with her husband to Germany and stayed in an expensive castle like building as a happy housewife. Of course, I was expecting the arrival of an old friend. I busied myself getting the little apartment as tidy as possible and stocked some snack and drink before her arrival.

She arrived couple of hours later than the schedule.

"What a shabby building it is!" she said when we were dragging her heavy suitcases along the stairs.

" Yes. The building is very old. I don't think the carpets on the stairs got washed ever. " I explained.

We finally managed to get all her luggage to my apartment.

"It is so small." She said.

"This is what I can afford." I watched her unpacking and took a closer look at her cosmetics bag.

" Haha. I will tell everyone that Miss Shanghai stay in such a poor apartment once I am back to Shanghai." She exclaimed.

I didn't know the definition of everyone she referred here. I was only hoping my parents were not in her definition of everyone. And again, she was still proud of the "Miss Shanghai" joke she invented. In old times, she used to call me "Miss Shanghai" in public. I had to face the suspicious looks from others and explain there was no such beauty contest and even there was one, I would have no chance to win the title at all. At the same time, she would keep laughing and enjoy my embarrassment.

"Do you want to have some drink?" I asked.

"It is April. I didn't expect it was so cold here. I need some hot water to make ginger tea for myself. It is always a good idea to keep your body warm. You also need some. " She replied. Meanwhile, she took out several instant ginger tea bags from the pockets and threw them onto the small study table besides her without turning around to look at me.

"Thanks. I will boil some water." I went to the kitchen.

The heavy footsteps and the noise of the keys suggested the return of my roommate. I hurried to open the door for him. He shouldn't be too surprised since I told him that I expect a visit when I was cleaning the apartment several days ago. He looked at both of us with a puzzled expression and then turned around walking to his room without saying anything.

"Your roommate is a male???!!!!" She shouted at me. My roommate paused with his back to us for a few seconds and then hurried into his room. The awkwardness was further strengthened by a huge sound of a door being slammed.

"It was a long story. He is my labmate. He is a nice person. You don't need to worry about anything. " I retreated to kitchen.

What I really wanted to say at that moment was far more than that. Every year, I had to do relocation because of the rising rent or the family status changes of my female roommates in the past. I started to realize my life was full of those small troubles instead of a big one. And those trivial small things were eating up my willpower step by step, making me feel old and tired. Exactly like what Barbara Pym summarized in Excellent women, " I wondered that she should waste so much energy fighting over a little matter like wearing hats in the chapel, but then I told myself that, after all, life was like that for most of us - the small unpleasantness rather than the great tragedies; the little useless longings rather than the great renunciations and the dramatic love affairs of history of fiction."

But I didn't think she needed to know all those details.

I suggested several dinner places and the possibilities of getting free ice cream treat at certain restaurant. "I am tired after the long flight and would like to have something light. Maybe porridge is enough for me." She said absently. "Oh miss. Porridge is a very luxury thing in this mid-west small town. We don't have any good Chinese restaurant here. Let's try Thai food instead. I believe that spicy Tom Yum soup and chicken satay will cheer you up. " I said. The whole dinner and chat were cheerful. She updated me on people I knew or barely remembered the names already. As a return, I told her as much as possible about our common friends in US. "Most of them stay at east coast and doing great."

The next day, we planned to visit downtown. To our surprise, we spotted a parking ticket on her car. After carefully reading the scribble of the policeman, we realized we didn't specify the date on the visitor parking slip.

"This is your first visit. I believe we can do a rebuttal on this." I said.

" Why bother? I am just a foreign tourist. I will be leaving here in two days. How could they locate me?" She said playfully.
She further validated her point by sharing with me numerous cases she run into in China and the tricks she played to get out of them without penalty. I was not sure the reason I lost my patience was that I worried about their safety in the next 3 month road trip or I didn't really appreciate those "street smartness" which apparently she enjoyed so much.

"You'd better behave neighbourly here." I said abruptly. "You need to follow the rule since you are going to be driving for 3 months in US. They designed the rules expecting people to follow not to play with. I will go back and write the rebuttal letter right now." I looked at her with a deterministic look.

There was an awkward silence between us. Finally, she said, "You never changed. You are always bossy and wanted everything under your control." Your old friends were capable of attacking you, weren't they? It was depressing to know your friend had such opinion about you since teenage. I reflected sadly and wished I did not appear too much that kind of persons to others.

I broke the silence by suggesting a walk to campus beach first. She was still looking particularly angry. I was afraid she might reject my idea and continue the argument. Apparently, she thought better of it and tried to get out of this unpleasant conversation as well. She nodded and followed me quietly to school.

We finally reached the campus beach. A bunch of teenagers passed by us, laughing out loud. With the lake and the blue sky as the background, they all looked outrageously handsome and carefree.

"Wow, all of them can be models for abercrombie. It much be spring break again." I commented.
She turned around with a big smile.

"Do you still swim regularly"? she asked.
"No. I gave up. Too much trouble. " I replied while staring at the blue lake.
"Ah, what a pity. You used to keep very short hair and wear shorts in summer all the time. You were completely tanned by swimming. You looked very good in short hair. " Her soft speaking tone implied that she was trying very hard to fetch some old memories.

I enjoyed the peacefulness swimming brought to me. The water indulged me with its soothing sound and powerful support. I could either drift along with it or speed up against it. In both cases, I was no doubtfully still embraced and protected by the water as a spoiled kid. I refused to wear goggles from the first beginning. The reason was simple. Fish never blinked, same did I!

"I was swimming all the time in summer back then. I believe any hair style would look better on a younger me."

"How was the job market in US now?" She took a concerned look at me.

"Totally screwed up. I am looking for jobs around. But under this situation, I don't really hope too much." I said.

I took out a brainteaser book from my bag and handed it to her.

"See what I am reading now to prepare for job interviews. Does the book help bring some old memory of our high school life?"

She could not help laughing while turning the pages. "It is ridiculous."

"I know!"

"I will be moving back to Shanghai very soon with my husband." After some hesitation, she continued, "Three of us are planning to learn mahjong in shanghai to kill spare time."

"Mahjong?"

"Yeah. If you cannot find a job in US, just come back and join us. Mahjong needs 4 players and you can fill in that slot."

I am amused by the picture that four of us, best friends since high school, sitting around a table and playing Mahjong sincerely. We used to sit together engaging lots of things, such as doing homework, preparing for exams, making jokes, sharing snack, cursing teachers or gossiping. And now, the ladies are adventuring into Mahjong.

"Thanks. I will join you guys some day for sure. And I need to be served with good hot tea." I said.

"Definitely. We all live by tea." She replied.

"And friends."