In love I trust
In a small candle shop near an entrance to a Hong Kong subway station, a middle-aged gentleman spoke to me about astrology and life’s dreams. I kid you not. This random store owner asked, out of nowhere, if I was a Pisces. I am. “Love comes slowly, and life’s dreams could be within reach,” he assured me; I added this memory to my cache of interesting encounters. In rented studio spaces, I played card games with local college students whom I’d only met a few times. I sampled countless 1980s Cantopop albums on my late night taxi trips back home. I can imagine my memories of summer strung together by the countless hands of those I briefly crossed paths with — like dried persimmon that hang in markets.