Mingmei Yip - Song of the Silk Road

Alex went to get a shovel from the truck, hurried back, and began to dig. In a few minutes, part of a painted face began to emerge. My heart skipped a beat while I took out my camera to snap pictures. With quick motions of his arm, Alex swept off the sand and pulled out a metal box. On the cover was the face of a girl with long, black hair. Alex immediately snapped it open but, to my utter disappointment, the only “treasure” was a dusty clump of long, black hair.

Alex laughed, lifting up the hair and pouring the dust from the box. “Lily, so this is the treasure we risked our lives for?”

Was this a perverse joke from my aunt? From my backpack, I took out one of Mindy Madison’s envelopes, tore it open, and read the instructions:

I could not imagine what the temple would need this clump of hair for. So that the bald-headed nuns could make wigs to go out at night to sing karaoke or moonlight at forbidden establishments after midnight?

Now I seriously questioned whether I should continue this journey. I knew the Hidden Spirit Temple; it was in all the guidebooks. It would be easy to send the box and its peculiar contents there. Yet the demands from my aunt seemed to be getting more and more outrageous, even bizarre. The only thing that was real so far was the fifty thousand dollars, some still sitting in my bank account with the rest now in my pocket. But I had no regrets, for it was this trip that led me to Alex.

I took a few more pictures of the site, asked Alex to take some with me in them, then stowed the tin box in my backpack.

Alex’s excited voice rose in the air. “Lily, let’s stay here tonight.”

“Why?”

“I want to make love with you here.”

“Why here?”

“Because these walls will protect us from the wind and dust so we can watch the stars.”

“What if other couples think the same and try to camp here, too?”

“Then we’ll have a sex orgy.”

“Alex!” I slapped his shoulder. “Is that what’s always on your dirty mind?”

We kidded around for a while before he held my shoulders to stare into my eyes, his expression serious. “Lily, can’t you tell by now I’m a very devoted lover? You ever see my eyes wandering around?”

I chuckled. “Because there’re no other women around in the desert! I’m not so sure when you’re back in the city….”

“Lily, stop it. I don’t like to be teased about this. I’m a one-woman guy, period.”

“All right, all right, relax, Alex, I believe you.”

The sky was getting dark, so Alex parked the truck next to the tallest wall, then took out our small tent from the vehicle. I watched with relish as my lover set up the tent, working with deft hands and a determined expression. Then with our small propane burner we cooked canned beans and Spam to go with the now-stale buns given to us by the restaurant owner. Alex had told me he had started to learn to cook when he was ten. Any girl who’d be his wife would have not only a secure life but also a full stomach for sure. But hopefully without the extra pounds!

After dinner, Alex spread a blanket on the ground and started to take off my clothes. Embarrassed now that we were standing naked face-to-face, I shifted this way and that so he wouldn’t have the complete “Open-the-door-and-see-the-mountains” view.

“Lily, please.”

I pretended not to understand. “Please what?”

“You know what…. Please let me see you,” he pleaded, his astronomer’s eyes moving up toward heaven, then back down to earth.

“But aren’t you seeing me already? I’m right in front of you.”

Ignoring my nonsense, Alex lifted me up and gently set me down on the blanket, putting his hand under my head so I wouldn’t hit the ground.

He sighed. “Lily, I want to feast on your beauty every day.”

“Then what about the rest of me?”

After more verbal foreplay, my lover finally devoted himself to my body, his hands gentle yet firm, like a master chef kneading his dough. I closed my eyes to enjoy his touch. I never thought I was the most beautiful woman in the world, but his tender hands made me think just that. I didn’t think I was the sexiest, but the burning desire on his face made me imagine just that. I didn’t think I was the most romantic, but now it was as if I could see his eyes filled with stars. I didn’t think I was the most passionate, but my lover’s long, lingering howl made me think just that….

After love, we cuddled each other as we drifted off to sleep. Later I awoke shivering. So I nudged Alex, suggesting we get inside the truck and turn on the heat. Once we were inside with the seats pulled down and the heater on high, to my surprise, Alex wanted sex again.

Where did that endless energy and desire come from? That’s the price one paid for having a young lover. Maybe that’s why in traditional China women had at least eight or nine children, if not more. Because they married in their teens and their boy-husbands just wouldn’t leave them alone!

Though at first wanting to sleep, soon I was happy to comply. Especially since he’d suffered so much from the sinking sand and the worry of my attempted assault the other day.

After that, Alex held me as we watched the stars through the vehicle’s windows. In the moonlight filled with dense, sex-filled qi, I felt dizzy from a dreamy happiness.

I smoothed my lover’s hair, enjoying its sensuous silkiness. “Alex,” I asked, “is there nothing but sex between a man and a woman?”

“Of course not. I love my mother and sister, but I never thought of having sex with them.”

I turned to look him in the eyes. “You have a sister? How come you never mentioned her?”

“Sorry. Because she died.”

“How?” Now I was completely alert.

“She was my twin sister adopted with me. You know, we’re what the Chinese call the ‘dragon and phoenix twins.’ ”

I was completely enthralled by this unexpected revelation.

He went on. “She was born with a heart defect. Mom and Dad spent a fortune on treatment, but all the operations still failed to save her life.”

“I’m so sorry, Alex. How old was she when she died?”

“Ten.”

“Oh, my God!”

“She was my best friend. I used to tell her everything and cook for her. She also wanted to cook for me but couldn’t manage because of her disease. So she pretended to fix me meals—breakfast, lunch, one time even a gourmet dinner.”

I didn’t know what to say. I felt guilty that the sadness now on Alex’s face rendered him even more handsome. I bent to kiss him softly on his lips. “Alex, I’m sorry. But you can cook for me now, and if you don’t mind my poor culinary skills, I’ll cook for you, too.”

He looked even sadder.

The next day when I woke up in the truck, Alex was still sound asleep. The light hairs on his bare chest stirred softly in the slight desert breeze. My hand reached to stroke his cheek, but he flipped to the other side like a fish eluding my grasp.

I’d been reminding myself that I shouldn’t let my young lover take up so much of my time, that I was in China to carry out my mission of collecting the three million dollars. Once the prospect arose of having all this money, I realized how desperately I needed to escape my penny-pinching life.

Maybe now I had an additional option—saying yes to Alex’s proposal. But I would be living on his money. And his parents’. Could I swallow Donna’s disdainful treatment and take his parents’ thrown-on-the-ground-so-pick-it-up money? Of course not. For now, what I needed was to complete my mission and, in the meantime, just enjoy Alex’s company.

Once Alex awoke we had a brief discussion of plans. Both of us agreed we’d had enough desert adventures, so we headed back toward Urumqi. On the way, we posted the box with the hair to its intended destination in Beijing.

Despite the difficulties we had experienced here, we were actually about to go out of the notorious Go-In-But-Never-Come-Out desert. Alex would be with me, at least for now, but it was unlikely we would ever come back, wherever our lives took us. I thought of all that had happened here and that I would be leaving behind—Keku and her little son Mito; Floating Cloud and Pure Wisdom; Soaring Crane and Ah Hung; but most of all, Lop Nor. Whenever I remembered his kindness toward me and his tragic life, and death, I was greatly saddened. Suddenly I felt I should make a final visit to Black Dragon Pond to say a last good-bye. I wanted Alex with me but was not sure how he would take to this idea. To my relief, he quickly agreed.

“I would like that. You speak well of him and he was good to you, so I feel I would like to know more about him.” He cast me a suspicious glance. “As long as you promise me that you only liked him, not loved him.”

I nodded, and Alex took me in his arms and kissed me. “Lily, you’re such a good person. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Alex.” Then I realized that I’d just uttered the ultimate words.

“You do?”

I nodded. “But…”

“Shhh…” He put his finger across his mouth. “I’ll give you time, I promise.”

“Thanks.”

Gently I detached from his hold, pulled from my backpack Lop Nor’s necklace, and handed it to Alex. “He left me this,” I said, feeling my eyes moisten.

Alex studied the pendant and remained silent for moments, then he turned to me. “Lop Nor is gone, but I am here for you and I always will be.”