Customs. Hopefully, it will be easy for me this time.”
We wait in line for another thirty minutes in which I drop four, maybe five pounds from sweating. It’s so damn hot and humid it’s funny. Actually, it’s not funny; it’s miserable. Bobby goes first again, and this time he breezes through. My trip through is uneventful as well, though it was a little embarrassing when the pretty girl smiled at my underwear, new stuff I purchased before I left.
Bobby and I walk a few feet away from the crowd to say our goodbyes. “Good meeting you,” I say, shaking his hand. “You’re a nice young man. I’d be proud to have you as a student.”
“Thank you,” he beams. “I’ll take you up on that. My ride is at the far end.”
I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but suddenly the invisible weight Bobby was carrying earlier is gone. Just like that.
We walk silently side by side out onto the sidewalk where a mob of people look anxiously at us to see if we’re their loved ones. I start to scan the crowd looking for—
“Sam.”
I freeze. I know that voice.
“Over here, Sam. To your right.”
At nearly six feet, Mai towers over everyone, many of whom are staring at her unabashedly. She’s behind several people so all I can see is her cascading raven-black hair framing a face that would make a monk question his life choices. What sends my heart rate so high that I’m in danger of needing a defibrillation are those exquisite brown eyes, their hint of elongation. Even from fifteen feet away they electrify each and every nerve up and down my spine.
Bobby’s voice comes from somewhere off to my side. “Dude! Is that tall chick the one you’re coming to see? Daaaamn!”
Mai snakes her way to the front of the crowd only to have another group move in between us. She laughs as she slips around them and resumes heading toward me.
“Excellent choice,” I barely hear the boy say. “Her legs in those jeans go on and on.”
“Mai,” I half whisper as she nears.
“I’m out of here, Sam,” Bobby says. “I’ll call you in a couple days.” He sings, “Have fuuuun.”
“Sure,” I say, without moving my eyes from Mai’s.
Mai and I lightly grip each others arms. She warned me on the phone that we can’t kiss or hug because it’s still considered taboo by most.
“Hi,” I whisper.
You know, people joke about those romance novels, but man-oh-man, it’s just as those writers described. The room really does spin and sounds really do muffle.
“Sam. I am so happy you have come,” she says with a slight nod, acting properly for those watching us. “Did you have a good trip?” I can see the green specks in her eyes now.
“Yes, thank you.” I so want to maul her. “It’s an incredibly long trip.” That’s all, just maul and maul and maul. “I hope you didn’t have to wait long.” And maul. “Time is a bit confusing to me right now. I’m not sure if we were on time or not.” Maul.
She smiles. “Yes, you were on time. It is five-ten in the afternoon.”
We had emailed each other dozens of pictures and did the face-time thing on the computer, but seeing her again in person just about sucks the breath out of my throat. Every doubt I had is sucked out with it.
“Mai,” I say, it sounding almost like a sob. “I am so happy to see you. I cannot express how much…” Am I tearing up?
Her eyes penetrate mine and tickle the inside of my skull. She nods almost imperceptibly, whispering, “I know. I thought this day would never come. My…” she looks down for a second, and then lifts her eyes to meet mine. “My heart has hurt for all these weeks. But now… it sings.”
My face muscles spasm into what can only be a goofy-looking smile. “Mine too.”
Oh man, if the guys on the Detectives floor could see me now, their teasing would be relentless. Hey Sam, is that your heart I hear singing?
I don’t bother wiping away my tears. “I can’t believe that I’m actually here—”
Shouts. Movement from my left.
“Something is happening,” Mai says, gripping my arm.
A woman’s scream. Another. The mass of people that had been waiting for arrivals press back from the disturbance. From where I’m standing it looks like… a fight?
When the crowd begins backing in our direction, I pull Mai protectively behind me. In an instant, my inner cop kicks in and I’m back on my beat working my way through a crowd that has surrounded a street fight.
“Sam, no,” Mai says in my ear, her hands on my shoulders. “Do not interfere here.”
I stop. “Whoops. I was on autopilot there for a second.”
“I do not know that word but it is very important that you not interfere. The police here are not the same—”
“Bobby?” I say, spotting him through an opening in the crowd. The boy is struggling with two men, both dressed in dark slacks and white overshirts. “What the…”
“You know him?”
“Yes, Bobby Phan.” They each have one of his arms, gripping hard as the boy writhes to get free. “We rode together all the way over. Who are those men?”
“I saw them when I was waiting. I noticed because they looked so serious and everyone else so happy. And they looked at every young face.”
“Lai Van Tan’s men?” But why would they attack him? Was he supposed to lead me to them?
“I do not—”
“Bobby!” Female voice coming a few feet from my left. “Bobby!” There, pushing through the crowd. A teenage girl, orange blouse, black satin pants.
The men are pulling Bobby in opposite directions. If they were stronger they would pull his arms out of their sockets. I take a step in that direction.
“Mai, I just can’t stand here and let them—”
Bobby launches a beautifully executed roundhouse kick into the face of the man on his left and, without returning his foot to the sidewalk, hook kicks his heel into the side of the other man’s neck.
“Oh, man!” I blare, shocked at the sight of the men stumbling back, one clutching his blood-spurting nose, the other swaying drunkenly as he reaches feebly toward his neck. “Bobby!” I shout, but he doesn’t hear me. He grabs his backpack and dashes for the girl’s extended hand. She leads him quickly through the crowd, and they’re gone.
The nosed-kicked man shouts something that I wouldn’t understand even if it wasn’t muffled by his hand that’s holding his nose in place.
“What
