We were waiting for the bus to the stone forest when two baby brothers approached with loose teeth. They tried to pull them out for one another but couldn't get it. Their hands were beckoning for money the whole time. They picked a comical fight, but the light in their faces made them less piteous. Instead of yuan, we gave of our adult-sounding laughter and then got on the bus. We coughed up student fees for entrance into a 200-million-year-old geological labyrinth, where lovers used to hide. We hid there awhile, and could afford ice cream afterward, too.
We held hands and walked into the weeklong rainstorm, ready to buy our fill of bootlegged DVDs, five dollar T-shirts, two dollar cab rides, and free porn. We paid for everything that week, and we didn't need any money. It was like we were kings, and starving people begged us for coins underneath our generous bowls of Indian curry. There was nothing that we could do except eat the curry. We did nothing.
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