#Fridayflash - Lucky Noodle

Hsiu Mei watched the noodle vendor outside her shop window list precariously in the wind.  She couldn't remember a time when he wasn't standing on her sidewalk, in rain, snow or sleet but this was unreasonable.  At half past noon, the storm had painted the sky black as night and she was beginning to wonder if she might be witnessing the beginnings of Wuhan City's first tornado.

"Jia," she called out the door, "Come into the shop until the weather dies down."  Even under the protection of her canopy, the rain pelted the door, spritzing her exposed skin with icy mist. Jia's umbrella vacillated in the gathering storm and he was all but soaked under its inadequate protection.

He did not meet her eyes but busied himself with his cart. "Thank you for your kindness but it would be inappropriate for me to leave my cart.  It will pass," Jia said.

Hsiu Mei eyed the flurry of newspapers and other loose debris circling the vacant street and suppressed a wave of panic as an unmanned rickshaw bounced down the pavement. "Please Jia, it would give me great comfort if you would bring your cart into my shop," she insisted.  When it looked as if he might refuse, she added, "I am hungry and your noodles are my favorite."

This time Jia turned toward her and smiled. "Anything for my best customer."

They worked together to get the cart inside and Hsiu Mei bolted the door.  By the time she turned around, Jia had a bowl of noodles ready for her.  She bowed and took what he offered, although her fear of the squall had ruined her appetite.  Smiling, she sat down at the table in the middle of her bookstore and slurped the noodles noisily for his benefit. 

"Please, sit with me Jia, so I may have a proper lunch," she said, patting the chair next to her in invitation.

Jia sat, but stared over his cart to the grey-green torrent going on beyond the glass.

"May I ask you something, Jia?" Hsiu Mei inquired.

"Of course."

"Why do you park your cart outside my store everyday?  Most vendors find better business on the square."

Jia frowned and folded his hands.

"Please, Jai, the truth."

"I used to have a spot on the square.  Business was good.  But when you opened this shop five years ago, I moved.  It is an auspicious location.  I do well."

"Surely, not as well as the square."

"No."

"Then why do you stay?"

"I enjoy the view."

"The view?  What view?  All odd shops and the drippings of hung out laundry from the families upstairs!  What is there to see?"

The lights flickered.  Hsui Mei and Jia looked up at the ceiling lamp just in time for the bulbs to go black, plunging the room into darkness.

"Perhaps, the beauty I see is not in the street but in its people.  Perhaps a young man such as myself finds comfort in protecting such a jewel.  A jewel alone and precious in a city that does not appreciate such things."

Hsiu Mei was thankful for the darkness as she felt a blush creep up her neck. "Who is this Jewel? I have not seen anyone here worthy of your attention, Jia."

The sudden moan of the building, holding back the gale with steel girders and glass, interrupted them.  Jia leaned in close until his nose was almost touching hers.

"Then you must not have a mirror in this fine shop," he said in a loud whisper.

Casting propriety aside, Hsui Mei flung herself at Jia, her arms encircling his neck with five years of pent up desire.  They fell to the floor, lips meeting halfway to the carpet and rolled beneath the table where they declared their affections at the foot of Jia's noodle cart.

The groans of the building gave way to shattering glass as heavy steel crashed through the front window.  Jia twisted around Hsiu Mei, shielding her from the onslaught. She rode out the thrashing storm clinging to her beloved. 

When finally the shop grew quiet, they climbed from the ruble hand in hand to see that the neon sign from the grocery across the street had blown loose and crashed through Hsui Mei's storefront, only to be stopped by the steel noodle cart propped against her table.  Hsui Mei looked at the shattered glass strewn across her counter and knew without a doubt she would be dead if not for Jia. 

He turned to her, taking her hands in his. "As I was saying, a jewel of this worth needs protecting.  Perhaps my mistake was thinking I could do the position honor from the outside."

"Yes. I agree," she said, tears flowing despite her beaming smile. "You must take this duty more seriously, and devote yourself fully to the task."

"Anything for my best customer," he said, and so began a very auspicious union.