The clock was staring at me in the cool barroom, on the third floor of the hotel, a paleness swept over Beijing, before the twilight as I looked out its big bay windows. American music was playing, and a karaoke set up was on the stage in front of me. It was a ghostly menacing day in a way (I enjoyed the sites but so much rush), full of people and buses, and of no promise of meeting anyone in particular, girl that is, yet I did not try either, that is, except for that insulting female on the wall. The sign read on the karaoke stand: "9:30 PM Karaoke Night!" I had sat around a while and when I looked at the clock for the second time it read: 8:30 PM, I was nursing a coke, drinking it slowly down: the night was early, and I was not in any hurry to go back to my isolated quiet room, although I liked the idea of it. I paced about looked down the long towering street from the bay window.

Then all of a sudden, there was that girl the one from the wall, she had walked in like a princess, head back, shoulders straight like an arrow, and she was nice looking now that I could stare a bit, check her out more; get a better look at her, but then, after that I tried to hide behind the pillar by my table which was next to it. I really didn't want to greet her should she expect me to. She pulled off her red light sweater, and tossed it over a corner of a chair, the table she was to sit down at was in front of me (could she not find a better place to sit, I thought). On second thought, she spotted me, and waved with her cat like paw. I didn't wave back, this, for sure, surprised her, she was not used to such rudeness, or being shunned, so I suspect: only making fun of people who had heart surgery.

She flung out a cigarette from her purse, cold like. Heaviness to her eyes now, was she staring, sleeping or just uncaring by that squinting, and side look she gave me, but she was staring at me nonetheless, and to speculate on this, I didn't like it, so I picked up my coat and moved over to another table, a ting more on the dim side of the room, there was a pillar covering myself a little from her sight should she wish to pursue the mocking; it kind of hid me from her, I just didn't want to get into this woman's lib thing: you know, I can do what any man can do, thing.

My mind was now miles away, if not twenty-five miles from this barroom, going over the day, hour by hour. In a half an hour a man stepped up to a stand, spoke over a microphones,

"Karaoke tonight, stick around!"

I could hear horns from the motorcars outside below the hotel, winding up the street. The girls face was fading back to my location, per expression was both calm and conscious in a pleasant way. However, her eyes didn't move as they should have I thought; indeed, they did more staring, idiomatic, seemingly.

There was a brief moment, several Chinese girls came into the lounge, with their boss, I met him, or he actually introduced himself to me, worked with the oil companies, and wanted me to dance with a sweet looking Chinese girl about twenty three years old. And so I did, while he gossiped with the other girls. Afterwards, he gave me his card, unanticipated like, I took it, and it said: "Executive manager of ..." (some oil company). "You see me tomorrow, I fix you up with girl, they like Americans," he said.

The girl had told me, on the dance floor, she was learning the oil business, and seemed more interested to me in oil than in dancing, but she also seemed like she wanted to please her boss. But I told the Big Shot thanks, and went back to my corner in the barroom after two or three dances: they also needed to get to bed early the Boss said.