Yahoo's 79 English Group

GW79ers 2003 Las Vegas Reunion Report

All messages about our Rock friend's Backgroud History

Rock Story Chinese

In the evening of labor day weekend, I was working alone in a dark and empty office building . The trees outside the office cast a shadow of a headless creature on the wall, and I heard something which I was not sure if it was the sound of the wind, or the footstep of an armed burglar on the roof...

I sensed that something unusual was about to happen.

My phone rang, I nervously picked it, a deep voice told me that Rock Friend (the individual who created mystery, controversy and even admiration in our char room) was sending me his personal picture via email, and will talk to me in 10 minutes. I was warned not to tell anyone about this encounter, since I was the only one Rock Friend contacted.

I saw Rock Friend's picture, and talked to Rock Friend ------ it was a shocking discovery! I was still shaking uncontrollably after the conversation with Rock Friend. No one, absolutely no one in Class 79 could have guessed who the individual or the organization was, not even in one's wildest imagination!

To be continued....

Mai Zhidong

Two hours after I talked to Rock, I became somewhat calmed down, and began to be aware of my own physical and mental conditions. Before I came to the office, I had two glasses of Mao Tai in a BBQ party, and three cups of black coffee in the office. My heart beat was totally irregular at this point.

I decided to call Rock by using the call-back function on my phone. I wanted to rule out the possibility of an illusion on my part that could be the result of the Mao Tai and black coffee.

After three rings, I heard some classical music, and then came a sweet, cheerful female voice that could capture a man's heart at any given time. I asked her if I could speak to Mr. Rock who called me earlier.

"This is Ms. Rock. There is no Mr. Rock here."

"But I talked to him just a few hours ago. He even email me a picture of him on the Magazine! I don't quite recognize him from the picture, but we used to be classmates 20 years ago in China. "

"I am afraid you have dialed the wrong number, sir." The lady was very polite and sincere in her tone.

I did not give up. "Ms. Rock, just in case you see Mr. Rock, please let him know that all of us are very pround of him, proud of his success and accomplishments."

I was totally convinced that I did not have any illusion, and the alcohol and coffee had not impaired my senses and judgment. I decided to put an end to this mystery.

To be continued....

Mai Zhidong

As you may recall, Rock's midnight phone call to me was clearly a male voice, the picture via email shows a figure that the gender of which could not be positively identified, and my return phone call was answered definitely by a woman who claimed to be Ms. Rock. Both are speakers of flawless English and without any Chinese accent.

Most of us will remember for life the voice and face of the 79 classmates. Take our classmate Tu Han Lan for instance, after 20 years without any contact, I recently got her phone number but mistakenly called her at 4 am. She recognized me within seconds after waking up from deep sleep.

Had Rock been a 79ner, I would have called out his or her name instantly. I could not relate either of the two voices to a face or name.

To solve the mystery, I think I should resolve the following unknowns:

Is Rock a man or a woman?

The confusion over Rock's gender probably goes beyond a simple mystery. Consulting an expert would be my first priority. I immediately think of my friend and private investigator John.

John has been a private investigator for many years with expertise in the investigation of extramarital affairs, and the identification of the genders of well disguised individuals. Two weeks ago he was hired by a suspicious wife to monitor the activities of her husband. He followed the unfaithful husband and his lover for three hours to a secluded motel. When the romantic liaison appeared to be occurring inside the motel room, John posed as a maintenance man with a small digital camera tied to his belt, and knocked at the door. John suffered heavy punches to his face and lost two of his front teeth. While John was trying to recover his lost teeth, the couple escaped with John's camera containing the naked evidences.

After listened to my story, John quickly told me his conclusive presumption: "the man who called you and the woman who answered your call are the same person." John went on to tell me his stunning prediction and his understanding of a medical fact: this individual is a male who probably underwent a sex change operation about five or six years ago. Due to the unstable hormones level, her voice could slip back to male if she does not consciously control her speaking.

I found some merits in John's assertion based upon my experience in working with transvestites. Our client "Linda" was formerly a man. Not long ago our firm assisted her in resolving a dispute with her fitness club arising from which shower area she should use (men applauded for her appearance while ladies screamed and ran for cover). Linda told me how happy she is now, and how much she enjoys the physical liberation after 30 years miserable experience as a male. The operation cost her $25000 plus a lot of pain.

A chill went through my spinal, and my heart was heavy. Which one of my classmates could have been a woman trapped in a man's body, and chose to go through such a dramatic and painful change in life? I could think of none. The 79ners grew up under the iron fists of communist systems, and have conducted their lives in an ultra conservative fashion. Almost all of them have been happily married and have children. Such a deviated life style could never be adopted by any of us. I immediately dismissed the possibility of a transvestite.

Rock's Voice Analysis ------- the Wonder Machine

In our business we need different kinds of experts. They could cause your innocent client to go to jail and help the release of a guilty murderer. I decided to seek the assistance of a voice expert to analyze the voice of Rock . Rock's phone call to me and my conversation with "Ms. Rock " were all on tape.

Mr. Smith is a seasoned voice analyst. He used to help us analyze a recording in a spousal abuse case. The young wife alleged that her husband beat her up so much that her pain and suffering was even recorded on the tape. At the end, the judge believed in Mr. Smith's testimony that the alleged screaming, moaning and groaning from pain in the tape was in fact the wife's singing of a Japanese love song.

After listened to my tape, Mr. Smith scratched his head. " Mr. Mak, none of the voices you have heard is a normal and genuine human voice. This individual spoke through a technical device called Voice Transformer which transforms a man's voice to a woman's voice, and vice versa, a woman's voice to a man's voice. Further more, the device can filter out all foreign accents if you speak English."

According to Smith, Voice Transformer are mostly used in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China. Mr. Smith was very certain that this particular type of transformer is the latest model called SRPX2234 currently manufactured in Mexico. Because of its high price and limited quantity, Mr. Smith assured me that he could find out from the dealer who the purchasers are.

At this point the gender of Rock still remain unknown, but the breakthrough is imminent.

To be continued....

As described in Part III, in the hope of finding out Rock's identity, voice analyst Smith promised to trace the purchasers of the Voice Transformer in Mexico.

In the late evening of the following Tuesday, Smith called me from Cancun, the beautiful ocean city in Mexico where many honeymooners are heading this summer. Smith was going there with his newly hired secretary (the third secretary in six months). In his phone call I could hear the sound of ocean wave, the disco music, and the cheering of men and women seemingly playing some frolicking games. "Life starts at 40. I recalled the phrase I learnt in Guangwai, and was sadden by the prospect that my life will never start the way it is now.

Smith informed me that the purchasers of the Voice Transformer are major corporations from Hong Kong, a spy agency from China and several federal agencies from United States. There were no individual purchasers. He recommended that I seek the advice of profile expert Greenberg.

Greenberg has been a profile expert for many years. He can establish the physical, psychological and professional profiles of an invisible suspect based on his written and spoken statements. The internet dating games have generated so much business for Greenberg nowadays that he had decided to terminate his service contract with the police department.

Greenberg's predictions are considered 90% accurate. Here is one of the examples. Last May after one nights' on-line hot chat with a girl in Toronto, his 22-year-old son decided to get on the first flight the next morning to meet his long sought soul mate, who claimed to be a 20- year old ballet dancer.

Greenberg glanced over some of the steamy email transcripts from the ballet dancer, and offered his son the profiles of this "soul mate": a woman of 300 lbs heavy, and 45 year old with three failed marriage and one failed breast implant operation. The son was furious at the father's prediction. However, six hours later the son called from Toronto airport and cried uncontrollably over the phone. Greenberg's prediction was exactly correct to every detail. His son was coming back on the same flight with a broken heart and a shattered dream.

I submitted all of Rock's emails to Greenberg, and played Rock's recorded voice of both male and female . At my request, Greenberg described to me Rock's past love relationship as a student in Guangwai:

If Rock is a male, he would be the one who had written letters to at least four girl students between his third and fourth year. These letters sparked with flame and were glazed with honey. All of the girls were in Class 79. One of the girls got so scared that she nervously turned over the burning letter to Wang Laoshi. The other three girls since then have become very friendly with Rock. Each of them consider that episode as one of the sweetest memory in Guangwai. However, these girls had not compared the letters they received from Rock to see if they were individually tailored.

If Rock is a female, she would be the one who danced nonstop in the party because so many guys lined up to invite her. On the even of her graduation, one late night near the classroom building, Rock cried over the shoulder of one of her secret admirers in Class 79, and whispered to him the most cruel words -----" I am sorry. I can't." For the next 20 years, Rock has been agonized by what she said at the moment in time. They could be the most perfect couple.

Greenberg also informed me that he had established contact with Rock via email. Rock accepted the above profile as mostly accurate. Rock has promised Greenberg that they/he/she will publicly announce their/his/her identity along with the confession on this coming September 28, 2003.

Greenberg was not willing to disclose further details to me, other than his guaranty that everything will be clear on September 28.

I feel very relived that my investigation of this incident is finally concluded, thanks to the experts around me. Like all of you, I am anxiously waiting to see Rock's announcement and confession on September 28.

Does any one have any educated guess?