scruta

[FERRET is on his way home on a Sunday night. After spending a cab ride to his corner trying to explain to the cabdriver why Shanghainese girls are tricky (i.e. their families want to control you), he takes the last block on foot to collect his thoughts before writing a composition. Just as he comes to the gate of his compound, he sees a lone shoe strewn in the middle of the sidewalk, poking out of the shadows of a poorly lit corner. As he walks closer to it, he hears rustling and heaving from the shadows. He turns and makes out the form of two people struggling in the dark. One is clearly bigger than the other, dominating the situation, forcing itself upon the other. Soon his eyes adjust, and the shadows become clearer. It’s a man and woman. His mind races: What is this? Rape? Passion? A joke? He stares at them for a moment, then decides he’ll ask the woman if she’s okay, but before he can call out to her, she speaks assuredly, for his benefit as much as the shadowy man’s:]

WOMAN

 让你通我。

I’ll let you inside of me.

[FERRET looks for a second more, and decides that everything is okay. Strange, but okay. As he returns to his apartment he thinks about China, the country where people blush at the mention of sex and make love in dark corners.]