Page 21 of Taipei Story

Was I the only one who had felt it? I wandered down the sidewalk, unsure if I was dreaming. I felt a sudden stabbing pain in my right calf. I had left the building without spraying Off!

I went back inside. I sat on the bed and googled “Earthquake, Taipei,” but all the top results were articles from last April about how Taipei 101 had not collapsed despite a series of recent earthquakes. I tried the search in Chinese, but that also turned up nothing. How could this be? Could I have been the only one to feel the earthquake? Could earthquakes be so targeted?

My phone buzzed—JC was calling. I answered at once. “Are you okay?”

“What?”

“Did you feel the earthquake?”

“Sorry, what?”

“The earthquake just now, did you—?”

“So here’s the situation.” JC didn’t seem to have heard me. “You know the Beitou resort reservation?”

“Huh?”

“So I thought it was booked for Saturday, but I read the dates on the deal wrong, and it turns out it’s actually for today. Like, this afternoon.”

“Oh,” I said. It took my thoughts a moment to catch up—I was still wondering how this was related to the earthquake. “Okay?”

“So do you still want to go?”

I almost pointed out that I had class today. But JC must have known this, because JC also had class every weekday, so clearly the question was whether I wanted to skip class with him.

“You can’t just change the booking?”

“No, it’s like a limited deal, so there aren’t refunds.”

“But Anna already left for class.”

“Can you text her or something?” JC sounded impatient. “Maybe she can join us after.”

“I mean, she’s probably in class now.” I knew Anna kept her phone in her locker during the day; there was no way I could reach her until her lunch break. “Can we wait until after class?”

“I think it won’t make sense to go that late in the day. We wouldn’t even get there until after dark, and then it wouldn’t be worth it.”

“I see.”

It occurred to me that perhaps JC didn’t want Anna to come—that perhaps her absence was the point. But did I want to go if Anna had been excluded on purpose? And if JC didn’t want Anna there, then why did he want me?

“So I would like to go,” said JC. “I think the experience will be worth it. And I’d really like you to go too, but I think you should decide pretty quick if we’re going to have a good time.” All this he said in a light and even tone, though it still seemed like he was annoyed with me.

I tried to sort out what would be more offensive: going or not going. I didn’t want to ditch Anna. The trip now felt forced and stressful, not fun and spontaneous. On the other hand, it seemed rude to turn JC down when he had already paid for the reservation. There was no middle ground here, no option that preserved every relationship the way it had been.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay, let’s go.”

WE AGREED TO MEET ON THE RED LINE IN HALF AN HOUR. JC WAS coming from one station over, and he texted me that he was in one of the middle cars. When the train arrived, he stepped out and waved, and I ran to his door. Rush hour was over. We had an entire row of seats to ourselves.

“Hi,” he said.

I sat down beside him and tucked my bag in between my legs. I had brought all my textbooks, just in case there was downtime—in case I got bored. “Hi.”

“Sorry for the mix-up.”

“No, that’s okay. Did you feel the earthquake this morning?”

“Huh?”