Other Me, he doesn’t bat an eyelid at the random line of questioning.
I grew up in Shropshire, he says. You know it?
I nod and I say, I grew up there too.
So you know what it was like, he says, fishing some vegetables out of the broth. Suburban. Kind of boring. Parents didn’t really take much notice of me – apart from how I did at school. He chews. Yourself?
I watch him for a moment and I say, Pretty much the same.
And then I add: I kind of ignored the Taiwanese part of me, though.
He looks at me and he says, Yeah, I could tell. Why would you do that?
I think, Why wouldn’t I?
And I watch him munch happily, belonging totally and utterly in the space he is in right now, and I think maybe I am completely losing my bananas.
Say cheese, I say.
F
ORTY
-O
NE
The crescent moon looks down at us, glowing through the car window. Adonis and me are in the front, Charles in the back. I hear a clicking sound.
Adonis is kneading his knuckles, cracking them one by one.
Charles leans forward in the space between us. He says, Don’t be nervous. You were fantastic in the audition. Just let your training take over.
And I say, What he said.
Adonis nods and exhales three short sharp breaths, like he’s about to get into a boxing ring or something. He hammers his head with his fists, says, LET’S DO THIS, and jumps out the car, slamming the door shut.
Charles makes this sort of snorting sound, exactly like the one Akemi does.
We watch him march to the front of the building, until he disappears through the big, glass, double doors.
I drive Charles’s Audi round to the side of the building and park on a street studded with trees.
Charles moves into the passenger seat, gets out the tablet. He pokes the screen and hands it over to me.
In the living room, I see the movie star and his wife lounging around on the sofa, eating popcorn, watching a movie. One of his own, by the looks of things.
I hear a crunch. Charles is chomping on some popcorn. I watch him chew, and chew, and chew. And then chew and chew some more. It’s around a minute I’m watching him eat, the crunching sound bouncing around inside the car, before he’s finished chewing and finally swallows.
Would you like some? he says, offering me the pack.
Charles shakes my shoulder and I wake up with a start.
He points and says, You’ve got a bit of dribble there.
I wipe my mouth with my sleeve, look around. Trees, street lamps glowing orange in the dark, car interior.
Right.
Charles says, Look, there’s our man.
On the tablet, I see Adonis at the door of the apartment, standing in the hallway. He’s already in character – a tortured look on his face.
I say, What took him so long?
Perhaps he got lost, says Charles. Or maybe he had trouble with the fob.
Adonis knocks on the door, one-two-three.
On the tablet, I see the wife swinging her long legs off the movie star’s lap. On a different camera feed, I see her reach the door, her back facing us.
She opens the door and says, Yes?
Please, says Adonis.
He’s doing it just like he did in the audition, the anguished lover bearing his soul.
I look at Charles. He is mesmerized, face lit up by the tablet’s blue-white glow. He’s not munching popcorn anymore.
