Journey Home 2

“You have not changed much/a bit”--this turned out to be the most frequently said and heard on the journey—as a compliment meaning one was still young, as an icebreaker between those who had obviously been estranged by the years of separation, and as a substitute for what was meant to be said in fact: “Much has changed.” As soon as he saw to it that all luggage was safely stowed away in the trunk of his driver's minivan; T and L in the van; Q, L and I in his car, LW exhaled an a-ya- and said,"you haven't changed a bit, still as slender as you used to be.” “But the hair has turned gray, that's why I am wearing the hat!” Q was apparently pleased with LW's compliment and voiced the hair imperfection in a brisk tone that made nothing but a delightful fact of it. “Mine, too, but I have dyed, haha,” said LW in a light tone as well. The air in the car was now much less pressing and pleasantly cool; still LW asked in earnest if the air-conditioning was functioning properly for L and me in the back. "How's business? We are all proud of you, YY and a couple of others in our cohort who had the courage to "go down to the sea" and set up your own companies," said Q. "All right, all right, small business, though. Not unlike YY, whose company is big. You communicate more with YY, though? We are not often in touch, even as we are both in Beijing. Do you still remember QWC? He is probably in America now, but I haven't heard from him since he called from the airport, saying he's going abroad. Nothing, no news at all. He's made a fortune, though, you know, financial business conducted together with his brother-in-law. Three boys, all gone with him, I guess, but no news, no news at all. Strange. Strange. He could have sent us a brief note specifying his whereabout as you did for our cohort renuion, but not a word." LW sighed and adeptly passed a giantic truck that seemed to be verging onto his lane on the crowded high way. "Aha,can't it be that he is hiding, like other corrupted," said Q jokingly. "Who knows what, nowadays," LW seemed to have taken Q's joke seriously, "Based on you two's experience, is it better to send a kid abroad for school? And what's the best timing, high school, college, or graduate school?" LW was trying to pull me into the conversation. To prevent Q from voicing any extreme view as he would on this issue, I jumped in quickly:"While exposure to another culture is certainly helpful, it really depends on the character of the kid as to when it is best to go abroad; if one is independent and strong willed, it won't matter much probably to study away from home earlier; otherwise it is probably better to wait till later since studing abroad does entail tolerating much lonliness and self-discipline." I was surprised at my own cautiousness but relieved that Q now could no longer say, "the earlier, the better." LW called to confirm with YY that we were to gather at a restaurant near YY's apartment, and it was close to 8 p.m. when we arrived there. LW ordered a huge bunch of food and drinks but we failed to be good guests enjoying most of them due to jetlag. Q wanted to suggest that the leftover be packed up and taken away, but seeing no such intention on the host's part, he did not voice it. And it was late into the night when jetlag brought me awake in an small hour of the morning that I saw Q staring at the ceiling and murmuring: "As regards eating, much has changed."