We shall begin this story after my arrival in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. There I was, chillaxin’ in an air conditioned room in my grandfather’s house. Outside temperatures had hit the top of the thermometer but it looked like a nice day … a very nice day. “I feel like goin’ to the bowling alley across the street,” I announced to my brother. He gave me the “look”, a half glare, a half squint that said “You’re crazy, man!”  I ignored his unspoken comment and made my way to the door. My first step onto the driveway the heat slammed into me like a hot branding iron. Ssssssss!!!

The 5-minute walk felt like I’d traveled hours through the Mojave Desert. The good news is that I arrived in Antarctica; The Bowling Alley was so cold I needed a polar parka to keep me from getting frostbite.

I played some cheap 10 yuan (25c) arcade games then hit the indoor baseball diamonds for batting practice. I never knew a mechanical pitcher could throw so hard that the batter would shake when bat and ball made contact. I was really afraid to swing. The station was the slowest pitching speed and it was still the fastest ball l will ever hit in my life.

After a 5-minute walk back home, I felt like a sloppy, drippy ice cream cone and lay down for another hour of chillaxin’. Little did I know that another kind of heat in these parts would leave its mark in a more damaging way. (Insert mysterious music)

About a week into my family’s stay in Kaohsiung, we took the bullet train to JiaoXi, a place famous for hot springs.  While unpacking, I felt a tingly feeling on my calf and reached down to check the cause  ...  a mosquito was quite hungry and I was a nice looking meal.

We all had a great time relaxing in the hot springs and eating the local foods. When the tingly feeling in my leg receded a little, I thought for sure that the mosquito bite would vanish in a few days, but, I knew I was wrong when the tingly feeling became painful. Day by day the pain increased … and increased … and increased.

After we came back to Kaohsiung, the skin around the mosquito bite became bruised and hard. Being the caring person he is, my grandfather took me to the doctor. After a few minutes of checkup, the doctor announced that I was bound for minor surgery. The minute I heard the word “surgery” I was half scared to death. “This is going to hurt a whole lot,” I whimpered. “It’s going to be alright,” My mom reassured me.

When the doctor first put a numbing needle into the wound it felt like a drill boring into my swollen calf. Then he used a scizor to open the wound. I was screaming on the inside because it sure felt like I’d been stabbed. The doctor continued the surgery by pushing a piece of fabric into the wound to make sure that the white pus inside would be cleaned out.  I later heard from my dad that the doctor also dug out some rotten flesh. When all the pain subsided I knew the surgery was over.  The doctor diagnosed this as cellular inflammation of tissue. My parents predicted that  the  unclean hot-spring water had infected my bug bite.

I looked at my wound and saw a big round hole in my calf. It had not been stitched closed because the gauze had to be changed daily. I knew that the mark of the hungry mosquito would be “my tattoo of Taiwan” for a long long time.