Via Roma - the prelude

Jane remembers the feeling so vividly: hot air wave with strong humidity and dust, mingled with gasoline flavor from the millions of mopeds on the street, so sticky to her skin, like a tight air bubble wrapping her up, impossible to escape from. Somehow she never really wanted to escape. The feeling always brought her back to the late May afternoon in Rome.

She was in town for a conference. Jane is so called “third sex”, a female computing scientist. She spends most of her time researching inside the binary world, and goes to bed at 4am everyday. If she has to, she gets up before the morning ends and last the whole days on 20 cups of black coffee. Sometime she seriously suspects if her head has started to look more and more like a computer screen, since that’s what she spends most the time staring at. She’s still single, simply because she doesn’t have time to go meet guys and no handsome, clean and funny guy would pay a visit to a computer lab to discover Jane. She’s fine with it; it’s difficult anyways to squeeze a boyfriend into her crazy schedule. She had fancied a trip to Italy ever since the day she watched the movie: Roman Holidays. Don’t take it that Jane is such a girlish girl, who fancies being a princess and meeting a tall journalist guy. She just simply likes adding the locations of the movies into her travel wish lists, of course only movies she likes.

After two day’s preparation and one day at the boring conference, Jane finally got to take an afternoon off. The sunshine was so lovely: warm and comforting; and Rome was so lovely too: busy and vivid. Jean wondered on the street, aimlessly following a big group of tourists. She had found out it’s the easiest way to discover a famous site. Don’t even bother to consult the map or travel books, millions of tourist, like tuna fish herds, will take you there. Just join the trend.

Time for ice cream, or gelato, like those Italians call it. Jane stopped by this little shop, but couldn’t decide what to go for.

“Hard decision? Erh?” a guy’s voice.

Jane looked to her left. It was a young guy with shining tanned skin and clear blue eyes.

“Yea…too many choices.” She smiled to him shyly. Somehow, she always becomes incredibly shy in front of good-looking guys. It’s silly and she doesn’t know why. She tries to comfort herself: it’s not like they can sense all the wild thoughts you have about them!! But it doesn’t work anyways.

“Try this one, you’ll like it”. The guy handed her two bright orange colored ice cream balls on a cone, with a big smile.

Jane didn’t really know how to response. She’s taught not to take food from strangers when she’s two. However, maybe it’s because of Rome (Jane later blamed Rome for many things that happened that day and after), she took the cone and had a bite.

“hmmmm, it IS good!” She smiled back, less shyly.

“Hi, I’m Nile”.

“I’m Jane.”