He stood at the terminal, his coat hanging slackly upon his left shoulder. Indeed this place was different, he looked around, the people, the smells the cars………the planes! These things were all very different to Tang Lung, who was a country boy not used to this kinds of backdrop or technology. He indeed kept his focus straight on, still looking around…as if to be looking for someone.
He wiped his lips trying not to look upon the Italian woman who decided it was apt to stare it this rather different looking man. He wore a forest-green Chinese suit and indeed looked Chinese, stuck out like a sore thumb among this crowd of people.
She continued to stare at him, probably thinking she would miss a beat if she blinked, so she did not...at all. The man began getting tense, and uncomfortable, his lips began to convulse, we wiped then with his hand again and sniffed, she was still glaring at him. She was probably a fifty-five year old woman, and he was a foreigner in her country, so what was he to do? He couldn't just give her a good wallop and be on his way, too many witness, for one, and two, he was not about to hit a fifty-five or so year old woman. Though still he was very uncomfortable about her staring.
He is very cautious about his belongings, and with her staring he began to think about how she might be thinking up a plan to steal that nice black silk Chinese coat on his left shoulder. He looked down at his left shoulder ever so slightly and moved it so that it was folded over his left forearm, he put his right forearm over it just in case.
Suddenly they called that an airplane has just landed and passengers were being let off. An old man appearing to be the woman's husband stumbled up to her and they both kissed on both cheeks. Finally they walked off into the crowd of people.
The man let out a perceptible sigh and wiped his lips again. He then thought for a moment and began to look up beyond the rather short Italian people's heads and began to walk towards a rather outsized corridor in which, a little girl in red overalls eating an again, rather oversized ice-cream cone. He began to conjecture in his mind about where she might have gotten this item. The man walked passed her and came upon an enclosed dinning area restaurant and leaned up against the glass windows, inside one would see many tables lined with an off-white tablecloth. Upon this glass window, there was an undersized replica of the Italian flag; rather, it was a window sticker. He leaned up against this glass, debating with himself whether or not he wanted go into the restaurant.
A man emerged from inside the restaurant and with a toothpick in his mouth looking around the airport; he hadn't noticed the Chinese man looking into the restaurant from under the much larger man's arm. When the man had finally noticed the other man looking in, he spoke.
"Go right on in," he said accommodatingly.
The Chinese man gestured for the larger man to pass, and as he did, the Chinese man waited for a moment, but not allowing the door to close before he walked into the restaurant and sat down.
About twenty minutes later the man came out of the restaurant holding his stomach for a moment, then leaning up against the glass, looking right then left then coming out further into the corridor, pacing up and down, passing by a young Chinese girl in a red fleece shirt and black pants. The Chinese man noticed that this girl looked strikingly like the black-and-white picture of a young beautiful Chinese girl he pulled from his photo. He turned around and paced again, passing her again, as she noticed him as well. They both turned to face each other, as she looked him up and down, when she got to his face, he had a large smile across his face. He approached her.
"Tang Lung?" she asked half-heartedly?
The Chinese man smiled, "Miss Chen Chang Wa?"
"Yes, and why weren't you waiting for me by the exit gate?"
"We got here early, and I was starving hungry, so I ate a little."
She nodded, "Hmmm. Uncle didn't write much about you. How can you help me? What can you do?"
Tang Lung obviously disagreed with this question, "Trust me, I know I can help you."
"Oh really? And how can you help me? Do you know my problem?"
"You can tell me later…" he said.
Chen sighed and gestured her arm back for both of them to exit the airport. Lung was happy that he didn't have to wait in that airport any longer. And he was fed, so that was also good. But her question on how he could help kind of devastated him, he thought the problem might be so big.... that maybe indeed he could not help her.