Hong Kong Hotel

Everything was green.

I thought I knew what I liked, who I liked.

She couldn’t have been more different.

My girlfriend was Asian, under five feet and under a hundred pounds.

This girl, the one across from me, was six-two, maybe taller. She was barefoot and bleach-blonde.

The bar was green — at least the light was.

We were in Hong Kong. I speak Chinese. Apparently our dialects differ — I had no one to talk to.

“I want you really badly,” I said to her.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said.

I didn’t expect that answer.

I hesitated and became confused.

I tried to think of a quote — Horace or Seneca or Cicero.

I came up short.

“Arma virumque cano” did not seem to fit the situation.

I stopped searching for the right thing to say.

Instead I said the same thing over.

“I want you really badly.”

I was still not sure she understood.

I ordered another drink.

She reached over. She had long fingernails. She scratched my hand. I kissed her. She kissed me back. We kissed again and again. I told her again how badly I wanted her.

She left to go to the bathroom. She excused herself politely. She never came back.

I stayed until last call. I had another drink. When the lights came on, I went back up to my room.

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Larry Fondation is the author of four books of fiction, all set in inner city Los Angeles. His most recent, a collaboration with artist Kate Ruth, is called Unintended Consequences, a collection of short stories.