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Flash Fiction #171
“Why is it called martial arts? And why is it arts but not art? We say studio art and fine art without adding an ‘s’ to the end, don’t we?” Lulan says while staring at a tourist brochure which listed local attractions and festivals and competitions.
Lulan and I are sitting in a dim sum restaurant in Toronto. It’s a girls’ vacation we have planned for a long time. We came to Niagara Fall from New Jersey first. Then we crossed the border to see the Fall from the Canadian side. After that we made our way to a really good restaurant in Toronto. After the meal, we are thinking of driving around to see the colorful autumn foliage, which is said to be arguably more spectacular in Canada.
“Oh, tell me about it. The plurals can drive me crazy. I mean one car or two cars sound very easy and straightforward. But we often find arbitrary additions of ‘s’ which seem to come from nowhere. And one doesn’t even know if martial arts should be treated as a plural form or singular form. English can drive non-native speakers crazy.” I say to Lulan.
“Let’s be positive. I’ve been telling myself to be positive. So the fact that most non-native speakers are sane and normal and functional is a testimony to our strength and resilience. Let’s look on the bright side.” Lulan says.
“Oh, my goodness. Look, who is that? Isn’t he the martial arts star from that historical TV show? What is it called? I mean that Hong Kong TV series long ago with Ganghis Khan, Mongolians, eagles, wars etc. Look at that guy. Is that him?” I say to Lulan.
“Oh, yes. I see. The guy next to him is his actor buddy. We are so lucky that we meet them here. I heard that there are more Hongkongnese moving to Canada, and better dim sum restaurants here in Toronto than in New York. I didn’t know these two actors moved to Canada. Or probably they are here on vacation or something.” Lulan says.
“Well, I was so obsessed with them when I was in school. We were all obsessed with them. They were so handsome in those days. I mean we nicknamed one Moonlight and the other one…well… Rainbow or Bridge or something. Let’s stick with Rainbow.” I say.
“I remember those days. Moonlight was playing the good guy while Rainbow was playing a villain. I was attracted to both. And I thought I was crazy since I often felt I was more attracted to the villain than to the good guy.” Lulan says.
“Time flies. Remember that actress who tried to kill herself, three times, for Rainbow, who was at the time juggling between two popular female singers?” I say.
“That was what we knew. There must be a lot that we didn’t know.” Lulan says.
“And one actress threw herself off a cliff and another actress tried to hang herself when Moonlight got married. And the third one almost professed her love on live TV and vowed to live like a nun just for him.” I say.
“I have to say love is men’s playground but women’s graveyard. Let’s go to yell at them, telling them that they are toxic…” Lulan says.
“But isn’t that a little unfair? I mean those women threw themselves at the feet of their idols. I mean the two cute guys didn’t do anything.” I say to Lulan.
(To Be Continued Here)
Haoyan Do 