A Thread Unbroken (8 page)

She heard a hushed voice. “
Kai men!
”

“
Bu keyi.
I can’t. It’s locked.”

“I unlocked it, but I do not want to enter uninvited.”

Chai turned around and looked at Josi, her eyebrows raised. She pushed open the door and one of the brothers walked in. He stood framed in the doorway against the moonlight, only his profile visible, his hands in his pockets.

“What do you want? You’re going to get us in trouble!” Chai looked around at Josi, who sat huddled in the corner, the blanket pulled up to her chin.

“I’m sorry my older brother was rude. The fruit peddler came by in his boat, and Baba bought a bushel. I want to give you some.” He took his hands out of his pockets, holding a piece of fruit in each.

“
Huo long guo!
” Chai came forward and took the dragon fruit from his hands, then threw one to Josi.

“
Xie xie
,” Josi murmured, putting her fruit under the blanket.

“Does your mother know you’re here?” Chai narrowed her eyes at the boy.

“No.”

“Hmm. Okay. You want to sit down?”

The boy squatted down, and Chai sat across from him. Josi stayed in the corner, watching from behind the protection of the blanket.

“I’m glad you don’t smell all fishy now, or I wouldn’t let you stay.”

The boy laughed. “You
are
a feisty one, just like Mama said. I took a bath. I hate the smell of fish on my skin and in my hair, unlike my brother, who thinks it makes him more of a man.”

“So, what’s your name? How old are you?” Chai began to peel her fruit, stacking the peelings in a neat pile in front of her.

“I’m Tao, and I’m fourteen. How old are you?” He looked at Chai and then toward Josi in the corner.

“We’re thirteen years old, almost fourteen.”

“Do you go to school?”

“We’re on summer break, but yes, we go to school.”

“Baba won’t allow you to go to school here.” He sat all the way down on the floor, making himself more comfortable.

“If we’re going to stay here—which I have no plans of doing—we
must
go to school.”

“Nope, there are other girls like you here, and they don’t go to school. They stay and take care of the houses and the children.”

“But how will we learn? How will I get to read?” Even knowing she had no plans to stay, the thought that until she escaped she would not get to read filled her with anxiety.

“You can read?”

“Yes, I can read! And I told you, I’m almost fourteen! Josi can, too, though she doesn’t like it as much as I do.” Chai put her fruit down in front of her and sighed.

“I’m not a good reader. I only go to school two days a week; the other days, I help my father bring in the load from the nets. But I can get you a book.”

“You can? When? What book?” Chai sat up straight; he had gotten her attention with that statement. If she could get books, she would be able to read to Josi and help pass the time. “I have some in my room. I’ll bring one tomorrow night, after Mother goes to sleep. You can hide it.”

Chai smiled and picked up her fruit again. She remembered what her father had told her when he had given her a new book recently. “A book holds a house of gold.” He was right, because Chai was happiest when her nose was buried in a good story.

“What about her? Is there something I can bring her?” Tao pointed at Josi.

“Josi? Is there something you want?”

Josi shook her head side to side.

“Can’t she talk?”

“Of course she can talk, dummy. She’s just shy—as you can imagine, your family paid for someone to
steal
us! Then we were thrown in this hole and had to sit in the dark, and Josi’s afraid of the dark. It’s a miracle either one of us can talk at this point.”

“Calm down. Be quiet before someone hears us. I’m sorry. I didn’t ask them to bring any girls.”

“Well, which one of you is the one looking for a wife?” Chai narrowed her eyes at the boy.

“Not me! It’s Bo.” He held his arms out in front of him, palms up in a peace stance.

“That fat toad? Do they really think I would marry
him
?”

Behind her Josi let out a quiet giggle.

“I don’t know; don’t be mad at me.” He lowered his voice even more. “I’ll give you a piece of advice. When my brother gets mouthy with you, don’t respond. Just ignore it. Trying to spar with him is like poking a caged tiger. He’s mean. And he’ll find a way every time to make you regret messing with him.”

Chai crossed her arms, shaking her head. “I’m not afraid of your brother. He’d better stay away from me and Josi.”

“Please just trust me—don’t push him too far. But listen,” he looked over toward Josi. “If she’s afraid of the dark and you don’t want to waste the kerosene in your lantern, I can fix the roof so you can see the moon.” His voice was hopeful, and he waited for her to respond.

“How are you going to do that? And without waking your parents?”

“I helped put this room together. Some of the metal didn’t match up, so we tied a tarp on top to keep the rain out. I can flip the corner of the tarp up where the hole is. Wait here.” He got up and went outside.

The girls heard a few creaks and shuffles, then a beam of moonlight shone down from a place in the roof. They looked up to see Tao peeking in, smiling down at them, his face eerie in the dim light.

“See. I told you.” Then he disappeared from view and in a second appeared in their doorway again.

Josi looked up at the small piece of sky and smiled at the moon and stars surrounding it.

“
Aiyo.
Wow,” Tao said, letting out a low whistle.

“What?”

“She sure is pretty when she smiles.” He blushed and turned around, going out the door. He closed it behind him, and they heard the lock click into place.

T
he woman dumped another bucket of cold water over Josi’s head.

“I told you
I
can wash her hair.” Chai stood behind her, hands on her hips, furious at the woman’s callous treatment of her best friend.

“And I told you that I’m going to make sure you girls don’t bring anything into my home. My boys have never had head bugs or any other filthy disease, and I have no idea where you came from or what either of you are carrying.”

Josi stayed still, bent over the side of the deck, with her hair dripping into the water. Chai could see by the way Josi was standing that she was embarrassed and just wanted it to be over.

“Well, I’m going to wash my own hair. You can stand over there and watch me.” As soon as the woman released Josi, Chai reached for the bucket and went to the hose and filled it up. She first dunked her head down into the bucket to wet it and then lathered it up using the shampoo the woman had brought out with her.

Josi stood beside her, picking through her hair with her fingers, trying to pull out the tangles without the benefit of a comb
or brush. She wasn’t given a towel to soak up the water, so she used her hands to wring it out over and over until it stopped dripping.

“Get closer to your neckline.” The woman stood over Chai.

“I will! Give me a minute,” Chai challenged back, her voice muffled as she bent over the side and scrubbed her head. “And if you want us to be presentable, give us back our brush.”

Their bags of supplies that had been with them during the first part of their unwanted trip had disappeared, and the girls weren’t sure who had taken them.

The woman stomped into the house and returned with a small plastic comb. “I don’t have your brush, but here’s a comb. Don’t lose it, because you won’t get another one.” She handed the comb to Josi.

“That’s so nice of you,” Chai said.

“Don’t get sassy with me, girl. Next is bath time. Do I need to watch over you as you bathe?”

Chai turned her head to the side, peeking out at the woman through her long, wet hair to see if she was serious.

The woman chuckled at her expression then winked at her. “I’m going to give you the chance to do it yourself. Wait here and I’ll heat a pan of water to add to the bucket and bring you some soap. You can take it in your room and undress and wash. When you’re through, if I think you didn’t do a good enough job, you’ll have to do it again in front of me. And throw those dresses out the door when you get them off—I’m getting rid of them. You won’t need those kinds of clothes here.” She picked up the empty bucket and headed for the house.

That was fine with the girls, since the dresses were the beginning of their troubles, anyway. The woman had given them boys’ clothes the night before, and both Chai and Josi didn’t care either
way. They were a bit upset about their shoes being taken, but the woman had said they couldn’t be trusted with shoes and had replaced them with cheap plastic slippers.

Chai shivered. “You could have heated water for our hair, too, you know,” she called out to the woman’s disappearing figure.

“Chai,
shhh
! You’re going to make her angry. Who knows what she’ll do?”

Chai stood up, wringing her hair out with both hands, and winked at Josi. “Oh, she won’t do a thing. Her husband’s the tyrant, not her. Don’t be so afraid, Josi.”

W
hat a long, exhausting day.
In only three months of living with the family, Chai had learned how to clean fish, cook it, and complement it with many different side dishes of spicy vegetables.

She dried her hands on the ragged towel and arched her back to work out the kinks. She had come a long way and was no longer the carefree child she had been before their fateful day of abduction. She had learned to carry her part of the load because Josi was a good teacher. Each night they worked side by side to feed the family of six, and they had even learned to sneak in extra portions to ensure there’d be enough left to have a fair share for themselves. Chai had never imagined that she’d miss eating pork, but in her new household, meals were fish, fish, fish, and the memories of her mother’s stir-fried pork dishes were constant daydreams in her head.

During the day, Josi took care of the toddlers most of the time, leaving Chai to clean the dwelling and mend clothing and fishnets—and that was just the mornings. In the afternoons, they scrubbed the decks and did all the other menial jobs around the floating house. Josi joked that other than missing her little
brothers, her life wasn’t much different than it had been at home. There, she had been the oldest child and had always done the most housework and caring for the little ones, which was obvious from the way the new little boys gravitated to her. She said that at least here she didn’t have to care for the family pigs—a chore she had always hated.

Chai liked the little boys, too, and helped out when she could, but they had quickly attached themselves to the quiet, calm ways of Josi and followed her around everywhere she went. They even seemed to prefer her over their own mother, a fact that didn’t appear to bother the woman. A half dozen times a day, they could find Josi holding one of boys over the water to urinate or worse, making Chai wrinkle her nose in disgust. On the cleaner side of being their nanny, it was touching to see them snuggled up on Josi’s lap at every chance they could find. They loved for her to tell them stories, and it wasn’t unusual to see them listening raptly while tangling their fingers through her long hair.

Chai wasn’t sure, but she thought her birthday had possibly been a day or so ago. If the crude marks she carved into the floor of their room were correct, she was now fourteen. She didn’t mention it to Josi; instead she silently wondered what her parents did to celebrate her day, and if Luci even remembered her
jie jie
.

She was surprised that despite their meager meals, she was growing. Mother had fussed about it but given her a few more of Tao’s outgrown clothes to wear, with a rope to tie around her waist to keep them held up. Josi teased her about her new thicker body, but the truth was that neither of them had ever worked so hard, and it was inevitable that they’d gain muscle. Chai was also mortified that now she was getting curves in some places, and she didn’t want to ask Mother for the bra she badly needed. Josi was, too, but at a slower pace than Chai. They joked that the
first one to ask for a bra would get the other’s share of meat for a week.

Looking out the window over the water, she was lost in thought until her belly growled in protest to awaken her senses.

She turned around and called out toward the bedroom, “Josi, are you ready to eat?”

“Just a minute; let me finish dressing Yifeng.” Josi had even taken over the nightly bathing routine with the boys, and she usually did it while Chai cleaned the cooking pots. Then they sat down together to eat their evening meal while everyone else in the family went their separate ways until it was time to prepare for bed. When they were finished eating, Josi would wash the last dishes while Chai dumped the boys’ bathwater over the side of the boat.

Chai was impatient to get done with her duties. She and Josi had started a good story, and she couldn’t wait to dig back in. Thank goodness Tao had kept his promise about sneaking her books. Life was hard but they were both learning to make the best of it. The familiar feel of a book in her hand with a tale of adventure to occupy their thoughts proved to be the best deterrent to feeling hopeless on the nights they were both exhausted.

While she waited for her friend, she wiped down the last of the crumbs and hung the towel neatly on the wooden peg. She turned to the woman sitting in the living area chair. “Mother, can I get you a cup of tea?”

“Yes, Chai, that would be nice.”

Chai poured Mother a steaming cup of green tea and brought it to her. Chai and Josi had decided that Mother wasn’t so bad—they felt that before they had come along, the woman had also been treated as a slave in a way, working to fulfill the whims of her husband and sons. And they had struck a deal a few weeks
after their arrival. Chai and Josi could keep their real names if they called the woman
Mother
and promised not to try to escape. Since they couldn’t swim, escaping was out of the question anyway for the time being, but as soon as they became trusted, Lao Chan would once again leave the small sampan tied to the deck of their floating house.