The Scavenger's Daughters (Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters, Book One) (19 page)

Peony sat back and tucked her hands under her bottom. She bit down on her lip and Benfu could tell she was struggling to keep from asking another question. He chuckled at her expression.

“We’ll talk more about the house another time. But girls, before the Cultural Revolution began, when I was only a few years into high school, my parents took me aside and told me they wanted me to go away until things calmed down in Shanghai. It was a time of chaos. At that point the Red Guards had just begun building into an organized group and Mao had given them permission to help rid the country of the Four Olds.”

“No more old customs, old habits, old culture, or old thinking,” Peony blurted out.

Benfu nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Well, what you don’t know is that I was a promising musician. I took violin lessons from a very prominent teacher in Shanghai.” He paused at that and looked around to see the reaction.

“You can play the violin?” Linnea asked, her brow creased with confusion.

Beside her Benfu watched Lily’s eyes light up. She was a huge lover of music and he knew she would be the most interested in his story.

“I
used
to play the violin,” Benfu corrected. “But even though most all other music and instruments were banned, Mao at first allowed the violin and those who were good enough to stay in the city and perform in one of the approved music troupes. The troupes accompanied the revolutionary operas, the only bit of culture still permitted during those troubled times.”

“Did you play with a troupe, Ye Ye?” Maggi asked from her bench.

“No, Maggi Mei. I didn’t play with a troupe. My parents decided they didn’t want anyone to know about my music, for they didn’t want me taken from them only as a source of entertainment for Mao and his cadres. So they forbade me to play.”

“That’s so sad,” Lily said.

“It
was
sad—but when my parents sent me to the country to live, they let me take the violin and told me to do whatever I could to keep it safe. I wrapped it up tightly and hid it in an old well.”

Across the room he saw Calli fidgeting with her fingers. He could see that she was worried just how much of the story he would tell.

“Well, where is it? Do you still have it?” Linnea asked.

Benfu remembered vividly the night he escaped how he had first run to the old well and pulled up the rope, relieved when he saw it was still intact. Through the beatings and forced starvation his dignity had been taken from him, but the sight of the old violin had given him hope that all was not lost. Some would say he’d wasted valuable time in retrieving his belongings but Benfu would never have rested if he’d left it behind.

“As a matter of fact, I do still have it!”

The girls all watched open-mouthed as he stood and crossed over to the kitchen. Benfu bent down and opened the cabinet, then pulled out all the empty bottles, sponges, and cleaning powders and set them all on the floor all around him. Calli slowly rose from her chair and crossed the room to stand beside him.

“What are you doing, Ye Ye?” Peony asked.

Benfu didn’t answer. Once the cabinet was cleared, Calli handed him an old knife and he used it to pry out the first board. The board resisted but after
some tugging, it finally popped out. The rest came easier. When he’d pulled several, Benfu put the knife down and reached in and lifted something out. The first object his fingers found was his journal from tumultuous years gone past, and he set it aside. The next object he cradled like a baby as he blew the dust from the black silk that covered it.

He stood and returned to the rocking chair. It had been at least a decade since he had even laid eyes on it, and longer since he had let it release its sweet music. He unwrapped the silk material and heard the collective gasp around the room as he held the beautiful violin up for them to see. His own heart pounded with excitement, and maybe even a bit of remembered fear.

“What is it? Someone tell me, is it the violin?” Lily asked, her eyelashes fluttering in excitement, even if she couldn’t see.

Benfu put his fingers to his lip and warned the other girls not to say anything. “Lily, come here, see for yourself.”

She stood and shuffled over to the chair. “I smell the earth.”

Benfu chuckled. “There’s more than dirt here, girl. Please, come closer. I want you to sit in the chair.”

He stood and guided Lily into the seat. She looked baffled, even as confused as the rest of the girls. All of them were trying to understand why he was acting so mysterious.

Benfu carefully set the violin in her lap and guided her hands to it. He watched the emotions play across her face as inch by inch she explored the instrument with her searching fingers.

Lily smiled and gently traced the contour of the neck, the body, and then the strings that were miraculously still intact.

“It’s beautiful.”

Ivy came to kneel beside her. “It really is, Lily. It’s such a pretty wood. Ye Ye, what is this?” She put her hand on the instrument beside Lily’s and together they explored it.

“Maple. My parents had it imported from Europe for me when I turned twelve.” The memory of that day still played itself out in Benfu’s mind. They were so proud that his teacher had told them he had reached the advanced
level and would start learning the most famous classical pieces. He did learn them, too, but a lot of good that did him as years later all Western music would be banned.

“Be careful with that, Lily. It is your Ye Ye’s most prized possession,” Calli called out from the bed where she had moved for a better view to watch.

“No, Calla Lily. There you are wrong,” Benfu said, much to Calli’s confusion. “It
was
my most prized possession. Now it belongs to Lily. She will learn to make lovely music.”

Benfu could see the shock register on Lily’s face as she inhaled deeply.

“Mine? But… I can’t play. Why give it to me? I can’t even see to learn it.” Lily looked confused and even a bit overwhelmed.

Benfu put his hand on her shoulder. Beside her he could see Ivy well up with tears of happiness for her sister. Ivy understood what he was trying to do; this he could see in her face.

“Lily, you
will
learn to play it. You don’t have to see—you only have to hear. But first you must become familiar with it. Clean it, hold it, even sleep with it. With your fingers learn every scratch, dent, and groove on it. Soon it will be your best friend and know all your secrets. Then I will get you a teacher and you will learn how to make music with it.”

“But why can’t you teach her, Ye Ye?” Linnea asked. “And will you play for us?”

With that request the other girls all piped in, begging and pleading for him to play.

Benfu hung his head. How could he tell the girls that he knew he could not handle the memories and emotions that playing his violin would surely bring? Memories of his privileged boyhood, the proud looks his parents gave him when he played, and later the fear that being caught with the instrument would bring. To be known as a musician in addition to an intellectual’s child would have meant more persecution than he could bear. For years he dreamed of the freedom to make music whenever he wanted, but the oppression had ruined it for him. When the time came that he could freely show his gift for playing, he no longer felt he could do it. He couldn’t bear the feelings
the music would unearth. He’d rather pass the bow, so to speak, to let the violin make new—happier—memories.

“Please do not ask this again, girls. I no longer play. It is enough that before long we will hear your sister playing sweet music to fill our evenings. I’ll find the right teacher for her, when the time is right.”

Lily cradled the violin against her and smiled serenely.

“I’ll call her Viola. She’s part of us now because she also has a flower name.”

Around the room the girls broke out in giggles and a smattering of applause. They all knew it was time that Lily had something of her own, something to help her find light through the darkness that at times threatened to envelop who she was.

In this, the family was united. The violin would become Lily’s new lifeline.

W
ith the final festivities over and the people of Beitang settling back into the small-town routine again—much quieter without the incessant rounds of fireworks—Benfu struggled to overcome his feeling of achiness and his persistent cough. He still went out to collect every day, as well as to patrol the usual secret places to check for abandoned children, but instead of eight-to-twelve-hour days, he’d cut back to only half days. He could only last six before he had to come home and rest. Even though he promised Calli he’d be home after lunch each day, he would always find her waiting impatiently, scurrying around him like a wet hen to get him to sit back and rest.

But today she’d just have to get her feathers in a dander because he was going to be late. As he pedaled through town, he consoled himself that the girls were all fine and even little Poppy had proven to be a healthy addition to their family—as far as he could tell, she would not need any expensive medical treatments.

Linnea’s new mobile shop was still doing well and though he suspected some of the time when she was supposed to be working she was really out seeing her new beau, he approved of her newfound independence. She’d really come through and was helping with the household expenses, even if it did shame Benfu to take her contributions. Still, it was getting harder to make ends meet each month. He supposed it was his own fault, but they’d
always spent their money taking care of their daughters and maintaining their home. The government gave him a small pension for being in the impoverished category, but it didn’t amount to enough to make a real impact.

Today he planned to see Dr. Yu, the poor man’s doctor. Many years before he was one of those very young men—not more than a student really—with a limited medical education who had been forced to travel between the country communes, treating as well as he knew how. Back then, with only a beginner’s education and no experience to speak of, they fit in with the peasants and were called
barefoot doctors
. Many of them learned their techniques only from cases of trial and error. Years later when others went back to school for their medical degrees, Dr. Yu continued to build his small practice through word of mouth and his reputation for treating on credit. These days, a visit at a real hospital could cost more than Benfu would make in a month, so he hoped a visit with Yu would get him back on his feet so he could return to working full-time. He still had six girls to get raised and out of the house; he didn’t have time for the cloud of misery that surrounded his bones.

He finally arrived at the block where Dr. Yu lived and had to squeeze the handbell on his handlebars several times to get the line of people waiting for the city bus to move and let him pass. Yes, everyone was back from their visits to the countryside and around China; the long lines and impatient faces proved that. Finally through, he parked his bike in the row of others and went to the old door. Though he hadn’t been to Dr. Yu’s office in a very long time, he could see the man hadn’t gotten any richer in his absence. The door to the small concrete home still needed tightening and the trash piled up around the walkway overpowered Benfu’s senses. But he wasn’t here to judge his possessions; he was here with the hope of feeling better.

Luckily, Dr. Yu’s daughter answered the door on the first knock and beckoned Benfu to enter their modest home that also served as an office and even operating room at times.

“
Ni hao,
Lao Benfu.”

“
Ni hao
to you, Xiao An. How is your health?”

She smiled and nodded. “Very good. And Tai Tai Calli?”

“Calla Lily is just fine, thank you.”

Xiao An stood with her hands on her hips, looking Benfu up and down. “What do you need today?” She was all business as usual and Benfu knew without her, the doctor’s underground practice would not run half as efficiently as it did.

Sometimes she treated her father’s patients to body massages to help rid them of unwanted poisons, but Benfu wasn’t sure that this time her techniques would help. He hoped to be able to get Dr. Yu to perform some acupuncture.