Tangled Vines (6 page)

The people in the park stared as the woman leapt around,
dancing and singing to the music only she could hear. The cords coming from earbuds tucked into her ears traveled over her chest and connected to a tiny purple iPod attached to her waistband. The woman was oblivious to the crowd, leaping from one side to the other as her long hair bounced around and people either laughed or stared.

“Now
that
is something to see,” Linnea mumbled, mesmerized by the woman’s total, unbridled joy. It wasn’t often she’d seen anyone from that generation singing, or especially dancing, in public. Most people of that age would highly disapprove of that type of behavior. Linnea thought it curious that the woman was so undeterred by the staring. And even with the pace she was keeping, she still moved more gracefully than some half her age could. Linnea shook her head in amazement.

“She reminds me of a butterfly, so free and beautiful.”

Jet shook his head. “Someone’s been huffing the opium pipe.…”

Linnea cleared her throat and when she got his attention, gave him a scolding look.

Sky laughed and began applauding. Then he stepped forward and, holding both hands to his mouth, called out, “Go, Bai Ling, go!”

Linnea sat at the table next to Jet, across from Sky, and listened intently. Her business neighbor was proving to be even more interesting than she had first thought. Bai Ling was not only the namesake for Sky’s store; she was also Sky’s mother.

Jet snorted. “And that really doesn’t bother you that a park full of people are staring at your mother and laughing?”

Linnea elbowed him in the side. “Don’t be so rude, Jet. They weren’t all laughing. Some of them were clapping. I saw lots of them smiling, too.”

Sky nodded. “It’s okay, Linnea. Jet obviously comes from a conventional family and doesn’t understand freedom of the spirit.”

Linnea watched him as he looked over at Jet’s crisp buttoned-up shirt and designer jeans, then glanced down at the watch on Jet’s wrist that probably cost more than Sky brought in with a week’s profits at his store. She felt her ears burn with embarrassment. Jet came off as pretentious sometimes, but she knew that wasn’t who he really was.

Sky continued. “Bai Ling lives on a different plane than most people. She doesn’t—nor do I, for that matter—care what others think about the way we live. If Bai Ling can make one person feel joy with her dancing, then she has put in an honest day’s work and can go to bed with her soul at peace. Bai Ling uses her dancing and singing to escape the bad memories that try to invade her spirit.” He brought the bowl up to his mouth and nonchalantly slurped the rest of the broth and noodles from the bottom.

Linnea didn’t know what to think. She’d never heard someone call his mother by their given name, and she’d also never met such a different type of family. She wouldn’t dare ask any more personal questions about his mother and what memories she was trying to escape. Instead she used her spoon to chase a few stray noodles around the bottom of her bowl.

“So, the jewelry in your store, and the stuff you displayed in Linnea’s window, she made all that?” Jet asked.

Sky nodded. “Most of it. But these days she spends more time in the park and I’ve taken over designing the jewelry. I’ve been around it all my life, so I can pretty much copy her style exactly. While most of the jewelry makers in Wuxi focus on pearls, we’ve got the bead market.”

Jet shook his head and Linnea hoped whatever he was thinking would come out politely. Her hopes were dashed quickly.

“How can you make a living selling beaded jewelry? Did you even go to school? What’s your background?”

Linnea cringed and looked at the bottom of her bowl as if it held the answers to all of life’s questions. She wished she were somewhere else. Where had her kind and compassionate boyfriend disappeared to? Jealousy was one thing but outright rudeness she couldn’t stand. She was mortified. But Sky didn’t seem to be. He went on as if Jet’s question were perfectly acceptable.

“School? No, I don’t have a worthless piece of paper that tells me I’m allowed to participate in the career a bunch of stuffed shirts has deemed I’m qualified for. I just do it. And how much money do you really need, Jet? Do you think that money will bring you the happiness your heart seeks? Tell me, what is it you have always wanted to do? Work for a pittance for high-browed officials? Is that your destiny?”

Linnea muffled a giggle at the expression on Jet’s face. She knew he hated deep conversations like this. To his family, money was the key to everything. And even though Jet had thrown his parents for a loop by choosing a girl of modest means who had no real family tree, the need to aspire to great heights had been ingrained in him from a young age and he’d shared with her many times that he wanted to make his own fortune one day.

Sky continued. “And we have more than jewelry in our store. Like Linnea, I’m interested in bringing back things of the past. Most of your generation is only interested in obtaining the things that foreigners around the world have. They’re addicted to the wrong things, like smartphones and computers.” He waved his hand dismissively in the air. “They’ve shut their eyes to what we already have in our own country. I want them to fall back in love with our things and stop coveting everyone else’s.”

Jet’s forehead wrinkled. “My generation? How old are
you
?”

Sky laughed. “We’re only as old as we feel. But I can see you are a man who wants real facts. I am just a few months from turning thirty.”

Linnea’s mouth dropped open. “Thirty? You don’t look a day over twenty-two or three!”

Jet waved his hand at the server to signal he wanted the bill. The girl came close and he told her to also wrap up two to-go servings of the noodles.

Sky waited for the girl to leave the table, then nodded. “That is because I haven’t spent my life chasing insignificant things. Bai Ling taught me long ago that everything I need can be found right in here.” He used his fist to thump his own chest. “Have you ever heard of Falun Gong?”

Linnea cringed as she looked around to see if anyone had heard.

Jet held his hand up and whispered across the table. “Hey—don’t start talking about something that’s going to get us arrested. I just asked how old you were.”

Sky laughed softly. “Jet, Jet, Jet…listen, my friend. Falun Gong isn’t a cult as the government has led many to believe. It’s just a way to cultivate your higher energy using exercise and developing your mind. Think of it as a new way of living life peacefully.”

Linnea had heard about Falun Gong but didn’t know much about it, certainly not enough to argue one way or the other.

“All the same, tell that to the thousands of Falun Gong followers who are now rotting in prisons and reeducation camps, being tortured for their beliefs,” Jet hissed. “I don’t want Linnea involved in any part of it.”

Sky folded his hands quietly on the table. He looked calmly from Jet to Linnea.

“You’re right. This isn’t the time or place. Let’s talk about more things of the past. Linnea, do you know I have in my store an authentic folding movie chair that was used by moviegoers in the Mao era? It belongs to my grandfather. You have to come see it, and he might even let you use it for your display window.”

Linnea perked up at that. It would be perfect as an accessory to her vintage shirts. She wondered if Sky’s grandfather would let her buy it from him or possibly trade something.

Through the corner of her eye, she watched Jet stiffen at Sky’s offer. She wished that Jet would be more open-minded and realize that Sky was just a harmless nice guy! And a real Mao-era chair? She couldn’t wait to see it. She wondered if she could use it to sketch a T-shirt graphic. She’d already thought of a banner to put over it—a quote by Mao would be perfect. If his grandfather would allow it, that was.

“Seriously, Sky? Can I see it today?” She couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice, even if it did make Jet scowl. “I’d love to borrow it, if you think he wouldn’t mind.”

C
alli
heard the door open but didn’t look up as she wrestled a slippery, soap-covered Poppy in the kitchen sink. The little girl giggled and slapped at the water, obviously happy to be naked, despite the chill in the air. Bubbles and water covered the counter and even the floor around them, but Calli couldn’t be cross with her, as the joy on her face and the bubble crown on her head made her quite adorable.

“Sit still, Poppy! I’ve got to rinse your hair. Benfu, is that you? Come over here and help me. I swear, this little bean sprout is getting so big I can’t handle her. I’m too old to keep wrestling these babies.” Right on cue, Poppy’s butt slid out from under her and Calli had to move fast to keep her from going underwater.

“Oh, Peony, your face! What happened?” Maggi said, behind Calli. And why was Peony already home? It wasn’t time yet. Peony attended one of the local schools—but her classes usually let out a bit later than the twins’. Usually she was the last one home, but today she’d even beat Ivy.

Calli held on to Poppy and turned to see what the fuss was about. Peony stood just inside the door and looked a mess. Her hair was sticking out all over, one pigtail down and the other hanging skewed. Her jacket was torn but most shocking was the swelling eye she was sporting.

“Oh my, what happened to you?” Calli asked, already having a hint. Peony was turning out to be one of her most adventurous daughters of all. At only ten, she had a personality that needed no introduction. When she walked into a room, she immediately drew attention. Some of her first battles had been because the other children at school had known she was a part of their family. Peony had been embarrassed to be taunted as a scavenger’s daughter until she’d finally settled in with them and become proud of it.

“Feng Ji started a fight and I finished it,” she said, her hands on her hips, the fire in her eyes still blazing.

Calli sighed as she finished rinsing the suds from Poppy. Feng Ji again. Would the boy
ever stop his bullying? It was going to be hard to discipline Peony when the truth was, she was glad she’d stood up for herself. “Sit down, Peony. Let me finish with the baby, and then I’ll fix you up and you can tell me all about it.”

Maggi wheeled herself closer to the sink and held up a towel. “Here, Nai Nai. Give her to me.”

Calli held Poppy over the water and shook her gently to let the water slide from her little brown body; then she guided her into the towel. Maggi enveloped her with the soft material and hugged her close. Poppy giggled, loving the attention from her big sister.

“Let’s get you dressed, Pop Pop.” Maggi wheeled them over to the bed where Calli had laid out fresh clothes. Calli was proud
that Maggi was taking on many more chores now that her new chair allowed her to be mobile. Besides still doing a lot of work with sorting and ironing out the newspapers neighbors continued to give them to recycle, her daughter had become almost a second set of hands to help with the baby. Still though, she needed to get Maggi to return to school, as she had refused to go since she’d been teased about her disability so much in her first few weeks.

There never seemed to be a quiet or peaceful day anymore, but Calli wouldn’t have it any other way. As she looked over her modest home, she felt an unexpected longing for her own mother—or at least a chance to show her what she’d done in her life. She felt her
muqin
would be proud. Even in a time when baby girls weren’t coveted, she’d said Calli had been a much-needed burst of colorful affection when she’d arrived. That was how she came to be called Calla Lily, after her mother’s favorite flower. The woman would be proud that as a tribute to her, Calli had carried on the tradition and built her own flower garden of daughters.

“Now come over here, Peony.” Calli patted the chair at the table, and Peony stomped across the room and plopped down in it, then heaved a loud sigh.

Calli tried not to smile at the indignant look on Peony’s face as she went to their tiny refrigerator and pulled out a pack of peas that Widow Zu had given them only the week before. “Tell me what happened.”

Peony huffed in exasperation, then started her story. “We were working on our special projects and the teacher called on Feng Ji to answer a question. He got it wrong and then I answered it right. He got mad and called me a melon head.”

“Here, hold this on your eye.” Calli cringed. Someone from the neighborhood must have spread the story about the growth on Peony’s head when she was found. The scar was almost completely hidden now by her hair but before her surgery it had been a touchy subject. Peony was sure it was the reason her mother had left her to be found by someone else.

“Please tell me you didn’t start a fight right in class?” She knew Peony’s teacher was very strict and she dreaded getting called in to see him. The last time they’d met she’d had to put him in his place when he’d tried to tell her Peony was deficient in intelligence because she was a ward of the state.
Ward of the state, my
foot!
Peony was her child as far as she was concerned and just as intelligent as any child in that class!

“No, I waited until we were allowed to go for our break and I got him at the water fountain.” Peony set the peas on the table and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Looks to me like he got
you,
Peony. You’re going to have a black eye!” Maggi called from the other side of the room. “Wait till Ye Ye hears about it.”

“Shut up. You should see Feng Ji’s face,” Peony answered her sister defiantly.

Calli held her hand up. “Hush, both of you. Peony, I’m surprised at you. You let someone steal your joy and get you all riled up. Why didn’t you ignore him? And I can’t imagine this all took place without any teachers noticing.”

Peony lowered her eyes.

“Peony? Are you in trouble?” Calli really hoped not. Already it was only the first term of the year and Peony had been reprimanded numerous times, usually for her acts of retaliation after being teased. Unfortunately, the teachers never seemed to take her side. There was no compassion involved when it came to disrupting school.

Peony sighed. “I don’t know, but I have a letter in my bag. You have to meet with Laoshi tomorrow morning before I can come back to class.”

“Peony, you are just determined to live up to your name, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

Calli sat down across from Peony. “Well, legend has it that many years ago a famous empress ordered all the flowers in her land to open at the same time. Only the peony dared to disobey and remained closed.”

“I would’ve stayed closed, too! Why should one person be in charge of every flower? What if the flower wanted to open another day instead?”

Calli shook her head. On the bed, Poppy chattered incoherently, oblivious to the stress in the room. Calli wished Benfu would come home from his afternoon errands so he could step in and take care of everything. He was much better at finding words to console the girls than she was. But she could only do what she knew how to do. So she scooted her chair closer to Peony and enveloped her in her arms, holding the tiny stiff body until she finally relaxed and let herself be comforted.

Hours later, after a modest dinner of boiled cabbage and steamed rice had been served and the kitchen was cleaned up, the girls gathered in the living room, some reading and others doing homework. Lily played a low, soft song on her violin, bringing a peaceful and cozy feeling to their evening. Poppy sat on a blanket, happy with the colorful collection of cups and bowls they’d set out for her to play with. Calli felt a sense of contentment fall around her until she looked over at Peony and saw her staring into space, her stack of dog-eared postcards scattered in her lap.
So one of my little flowers is not at peace,
she thought to herself.

“Peony, do you want to take a walk?”

Several heads popped up. They all liked to walk in the evenings when Calli was feeling like it. These days her arthritis flared so much they didn’t often get to go with her. Calli shook her head at their hopeful looks.

“Just Peony and me tonight, girls. Tomorrow Ye Ye will take you and if I’m able, I’ll join you.” She looked at Benfu and he nodded. With that he’d given his thoughts on the subject and would say no more. Peony stood and joined her at the door. Calli handed her a light jacket and they left.

As they moved down the lane between the rows of houses, Calli let the quiet settle between them. She knew her daughter well and Peony would talk about what was really bothering her when she was good and ready.

It didn’t take long and they didn’t need to venture far. They
reached the end of the
hutong
and Peony perched on the low concrete wall of their neighbor’s courtyard. Calli settled in beside her.

“Nai Nai, does it mean I’m a bad daughter to you if I think about her?” Peony asked, almost in a whisper she said it so low.

Calli could tell the question was hard for Peony to ask and she wondered how long she had been holding it back. And she needed no detail of who
her
was—it was just known. And all her daughters had these questions swirling around in their minds at different times in their lives; some of them just chose not to speak about it, keeping it close to their hearts instead.

She put her arm around Peony and squeezed her skinny body against her warm, plump one.

“Peony, you could never be considered a bad daughter. We love you so much, girl! And it’s perfectly okay to think about your mother. It’s only normal, especially for you as you remember her so well.” She hoped she was saying the right words. It never got any easier to comfort the girls about the circumstances surrounding how they came to be a Zheng daughter. Poor Peony; her mother had made contact through postcards for a while and given her daughter what could be considered false hope. The postcards had held only a few words and never gave any identifying information about the sender. They were simple pieces of paper, but just enough to keep Peony’s emotions on a constant roller coaster.

Using the mail, Peony’s mother had dangled hope in front of her for a few years and then suddenly cut off all contact. It had been at least six months since the last card, yet Peony never stopped waiting for the mail to arrive.

Peony turned to look her in the eye. “But I don’t want to make
you
sad, Nai Nai.”

Calli squeezed her harder. “
Aiya
. You could never make me sad by thinking of your mother! What makes me sad is to see how you get so upset and keep all those feelings bottled up inside. Sometimes it helps to talk with your lips instead of your fists, Peony,” she admonished her lightly. Since the postcards had stopped a year before, Peony had really misbehaved at school.