Hongqiao — “It's strange how her hair seemingly reacts to her mood – her fountains wilt and slump when she is tired and grumpy. ”

009 : Casey Whale at the fruit stall beside her house, Hongqiao
Born in 1983 in Wang (town not appendage), Australia, Casey Whale currently works as an organizer. Why Shanghai? It’s cooler than London. She digs the following Shanghai bits: Shanghai Talk magazine (it’s da bomb!); getting (everything) delivered; tree-lined streets on a clear day; getting lost; walking to work with my music in my ears. She is, however, a bit miffed by cigarettes (true to reformed smoker form); soulless materialism; lack of cheese; the metro doesn't come near my house; people being mean to animals. For more info on Casey Whale you should send an email or visit her company's website.

image: ~ RAYMOND
“It's strange how her hair seemingly reacts to her mood – her fountains wilt and slump when she is tired and grumpy. ”

Wavy Girl is waving to me from across the street. She does that, hence the nickname. I don’t know her real name, or how old she is, but she looks about three. It’s hard to tell with Chinese girls though; maybe she’s really 30, but I doubt it.

The fruit shop^[1] next to my building is where I buy my fruit. I buy fruit every morning on my way to work, so I’m there quite a bit. That’s where Wavy Girl lives, with her mum who sells me the fruit. They live in a small room/large cupboard in the back of the shop.

Sometimes I think Wavy Girl has quite a nice life. Her days are filled, as far as I can tell, with playtime, trips to the public toilets in the nearby laneway, and, of course, waving to customers. She is safe to walk around on the street, as all the vendors take it upon themselves to keep an eye out for her. The cramped living space would bother me, but for a little one who hasn’t known anything else, it is probably nothing. I just hope that she’s not too cold in the winter.

Wavy Girl’s hair makes me smile; her mum always ties it up into small fountains on top of her head that sway madly as she waves. It’s strange how her hair seemingly reacts to her mood – her fountains wilt and slump when she is tired and grumpy.

I’m about to move house and a part of me is sad because my life will soon lack Wavy Girl. I wonder if she will even notice I’m gone.

It’s strange – I never noticed how much she made me smile until now (cue Joni Mitchell: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone…”).

referenced works

Fruit stalls are ubiquitous in Shanghai, especially in the older neighbourhoods. Some blocks may have several stalls along its stretch, with shopkeepers peddling seasonal goods. It’s not uncommon to see makeshift shops pop up from time to time, especially in the summer, when here-today-gone-tomorrow stores often open to hawk watermelon. (China is the world’s largest producer of watermelon. Come summer, a common street scene is the unloading of trucks piled high with the massive green globes.) ↩

location information

Name: the fruit stall beside her house
Address: 343 Huaihai Xi Lu, near Hongqiao Lu
Time of story: Morning
Latitude: 31.224353
Longitude: 121.475916
Map: Google Maps

commentary

014 “The pages are half-soaked in noodle water, the edges of the letters blurred. ” — Denis Wong

013 “Hundreds of eyes continued to dart around me, hundreds of eyes continued to pass me over.” — Panthea Lee

012 “I could be anywhere, really. There are no landmarks here.” — Cam Rimington

011 “I strained to keep my eyes on that crazy perm but the automatic doors hissed shut and she was gone. ” — Parker Woltz

010 “How could these seemingly disparate worlds co-exist? Wouldn't they come together and explode like anti-matter?” — Matt Diehl

009 “It's strange how her hair seemingly reacts to her mood – her fountains wilt and slump when she is tired and grumpy. ” — Casey Whale

008 “Your bones are cold.” — Anita Hawkins

007 “Upon seeing the delinquent busker dragged from the scene with his trousers at his ankles, I felt lost. ” — Jack Sidders

006 “As we all stare at her open-mouthed, she starts to beg like a dog, barking and licking my hand. ” — Rose Longhurst

005 “It's like... one long catwalk of H&M zombies. Where are all the individuals?” — Paul Hartnett

004 “Like many aimless thirtysomethings, I balance violent fantasies of self-destruction with monthly pension payments. ” — Nick Barham

003 “It was only a 10-minute bike ride from city centre, but 10 minutes in the wrong direction. ” — Mark David Elliott

002 “I thought of the mutilated pig lying atop cardboard boxes of cereal and pasta, seeping trichinosis as the van bounced along. ” — Jay Mark Caplan

001 “And then there is only tumbling, hexagonal cold.” — Ric Stockfis

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