Chapter 1

1

Eric Fong rubbed his gloved hands together as he walked past various restaurants, diners, and other eateries as he slowly made his way along the sidewalk. There were still many people in Chinatown even though it was nearly nine o’clock at night. Then again, it was New York City. It was to be expected, and it was early yet, at least based on the standard in New York City, especially since it was Saturday. It was a beautiful evening even though the weather was a bit chilly. Most shops and eating places in Chinatown were already closed, though. Eric knew all the non-residents here would most probably start heading elsewhere soon enough. As he reached the edge of the street, he turned to the right, and he was stunned by the sight of an unfamiliar building.

“What the…” Eric trailed off in bewilderment. “That’s new.”

He was honestly more than a little taken aback when he noticed the roadside diner about ten feet away from him. It wasn’t there earlier that morning so he guessed it was probably one of those portable buildings with wheels or something similar. Judging by what he could see of it from the outside, it wasn’t a huge diner, and it consisted of a single level. He approached it out of curiosity and circled around the building. There were no windows, and all four sides of the exterior and the rooftop were made of bamboos. Then he got to the entryway, which was fully covered by nothing more than simply a long piece of red cloth that hung all the way down to the ground. He also caught sight of a couple of ancient, Chinese-style red lanterns that were hooked by a slender piece of red rope onto the nails on both sides of the bamboo walls about an inch away from the red cloth.

He stepped back to get a better look at the diner. When he glanced up, the name of the diner was visible. It was called The Crossroads Diner. Its name was literally written, old-school calligraphy style, in Chinese characters on yet another piece of red cloth. The cloth was somehow pinned to the bamboo wall. He was intrigued by the diner now, so he decided to check out the interior. He had just grabbed the red cloth that was draped over the entryway when the wind started howling and blowing harshly. He released the red cloth in an instant and wrapped his winter coat around himself even tighter. He was startled when he realized that the wind had abruptly stopped, and he quickly darted his eyes all around him. All of the buildings, vehicles, and people appeared normal to him. None of the pedestrians seemed to be astonished by the unexpected and brief strong wind, and neither did they pay him any attention.

He shivered a bit as he reached for the red cloth for the second time and pushed it to the side before heading inside the diner. The diner was quite well-lit, even though it only had candles on the various tables as the sources of light for the entire place. There was a large refrigerator in one corner of the diner, and a freezer right next to it. Eric was surprised when he discovered that the inside was much larger than what it looked like from the outside, but he was even more astonished when he discovered that all the other customers inside the diner were staring in his direction even as they remained seated in their chairs. Most of them were dressed like any men or women in the twenty-first century, but the remainders were wearing either clothing from the previous centuries or traditional, ethnic clothing. He wondered for a moment if there might be a convention going on that he wasn’t aware of. Or maybe there was something wrong with his face or clothes. He patted himself everywhere, but he didn’t find anything off about him. However, the customers’ gazes were still fixed upon him.

He heard the sound of bells tinkling a few times suddenly, and to his utter relief, the customers averted their eyes away from him. They were probably just curious or something. He relaxed a little and continued to study the inside of the diner. In all honesty, the diner felt rather old. It was as if it hadn’t caught up with the twenty-first century. In fact, Eric felt the diner, except for the refrigerator and freezer, would be a better fit for the twelfth or thirteenth century. However, the diner looked clean, and everything inside was neat and tidy. Eric thought he should give the diner the benefit of the doubt. He shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. He might end up enjoying the food and the overall experience. Besides, he was already inside the diner. He might as well try it out.