I didn't pay too much attention when Dad announced that we would have another house guest for a few days. He is a lecturer at the local university and often invites his research students back for a meal or to stay for the weekend. Usually they are pretty boring, content to have long, earnest discussions with Dad over endless cups of coffee in his den. So you can understand why it wasn't with any great sense of excitement that I watched Dad's beat-up Ford pull into the driveway and saw two passengers emerge. Dad came up the porch steps followed by what seemed to be an enormous bunch of flowers on legs. When the bouquet was handed over to Mom, Xui emerged from behind the foliage smiling shyly. Xui, (He told us to pronounce it Shu-way) was small and slim with a round smiling face and large uptilted brown eyes.
Over a meal he told us that he had left Hong Kong three years ago to study in England and had just arrived in the States to carry out further research work. His English was good but he had some quirky expressions of his own that made us all smile. I learnt that he was a year or so older than me, (about 20) but his boyish looks made him seem much younger. He was certainly different from the usual students that Dad took under his wing and I could see that he had already made a big hit with Mom, who fluttered around him like a mother hen. The autumn semester wasn't due to start for another two weeks and the residential halls were empty apart from a few post-grads., so Xui gratefully accepted Mom's invitation to extend his stay with us.
Despite my earlier reservations, I had already taken a liking to the guy and for the next few days I showed him around town and introduced him to a few of my buddies. The following day was rainy and cold, so we spent the afternoon chilling out in my room while Xui took my elderly Compaq apart. He was a bit of a computer freak and promised me that things would run much better when he had finished. All the bits seemed to fit back together OK and I watched over his shoulder as he started it up and made some final adjustments. I twitched with embarrassment when I noticed that he had accidentally hit upon my collection of downloaded porn pics -dammit, I had forgotten all about them!
But Xui's only reaction was to give a little "Hoh" of interest and he started to eagerly scan through the files. A couple of times I noticed that he reached down to his crotch to rearrange himself and I began to relax -the guy was clearly enjoying himself. It was quite a while before he looked up at me and grinned. "Ver' good, Mark." Adding casually. "You got more boys?" I must have looked puzzled, for he added. "I like to see boy with ver' big..."
He pointed down to the small bulge in his pants. "You know. Ver' big there." He frowned and shook his head in mock disappointment. "Me, I'm not so big...ver' sad." I smiled, not sure where this conversation was going, but he completely threw me with his next question. "You big boy, Mark?" Jeez, I mean, how do you answer a question like that? I mumbled something, but just at that moment I was saved when I heard the sound of a car horn outside; my buddies, Steve and Jeff had arrived to take us out for the evening. Reluctantly, Xui shut down the computer and we went downstairs to meet them.
The evening was a bit of a disaster. The place was crowded and noisy and all the available girls seemed to have a burly football jock in tow, so there was no future for us there. We found a table in the corner and planned our next move, eventually deciding on a few beers. Jeff. wasn't too keen as he was the one to stay sober and drive. Nevertheless, it was several hours later when he deposited Xui and I back in the driveway after a noisy drive home. For a little guy, Xui could certainly hold his liquor and we were both still in party mood as we attempted the porch steps. We made it on the second attempt, our arms entwined for mutual support. As I fumbled for the door latch, Xui turned to me and said solemnly. "You ver' good frien' Mark" A sentiment which was rather spoilt by a loud belch, so I answered in my best John Wayne. "Sure thing, pardner. Now let's head for the ol' bunkhouse."