Full Moon
Two people meet in New York in April, 2006.
There's instant chemistry, but she lives in Shanghai, China. He is a photographer from Brooklyn. They scarcely keep in touch after she leaves New York.
She goes about her life and develops a tumour in her lungs. One night after her first surgery, around November of 2007, he appears online out of the blue. They chat and she discovers that he, too, is fighting cancer - lymphoma - and has been undergoing treatment after surgery as well. Her heart goes out to him. He was the first person of her age group that has developed cancer in the time she has known him.
She wants very much to stay in touch, to be there for each other as they both deal with the mental as well as physical challenges that life has dealt them. But again, he disappears into cyber oblivion. He is not available, not even after her second surgery in January, 2008.
Resentful and resigned to him being not communicative, she chooses not to contact him when she once again travels to New York in May. She relishes in the city as usual, and even enjoys an intense, all-consuming week-long fling in Brooklyn, unknowingly, just ten blocks away from him. He is also a photographer.
Life continues with its usual and expected vicissitudes. After her U.S. trip in the Spring, she returns to Shanghai for two weeks only, before heading to Europe for a second attempt at the family reunion that got rerouted to the hospital the previous year. She feels refreshed and regenerated through her travels, the contact and exposure to new environments offer her a much needed change of scenery from the past months of cancer circus.
Long after she forgets about him completely, he surprises her online one mid-August afternoon when she is just returned to Hong Kong from the desert in Morocco. He announces that he is heading to Shanghai for work for two weeks and would love to see her. He has not been in touch sooner because he too has been traveling, partly for specialist treatment in Japan for his health. He wants her to know that he has been thinking about her often, knowing that she has been going through rough times with her health as well.
The Olympics in Beijing were coming to a close. She would have returned to Shanghai by now, well before his arrival, but she is bound by family affairs in Hong Kong after the sudden death of a dear uncle. From Shanghai, he tells her he misses her.
After more of life's circumstances, she finally returns to Shanghai by early October, eager to begin life again after so many months away. Once again, he magically appears, telling her that he shall return to Shanghai for work again soon and hopefully will get to see her this time round. The resentment she had felt is softened by his eagerness and persistence. She gracefully accepts to see him, but is also weary of disappointment. Knowing herself, she is careful not to invest too much energy on the matter.
She has always known they have no method of communication apart from instant messenging online. There may have been emails exchanged long ago, that did not endure computer viruses or laptop upgrades. She has also learnt to accept that their communication is very one-sided - he gets in touch at his whim and fancy, she never knows when that will be.
She leaves him her contact number online around the time he is supposed to have arrived in Shanghai, but does not hear from him until a week later, on Halloween. He also leaves her a number, one that has too many digits, which confuses her, but manages to reach him. They finally speak, after over two years. She has forgotten how comforting his voice can be. She caught him at a shoot, however, and he promises to call later, in about two hours. Half expectedly, she doesn't hear from him that day.
He apologises online two days later, from Singapore, for not returning her call, explaining that his schedule just got out of hand, and that he will be back in Shanghai in four days. He admits as well that he hasn't called before because he couldn't retrieve the number she left for him on messenger.
Four days came and went, and there is no word from him. On the sixth day, Sunday, he texts her on her mobile saying he just landed back in Shanghai, when can he see her. At first he thought they could meet in the evening after his shoot, then later he discovers he had client servicing duty over dinner and drinks. He sounds hopeful and engaged on the phone though, and she could tell he was indeed sincere about wanting to see her. They ring off, tentatively making plans for Wednesday. He is due to leave on Friday.
Tuesday evening came, and another round of schedule matching later, they decide Thursday lunch it was. Definitive. If something comes up then, that's it, he would be off on a flight the following day. By now, she cannot help but sense the underlying futility of the situation. She even mentions that she is prepared for the best laid plans to be ruined. He assures her that he is in charge of the plans for Thursday and there should be no surprises.
She considers whether she should call him by 2 in the afternoon on Thursday, since she has not heard from him at all that morning . She leaves him a message online. Annoyed, but determined not to be upset, she goes about her plans for the afternoon, and meets up with girlfriends at 5 for drinks that were scheduled the week before. Just as she is venting about the situation to the girls by 5:30PM, she receives a text from him.
'Morning sunshine. What time do you want to meet today?' Morning?
She calls him back immediately. He sent that text before noon, but she only receives it six hours later. He is now on his way to a fashion shoot at the Park Hyatt in Pudong. How unfair can this be? The only free time they have, and they miss it due to a telecommunication technical failure. They have been in the same city at the same time for almost two full weeks, and they still don't manage to see each other. She has never felt so cheated by time.
Staring out at the Scorpio full moon in Taurus from the Bund, she is certain by now that the forces are clearly against this, but why? What is the wrong in them meeting, or conversely, what is the good in them not seeing each other? How can two people meet, each go have cancer and not remain in each other's lives? How badly does she want to thwart the powers at be?
Why don't you call me after your shoot later? No, it won't be too late, I might still be out. It was as if the full moon that night cast a spell on her. Leaving the Bund on the highway, the injustice of the situation infuriated her, even in the cab she feels spiteful and restless. She joins her friends back in the Concession and pounds down tequila until she is sick at home by one in the morning and passes out promptly after. He texts at 2AM asking where she is.
She wakes at eleven the next day with her head hurting so badly that she just wished he was there cuddling her in bed. The frustration built up over the last two weeks has dissolved all reservation in seeing him. Hungover and feeling weak, all she wants now was to touch him and feel his skin against hers. She tells him as much, and he wants so much to comply, but is due to fly out to Hong Kong at 2 in the afternoon. Even on the day of his departure, they negotiate with fate. Just as she thinks the signs cannot be any clearer:
Why not change the flight anyway, spend the afternoon in bed with me? Because the flight can only be changed to the following day, part of a client expensed ticket that's restricted. Perfect! Then leave tomorrow instead. But his visa expires today.
He tries to text her after talking to the airline, but his phone dies. He has to rush to the airport.
She has an invitation for a restaurant opening at the Park Hyatt that same evening.
There's instant chemistry, but she lives in Shanghai, China. He is a photographer from Brooklyn. They scarcely keep in touch after she leaves New York.
She goes about her life and develops a tumour in her lungs. One night after her first surgery, around November of 2007, he appears online out of the blue. They chat and she discovers that he, too, is fighting cancer - lymphoma - and has been undergoing treatment after surgery as well. Her heart goes out to him. He was the first person of her age group that has developed cancer in the time she has known him.
She wants very much to stay in touch, to be there for each other as they both deal with the mental as well as physical challenges that life has dealt them. But again, he disappears into cyber oblivion. He is not available, not even after her second surgery in January, 2008.
Resentful and resigned to him being not communicative, she chooses not to contact him when she once again travels to New York in May. She relishes in the city as usual, and even enjoys an intense, all-consuming week-long fling in Brooklyn, unknowingly, just ten blocks away from him. He is also a photographer.
Life continues with its usual and expected vicissitudes. After her U.S. trip in the Spring, she returns to Shanghai for two weeks only, before heading to Europe for a second attempt at the family reunion that got rerouted to the hospital the previous year. She feels refreshed and regenerated through her travels, the contact and exposure to new environments offer her a much needed change of scenery from the past months of cancer circus.
Long after she forgets about him completely, he surprises her online one mid-August afternoon when she is just returned to Hong Kong from the desert in Morocco. He announces that he is heading to Shanghai for work for two weeks and would love to see her. He has not been in touch sooner because he too has been traveling, partly for specialist treatment in Japan for his health. He wants her to know that he has been thinking about her often, knowing that she has been going through rough times with her health as well.
The Olympics in Beijing were coming to a close. She would have returned to Shanghai by now, well before his arrival, but she is bound by family affairs in Hong Kong after the sudden death of a dear uncle. From Shanghai, he tells her he misses her.
After more of life's circumstances, she finally returns to Shanghai by early October, eager to begin life again after so many months away. Once again, he magically appears, telling her that he shall return to Shanghai for work again soon and hopefully will get to see her this time round. The resentment she had felt is softened by his eagerness and persistence. She gracefully accepts to see him, but is also weary of disappointment. Knowing herself, she is careful not to invest too much energy on the matter.
She has always known they have no method of communication apart from instant messenging online. There may have been emails exchanged long ago, that did not endure computer viruses or laptop upgrades. She has also learnt to accept that their communication is very one-sided - he gets in touch at his whim and fancy, she never knows when that will be.
She leaves him her contact number online around the time he is supposed to have arrived in Shanghai, but does not hear from him until a week later, on Halloween. He also leaves her a number, one that has too many digits, which confuses her, but manages to reach him. They finally speak, after over two years. She has forgotten how comforting his voice can be. She caught him at a shoot, however, and he promises to call later, in about two hours. Half expectedly, she doesn't hear from him that day.
He apologises online two days later, from Singapore, for not returning her call, explaining that his schedule just got out of hand, and that he will be back in Shanghai in four days. He admits as well that he hasn't called before because he couldn't retrieve the number she left for him on messenger.
Four days came and went, and there is no word from him. On the sixth day, Sunday, he texts her on her mobile saying he just landed back in Shanghai, when can he see her. At first he thought they could meet in the evening after his shoot, then later he discovers he had client servicing duty over dinner and drinks. He sounds hopeful and engaged on the phone though, and she could tell he was indeed sincere about wanting to see her. They ring off, tentatively making plans for Wednesday. He is due to leave on Friday.
Tuesday evening came, and another round of schedule matching later, they decide Thursday lunch it was. Definitive. If something comes up then, that's it, he would be off on a flight the following day. By now, she cannot help but sense the underlying futility of the situation. She even mentions that she is prepared for the best laid plans to be ruined. He assures her that he is in charge of the plans for Thursday and there should be no surprises.
She considers whether she should call him by 2 in the afternoon on Thursday, since she has not heard from him at all that morning . She leaves him a message online. Annoyed, but determined not to be upset, she goes about her plans for the afternoon, and meets up with girlfriends at 5 for drinks that were scheduled the week before. Just as she is venting about the situation to the girls by 5:30PM, she receives a text from him.
'Morning sunshine. What time do you want to meet today?' Morning?
She calls him back immediately. He sent that text before noon, but she only receives it six hours later. He is now on his way to a fashion shoot at the Park Hyatt in Pudong. How unfair can this be? The only free time they have, and they miss it due to a telecommunication technical failure. They have been in the same city at the same time for almost two full weeks, and they still don't manage to see each other. She has never felt so cheated by time.
Staring out at the Scorpio full moon in Taurus from the Bund, she is certain by now that the forces are clearly against this, but why? What is the wrong in them meeting, or conversely, what is the good in them not seeing each other? How can two people meet, each go have cancer and not remain in each other's lives? How badly does she want to thwart the powers at be?
Why don't you call me after your shoot later? No, it won't be too late, I might still be out. It was as if the full moon that night cast a spell on her. Leaving the Bund on the highway, the injustice of the situation infuriated her, even in the cab she feels spiteful and restless. She joins her friends back in the Concession and pounds down tequila until she is sick at home by one in the morning and passes out promptly after. He texts at 2AM asking where she is.
She wakes at eleven the next day with her head hurting so badly that she just wished he was there cuddling her in bed. The frustration built up over the last two weeks has dissolved all reservation in seeing him. Hungover and feeling weak, all she wants now was to touch him and feel his skin against hers. She tells him as much, and he wants so much to comply, but is due to fly out to Hong Kong at 2 in the afternoon. Even on the day of his departure, they negotiate with fate. Just as she thinks the signs cannot be any clearer:
Why not change the flight anyway, spend the afternoon in bed with me? Because the flight can only be changed to the following day, part of a client expensed ticket that's restricted. Perfect! Then leave tomorrow instead. But his visa expires today.
He tries to text her after talking to the airline, but his phone dies. He has to rush to the airport.
She has an invitation for a restaurant opening at the Park Hyatt that same evening.