Slightly out of focus

T You’re back then.

R I haven’t been anywhere.

T Feels like you have.

R Just very busy.

T That old avoidance strategy.

R No. Really.

T Standing still.

R Yes. As a matter of fact.

T So how was it?

R Slightly out of focus. Slightly intimidating. Good to do. No jostling. Proved a point and made a move.

T What point?

R That this is China, where The River Flows in Many Directions at the Same Time and I would not be jostled or disturbed while the surge happened.

T Weren’t you planning a return visit to the migrant workers’ English lesson?

R To film. Yes, just before Standing Still.

T And how was it?

R They were pleased to see us. Ms Guo referred to the lesson location as ‘home’. Home under the station, behind the concrete wall, with the two mynah birds suspended outside today, out the back. We were very surprised to find my useful sentence from last time “The signposts are also in English” had been successfully integrated and was now on the blackboard, large as life.

T Any further contact with Ms Guo back at the exquisite loo?

R We called in after the class. She told us that the man she grabbed for the photo shoot on my first visit to her toilet was a regular customer and that he’d like a copy of the photo, if it wasn’t too much trouble.

T He should get it laminated or in a frame if you ask me. The guy’s a legend.