Christmas Dance Party

It was at a depressing ex-patriot Christmas party in an old Japanese style house rented by a few Canadians where Dante met Jade for the second, life altering time. It was over a year after their first brief meeting. At the party, Jade was one of the local girls huddled in a dark corner watching the foreigners dance spastically to the unfamiliar songs popular on western campuses. After a few beers, Dante danced by himself to the Talking Head’s Burning Down the House, imagining all the dark eyes following his every gyration.

Andrew, the host of the party, was a drab Canadian fellow. In spite of his drabness, he was famous. All over Taipei there were Andrew underwear advertisements in magazines, wall posters, and one large billboard covering almost the entire side of a 30-story building in the movie district. It seemed everywhere you turned that winter, Andrew was standing there in his tidy whiteys. The largest billboard was hand painted. Proportions were a bit distorted and somewhat grosteque, still everyone knew it was him.

Sweaty from dancing, Dante plopped himself down next to Jade and struck up a conversation. She reminded him of their previous meeting. Dante felt a familiarity and comfort with her.

It was in the presence of the fully clothed underwear celebrity that Jade and Dante exchanged telephone numbers and began a relationship that would lead to marriage, children, fights, suicide attempts, and eventually divorce.