Page 32 of Christmas at the Movies
‘Try some of this,’ said James, ordering a round, bright orange delicacy from the next vendor.
‘What is it?’ asked Sarah suspiciously.
‘Deep-fried pig’s intestine.’
‘Thanks, but I’ll pass.’ She liked to try new foods, but she drew the line at pig’s intestine.
‘All the more for me,’ he said, enthusiastically taking a big bite. ‘Mmm. Chewy.’
James was a much more adventurous eater than she was. It was as if he was making up for the years after his mum passed away when he and his dad had existed mostly on jacket potatoes and beans on toast.
‘You’d be a shoo-in for that new show where celebrities go to the jungle and have to eat bugs and sheep’s testicles.’ Sarah laughed. One of her former colleagues from the BBC was working on the popular programme. Sarah had thought about leaving as well, to write her own scripts. But the thought of making that jump was scary.
For dessert, they joined a long queue to buy mooncakes at a bakery. The sweet cakes came with all different fillings – from red bean paste to duck’s egg yolk – and had beautiful decorative patterns stamped on the top.
‘They all look so good,’ said Sarah when they got to the front of the line.
‘Lotus seed is very nice,’ suggested the man working behind the counter.
Munching their mooncakes, they wandered through Kowloon, through a walled park where children flew kites, old women practised tai chi and men played mahjong, their jade tiles clacking. At the edge of the park, nestled among ultra-modern tower blocks, they came across a little temple. Stone steps, flanked by dragons, led up to a pagoda with a green-tiled roof.
As James snapped photos of the dragons, Sarah wandered into the temple courtyard. There was a large bowl withsticks of incense burning. Two women were leaving offerings of fruit on an altar, around a statue of a rabbit.
‘It’s a tradition for Harvest Moon Festival. We are making offerings to the Moon Rabbit,’ explained the smartly dressed younger woman, seeing the curious expression on Sarah’s face. ‘In Chinese mythology, he belongs to the Moon Goddess.’
‘Brings good luck,’ said the older woman, reaching into her bag and handing Sarah a melon. ‘For you to make offering too.’
‘Thank you,’ said Sarah. She placed the fruit carefully on the table with the rest of the array.
‘Now you will have a baby,’ said the older woman, grinning at Sarah.
Sarah felt her cheeks flame. She and James hadn’t discussed having kids yet.
‘Stop, Ma,’ scolded the younger woman. ‘You are embarrassing her.’
‘No, no, it’s fine,’ Sarah assured her. Having an embarrassing mother was a universal phenomenon. Post-divorce, Geraldine had thrown herself into dating and liked to overshare details of her sex life with Sarah and Meg. Her most recent fling had been with a bucket drummer she’d met at a climate-change protest. Her career was thriving too – she’d just been appointed Head of the Anthropology department at the University of Bristol.
‘The Moon Rabbit symbolises fertility,’ explained the younger woman.
Sarah wasn’t worried about that – she was still in her twenties. But just to be on the safe side, she bought a packet of incense sticks inside the temple. She waved James over, then they lit the incense sticks and added them to the burner in front of a gold statue of Buddha. Watching the smoke driftupwards to the top of the temple, Sarah said, ‘Apparently, this will bring us prosperity, fertility and good luck.’
‘I’m already the luckiest man alive.’ James pulled her close for a kiss.
Their luck ran out on the walk back to the hotel. The heavens opened and rain poured down in sheets, gushing down gutters in torrents.
‘Come on,’ said James, tugging Sarah under the awning of a convenience store to shelter from the downpour. Rain hammered at the fabric over their heads.
A taxi drove past and James tried to flag it down, but it didn’t stop, just splashed them as it went through a puddle.
‘I guess we’ll just have to wait it out,’ he said.
Pushing her sopping hair out of her face, Sarah glanced up at the sky. The rain didn’t show any sign of abating. As her eyes travelled down again, they landed on the building across the street. There were Chinese characters above the doorway, and, next to them, in much smaller words, it said:Lux Theatre.
‘Look, James!’ Sarah said, pointing. ‘There’s a cinema. We can watch a movie until the rain stops.’ She felt excited at the prospect of an afternoon at the movies. They hadn’t seen a film since their flight over to Asia.
They darted across the street and ran into the lobby. It was like stepping back in time. There were ushers in smart red jackets, classic martial arts movies on the walls and an old-fashioned weighing machine.
James approached the ticket booth. ‘Can we please have two tickets to whatever is showing next, please?’
