Mei Mei decided to get a job in the city. She didn’t really know what the city was. Her parents had never taken her there. But she’d seen things. She’d heard things. She knew that they dressed differently. Spoke a little differently. But most of all, she knew that that’s where all the art was. And the technology. Which, after considering it a bit, she concluded that art and technology kind of went hand in hand anyway. But either way. It was where she wanted to be.
Mei Mei was a teenager. She loved the internet. Probably a little too much. At least that’s what her parents would say. And she would sometimes think that they probably regretted buying her that laptop. That it made her disconnected, they said. That one day they would come home and find her hands pressed up against the screen (from the inside) and that she’d be screaming to get out and that they’d have to call a professional to release her from this apparent cyberspacial trapdoor that she’d somehow slipped into, they said. You never come on the boats with us anymore. You never even sit on the beach to watch the sunset. They did, however, make her put it down (the laptop, that is) during dinnertime as they assumed all good parents did throughout the world. Teenager; the very word, a universal chagrin.
But the time had come. And Mei Mei was getting to that age. And that is why her parents reluctantly allowed her to accept a job in the city. A job that she’d found online through one of the many job sites on her laptop. A job that was only one 40 minute subway ride away. And who were they kidding? They needed the money.
“But you know nothing about hotels, Mei Mei. And you know nothing about the city.”
“Your father has been there once, Mei Mei. He had some business to tend to and then he came back straightaway.”
“You know they know nothing of the Buddha. They say they do,” and her father shook his head, “But they do not.”
But Mei Mei herself wasn’t really too concerned with what the Buddha may or may not have done or what the ‘Oh Holy Wondrous One’ may or may not do. She was more focused on the lights. That neon. And the chatter. The people walking. Disturbances that weren’t talked about in town for the next month and a half. And mostly, that glorious glorious feeling of just being away for a little while...if only for once in a very short while.
So the job was on weekends. She could still go to school and help out around the boats afterward. And in Mei Mei’s mind, this was perfect. If not only for the fact that in her parent's mind, this worked well too. And so they allowed her take it. They let her leave the nest. Every parent’s worst heartache. But… Take a job in the city and then come crying back. Not that either of them had ever heard a single story to support such a theory. But maybe there was… Hope; wasn’t the right word either.
Oh my f-ing God, I think I’ve made a mistake. Is nothing Mei Mei would ever have said to her parents. Not that she wasn’t thinking it though. Not on her first day anyway. On her first day, the lights were too bright and the rails were too crowded. Mei Mei had never used the public transit system before. But it was when that most recent extension had been built so many years ago when she was just a kid… The one that reached almost all the way to her village. She liked to call it a ‘town’ because that did infer a little more sophisticance. But it was a village. It was then that her dreams of actually traveling to the city… The capital city! Did begin to take shape.
Not that everyone wasn’t very helpful in their attempts to get this girl to where she was going. A young teen with a lost look on her face. Most of the help, in fact, came from mothers toting along one or more children.
“Are you going to be okay? I can help you with the directions. Don’t worry too much. It’s only confusing once you get up to the street.”
And this is where Mei Mei did become turned around just for a bit. For she had never seen so many cars before. Or so much neon. Or buses. Or street signs; their indications, all but lost on her. Or even people for that matter! So many. Shoulder to shoulder; may have been a bit of an exaggeration but that didn’t stop Mei Mei from using that phrase to describe the rush hour bustle she’d witnessed to her parents once she got home.
“Need a ride, little girl?” a friendly cabbie pulled up to the curb and asked her.
“I’m sorry,” her tone was so honest, “But I didn’t bring any money with me.”
“Well, where are you trying to get to. Come on. Get in. Let me see the directions and I can take you there. First time to the city is free of charge and then… Well, next time you’ll know exactly the way to go.”
Mei Mei would not have accepted the ride except for the fact that she knew the hotel to be close. She wouldn’t have wanted to put the nice cab driver out of his way or cost him a fare that he could have used to feed his family.
“Don’t worry so much,” he told her, “And don’t be so concerned for me. Here in the city, we are all doing pretty well for ourselves. My family is not starving and I don’t even have to work too hard, thankfully.”
“Well, thank you just the same,” she said, “And I do believe that this is my hotel right up here on the right.”
“Good luck with your interview.”
“Oh, well thank you.”
And this entire experience left Mei Mei with the spiteful notion that her parents were wrong. That not everyone who lived in the city was ‘out to get you’. In fact, had it been the other way around, she could not imagine anyone from her town offering to her a ride somewhere...at least without a cost.
Mei Mei was hired at the hotel despite her having neither work experience nor references. Call it a pretty face? Or maybe the truth of the matter was the thriving economy within the city had opened the job market up to such a point... But the girl didn’t ask a lot of questions. So happy was Mei Mei just to hear those words ‘you’re hired’ that she didn’t even want to ask how much she’d be getting paid! Let alone negotiate. Because this was work experience! Which was valuable enough in itself. Or, to Mei Mei and her dreamy head specifically, this was a life experience which, in her opinion, was invaluable. Not to mention that that the college was only a few districts away. And all the art and the exposure. She’d move here one day soon. And she’d always return to her village for visits, is what she told herself. But not having to be there. To have to live and grow old there. And die there! It was all worth it. No matter how many dishes she had to do. Plates she had to scrape. Heavy suitcases that she had to carry up to the rooms of the wealthy who were too fatigued from traveling to be able to do that for themselves.
Mostly though, by the way that they’d explained it, Mei Mei would only be responsible for making up the rooms of the businessmen who patroned the hotel, during the day (foreigners mostly) while they were away for the day on business. And who wouldn’t like a nice clean room to come home to? This home away from home to them, as it were. And for the most part, as the first couple of weeks progressed, Mei Mei learned that these very busy men (and women) of business were quite tidy. None of them, from what she was able to ascertain, ever spent much time in their rooms...even in the evening. On rare occasion, she might find (in the mornings) a half-empty takeout container. One hair in the shower that must have fallen out and stuck itself to the tile somehow. Or an overnight bag placed squarely on top of the luggage rack. A suit or two on a hanger. And then, after two or three days, the room would be completely cleared of any personal belongings because that person would have checked out. Gone. Like ghosts. She couldn’t recall having yet seen a single one of them...even just a passing in the hall.
And when Mei Mei’s parents asked how the new job was going (secretly yet eagerly hoping for a negative response), she would tell them about these ‘ghosts’ in a fascinated tone. Because back in her village… Well, people seemed to Mei Mei to be pretty much the opposite of phantasms. Everyone knew everyone else too well and were around much too much to ever be anything but real people. But the general abstractness their daughter had taken on what should have been such simple topics of dinnertime conversation left her parents both bewildered and if not a little worried for her mental well-being. Could this be the city’s influence and what it was doing to her already? With her face in the computer all day and now her head somehow even more in the clouds; what was to become of their daughter and would she stay this way forever?
It was towards the end of her second week working at the hotel that Mei Mei first began to feel comfortable. Perhaps, it was an unspoken probationary period on the job that she felt had been lifted. Or perhaps, she had taken the metro enough times now to crack her laptop or simply listen to some music in order to distract herself from the...well, not boredom. But there was definitely a routine of sorts beginning to happen here and the people-watching was quickly losing its luster and she certainly no longer felt the need to read each and every stop displayed on the light-up boards above each door or to have to pay too close attention to the automated voice calling out their names in both Chinese and English. This was her job now and she was enjoying it; that sense of purpose that comes along with performing necessary tasks (no matter how small). Even if it was just cleaning up after phantasms.. And to think she was about to receive a paycheck pretty soon! One that her parents would, no doubt, try to tap into. Not that she minded earning her keep. It would give her, she imagined, more leverage in the near future to stop and sit in a park either before or after work. Or to visit a college. Or maybe even take an extra two hours after work to stop and see a movie!
It was also towards the end of her second week of working at the hotel that Mei Mei, having become somewhat used to her routine now, was thrown for a bit of a loop shortly after exiting the elevator that dropped her off at the lobby located over a couple of other businesses on the hotel’s 5th floor. There she saw, as always, the nice long and winding front desk; polished and shining with the grainy details of the natural, deep green quartz from which it had been created. And there were the couple of receptionist personnel in starched white shirts and collars typing away at their kiosks and screens tucked well underneath. And there was the manager in a formal looking jacket with a smile on his face; the soft music and overhead lighting causing him to appear more handsome than he actually was as...as...as he moved towards Mei Mei now and even put out his hand to greet her?
“Mei Mei. Good morning. How nice to see you,” his demeanor, not ingenuous.
“Good morning to you, sir. Is the list ready of the rooms I am to clean today?”
“It’s becoming ready as we speak. But… Mei Mei. I have a very special task for you to see to this morning before all that is taken care of.”
“Oh, of course. Do they need extra help in the kitchen this morning because the restaurant was very busy last night?”
“Uh… No, Mei Mei. I mean, maybe. But don’t you worry yourself about that. You’ve been a great help here. And you are a great help. And this diligence and flexibility of yours is very much appreciated and has not gone underlooked by anyone. Keep up this kind of attitude and soon you could and will be working behind the front desk...if that is something that appeals to you. It does pay more, of course.”
“Yes,” and her eyes lit up, “Someday I would love…”
“Yes, yes. And someday you will!” he interrupted; not in a manner of rudeness per se but one that revealed...urgency? “But just for this morning, I have something just a bit off schedule that I’d very much like for you to tend to.”
“Yes,” Mei Mei nodded politely.
“Yes. Fantastic. Thank you,” the manager’s smile widened with a hint of relief, “We need you to… I need you… I’d like you to… Upstairs on the 8th floor, there is an American. That is to say, there is a guest staying with us. He’s been with us for quite some time. You’ve never cleaned his room before because he...prefers to take that task upon himself.”
“That’s certainly very nice of him. But I truly do not mind…”
“But what I need you to do, Mei Mei. Sweet girl that you are,” and here, the manager smiled at her again; almost affectionately, “We’d like you to simply go up and check on him.”
And a silence hung in the air then but for almost too short a time for either of them to have fully realized that…
“It’s only that my…”
“He knows our tongue,” spoke the manger then as if able to predict her thoughts.
“And he’s a businessman?” asked Mei Mei then; as if attempting to use mere words to ward off this uneasy feeling, “Wouldn’t he have business meetings…”
“No. That is, of course, he is a businessman. He just does not have meetings...today. And please, do not forget that he is a respected guest of this hotel. So please, treat him as such.”
“Yes. It’s just that, how should I…? And what am I exactly?”
“It’s all so perfectly fine, Mei Mei. We’d like you to just knock on his door and ask him… This. Our guest. Ask him if he requires anything of us at this time. Food. Services. A taxi anywhere. His phone must have become disconnected and so, until the repairs can be made, we’d very much like to offer him this personal assistance. And yours, Mei Mei. Your special way with our guests already has proven to be the very definition of the values this establishment holds in such high regard.”
“This is all so very kind of you to say, sir. But the truth of the matter is, I have never actually met…”
“This is okay, Mei Mei. It is all okay. Now,” and he gestured back towards the elevator, “Off you go. And don’t worry about the first rooms on the list for cleaning. It will all be taken care of. Simply ask him if he needs anything and, if so, you come back down and let me know. Okay? That’s a good girl. I’ll talk to you soon.”
That elevator was the first that Mei Mei had ever been in. She’d heard about them, certainly. But when she’d come to apply for the job… And stepping into one for the first time. And the soft music that the hotel piped into them and into every hallway as a matter of fact. Well. It was like a ride that made her want to smile from ear to ear and even jump up and down had she not been headed straight to (also a first for her) a professional interview. She could have ridden that elevator all day, not gotten the job, and come home completely fulfilled with the sensation of some sort of success. But now. This time. Well, this elevator ride was by far the longest she had ever taken. Not that she hadn’t been to the 8th floor each day to do the cleaning of those rooms. But because of the foreboding doom that now consumed not only her mind, but her muscles that now began to tremor. Immediately. She’d noticed it when she went to press the button. Eight. Nothing about as simple as that. But her arm was too weak to lift her hand. And her hand was too weak to lift her finger. And then… Yes, there it was. The trembling did begin as her very finger moved to press the button.
Americans and America. The very concept was intimidating, for Mei Mei had heard such things. Not all bad, as the saying goes. But… Well, what had she heard honestly? They were a very influential country to say the least. Their cars were cool. People, in her experience, usually hated them or wanted to be them. Yet, more often than not, these were the same exact people. So… What sense did that make? So what else? Just in case a brisk conversation did ensue. They had wars going on all over the world at any given time but… This would obviously lead to politics and even Mei Mei knew better than that. So… Movies? Mei Mei did have to admit, she was a sucker for Hollywood movies. Even in subtitles. But then again, who wasn’t?!
Bing!
And there it was. The longest ride and yet the shortest. And there she was on the 8th. There was nothing Mei Mei wanted to do more in her life than to ‘abandon her post’ as they said and run towards the subway stop. Her only regret being that she couldn’t continue to run while being on the actual subway. And then run all the way back to her village and crawl into bed in the middle of the day. But Mei Mei did possess something that others usually recognize in individuals that individuals don’t always recognize within themselves. And that was a work ethic. And Mei Mei, unbeknownst to herself, was chock-full of that. And so she stepped. And the man’s door wasn’t even 10 meters away. And what kind of knock should she do? And should she say anything to accompany the knock?
Just turn it off. Just be relaxed. Just be yourself. And just don’t go in the room because if he does try to assault you, the phone is dead no one will ever hear you. Her face was well composed and her teeth were met well together without clenching. But her eyes were watery. So Mei Mei waited approximately a minute and half just to allow things to dry out before…
Knock. Knock. Knock. “Housekeeping,” seemed to leave her lips in an involuntarily cheery tone. And she knew that ‘housekeeping’ wasn’t what was requested of her but… What else was she supposed to…
“No thank you. I don’t need any!” came a voice that sounded like it was coming from the bed, lying down still, perhaps watching TV?
It was a deep voice. The deepest Mei Mei may have ever heard. Almost as if she felt it more than…
“If you just wanna leave some towels at the door. Thank you!”
“Yes, but…” and now that Mei Mei was engaged, she instantly threw all her fears away, “It’s just that… Well, would you mind allowing me to speak with you personally. If only for a few seconds.”
And then there was silence. For how long, Mei Mei would never be able to rationally determine. But it was trancelike. Just her. And the door. And the brushed aluminum latch and key card slot. But there was no peephole and therefore conversely no feeling that she was being watched. Yet… She felt like she was being sensed in a way. Her aura; or something teetering on the mystical side like that. She also knew that the room did not have a window to the outside. Just a double curtain hanging in there as if to give the occupant the illusion of one. And with no way in which to observe the outside world then what was this room really? But a fancy, dressed up cell that… Click-click. To her startlement. The bolt did then unlock.
Mei Mei’s heart did not pound then but she did still feel very helpless and outside herself as the the door handle bent down before her and the door, ever so slowly, inwardly opened.
“Speak with me personally about what?”
“About…” but Mei Mei lost her words as she struggled to, for the first time, see his face.
“You don’t have any towels,” he pointed out...literally with his finger. And a face so peculiar to Mei Mei. So Western. And so timeless. Like this man, who stood a good foot above her, could have easily been in his mid-twenties or mid-fifties. But, well who knows? The lights overhead in the hallway were calming and dim and the ones inside the room were well...nonexistent. And if the TV had been on, it wasn’t now. No blue light. And no other voices. Just that face and then infinity behind which made it only that much more piercing. But then he smiled! A small smile but it was still there. As if he were able to read her own trepidation. “Why are you here then? What’d they send you for? Don’t be afraid. I mean, I’m scary but not like that.”
The man was handsome, was Mei Mei’s second thought after being unable to determine his age. His hair, she could tell as he leaned in a little closer, was dark but with streaks of white running through it. His eyebrows were thick yet sharp. His mouth formed a shape that she could later only describe as being in a ‘permanent state of sarcasm’. And his eyes were like two roughly cut pieces of obsidian; shining in focused fragments with whichever way the little bit of light there was would let them.
So he was attractive. And it’s not that Mei Mei was a shallow person. She really wasn’t. But there is just something about attractive people that can make them seem more trustworthy and therefore put other people more at ease around them. Not that there have ever been any scientific studies in order to prove such a thing. At least not any that Mei Mei was aware of. So maybe, to this ‘theory’, some sort of margin of error did apply. But for the most part. And it did work this time. Because Mei Mei was no longer afraid or ill at ease because his face was just so...personable. Friendly even. But there was still something about those eyes. Something hectic. But whatever it was; it was contained, she felt, and kept well at bay.
Then a light flipped on inside. Two actually. The bulb directly above him and a brighter one within. The light itself then revealing his left hand on both the switches. And he said in a surrendering tone, “Come in.”
Had it been in the form of a question, Mei Mei never would have accepted. But this had been more of an order. But not. It was as if he were letting her enter and, therefore, she complied; if not a little bit thankful for the invite.
“Now then,” he began as she stepped a couple of steps forward and the heavy door seemed to slam shut on its own behind her, “Why don’t you sit in that chair over by the desk,” he pointed across the room on the other side of the bed against the far wall, “And I’ll sit in this one,” gesturing towards the corner adjacent.
And as if still in sort of a sleepwalking state, Mei Mei passed between the bed and the television, took a sharp right, and then planted her little uniformed bottom squarely on the chair by the desk. And it was cushiony. And it only occurred to her then that she’d never actually sat in any of the room’s chairs before. Quite nice.
And the man, dressed in torn jeans and a well-worn grey t-shirt, calmly padded toward his chair some 10 feet away in the opposite corner and had a seat as well. “May I ask you your name? And…” he caught himself before she could answer, “I should have first offered you some tea. Would you like some?” His face showed more age now in both lamps beside the bed. More stress lines, one might say. Or another; more smile lines around the eyes and upper lip.
“Uh, no. Thank you though,” she replied politely. But he’d already and instantly stood up to put a pot on; the electric pot which came complimentary with every room.
“If you change your mind,” he spoke over his shoulder, “But I’ll have some. It sounds good right now. Breakfast tea? Although there’s only one kind right here,” and, “What time is it anyway?”
“It is still the morning,” was Mei Mei’s dutiful and unassuming answer.
“Perfect. A little caffeine in the morning. It’s a shame you guys don’t drink much coffee here. I have to go out for that,” he spoke over his shoulder to her exhibiting a little frown, “And I will. Today. There’s some other things I have to get too.”
And it was only then that Mei Mei did notice the plethora of empty liquor bottles situated so perfectly around the room that this methodical form of decoration blended in all but entirely. “Shall I let the hotel know that you should be needing anything?” This was her mission after all; so why not just come right out and say it. After this though; well, Mei Mei, and she felt it, was guilelessly out of ammo.
“Not that I can think,” his back was still turned, still fixing the tea, “Am I… Did my credit card not go through or something? They could have just told me. I do have other ones.”
“No,” Mei Mei shook her head somehow aware that she knew he was not watching, “I mean, at least not that they’ve told me. In fact, I believe they mentioned that you were in very good standing and an esteemed guest.” She felt completely satisfied with that. With herself in that response.
“Esteemed, huh? That’s funny. Not you though. It’s just that I haven’t heard that word in a while.”
And without having any other response in place, Mei Mei simply nodded her head and said, “Yes,” in what she considered to be; without intonation.
By now the tea was steaming and, unbeknownst to any American nose, the aroma was also beginning to waft around the room. Perhaps. Or did it seem as though the stream of steam, infused with that particular quality of black, breakfast tea that all but tickles the shallow yet compelling regions of the brain to go ahead and sip some for pleasure. So nice and rounded were the teacups that this hotel did provide complimentarily. That much more pleasurable for sipping.
“Yes, I will have some, thank you,” she seemed to spout out out of nowhere.
“I was hoping you’d change your mind,” and he smiled again! And brought two cups over for them. Still steaming, of course. He then handed her her cup which she pinched between three fingers and set immediately on the table before her in order for it to cool down. “Cheers,” he gestured slightly with the tiny cup he was also holding before taking a sip of what must have been still molten hot liquid, “You mind if I ask you something?” And he turned around then only to walk two steps back to his own chair and slowly spin around again until planted comfortably into his own and so that he was again facing young Mei Mei.
“You may. Please,” and here she picked up her cup again for if nothing better to do with her hands or self. She brought it to her lips. And she began to blow directly onto the tea in order to cool it down.
It was here that the man, placing both hands against his forehead just after placing his teacup down on the window sill that had somehow been installed there if only to accommodate the fake window... “Okay,” wooooooof, and he blew out a ton of breath now as if to get down to what was actually lying… At the bottom? At the center. Or maybe just at what existed at the core of what was underneath so many, many hard-earned layers. The callous of the workingman’s foot or perhaps, more accurately, the rich man’s empathy. “Have you…” but he shook his head then as if not finding exactly the right approach. And now, with more of an openhanded gesture, “Have you ever experienced? That is. Well, look. I’m just gonna be blunt with you. Have any of your relatives ever spontaneously turned into monsters?”
“Excuse me,” Mei Mei’s brow crinkled a little, “Could you please rephrase the question?”
This man was an American after all. And despite the fact that he spoke her language well aside from having a very thick accent; he perhaps… But then again, some of the words he used (and had used) throughout their exchange already had shown the he did possess quite an extensive vocabulary.
“Any of your relatives…” and he leaned forward in his chair now; cocking his head to one side and squinting one eye while widening the other, “People to whom you are related. You know. Brothers. Sisters. Parents even. Especially parents.”
And Mei Mei took a moment to process this. “I’m sorry. Are you asking me if any of my relatives… If I’ve had a falling-out with any of them? Or if any of them have become estranged?”
“Well, no. Not exactly. Although, that would seem to be the end result. This is, unless it suits you to maintain relationships with monsters,” and he chuckled here. “What I’m asking… But perhaps if I elaborate a little.”
“Yes. Please,” her tone; obedient somehow.
“You see… It wasn’t very long ago that my mother and father and brother and sister… It just started happening to them. All very suddenly. I’m not sure how long the process took exactly. But I do know that it couldn’t have taken more than just a few hours. I’d been traveling. Sometimes for work. Sometimes for leisure. But I’d been overseas for quite a while without having returned home...or even back to the United States at all for that matter. But when I finally did. They welcomed me. I was supposed to stay with them in the house I grew up in. Which I did, but only for one night as it turned out. My mother made a wonderful dinner. And my brother and sister came there after work to visit and eat with us. It was the first time the whole family had been together in so long… Not that I mean to infer that I was the ‘glue’ by any means or any type of magnet that metaphysically pulled them all together. The reunion was circumstantial, more or less. People are busy. My brother and sister work a lot. They hadn’t been home in a while either despite either of them still living in our same hometown. My mother then seemed to be working hard at trying to contain the she joy she was experiencing while putting the steaming hot food on the table before us all. And my dad, well… He was obviously happy to have us too. But there was something even more beautiful involved in his own contentment. He just kept looking at my mother and appeared to be feeding off the secondhand rays of her own joy; so deep must his love still have been for her. Everything seemed so perfect at that table. There was a large, rectangular window where we watched the sun set behind the mountains as we ate. We laughed. We passed the side dishes to one another. Then the three of us ‘kids’ cleared the table and did the dishes so that my mother could rest after having prepped and cooked such a bountiful and delectable dinner.”
Mei Mei picked up her teacup then and sipped it soundlessly. And she leaned in then as he still was leaning… In order to hear better? She didn’t want to miss any nuance due to his accent. She felt pleased though. Pleased that he thought she was so worthy of such a lengthy explanation. But an explanation of or for what, she was still really not sure. Her very presence? Or to that of the very complicated fate that had led her here. The girl’s forearms resting on her legs now. The teacup supported by the fingertips of both hands. “Yes,” she spoke. His eyes were a distraction though. Yet she knew that he knew this already. Therefore, he would not be and was not offended at all as she directed her gaze upon the the aqua blue curtain to her right.
“And then…” the man paused and seemed to think for awhile as if trying to figure out just how to frame the rest of what he had to say. “Then my parents went to bed. My brother and sister and I stayed up in the living room watching something, I can’t remember what, on TV and reminiscing every once in awhile about old times. And then at about midnight, I suppose, they each said goodnight and each took one of the two spare bedrooms. I slept on the couch but I didn’t mind. They know I always do this in my own home even. Sleep on the couch in the living room that is. I don’t know. It’s just a weird habit I have. And the next thing I know, it’s daylight. Not even early morning but like full-on daylight. Like I might have overslept or something. Not that anybody had any plans the next day. Aside from just more visiting. Maybe making a breakfast together. That sort of thing. But it just seemed like… Like I shouldn’t have been the first one up. Like either my brother or sister or even my mom would have sat down on the loveseat next to me and turned the TV back on or something. Or that there should have been the sounds or smells of breakfast cooking. Not that I was expecting breakfast to just be made for me, you see. But there was something just...off about it seeming so late into the day and the quiet. But all of us are very busy, hardworking people. And so maybe we were just all that tired; was the logical thought I finally went with. But then...that’s when I heard it. And felt it. It came from down the hall where all the bedrooms were. First, there was a deep, guttural rumble. Something like a low purr. So bassy that I could actually feel it in my chest and all around me. And then that purr, in just a few seconds, matured into a screeching roar. And the anger in that roar is what struck me most. It was like that of a caged beast...or at least what I ever imagined that to sound like. Like something wild that was trapped and wanted out. Like,” and the man had to think of the word for just a few seconds here, “Tortured. You look like you have a question.”
And here, he’d taken Mei Mei off guard.
“It’s okay,” he smiled again as if able to read the dismay on her face, “You probably have many. But you can just save them for the end? It’s almost over.”
“Okay,” she nodded thinking then something like, ‘what questions didn’t she have?’
“And then here they came down the hallway. I heard the bedroom doors come crushing down...flying off their hinges. They weren’t the sturdiest or most expensive doors that ever existed. But still! And then footsteps. Slow-moving steps like a toddler might take who’s just learning how to walk. But heavy. And between the footsteps and the continuing purrs and the roars, my senses became overloaded and the very floor beneath the couch, on which I was still lying, shook ferociously. And I just decided then, and rather quickly I might add, that I should probably put some distance between myself and whatever was about to come back down that hall. And so, still in my underwear even, I leapt to my feet and then leapt over the couch itself in order to reach the sliding glass door behind me. It led to the backyard and at least there, I knew that I could make a run for it. So I unlatched the lock and slid the door open with all my might. But I just had to see. Just one good look to see what I was up against. Because my plan, you see, was to circle back around from outside the house to make it to the other sliding glass door that led to my parent’s room. I wanted to try to rescue them. Assuming there was anything left. And that’s when I saw them. My mom and my dad and my brother and sister. They were barely recognizable but somehow I knew it was them. Coming down the hallway and then out into the living room where I had just been, only moments ago, just sleeping. And they were the very monsters that had been roaring. Dark green in color. And rough and scaley now on the outside. Almost like gravel for skin. And long, green tails swishing back and forth. And their arms reaching outright. And their hands now with long claws. But what struck me most were their faces. I guess it’s that their eyes still seemed human to me. Like their eyes were somehow trapped in the rest of it. Yet, I couldn’t decide, even now, if it was anger or terror that I saw in them then. I suppose, it could have been both. Who knows? It all happened in such a flash. But now their heads were lizard-like. Almost like… Are you familiar with Godzilla?”
“The Japanese Godzilla?” Mei Mei asked is an attempt to clarify.
“Yes. The Japanese Godzilla.”
“Yes. I am familiar. I have seen two or three of the movies. Perhaps even four.”
“Yes,” the man commenced, “Four of them. And that was all that was left of my family. Four miniaturized Godzillas. Though...not so miniature that I wasn’t scared to death of them. They wanted food or carnage or...something. From me. And so I fled. Fast as I could. Out through the door and into the backyard where they chased me. And one of them actually caught me for a second. I can never be sure which one it was though. Not my mom. I do know that. I’d seen reluctance in her eyes, in the hall, somewhere in all the chaos. Like there was something left of her in there that didn’t want to do it. Sadness even. But one of them caught me with their claws and… Well, I have a pretty good gash on my back that I’d show you if it didn’t seem somehow inappropriate. But that was it. I got away. They still chased me but I hopped over the wall and then ran through some other people’s backyards until I hit the next road and then kept on running even then. And I could still hear their terrifying roars but I never looked back again. And that saddens me a little. Their fate, ya know? And now,” the man slapped his hands down on his knees and smiled very widely this time, “It appears that you don’t have any questions anymore. Or do you?”
“No,” Mei Mei replied and then finished the last of her tea, “It’s just that I believe you already answered them all. With that last part.”
“Is that so then. Well, alright.” And here he smirked, “I suppose I should just be thankful that they were not fire breathing, ah?”
“Very thankful,” she agreed and stood up quickly with an air that seemed to state that whatever business this had been had been concluded.
And the man did the same. “It was really nice talking to you, Mei Mei. And I do appreciate you coming by. I’ll express to the management how courteous and professional you’ve been.”
“You’re very kind,” and smiling herself, she bowed a tiny bit. “And as I’ve asked before. Do you have any requests? Any service that the hotel could provide you?”
“No,” and the man put his hand to his head, ruffled up his own hair a bit, gave her a very sincere look, and then finally said, “I’ve gotta go down there anyway. Gotta get some coffee from one of the stores as I was saying. I’ll stop and talk to them. I just wanna take a shower first to be presentable.”
“Of course,” and Mei Mei then extended her hand which he shook, “You are the first American that I have ever met and it has been a pleasure.”
“Oh yeah?” he grinned accentuating the crow’s-feet on either side of his eyes, “Well, how ‘bout that. Just keep working hard there, girl. And you’ll be running this place someday. If you want to. Which you won’t. I’d be willing to bet, the universe has even better things in mind.”
“You’re very kind,” she smiled and, while making her way towards the door, did notice out the corner of her eye; a long bloody smear on the chairback in which the man had been sitting still shiny with wetness.
“I’ll go down and talk to them,” he put up his right hand in sort of a wave goodbye without actually looking her way.
“Okay,” and she was through the threshold again, “Goodby then.”
“Goodbye.”
On the elevator ride back down to the lobby, Mei Mei wasn’t really thinking about anything. Her eyebrows were scrunched a little, as if in thought. But mostly she was just listening to the hum of the elevator itself and feeling it as it moved downward and watching the light-up button that she knew would switch off again the moment her floor was reached. Bing! And there it was. And there the doors did slowly and soundlessly spread open. She exited.
And there she was again. And there was the hotel desk with the couple of agents in their starched, white shirts typing into unseen keyboards behind the shiny…
“Mei Mei!” the manager seemed to leap out of nowhere. “Do you have any information for us? For me. What did he tell you? What did you see?”
“I spoke with him,” she affirmed.
“Yes, yes. You must have,” the manager could not hide the excitement in his voice, “You were up there for quite a while. Surely you two...must have conversed.”
“Yes,” she nodded, “Yes, we did.”
“Well then. Did he mention…”
“No,” Mei Mei might have interrupted, “The guest made it very clear that he has no requests at this time.”
“Well…” and the manager appeared to be frustrated then to some extent, “Is he...alright, would you say?”
“Yes. I would say that,” she replied, “He seems fine. He said he’d be down in a bit,” and here, she threw in something that, for the first time in Mei Mei’s young life could have been construed as sociologically vicious, “To speak to you.”
“Uh...uh...uh. Is that so?” the manager stuttered literally uncontrollably. “And, what about?”
“He didn’t say,” was Mei Mei’s answer, “I can only suppose, whatever it was that you sent me up there to talk to him about in the first place.”
“Yes,” and the manager bobbed his head up and down. His eyes; turned up and to the right as if thinking of something.
“So. May I have the list now. Or what is left of it.”
“This list,” the manager only halfway seeming to return to Earth.
“Yes. The list of the rooms that still need to be cleaned. I’d like to clean them, please. Sir. I’d like to clean them so that…” But now Mei Mei, who wanted nothing more than to run there only moments ago, found herself unsure of whether or not she did in fact want to go home.