Summary

Patty recalled meeting Liang in Tianjin when he came to photograph her graduating class at Nankai University. They went back to his studio afterward and Patty told him about her family and her studies. They kissed, and Patty was surprised Liang did not try to initiate sex. She slept over in the studio and woke to Liang having a nightmare. She spoke to him to calm him down. The nightmares continued for years.

Patty drive away from the highway. Instead of going home, she went to the apartment building where she and Liang lived in when they first came to the U.S. Through the window of one of the apartments, she saw a woman walking around in her underwear. She called home and got the answering machine. Listening to the recorded outgoing message, she wondered, “When had they become not Patty and...