Apat. Life in Paradise Part 1

Karin skipped through the barriers and past a security guard. She took one final look back at me as, with her fingers, she pushed away the errant chestnut blonde strands of her hair and her eyes were green as the misty slopes of her Cambrian forefathers, glistening despite the cold neon lights.

Arghh, she’d hate it!! How about…

Karin looked over her shoulder as she pushed past a security guard and through the barrier, and with one final glance her sea-green eyes held mine with a furtive twinkle under an ashen fluorescent light.

Okay, too corny, no better…

Let’s say that I stood at the barriers and waited for her to clear security, destination, Hong Kong. The opposite direction from me.

Standing there like that was being asked to pose for a photograph that was taking too long to set up. I was unsure of when to smile, where to put my hands, whether I should wave or put them in my pockets or on my hips.

In my palm she had thrust a hastily written address so that we could keep in touch, but after all the white suns and the bright blue skies of our love affair we looked tired and pallid under a yellow cast airport light, and any thoughts of reunion lay buried in the inevitability of departure.

As usual, her carefully coiffed ponytail was pinned high on the crown of her head to clear space for the delicate curve of the nape of her neck. With one more toss of that ponytail, did I see the briefest smile on her face before she disappeared from view?

I stood still and watched the empty barrier, watched and waited for the memory to pass.

Well, maybe that works.

March 1988

三. Hong Kong, a Love Story Lima. Life in Paradise Part 2
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