A Thread Unbroken (28 page)

Ruju folded her wet jacket up and put it at the foot of her pallet. Then she lay down and curled up, pulling her legs up close to her chin. Jun helped her spread the shirt over her, and she closed her eyes.

She looks like such a child.
Jun opened the book and read a few pages, then realized he had no idea what he had just read. He thought of Chai and hoped she was somewhere safe.

Beside him a mother and her three sons slept. The mother snuggled her smallest boy to her chest, and what appeared to be her oldest son had his arm draped around another little boy. The older boy coughed and reached up and pulled his red cap lower over his eyes.

Jun pulled his phone from his bag and turned it on. He was glad Ruju had reminded him to power it off to save the battery. Holding the phone high above him to find a signal, he looked to see if Wei had tried to call him. She hadn’t. He thought of Chai again, and his chest felt tight.

He stood up and paced the three or so empty feet next to Ruju’s head. She had quickly fallen into a deep sleep, and the only sound from her was her light snoring.

He paced again, this time stumbling over the pallet of the mother and boys closest to them. The woman stirred and looked up at him, pulling her child closer.

“
Dui bu qi.
” At his apology, she closed her eyes, and he turned and went back to his pallet and sat down. He pulled out his book again, read a page, and shut it. He felt overwhelmed all of a sudden—almost as if he needed to walk off the emotional energy that was bogging him down. He needed to think through what they were going to do tomorrow.

Can I get a bus back to the main town? Will it be possible? Will we be stranded in Sandu’ao a few days?
He knew he needed to get Ruju back to her grandmother.

“
Qing wen.
I see you cannot rest. Would you like me to take you to a hallway where you’ll have room to walk?” A pretty nun tapped him on the shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked up into a very strange set of eyes, and then looked away so he wouldn’t embarrass her.

Jun looked down at Ruju, then back at the nun.

“She’ll be fine. Once I show you to the hall, I’ll return and watch over her.” She pointed to a chair in the corner, indicating where she’d be.

Jun did feel like he was about to jump out of his skin, and he relished the thought of getting out of the crowded room so he could move about. “
Hao de.
”

He stood and picked up their bags.

“I can also keep those at my chair until you return,” she said. “Oh, I’m so sorry, my name is Sister Haihua.” She held her hand out to him, and he shook it quickly then dropped it.

“Follow me.”

Jun walked behind the woman wearing the black skirt. They wound through the sleeping forms on the floor until they reached a door on the other side. She opened it and stepped through.

“No one is allowed to camp in this hall—it’s where our permanent residents live. But you can walk here, talk on your phone, or read your book. I could tell you were feeling out of sorts in there among all the people. You can spend some time here and come back when you’re ready.”

“
Xie xie
,” Jun said as he walked through the door. “I’ll keep my bag, but if you can hold on to the other one, I’ll get it in a few minutes.” He handed Ruju’s bag to the young woman, still trying to avoid staring at the startling color of her eyes.

She put her finger to her lips. “You must be very quiet in here; there are people sleeping behind those doors, and our nursery is right down at the end of the hall.” She turned and left him standing there, shutting the door behind her.

Finally able to breathe, he sank to the floor to rest for a moment in the solitude. He looked down the hall at all of the closed doors. He wondered what it was like to live in the little apartments Ruju had told him about. Farther down, he saw another hall separated by a wall of windows.

That must be the nursery she mentioned.
He thought about the children who lived there. Ruju had told him about that, too, how there were many unwanted children who lived at the church until families could be found for them. He was puzzled by how some men—and even women, if he was being truthful—could so easily give up their own flesh and blood.
And for what? A simple birth defect, or because they were girls?
It riled him up to think about it, for there he was, searching high and low for his own daughter, while other fathers were throwing theirs away.

Feeling the need to move around—anything to get his mind off the fact that he desperately wanted a cigarette—Jun got up to pace the hall. He passed one room with the door open about a foot and peeked in. The old man inside was sitting up in his bed, fiddling with a hot-water bottle. Jun quietly passed his door, wondering if the man had any family, or if he had been left there alone to live out the rest of his days.

Feeling melancholy, Jun continued pacing the length of the hall until he found himself in front of the glass windows. On the other side were a few rows of cribs and then a few rows of beds. He counted at least thirty babies and children—along with a few young women stretched out in the beds along the back wall.
Those must be the caretakers
, he thought as he moved his focus to the baby nearest the window. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it was a girl who lay sleeping with her tiny thumb poked into her mouth. Even under the heavy quilt and strap across her, he could see her knees were tucked under her and her tiny bottom was poked up into the air. It made Jun remember when his girls were infants, and how they’d curl up on his chest and sleep. He’d only wanted to protect them and keep them close—but he had failed, at least with Chai.

He looked around at the rest of the room and thought how much more cheerful it was than the other parts of the building. They had really made an effort to make the living arrangements as pleasing as could be for the orphans. Still, how much consolation could paint, furniture, and a few toys give children who eventually would mature enough to realize they had been abandoned? He frowned, then continued his walk.

On the other side of the windows, he turned down the other hall, and after seeing an old woman on the bed in the first open
room, he turned around and began to head back to his original post. He didn’t want to get in trouble for going down the women’s hall; obviously the nursery was a divider between the two sections.

At the windows again, he paused one more time to look at the nursery. It made him feel a sense of comfort that the children were behind the glass—protected for the moment, one could say. His eyes fell on another baby, and he chuckled at the full head of hair the tyke sported. Tufts of black stuck up all over, making the child look like a tiny man. Jun shook his head and turned to go, just as movement caught his eye.

It came from a bed in the back of the room. Jun squinted and saw a bed with two caretakers sleeping and a baby lying between them. The baby was moving, obviously wanting something. Maybe it was hungry, or wet. Either way, Jun could tell by the quickening of flails and kicks that the baby was about to get someone’s full attention. Jun waited another second—at least it was something to take his mind from his own troubles—and he wanted to see if the little one got its way and was able to awaken the sleeping nannies.

Finally the caretaker with her back to Jun sat up and picked up the baby. She threw the cover off of them and climbed out of the bed. Balancing the baby on her lap, she sat down and pulled on her boots, then stood again.

She’s probably going to go get a bottle of milk
, Jun thought
. I wonder where the kitchen is and if I can find some tea.
Not wanting to get caught looking, he began to walk again—only peeking from the corner of his eye.

Just before he was out of sight, the young woman lifted her face and looked to the window, causing Jun to stop in his tracks.

No. It can’t be.
His heart began to thump loudly, and he felt dizzy. Putting his hands out, he leaned on the window frame for support and looked closer.

The girl also stopped moving and stared right back. She held the fidgeting baby, and for what was surely only seconds but felt like an eternity, they stared at each other.

Finally the girl began sobbing, putting noise to the tears that ran down Jun’s face. “Baba! Baba! Josi—wake up! It’s my baba!”

J
un let go of Chai and stood back to look at her face again. He shook his head and let out a cry of joy. Pulling her close to him, he playfully rubbed her on the top of the head with his knuckles.

“I can’t believe it. I thought I was seeing things. But it’s really you.”

“Baba, you found me! I can’t believe it, either—I thought we had broken our thread!” Chai said, her face wet with tears. She reached up and felt the familiar smoothness of his face.

“Chai, our red thread may have been stretched, but it was never broken. I’ve been looking for you, girl. I’ve never stopped searching.” He hugged her again—then pulled away and looked down to study her. “Are you okay? Have you been hurt?”

In her father’s presence Chai felt relief flood over her and the weight of responsibility she had carried for the last year lifted.

“No, Baba. I’m fine. What about Mama? And Luci? Did they come?” Chai asked, hoping her baba had them tucked away in another room.

“No, Chai. They’re waiting to hear if my search was successful. But your mother is going to be so relieved to know you are safe.”

Standing beside them, Josi cleared her throat. “Lao Jun, what about
my
parents? Have they looked for me, too?”

Jun pulled away from Chai and turned to Josi. “Oh...well. Josi, you know with all of the children there and your father’s job, they couldn’t come with me. No one thought I’d really find you girls—I was looking for a woman who was possibly seen with you. I never thought...they didn’t think...” He stopped to swallow the lump in his throat. “That I’d really find you.”

Josi looked down, and Chai put her arms around her, squeezing her close. She could read her father fairly well and had guessed that Josi’s parents must not have been as devoted to the search as hers. It was no secret that she had a closer relationship to her parents than Josi did hers, but she knew her friend’s feelings were hurt.

She looked up to see Sister Haihua coming toward them, her face pinched with irritation.

“What is going on here? It is much too noisy; the children are sleeping, girls.”

The she noticed Jun, and looked ready to scold him for exploring too far.

“Sister, this is my baba!” Chai clutched her father’s arm with one hand and used the other to rub the tears from her face.

“From the fishing village?” Sister Haihua asked, looking from Chai to Jun. “But who did you come in with earlier? Another daughter?”

Before Jun could answer, Chai looked at Josi. “You didn’t tell her about us?” Chai thought that Josi showing up looking beaten
and claiming a connection with Zee and Chai would have surely led to the story about their kidnapping.

Josi shook her head. “Sort of. I left out some parts until I could figure out how to get you away from there.”

Jun stepped closer to Sister Haihua. “Sister, Chai is my daughter, and she’s been missing for over a year. My search led me here. Can you tell me how she came to be here?”

Chai thought that Sister Haihua took the news and the question too calmly. She wondered if she knew more than she had let on after all. The woman amazed her with her strange intuitions.

“Baba, I’ve only just arrived here because of the storm. Sister Haihua has nothing to do with our kidnapping.”

“Come on, let’s get you all to somewhere you can talk privately. It sounds like quite a story, and I’ll make you some tea for your reunion.” Taking Zee from Josi, Sister Haihua beckoned them to follow and led them to the kitchen.

They all sat down around the large table. Chai scooted close to her baba; she didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

Sister Haihua put a pot on to boil and set out three mugs.

“I’ll put Zee back to bed. Josi, you know where everything is. Don’t forget to turn off the flame. I’ll be back to check on you later and you all can fill me in. I’ve got to see to the others in the main hall and make sure we’ve got everyone settled down.” She quietly padded out of the kitchen.

Jun shook his head again. “This feels surreal. You would not believe what I’ve gone through to find you girls. Start talking—how did you end up here? Who took you?”

The water kettle began to whistle and Josi got up to fix the tea.

Chai took a deep breath and started all the way from the beginning with their weakness to go against their better
judgment for new dresses. As she described the shed they awoke to and the ropes around their hands, she could feel her father tense up beside her and see his clenched fists on the table. She assured him that except for a few slaps and insults, and the attack on Josi, they were unhurt. She wrapped it up quickly, wanting to know how he had managed to figure out where she was.

“Tell me, Baba. How did you find your way here?”