We ran through the late August rain to the apartment, sliding on the grass, laughing and splashing and pushing each other. There was a crack of thunder and the air carried a clean, purifying, electric tingle.
Soaked through to the skin, for just a moment children, jumping at each flash of lightning, we ran into the apartment’s vestibule and the rain turned to torrential downpour as we reached shelter.
The apartment was on the south side of the Youyi grounds, a campus setting like that of an upscale New England college. The older brick building looked stately from the outside, but there was no air conditioning and the humidity was stifling. We opened the windows in the apartment and the breeze instantly refreshed us with the smell of the late summer rain.l
The bathroom had a small shower in a bathtub, something that my own place lacked. I stripped off my wet clothes and turned on the hot water.
Zhou came in, without looking at me, but without embarrassment, peeled off and stepped out of her flimsy blue and white dress, hung it over the towel rack.
I drew the curtain and the water was hot and my eyes were soapy as Zhou slowly enveloped me with her long smooth legs.
...
I arched my back, picking her up, driving us deeper, closer together. She put her feet on the back wall and did wonders by merely flexing her ankles. We found a good rhythm and the hot water was unending. Her body was much stronger than what it seemed with her flimsy clothes on. ... She helped me keep my balance without touching the floor, undulating endlessly until bestial rioters stormed out unbidden and we slowly, gracefully, slid into the tub without losing our place. We filled the tub with the inexhaustible hot water and somehow started up again. Her flexibility was astounding. After a while, there was nothing left but a vague timeless awareness.
Not much talk, she softly sang a popular song about love and sorrow. When she finished, she brushed my hair and I sang a song I had made up with some foreigners in a bar in Guangzhou the previous spring.
The Shanghai girls are hip, I really dig those styles they wear,
And the Guangdong girls, You know the way they talk,
They knock me out when I’m down there,
Ooooh,
The Sichuan farmer’s daughters, Really make you feel all right,
And the Xinzhang chicks, You know the way they kiss,
The keep the Weiwuers warm at night,
Baboom, baboom,
I wish they all could beat Beijing girls,
I wish they all could beat Beijing girls,
I wish they all could beat BeeeeiiiJingggg girrrrrrls……
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