Love at
First Flight
(Part
1 of 5) Broken English
by Matthew Griffiths
‘Chinese
culture seems designed to make relationships as complicated as possible.’
Malcolm put the book on his lap and smiled. Forewarned
is forearmed right?
A measured voice interrupted his thoughts.
“Rice or noodles?”
He looked up at the flight attendant’s face
and blushed.
He’d had some interesting moments already
communicating with the university from a distance. The author of the book was an
American journalist who studied and worked in China for years. A good
introduction for a foreigner arriving to start his first English teaching job. The
book had lots of other helpful insights as well.
Her voice came again, with practised patience.
“Rice with pork or beef noodle?
He coughed. “Ahh, rice please.”
She was tall and slim, and wore the
dark blue skirt and white patterned blouse of the flight crew. Her red scarf
was perfectly arranged at her throat. In her ears small diamond earrings
sparkled. Heavy makeup highlighted her prominent cheek bones and almond brown
eyes.
“Please. The table.” She pointed to the fold
up tray table.
He fumbled with the latch and lowered the
table. The book dropped on the floor. He leaned over to try and grab it.
She bent down to pick it up at the same time.
He smelled her perfume, exotic and heady, but not overpowering. A wisp of her
hair had escaped her tight, elegant bun, and brushed his face as she stood up.
She placed the book on the tray table next to
the food.
“Thank you.” he said, blushing redder with
every accelerating heartbeat.
“You’re welcome.”
“Would you like a drink?”
“Just water thanks.”
She handed him a small plastic bottle.
“Thank you. Xie xie.” he said, trying out his night class Chinese.
The passenger in the seat next to him said
something in Chinese. She leaned over him slightly as she passed the man a
tray. Her perfume wafted over him again. He stared open mouthed, watching every
graceful, practised movement. She turned to the other side of the aisle. He
continued to gaze at her, oblivious to the babble of the airplane cabin, her apron
was tied neatly in a bow behind her, and the tight fitting skirt and blouse subtly
accentuated her slender curves.
Then she flicked the foot brake on
the trolley with her shoe and it rolled down the aisle behind him. He craned
his neck to see but the second flight attendant obscured the view.
He turned back to his tray and unwrapped
his food. When he had unveiled the collection of rice, meat and vegetables, and
miniature side dishes he twisted around again to glance down the aisle. She served
the other passengers with the same professional, friendly, yet distant smile.
The trolley moved again, further back.
He began to eat. He remembered the time a pretty
young woman sat beside him on the bus home from university. She had blonde hair
down to her shoulders, wore a tight black top, covered by a more demure small
cardigan which both concealed and showed off her figure, and black and white
pants. For some reason he noticed her nose. It was perfectly proportioned in
profile and face on. She had beautiful smile too. She had played with her phone
and when he glanced at it she seemed to be typing in a foreign language. He
asked her what language it was.
“Greek.” she had said.
“Are you studying it?”
“No. Just looking up a few phrases.
The alphabet is different. I don’t know how to say some of the letters.”
At that point his tongue got tied in
knots and he spent the rest of the trip looking out the window wishing he could
think of something to say. Was she
planning to travel? Good conversations starter. Did she have a Greek boyfriend?
Bummer. A Greek colleague at work perhaps? That would be ok… She didn’t look
like a student.
He never did decide quite what to say.
When she got off she said “Have a
good evening.” and smiled at him.
He replied “You too.” and thought she was the
most beautiful woman he had ever met.
Until now.
He looked down the aisle again. He saw her
down the back talking to another passenger. He wracked his brain for something
to talk about.
Twenty minutes later she came back
with the drinks cart. He made eye contact and smiled at her.
“Hello. Coffee please.”
She poured it from the jug.
“Can I have extra milk please?”
She handed another small container to him and
began pouring tea for the next passenger.
“Xie
Xie. Your English is very good.”
She hesitated and looked at him. “Oh no, not
very good.”
She passed a cup tea across to the passenger
beside him.
Malcolm persisted. “Where did you learn it?”
“I learn at school and now I study myself. I
very like abroad.” She gave a him brief smile and turned away to serve the
passengers on the other side of the aisle.
She returned later with the trolley pick up
the cups and other rubbish. He said hello again. This time he looked carefully at her name tag
but couldn’t read the Chinese characters. “What is your name?”
She looked at him. “Yao Jiali”
“I’m Malcolm. It’s nice to meet
you.”
She
gave him the same polite smile and moved on down the aisle.
He remembered something else about the young
woman on the bus. Despite the fact that he regularly rode the same bus at about
the same time for the next year, he never saw her again.
When he finished the coffee he stood up went
to the toilet. He brushed his fingers through his hair and straightened his clothes.
He looked at his face in the mirror and shrugged. Can’t do much about that, except follow his Grandmother’s advice – ‘Every
face looks better with a smile’. Then he made his way back to the galley.
He looked for Yao Jiali and smiled when he saw her. “Hi. Could I have some more
coffee please?”
She nodded and turned to the bench
where the half coffee pots stood.
He looked around the galley at the other
flight attendants, then turned back to her. “Do you live in Taiyuan or back in Shanghai?”
“Taiyuan.”
“Is this your last flight today?” Arrival was
scheduled for just after 9.30pm.
“Yes. We go home. Tomorrow start early again.”
“Oh. It sounds very busy.”
“Yes.”
“I’m coming to Taiyuan to teach English at
the university.”
“Oh. Teacher is a good job. Milk?”
“Yes please.”
She gave him two.
“Thank you, you remembered.” He smiled
broadly.
She nodded and began to rearrange items in
the galley.
“Thank you for your help. It was nice to talk
to you. See you later.”
“You’re welcome.” she said looking up and
offering the same professional smile, before turning back to her work.
Malcolm went back to his seat.
He stood up and scrabbled in his bag in the
overhead locker, sat down and wrote his name and email address on a piece of
paper.
The fasten seat belt sign came on and the
plane began to descend.
When the plane landed he lagged
behind the other passengers and looked for her up and down the aisle but did
not see her.
At the baggage claim carousel he glanced
around at the other passengers and wondered if the crew’s bags would come
through as well. Probably not.
He collected his luggage and walked out into
the arrivals hall. He looked up. The airport was decorated with dozens of red
lanterns hung from frames suspended from the high ceiling. It was the lantern
festival, two weeks after the Chinese New Year. Malcolm paused in the middle of
the hall wondering if the university transport was going to meet him after all.
He couldn’t see a sign with his name on it, and everyone else seemed to know
where they were going. A steady stream of passengers went out the doors and
into strange yellow glow of the sodium lights outside.
A column of flight attendants filed out from
a staff doorway into main hall. They wore matching dark blue overcoats against
the winter chill and walked towards the airport doors, wheeling small suitcases
behind them.
He saw Yao Jiali. His throat
tightened. He took a deep breath and walked quickly over to the flight
attendants. “Miss Yao.”
She looked at him. Her colleagues giggled and
she blushed under her makeup.
“I was wondering if you would like to practise
your English with me. I will be taking Chinese classes at the university when
I’m not teaching. We can help each other.”
She looked at him without reacting.
Her colleagues whispered to each other. She glanced at them and bit her lip.
He pulled the piece of paper from his coat
pocket. “Here is my name and email address. If you want to you can contact me.”
She hesitated a moment then took the
piece of paper and put it in her pocket. “I will think about it.”
“Ok. Bye” He smiled and gave her a brief
wave.
“Goodbye.” she said and hurried through the
doors to the company shuttle bus waiting just outside.
He heard her colleagues laughing and making
comments to each other. “Hen shuai.” Cute.
He went back to his bags and began
to trundle them out of the doors looking for taxi or a bus to the city. A young
Chinese woman came up to him. “Malcolm Rees?”
“Yes.”
“I am from university. We have car for you. This
way.”
“Ok. Thank you.”
He looked at the airline bus as it
pulled away from the kerb. Several faces stared back at him. He scanned them
but could not see Yao Jiali.
“This way.” repeated the university rep.
Malcom nodded, watched the back of
the bus recede for few moments, exhaled slowly, and then followed her.
********
Two weeks later he received an email.
********
The
quote I paraphrased at the beginning of this story is from the book:
Chinese
Lessons, by John Pomfret. 2006
If
you are lucky your local library may have copy. I thoroughly recommend it.
Love at First Flight (Part 2) – Life is a Roller
Coaster, here.
********
There are plenty more stories on this site:
Beijing Private Eyes - Drama, Romance, Karaoke, Kidnap! A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an attractive stranger and offers to help, then things get complicated. (A long story in 8 parts)
Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned.
Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma. (4 parts)
Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control.
[Rated R]
[Rated R]
Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:
NEWSFLASH - My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis". You can read the other entries here.
A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).
Stories set in China:
Winds of Change – In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.
Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.
Seeds of Time – (Sequel to Outside In). In 2055 rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object.
Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy
Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery. (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)
Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?
Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
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