Prologue Continue 3 ... It took him three days by steamship from Hong Kong to Swatow and then a few hours’ walking from Swatow. When he arrived home, he found his eldest daughter babysitting her siblings. He watched from the doorway as his three sons played on the dirt floor. Wai Chi hoisted the baby onto her hip, took wild yams from a charred clay pot sitting on the stove, and began feeding her bits of the boiled orange vegetable. Chau could imagine his wife’s bitter reproach: “This is all we’ve got to survive on. While you burn silver smoking opium, we grub for yams.” Months of this sparse diet had whittled any remaining baby fat off Wai Chi’s slender frame. One braid bounced over her shoulder as she turned to stare at him. Her eyes, as dark as the soot on the clay pot, were solemn, but in their depths shone the trust a child reserves for her father. Her look made him pause. Wai Chi approached her father and reached for his arm. It hung limp. He did not smile back when she smiled her welcome. He swallowed the guilt that rose like bile in his throat with a muttered curse. Then he took Wai Chi by the hand, led her over the dirt path to the Ore household, and left her there. When his wife returned home, she knew at once why her eldest daughter was missing. “How could you?” she hissed. “How could you sell your own daughter?” “We have three sons,” was his laconic reply. “What’s going to happen to your daughter?” ...to be continue ...
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 23:46:54 +0000
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