“At the beginning,” Jace replied.
“If I wanted Kung-Fu confusion, I would watch an episode of the Legend of Kung-Fu,” Kianna snapped.
“Look, there’s no need to bite my head off! I’m just trying to help you put things into perspective. First of all, where’d you get twenty thousand dollars? Even though I thought he was ripping you off.”
“Don’t start with the rip off thing again.” Kianna sighed and moved to sit down beside Jace on the bed. She didn’t meet her friend’s eyes because she felt as though she had done something horribly wrong.
“I know. But ain’t no one paying that much money to bury two people.”
“Jace…” Kianna’s exasperation was showing.
“I know—I know! Anyway—wait a minute. Did you use your mortgage savings?” Jace flew into sitting position. “Kianna?”
“No.”
“Then where did you get twenty thousand—oh hell no! Tell me you didn’t.”
Kianna got up again. Suddenly it was as though her bed was on fire and she couldn’t be anywhere near it. It scorched her.
“Kiki?”
“Jace, don’t make this harder, please,” Kianna pleaded. She wrapped her arms around herself as she felt tears welling up again. “I just…”
“How could you do that though?”
“It wasn’t like I had any other choice! They died and left nothing but the house. A house can’t pay for their funeral. The funeral home wanted their money—and they wanted it now. All those years they’ve been working, they didn’t save a penny! They hadn’t had a child to take care of for twelve years and they had nothing saved! I didn’t want
them to have a pauper’s funeral—I couldn’t live with myself.”
“It’s all gone?” Jace’s voice trembled.
Kianna shrugged while turning to face Jace. “Yep,” she managed before the tears went tumbling down her cheeks. “All gone—” That last phrase sounded like a small child who had just thrown something out that her parents wanted to keep. She felt feeble, weak almost pathetic. Jace’s arms were around her and the next thing she knew, Kianna let her forehead fall against her friend’s shoulder. She didn’t sob like she had earlier because she couldn’t. She had nothing left within her.
“There has to be a way to get it all back,” Jace whispered while pressing a kiss to Kianna’s head. “There has to be.”
“It’s going to take too long. I work minimum wage now and I actually have to take care of a house and a car now. I have bills to pay. I can’t afford to scrimp on those. That money had taken me years to stash away. There is no way I can save that much again.” Kianna pushed air out her mouth and stood away from her friend. “No. I have to face the facts that some dreams aren’t worth it and just move on. It blows baby chunks, but what can you really do about it? Huh? Nothing. You can sit there and sob all the time and drive yourself nuts or you can just shrug and walk
away. So I’m going to get a glass of wine, take a bath and crawl into bed. Tomorrow is a whole other disappointment and I can’t wait to see which one it’s going to be.”
“The funeral?”
“I doubt it,” Kianna spoke, wrinkling her brow. “They’d better do a good job, especially since I paid so much money. I’ll be mad as hell otherwise.”
“I’m not going to say anything to that. You know how I feel about it,” Jace chuckled at that and turned for the door. “You get in the bath and I’ll get you a glass of wine.”
“No, we should clean up first.” Jace didn’t argue.
Kianna was happy for that. The truth was, Kianna needed something to keep her mind and hands busy. If she was too busy to think, this whole thing would just be one big blur to her and she could tire herself out faster. That way when she finally fell asleep that night, she would be too tired to even dream. That was how she liked her life since her parents had died—a blank slate.
Silently, the two worked stuffing paper plates into large, black garbage bags. Then they crushed Styrofoam cups, emptied uneaten food into bags and dumped half-empty cups into the sink. Afterward, while Jace washed the serving trays, bowls and plates, Kianna took disinfectant wipes
to the living room—anywhere someone might have placed a cup or a plate or even their bum. At one point someone, had taken it upon themselves to sit on her dinning table, which had left her fuming. Giving that spot an extra dose of pine disinfectant, she dumped the used wipes into the garbage and proceeded into the kitchen to help Jace with the washing.
“Hey! I got an idea!” Jace flailed happily.
Her outburst scared the crap out of Kianna. The glass she held slipped and smashed to the floor. Kianna moaned.
“Ugh! Sorry Kiki.” “What idea did you get?”
“You could sell your parent’s house!” Jace explained. “I mean you have your own house, you don’t need two, right? It would cut down on the bills and the going back and forth—it would help. Maybe use that money to go to China like you always wanted to.”
Kianna pressed her back against the counter. She crossed her arms over her chest and thought about what Jace had suggested. A strange feeling flowed through her. “Ain’t nobody wants to live in a house where a man and his wife died. There is something about that house—something strange.” “That’s what you think.” Jace frowned. “In this economic down turn, people want a good deal on houses—especially since many of them are
looking to start over. How much did your parents pay for the house?”
Kianna shrugged. “No clue. I guess I can dig through their papers and find out. I do know they paid off the mortgage years ago. And it would be good to not have to worry about the upkeep on it.” She sighed and fell silent.
“Well, you could get a job, something that pays a lot,” Jace sighed.
Again Kianna sighed. It was late into the night, bordering midnight, when the two friends slumped onto the living room sofa with a glass of cheap, red wine in one hand and cookies in the other. With their backs pressed into the sofa, they sat there silently, sipping from their glass and watching the moon outside the window.
“Do you ever stop to think that maybe, your father could never live without your mother?” Jace questioned out of the blue. “I mean, think about it. He’s known her ever since high school. They’d dated for five years, then got married. The two of them have been together for what? Thirty-five years in total?”
“No, about forty-one, forty-two,” Kianna corrected. “They started dating, then broke up, which, by the way, lasted for like a minute and went back to being friends, then dated again. Second time was the charm I guess.”
“That’s my point,” Jace whispered. “They had to have loved each other very much to have stayed together for so long.”
“There’s no such thing,” Kianna blurted before sitting up and draining her glass. “No one can love another person that much.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that’s something fairy tales are made of and I was taught a long time ago that fairy tales weren’t real.”
“Just because your brother was a prick, doesn’t mean you have to believe everything he said,” Jace countered.
Kianna rubbed her tired eyes and exhaled. “Look,” Jace continued. “All I’m saying is
maybe after so many years, your father couldn’t see himself waking up every morning, reaching over for her and her not there. Maybe that was harder for him to think about than death.”
Kianna remained silent.
“There are worse things in this life than death, Kiki,” Jace added. “Maybe being alone, after loving and being with someone for so long was the one thing in your dad’s life that was worse than death, you know?”
Kianna didn’t reply.
The grandfather clock close to the front door began singing.
It was midnight.
That night, in bed, for the first time since she was six, Kianna prayed.
Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the lord my soul to keep. That if I die before I wake. I pray dear lord my soul to take.
The day of the funeral was no better or different. Kianna still felt as though someone had stolen something from her that ruined her life. When the coffins of her parents were lowered into the ground, she still couldn’t cry for her father. She didn’t think he deserved the tears, though she wanted to mourn him. All she kept thinking was that he had a choice—life or death and he chose the wrong one. He chose to leave her in a world that she didn’t like, a world she had never without family in before—alone. Rain fell lightly over the crowd that had gathered to pay their respects to the dead couple. People were wailing and sniffling and Kianna felt sick to her stomach. She knew that when they went home, their conversations would not be sympathetic.
“Poor child. Can you believe what her father did?”
“Darling girl, but she is a tad strange.”
Kianna shook her head and slumped back into the chair as the priest went on to
The Lord’s Prayer
. She could barely bear it. But still she sat, like a
good little girl. When it was all over, she spent a few minutes alone with the graves until it began raining. Jace returned, wrapped her arms around Kianna’s shoulders and walked her back to the car. They drove in silence all the way back to Kianna’s home and just as silently, Jace tucked her into bed.
D
ao smiled as he listened to his mother’s worry. “Don’t worry Ma, I just want to make sure you and Dad are taken care of. You took care of me— you’re still taking care of me—why can’t I do the
same for you?”
“But a private doctor? That has to be expensive!
How are you affording all of this?”
“Ma, please don’t worry, okay?” Dao pressed. “Let me do this. Besides, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you and Dad. Okay, please?”
“You’re not into the drugs, are you?” His mother’s voice sounded incredulous. “I heard those things are big in Canada.”
Dao laughed. “No Ma. I’m not into drugs. Do not worry. I promise.” His mother went silent. Dao kept the quiet going for he knew her well enough to know she was thinking. His personal assistant stuck her head in to remind him of his upcoming meeting and he nodded. “Alright, Ma. I’ll call you soon. I have a meeting. Be nice to the
doctor for me? And if he gives you and Dad medicine, please take them. Don’t worry about the cost.”
His mother laughed. “I’m your mother. I’m always nice.”
Dao chuckled for he could see her inside his head, lifting her chin proudly as she said that. He blew her a kiss over the phone. “
Ngo oi ney
.”
“Love you, too,” she replied.
He waited until she hung up before he dropped his phone back into the cradle. No matter how many times he told her what he did for a living, she always forgot. He didn’t mind though, he loved her too much to care about such petty things. He called his mother regularly since she was still in China. He actually didn’t quite call her—he would call a friend of his, ask the young man get his mother or both his parents and bring them back to where the phone was. Then he would call back in one hour to speak to his parents.
At the end of each month, he would send the man money in payment for what he did. His mother had refused the cell phone he offered to get them. Sometimes her wanting to be so ancient worried him and angered him. The cell phone would have settled his nerves, but then again his parents did not have electricity where they lived. They still used oil lamps at nights, washed clothes
in the river and boiled the river water for drinking. He wanted to make certain both her and his father were well taken care of, but they weren’t making it easy for him.
Dao left his office with his papers and a smile on his face. He walked into the meeting room to find that his associates were already there. He greeted them with a smile before taking his seat. “Alright.” He opened the file before him and peered in. “Let’s do this. First let’s deal with the Hoboken situation. Do we have a representative down there? We need that group under Red Dragon and with how amazing they are, we have to move fast.”
“Amber is heading down there as we speak,” someone called from the far end. “She should get there in the next few hours—oh and she took the contracts with her.”
“Good. Keep me updated.” The meeting dragged on. For the most part they were trying to get him to send one of their singers on a world tour. He was talented, but the kid rubbed Dao the wrong way. Even without that, Dao knew that Prodigy—the singer-was an international incident waiting to happen. No matter what the kid put his hands on—except music—turned to hell in a hand basket and he was costing Red Dragon way too much money.
“He’s not going on tour,” Dao put his foot down. “This kid is nothing but trouble. The last time I sent him out, he started a fight with a minor and left us holding a lawsuit. I’m not even going to start with the other stunts he has pulled. Until he can prove to me that he knows how to behave himself and how to represent this company in a respectable light, he stays in the studios.”
Most of the others weren’t pleased, but Dao couldn’t say he cared. He had a business to run and couldn’t very well do that when he was busy doling out money for different lawsuits.
“How is he going to make money if he doesn’t go on tour?” one person asked. “Promote his album and Red Dragon?”
“He is making money from his albums,” Dao pointed out. “He will earn more once he learns to behave himself. This is a business, and as much as I know people would pay big bucks to see him, those big bucks won’t help Red Dragon if we have to pay that money out to the next person he decided talks too much and deserves a fist to the face.”
Dao turned to Prodigy’s manager. “Put him on probation. Prove to me he’s changed.”
“We can always take him somewhere else,” the man huffed.
Why do they always do this?
“You have a contract with Red Dragon and if you breach that I
wouldn’t hesitate to make you both pay. But aside from that, you could try taking him somewhere else, but don’t kid yourself in thinking someone would pick him up after we release him. Do you want to know why? No other company is going to put up with half the crap we put up with. Now we can sit here arguing about this all day or you can talk to your client.”
That silenced Prodigy’s manager and Dao turned to see the next person who wanted to get on his bad side. When no one spoke, Dao opened a second folder and pulled out a contract. He sailed it across the table. “Jackson, that contract is for Bai. Have her agent and lawyers read it over and if everything is good, sign it and drop it off to Beth-Ann.”