Photographic Connection

On a subsequent trip to Chicago after having completed the book, I took some pictures to include with the book in a published form.  The above picture is one of them.  About 3 years after this was taken, I was on another trip to Chicago, and saw the same person playing her eh ru.  I tried to communicate with her, but to no avail.  She did not speak english.
Fortunately at the time, I had been learning a little bit of Chinese.  As a last attempt to make a connection, I pointed to my shirt sleeve and said "bai se de,"  which is white in Chinese.  I'm sure I was saying it completely wrong though!  It took a few attempts for her to understand, but when she did it was enough to open up the lines of trust.  She stopped playing her eh ru, showed me her Illinois driver's license!  I was able to write down her name and address.  Later I mailed her a letter that was translated into Chinese characters by a friend.  She also returned a letter to me, all in Chinese of course!  I had to get my friend's help again to translate it.  This "extra" connection embodies the essence of what Stranger Days is about.