'Fifty Bucks Is Fifty Bucks'

'How was driving school this morning?'
'The instructor was gay.'
Amigo laughs.
I glare and stare.
'If I said he was a Jew would you laugh?'
'Sorry.'
'Tiny steps.'
'So, did you pass?'
'I did. First time I ever sat in a truck that size.'
'What's next?'
'I buy a pet orangutan and hit the open road.'
Amigo laughs again.
I feel like having a bit of fun here on the skytrain this afternoon with my friend Amigo.
'You see this woman sitting to my right?'
Amigo looks. 'The Chinese one?'
'She's Japanese.'
'How do you know?'
'I just do.'
'What about her?'
'I bet you fifty bucks I can make her blush, find out her English name, and learn one of her secrets without saying one word to her.'
'You're nuts.'
'So bet the lunatic fifty bucks.'
'You know her.'
'I've never seen her before.'
'What the fuck are you talking about? Mind melt type stuff?'
'It's just this thing I do sometimes. Fifty bucks?'
'You're on. But not with that one. You could know her.'
'Pick someone else then. Not a male.'
'Why not male?'
'They sometimes don't react well to what I'm about to do.'
'What ARE you about to do?'
'Get to know someone a little bit. Hurry up and pick one. Fifty bucks.'
Amigo looks around.
'Four seats up on the right. Black hair.'
'This may take a while.'
'You think?'
'What I'm about to do involves synaptic activity in the frontal lobe. When I went apeshit way back from too much THC my frontal lobe was thrown out of whack.'
'I'm all aflutter with anticipation.'
'I just flew cross country. When we fly long distances our frontal lobe physically shrinks. They've measured it. I don't, quite, have all my energy for this right now.'
'Show me.'
I send out my first burst of mental energy to my new friend on the train. I'm not full strength but it is enough. I start to feel her.
'She's Korean.'
'We'll see.'
'Watch her face.'
I send strong signals of sexual activity and sensations that my new friend may not have been previously aware of. She looks right at me. Her eyes go a bit wide. She looks away as her face turns really red.
'Holy shit she's blushing.'
'Told ya. Shush. Need to concentrate. I'm still tired from my trip.'
I push my energy her way again. She blocks me off momentarily, then opens to me completely.
'I'm in.'
I see rice paddies, then the Seoul skyline at night, then a birthday in a kitchen in Korea.
'She's lonely for home.'
A college classroom, then green Soju bottles, her gorgeous Korean lover in a dark blue winter coat. They kiss under a big tree on a sunny afternoon. He hands her a ring. She cries. He is getting onto the back of a military truck to go off for his mandatory military service. She is delicious and a little sad. Good people. I snap the connection. Enough. She continues to look my way. I don't make eye contact.
'So?'
'English name is Shelly. Korean. Here to study English for a year. Lover in the army. Fifty bucks.'
'Prove it.'
I squeeze past Amigo out of my seat and approach my new friend.
'Anya.'
'Oh. Hello.'
'Tae Hamingo?'
'Ah, yes. I am Korean.'
'Boyfriend in army?'
'Yes. Six more month. Then he come here.'
'Thanks.'
I squeeze past Amigo again back into my seat. Our new Korean friend looks out her window.
'Fucking 'Fire Starter' over here.'
'Fifty bucks is fifty bucks.'
Silence.
Korean Shelly gets off at her stop.
'So...'
'You have a pretty good life. Two kids. You change jobs in about a year.'
Silence.
'What about you?'
'Thank Heaven for small miracles. I can never see any aspect of my own circumstances. Just other people when I turn it on.'
'Huh.'
'You feel like Mexican for lunch?'
'Sounds good. This is us.'
'You're buying.'