Returning to the apartment with bags and bags, he happened to meet a Jewish violinist walking up the stairs.
He seemed to have just returned from a street performance. Seeing the two of them bringing a lot of things, he took the initiative to help Ronald and Meg carry a few items upstairs.
"This is sausage; your ethnicity seems..." Ronald hurriedly stopped him.
"It doesn't matter. I immigrated from the Soviet Union, and the Jews there all eat sausages. The taste of these sausages reminds me of my hometown. Is it from the Ukrainian restaurant?" said the violinist.
After opening the apartment door, Ronald asked the guy to wait for a while. He went into the kitchen to get a piece of sausage and give to him.
"Thank you for helping us. This is for you."
"Thank you, my friend. God bless you."
...
After tidying up the room and laying out the newly bought tablecloth and napkins, Meg put the cooked takeaway from the Ukrainian restaurant into the white porcelain tableware.
"Bang!"
Ronald opened a bottle of red wine and poured two glasses.
"May your dream come true! Meg."
"May your dream come true, too, Ronnie."
Ronald did not turn on the light but lit a candle. Meg looked at him sweetly, very satisfied with this little surprise.
In the dim candlelight, Ronnie and Meg clinked glasses and slowly drank the red wine.
The takeout from the Ukrainian restaurant tasted good. Meg fed Ronald like feeding a child.
"Open your mouth, Ronnie." Meg grabbed a piece of sausage with her hand, dipped it in the sauce, and fed him.
"Ah..." Ronald ate the sausage and pretended to bite Meg's finger.
Meg giggled and shrank back.
Ronald suddenly grabbed her hand and licked the sauce.
Meg did not expect this hand, and a red hue climbed up her cheeks.
After a while, Meg pulled her stiff fingers out of Ronald's hand. She rubbed her hands nervously as if to avoid the sauce sticking to her fingers.
Ronald took out a handkerchief, dipped some water from the glass, grabbed Meg's hand, and carefully wiped each finger clean.
The two seemed to be comfortable with the silence.
Meg's face seemed to become redder, like a colorful cloud covering the setting sun. Not sure if it was the candlelight or the reaction to the red wine, Ronald couldn't figure it out in the dim candlelight.
Ronald just stared at Meg's eyes without blinking, the only clear thing in the candlelight.
He was intoxicated by her gentle gaze.
A faint violin sound came from outside the wall. It was the Jewish violinist upstairs playing the violin, playing Jules Massenet's "Meditation".
"Whoosh", Ronald blew out the candlelight.
...
An hour passed.
When he turned on the floor-standing bedside lamp in the bedroom, the lampshade emitted warm light.
Ronald got up and brewed a pot of black tea. He finally got rid of the cheap taste of tea bags.
He poured the black tea into two delicate white porcelain cups, put them on a tray, and brought them into the bedroom.
The strong tea, with a little red reflection, has a warm and restrained fragrance. It is not the kind of gaudy artificial flavor but a natural fragrance.
The tea leaves are picked from tea trees under 20 years old, and the tender and alive buds before the Grain Rain are specially selected, carefully baked, and fermented.
It is not the cheap Darjeeling old tea that Ronald drank in Los Angeles and the tea bags made from mixed tea stems.
The natural taste is completely different.
The restrained tea fragrance, coupled with the warm tea, makes the stomach warm up all of a sudden after drinking it.
Meg asked for another cup.
Meg adjusted her posture, leaned in Ronald's arms, and wrapped Ronald's arm around her neck for cushioning.
"I feel safe with you, Ronnie."
After lying down for a while, Meg was a little shy and still refused to stay in Ronald's apartment. She insisted on walking back to her shared apartment in the next block to sleep.
Ronald had no choice but to send her there and then go home.
Recalling the times he had spent with Meg, Ronald fell asleep contentedly in bed.
...
"I borrowed a popular movie to watch today." A strange male voice was speaking.
"What movie is it?"
"I don't know. That bastard refused to tell me. He just said that the girls from the drama school cried after watching it."
With a bang, the VCR took in a tape. The snow on the TV faded away, and the familiar subtitles appeared again with red letters on a black background:
"FBI Warning"
After the copyright information, a lion appeared on the TV screen. It was the MGM lion roaring.
This time, it's an MGM movie, Ronald said to himself in a half-asleep state.
On the black screen, the title of the film appeared:
"FAME".
A noisy sound came from the low-quality TV speakers, many people were talking and making noise.
A cafeteria scene appeared on the screen, which was somewhat similar to the high school cafeteria I attended, small and lively.
A student began to beat out neat jazz drums on the table with drumsticks, then hand drums, then piano, then saxophone, then violin, cello...
Various instruments belonging to different musical styles joined the ensemble one after another, but surprisingly harmonious.
Ballet dancers, jazz dancers, modern dancers... one by one began to twist their bodies.
The dancers danced more and more happily, jumped onto the piano, and danced with the dining table.
The cafeteria aunt also began to dance to the rhythm.
Then a colored girl, sitting next to the piano player, began to sing in a strong, metallic voice:
"Macaroni and salmon,
our favorite.
She got a hot lunch
for everybody. "
"Hot lunch?" This name is so familiar.
After a moment of confusion, Ronald saw another dance scene:
to be more precise, a practice scene.
A group of ballet girls were doing daily exercises such as leg stretching in the practice room.
"Circle, bend over, get back to the right position!" The teacher was shouting commands.
The two girls in front of the camera were talking while practicing.
"Hi, I'm Lisa."
"Hilary."
"I like your practice clothes. I saw them in the window of the Department Store."
"My stepmother bought them for me."
"Really? I don't mind having such a stepmother."
"She didn't buy them for me. She just wanted my father to think that she cared about me, and she loves shopping herself. Every time she goes shopping, she feels so happy."
"That sounds good. I think I like your stepmother."
"Hmph, I can give her to you."
"Pay attention, pay attention, why aren't you concentrating? Pay attention!" The teacher began to verbally remind one of the girls.
The girls' movements were very graceful.
Hey, the girl behind her, wearing a green training suit and a sky blue skirt, looks like Meg Tilly.
No, she is Meg. Ronald saw the girl's face clearly in the camera.
Did she also act in the movie "Fame"? It seems that she is still an extra. Ronald was half asleep and half awake again, and was about to fall asleep.
Suddenly, a burst of passionate disco music broke out from the TV.
A man who looked a bit like the big-headed taxi driver he met at the airport drove the same yellow taxi and stopped at the school gate.
There were two large speakers on the roof of his taxi. The driver connected the power and turned up the volume. The disco music came from the two large speakers.
"Baby, look at me...Tell me what you see.
You haven't seen the best of me yet.
Give me some time
and I'll make you forget everything..."
The taxi driver began to shout:
"This song was written by my son, Bruno Martelli."
"It's playing on 46th Street today, and there will be a concert at Madison Square Garden tomorrow, hahaha..."
All the students heard this touching song and rushed out of the school one by one, dancing jazz, ballet, modern dance,... Everyone started dancing.
They treated the street as a stage and started dancing. They occupied the street, blocked the traffic, and kept dancing.
They even stood on the top of the car and danced on the roof. The driver honked the horn wildly, but it couldn't suppress the rhythm of the dance.
Even Ronald wanted to dance.
The 4/4 disco rhythm was very easy to step on, twisting the waist and sending the hips to and fro.
"Ah..." Ronald fell off the bed again.