April 3, 2009

The call came at 10 a.m. and I remember it well because I was in the middle of making some fresh marzipan. Had to wipe my hands before looking for the special cell phone reserved for occasions like this.

The guy was talking about the beach and I knew immediately he wasn't joking. Hell, if I wanted jokes, I read the Taipei Times editorial page. He wasn't the type to joke with. Gave me a time and didn't care if it was my wedding day.

I drove off in my Mercedes, and one hour later I was crossing the border. Twenty minutes further, I reached the place. Flat lands, a ditch, a narrow road, a low wire, a bicycle path, and one line of dunes. The beach was on the other side of the dune, but you couldn't tell if you were down by the road. It was just land, agricultural land. Nobody there, just one house in the distance. Some old guy with a cap on was cycling by, another guy in a track suit was jogging closer. It had to be him. He had the hood of his suit pulled tightly over his head. After all it was April, and in Europe that's still almost like winter.

'Do you follow Taiwan?' he told me when he halted right in front of me. Told me, not asked me. The hell I was still following Taiwan. I was busy with nuclear weapons, animal liberation, carbon emissions, Guantanamo, waterboarding. As if any of the local radicals cared about Taiwan.

'Keep an eye on it. We need you up and ready to go within a couple of months. So read about it, it's called the Internet, rehash your Taiwanese.'

'Chinese,' I said. 'Mandarin Chinese.' I never knew any Taiwanese. Wasn't fashionable at the time.

A rough young guy passed by on a bike, on the road for cars. He probably thought we were drug dealers, or gay lovers meeting in a place like this.

'Who?' I asked.

I knew it was the wrong question at the wrong time. He gave me one dumb look and jogged on past me without a word. I looked at him running away. There wasn't a car anywhere, except mine. Time to go home and get ready to uproot my life again. Someone else would take care of the European radical fringe.