Chinese costumes (Photo: M Griffiths)
Beijing Private Eyes - A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an unexpected and attractive visitor in need of assistance. He offers to help and things begin to get complicated.
Read Beijing Private Eyes - Part 1 Arrival here, Part 2 Lights, camera... here, Part 3 - Room service here, Part 4 - Ancient History here,
(For my six peak oil short story competition entries set in Australia and China see here)
Part 5 – Party Time
With Evie out at the karaoke bar Mark did
some washing, tried to practise the guitar, then learn some Chinese vocabulary but
nothing could stop his mind from wandering. Finally he sat down, fired up
his laptop and checked Evie’s Twitter account.
Evie Thomasson
@Evie_T
At karaoke with
ladies from the studio.
They all sing so
well. I’m running out of songs!
He turned on the CCTV 9 and watched some English
language documentary about the government’s projects to settle the nomadic animal
herders of Tibet and Inner Mongolia.
He checked his phone, no messages,
then he checked twitter again, no update. He stared out the window for a while
and then sat down at his desk again and googled the studio name. On the home
page was a picture of the studio and also one of Zhang posed with some
dignitaries. It spelled out his full name, Zhang Wenzhong. Mark googled the
name. The results listed articles about Zhang as producer and executive
responsible for various films and TV series, as well as award ceremonies with photos
of Zhang with a succession of actresses.
One article started with a bit of a biography:
Born in the city of Tianjin. Graduated from the prestigious Beijing Film
Academy. Successful producer. Winner of some grand sounding awards. Wife and
son in Tainjin.
Tianjin.
Tianjin?….
“Sing again Evie!” shouted Lily over the
noise of the karaoke.
“Yes!” Angel agreed.
“Later. I’m thirsty.” She picked up her wine glass
and drank a couple of mouthfuls. She
reached down and grabbed some nuts from the bowl on the low table in front of
her.
There was knock and the door opened.
Zhang entered followed by an entourage of seven or eight men and women. Miss
Zhao stopped singing and the studio staff stood up and nodded to him. Evie also
stood and extended her hand “Hello Mr Zhang. Welcome. I hear you are a good
singer.”
“Oh, not so good.” he said sitting down
beside Evie. His friends mingled with the crowd and found themselves places in
the centre of the sofa, on either side of Zhang and Evie. Lily and the others
moved to the end. One of the newcomers chose a song and began singing.
A few minutes later an attendant
came with a large tray of drinks and put it on the bar counter at the end of
the room near the door. One of Zhang’s friends motioned her out of the room and
began to rearrange the drinks. Then he began to carry the drinks out. He placed
two colourful cocktails in front of Zhang and Evie. Zhang lifted his glass. “Cheers.”
Evie smiled, clinking her glass against his and talking a sip.
The singing continued while Zhang
alternately chatted with her and the others in the room. He downed his cocktail
quickly while Evie slowly drank hers, listening to the music.
After a few more songs and intermittent chat,
she started to feel lightheaded. She put the glass down and looked for some
water on the table. Maybe she had had a little too much. She looked round the
room for Lily but she could only see Miss Zhao sitting in the corner. She
hadn’t noticed the others get up and leave.
Her body felt like it was floating.
“I think I should go home” she said to no one in particular and tried to get
up.
Zhang reached out for her arm and
pulled her gently down. “Please stay a little longer. We have only just
arrived.”
She smiled tightly. “Ok, just a little
longer.” She felt her breathing become shallow. She leaned back, took a deep
breath, and tried to clear her head. Zhang leant away from her to talk to one
of his friends. Evie pulled out her phone. She slowly began to type a message.
Her fingers were clumsy on the keys. Finally she pressed send. She looked at
Zhang, still talking and holding a bottle of beer to his mouth. She leaned back
again and closed her eyes.
Mark’s phone went beep. He jumped out of his
chair and grabbed the phone. He pressed the button to read the message.
Girls gone. V drunk.
Help
“Shit, shit, shit!” he breathed. Shit. What do I do now? Where are you? Lily.
Lily will know. He frantically searched in his phone for Lily’s number.
“Please have your phone on.” The phone rang and then he heard a voice.
“Wei.”
Hello.
“Lily?”
“Yes”
“Hi. It’s Mark, Evie’s assistant. Where is
she? I think she needs help.”
“Sorry Mr Mark. Mr Zhang friend made us go.”
“That’s ok, I understand. Where is she?”
“Karaoke. Phoenix Karaoke. Near Wangfujing Street.”
“What room number?”
“Umm, 4th floor. I don’t know
number.”
“Ok. Thanks Lily.”
“Very sorry Mr Mark. I hope she is ok.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go and get her now. Thanks
for your help.” He grabbed his jacket and ran down the stairs, out of the
compound and into the street searching for a taxi. In the taxi he wracked his brain about how he could get her
out without Zhang and his friends stopping him. He texted Evie.
I’m on my way. Mark
As the taxi sped through the brightly lit
streets to the centre of the city Mark had an idea. Dwayne. He found his colleague’s number and rang. He looked at his
watch. Please let your phone be on.
“What’s up?”
“Dwayne. It’s Mark. I need a favour.”
“This better be good. I’ve got work tomorrow.”
“Sorry mate but this is important.”
The taxi pulled up outside the Phoenix
Karaoke bar. He paid the driver and walked quickly inside. He headed to the
lifts, greeting the uniformed attendant in Chinese. “Hi. My friend is on the 4th
floor.”
He stepped inside and waited impatiently for
the lift to rise. When he got out a group of rosy cheeked teenagers were talking
loudly and laughing as they waited to go down. No sign of Evie or Zhang. He
walked quickly towards the nearest attendant and spoke in Chinese. “I’m looking
for my foreign friend. She has blonde hair.” He hoped there weren’t too many
blonde foreigners on the same floor.
The attendant nodded and motioned to
him to follow her along the corridor past a row of doors, each full of happy
singing groups. She stopped, knocked on a door and began to open it. He pressed
the button on his phone. Ok Dwayne, here goes.
The attendant opened the door. Mark walked in
with his phone to his ear, and quickly spotted Evie and Zhang in the centre of
the long sofa against the wall, opposite the karaoke screen. Two low tables
laden with drinks, snacks and empty bottles stood in front of them. A man was
standing with microphone in hand singing a Chinese pop song. Evie was sitting slumped
in the sofa while Zhang talked to her, waving the cigarette in his hand. She
nodded slowly in response. Neither noticed Mark as he started to cross the
room. One of the friends moved to cut him off but he stepped quickly in front
of Zhang.
“Mr Zhang.” Mark leaned forward into his line
of sight. “Mr Zhang.” Mark bowed his head as Zhang turned to face him, his face
registering surprise.
“I am very sorry to interrupt sir, but Jack Baldwin
is on the phone from Los Angeles.” He would like to speak with you. He needs
Miss Thomasson for a conference call with a producer in thirty minutes.”
He spoke into the phone. “Mr Baldwin, I am
with Mr Zhang now” He handed the phone to Zhang trying to look apologetic.
“Hello”
“Hello Mr Zhang. It’s great to talk to you. Greetings
from Warner Brothers Studios! I hope the pilot show is going well?”
“Yes, of course. Everything is well thank you.
It is an honour to talk to you Mr Baldwin.” said Zhang.
“Not at all, not at all. I’m sorry to have to
take Evie away from the party but I have some important people coming over to
meet me this morning to talk about a new project. I need her to be in on the
call.....”
Mark turned his attention to Evie. She had registered
his presence but seemed barely able to move. Zhang was following Jack Baldwin’s
conversation, nodding and grunting occasionally. Mark positioned himself close
to Evie so as to get her up and out as soon as the phone call ended. He had
told Dwayne not to make it too long.
“Evie can you get up?” he asked her, bending
down close to her ear. She nodded and tried to lift herself off the sofa. She
staggered and fell back down. Mark bent to help her.
As
she stood Zhang said “Goodbye” and handed the phone back to him.
“Mr Baldwin? Yes sir. I’ll get her ready for
the meeting in half and hour. Here’s Evie.”
“Hi Jack” said Evie vaguely. She listened to
what he was saying.
”Ok.” she replied, “Talk to you soon.”
Mark turned to Zhang. “I’m very sorry. She
seems a bit drunk. I will make sure she is at the studio on time on Monday.”
He smiled and nodded as he put the phone back
in his pocket. Zhang nodded and turned to his friends. Mark walked Evie to the
door, nodded again at Zhang, and headed slowly down the corridor not daring to
look back.
Outside he hailed a taxi back to the
apartment. “What happened?” he asked. She looked at him and shook her head. She
spoke slowly. “I’s not sure. I was singing and drinking with the girls then
Zhang came with his friends. Started feeling very drunk. Ohh, I feel sick.” Mark
wound down the cab window in case she threw up.
Mark half carried her up the stairs to the
apartment and across to the bedroom. He laid her on the bed gently on her side
and took off her shoes. He went to the wardrobe to find another duvet to lay
over her. She fell asleep immediately. He walked to the bathroom and grabbed the
small plastic bucket they used as a waste bin. He lined it with two plastic
bags and placed it by the bed near her head. Then he got a glass of water and
put on the table by the bed for when she woke up. He stopped and listened to her breathing
again, then went to the lounge and dragged one of the arm chairs to the foot of
the bed and settled in for a long night.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Dwayne.
Thx mate, mission
accomplished.
Owe you one.
********
Read Beijing Private Eyes - Part 1 Arrival here, Part 2 Lights, camera... here, Part 3 - Room service here, Part 4 - Ancient history here,
Part 6 On the Road, is here.
(For my six peak oil short story competition entries set in Australia and China see here)
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the stories tell your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment