Gold Mountain Blues - Ling Zhang [218]
Ah-Hsien was a mess; her eyes were full of sleepy dust, her tunic was buttoned up wrong so that one side of it hung down, and her feet were so swollen they threatened to split her cotton shoes. “Next time, wash your face and comb your hair before you come down, will you? How could you let the servants see you like that?” Ah-Hsien fixed her eyes on the floor and said nothing.
She was puffing and panting like an ox, and Kam Sau brought her stool to sit on. Ah-Hsien sat down heavily and one of the stool legs bent under her. Before she could stand up again, there was a crack and the leg snapped in two, dumping her on the floor like a sack of rice.
Six Fingers and Kam Sau rushed over to help her up, but Ah-Hsien sagged helplessly against them. As the deadweight of her body pulled the two of them down with her, Six Fingers shouted furiously: “Why did you choose the edge of the stool to sit on? Is there a louse waiting to bite your ass in the middle?” Before she had finished speaking, there was an exclamation from Kam Sau. Her hand trembled like a leaf as she pointed at Ah-Hsien’s trouser cuffs.
Something red was trickling down her legs and pooling on the floor beside them.
Blood.
In the early hours of the following morning, Ah-Hsien gave birth to a
baby boy called Fong Yiu Kei. He was the Fong family’s first grandson.
Year twenty-three of the Republic (1934)
Vancouver, British Columbia
Yin Ling was awakened by a crash. She had been dreaming of Johnny. She and Johnny were in Miss Watson’s etiquette class together.
All fifth graders had to take etiquette classes. Their teacher, Miss Watson, a woman with a face permanently taut with disapproval, was meticulous in her teaching of matters of etiquette, such as how to choose the right item of cutlery at a formal dinner party or an appropriate outfit for a social occasion. She also taught them to dance the waltz, foxtrot and tango. Yin Ling had little interest in her other school work, particularly science and history, and usually managed to doze off in the first fifteen minutes. She was reprimanded so often by her teachers that she learned to fall asleep with her eyes open so as not to attract unwanted attention.
But Yin Ling was an eager pupil in etiquette class.
Actually, Yin Ling was really only interested in one part of the classes—ballroom dancing.
Miss Watson made the girls and boys dance together, and she made them change partners with every new dance. They had had several weeks of her classes and would start tango next week. Each time they exchanged partners Yin Ling ended up with some sissy boy. But she carried on hoping secretly that one day she would get her heart’s desire.
Her heart’s desire was Johnny.
Johnny was the tallest, most muscular boy in the class. He had corncoloured hair with ungovernable curls, which turned into ringlets when they got wet in the rain. He hardly ever wore his school uniform properly. There was either a length of sleeve hanging down or the shirt would be open at the neck. Johnny was daring in other ways—he would sneak quick smoke during the break when Miss Watson went to powder her nose. When he smoked, he would half close his eyes, tilt his head back and look as if he had the whole world at his feet.
And then there was his guitar. When he played, the sound was like small hand plucking at the heartstrings. It drove all the girls crazy. Yin Ling knew quite well that every single one of them dreamed of taking his hand and dancing the tango. For her, the thought of being held in the crook of his arm while lifting one leg was worth dying for.
She did not dare think such thoughts in the daytime. She was just skinny little slit-eyed Chinese girl, and Johnny’s eyes would flit over her without pausing. But nighttime was different. Her dreams were like bulls on the rampage. For instance, that night she had been dreaming that in Miss Watson’s class, her hand had been put in Johnny’s. But before she had had time to look up at his hazel eyes, she