Shanghai dreams

Greetings,

Singing and dancing in sub-tropical rain forests washing "Blood Diamonds."

Billboards shouted, “Making money in China is Glorious!”

She carefully folded hard earned hard currency into her black purse after a long hot shower and took the elevator down. Gliding through a revolving glass and brass door, she passed a deserted dark Japanese restaurant and negotiated gray stained industrial steps to Nanjing Xi Lu.

Serious adults in blue industrial clothing practiced Tai Chi with controlled balanced concentration. Every methodical movement grasped meaning. Dawn's collective breath formed a mist crashing around her well worn heels as she skipped over cracked city stones through their shadows.

A neighbor cried to a neighbor demanding something at high decibels. Hope? Love? Rice?

A motorcycle roared past followed by a bike bell ringing a sharp corner warning. Two old women dressed in thick clothing discussed the price of vegetables, winter days and the fate of their children.

Their words adjusted to musical volumes and surreptitious encounters in careful dark corners where hungry, sexually repressed couples groped for meaning.

Peace.