The Gang's All Here

It was Friday morning, 7:15. I was at the track, getting ready for the daily tai chi session. We were gathered in a little corner off to one side. Even at this time of the morning, there are dozens of people circulating around the track. Some older men and women, walking alone; there is always this group of three women, housewives probably in their forties or fifties, who walk together; a lot of students running individually or in small groups–a lot of these are dressed in their school clothes. Most of the people are walking or jogging at an incredibly slow pace, but there are a few young men moving along at a pretty good clip.
Most of the Chinese exercise at this time of the morning because they believe the air is better. At this track, the early morning is about the only time there is relative calm. For most of the rest of the days there seem to be groups of students on the soccer field that is tucked inside of the track. This makes running difficult because they are invariably launching balls across the track and against the wall the runs along one side. I’ve had to dodge a few of these myself. So if you want to run around the track, best to do it early. But not too early, at least during the weekdays, because at about 6:30 or so the soccer field is filled with students doing group calisthenics to some metallic voice booming over the loudspeaker.
Anyway, on this morning I looked around at our little group. There is the leader, Master Wang, a tall, stately figure you wouldn’t want to mess with now even though he is in his sixties. There is Mr. Chen, the wiry little guy who used to live in Mongolia and who speaks Russian and his wife, even little but always smiling. There is Nancy–at least that’s her English name–the Chinese student who first invited me into the tai chi group. There is Xiao Bing. She is a teacher from some region about 600 miles away who is at the University to do research for a year. Her child and husband live back home and they are coming this weekend. And there is some other Chinese woman probably in her thirties who has been showing up occasionally since I’ve been coming and still seems to have problems with the basic movements..Anyway, this has come to be the basic group, although more often than not probably someone or other is missing. Nancy and Xiao Bing both speak English, so if both of them are gone, it gets a little awkward. Mr. Chen speaks a little English, but it’s best if someone can translate. You don’t really need much, if any language to do the tai chi, but sometimes it’s helpful when a move is being explained. Anyway, on this morning, I looked around and realized everyone was here, and it felt good to see everyone, and I turned to no one in particular and said, "The gang’s all here." Xiao Bing overheard, and asked what that meant, but there is no way to convey the exact meaning of that phrase, I think, in a quick way. And anyway, it was time to start.