Murphy felt the change as soon as he stepped into Chinatown. It was one step from the streets of Brisbane. It was also a giant step back into the village of Jiangdu, in Eastern China.

He reflected that smell was the major trigger of memory. He drew deep breath, and took in the smells of Asia. The scents that he loved so much. The spiced foods, the incense, even the smell of waxed paper.

He looked to his left, and for a moment saw Constance. Of course, she wasn’t there. He guessed she was somewhere in China but couldn’t be sure. They had crossed the boundaries of cultural difference, but those boundaries had come back to tear them apart.

He had met Constance on the first day of school, during his third trip to China. She had been in her second year of university, and had brought her young cousin to enrol at the special high school. The high school was special in the area, because they had a western teacher. Murphy was the teacher.

Murphy had gone there to help the headmaster with enrolments. All eyes were on him as he walked into the room, because he was the solitary westerner living in the town. His blonde hair and blue eyes made him stand out even more.

His eyes had met with Constance straight away, and her amazing beauty stunned him. She had smiled with nervous courage, and walked to him. Her English was flawless. “Hello. My name is Constance. I am very pleased to meet you,” she said.

“Wŏ búhui shuō Hànyŭ (War boowee shaw Hanyoo),” he had said, with the same automatic response he made every time someone in China spoke to him. He realised his foolishness. He had answered her English with “I can’t speak Chinese,”

She beamed with genuine pleasure. “Your Chinese is very good,” she said. He had thanked her, noticing that teachers and students alike wore wide grins of humour at his faux pas. They wondered if the foreign teacher had found a special friend. He knew he was the centre of attention everywhere he went in the town. Many people wanted to be his friend. They wanted to be with him. It was like having an exotic pet, something noone else in town had.

Murphy enjoyed this, and played along in the spirit of things. He had spoken for a while with Constance, and found he enjoyed her company. They had agreed to meet later at a teahouse called Cháguan, where many visiting westerners liked to meet. Murphy had become enthralled, and every weekend had made the three hour bus trip to the ancient Chinese capital, Nanjing, where Constance now lived. During those ten weeks, he learnt her story.