Chapter One: The Midnight Screening Never Ended

Outside, rain fell at the same angle as in the film. Silver Palace occupied a condemned department store. At street level, the exits were blocked by patrons standing bareheaded in the rain. All of them stared toward a narrow opening opposite the theater. “Was there always a road there?” Xu asked. A green sign read OAK STREET. Lin passed this corner daily. The city hospital’s wall stood behind that opening; no street could fit there. Headlights swept across the sign, and it became HUAI’AN ROAD. People woke as if from a trance, laughed at themselves, and summoned taxis. A boy in a red scarf remained. Clutching his ticket, he asked his mother, “Why does the plate say fourteen? It was thirteen in the movie.” “What plate?” She dragged him away.