Read Online The First Excellence: Fa-Ling's Map by Donna Carrick - Free Book Online Page B

extinguished. Then there was only silence for a full thirty seconds. Randy was surprised when the door suddenly opened. He had not heard anyone approaching from within.
    A pair of eyes peered at them from the withered face of a tiny old man. One of the eyes was rheumy and filmed over by a cataract, but the other was as black and bright as a child’s. The healthy eye rested first on Shopei then on Randy.
    Shopei pressed her hands together in prayer formation and bowed slightly, keeping her head lowered in an offering of respect. Randy followed suit.
    Shopei spoke a greeting to the man in Cantonese. He opened the door further and motioned for them to enter.
    He appeared to be more than ninety years old. He was dressed in dark grey cotton pants that billowed around twig-like legs. His white shirtsleeves were tailored to fall just short of a pair of bony wrists. A dark grey vest covered the front of his shirt.
    “ This is Master Long,” Shopei said to Randy. “He is a friend of my father’s.”
    There was one wooden chair at a metal-legged table. The old man spoke and motioned toward it.
    “ He wants you to sit down,” Shopei said.
    “ Please tell him to sit,” Randy said, not wanting to take the only chair.
    “ You should sit down,” she repeated. “You are tall.”
    Randy pulled the chair out and nodded his thanks. The old man opened an ice chest and set a jar of strange looking liquid on the table. He lifted two mugs from the shelf and poured some of the filmy liquid for Randy and then for Shopei. Randy looked dubiously at his mug before lifting it to his mouth.
    “ It’s mango juice,” Shopei told him. She thanked her host in Cantonese.
    “ Why are you here?” Long said.
    “ This is my cousin, Randy Chan,” Shopei said. “He does not understand our language. He is from America. We asked him to come.”
    “ Very well,” the old man said. “What news of your father? I have not seen Lim for two weeks.”
    “ The news is not good, grandfather.” Long was not related to Shopei, but was a close family friend. It was polite for Shopei to address him this way.
    She waited while Long found another chair from behind a red silk curtain and settled himself at the table. Then she set her drink down and stood near Randy, her eyes not meeting the old man’s.
    “ They are all dead,” she said. “Father, Mother and Dahui. It happened this morning.”
    Long continued to sit upright in his chair, his back rigid as she spoke. His eyes, though, both the good one and the blind one, filled with tears. Seeing the old man’s sorrow brought Shopei’s own emotions to the surface and she had to struggle to go on with her story.
    She told him about the previous assault on her father. After it had happened, the family asked their cousin Randy Chan to write a story about what was going on. It would be a dangerous endeavour, but somehow news had to make its way to the West. They hoped Randy would be able to make that happen.
    Randy could not understand what Shopei was saying to their host, but he could sense the gravity of the conversation.
    “ Are we still safe here?” Long asked.
    “ I believe so,” Shopei said. “Father never confessed to anything. Besides, if they knew where you were they would have come for you before now.”
    “ I am sure of it.” Long stood. “Well, since your cousin has come this far, we should not waste time. Let’s show him what he came to see.”
    Shopei motioned for Randy to follow. Long led the way to the red silk curtain that served as a screen, separating the tiny area into rooms. He pulled the curtain open and held it for Shopei and Randy.
    “ Oh, my God!” Randy exclaimed.
    “ Yes,” Shopei nodded. “This is why Father wanted you to come. Now you can see for yourself we have not been exaggerating.”
    Regaining composure, Randy reached into his bag. He removed a palm-sized tape recorder and set it on a small table beside the bed, flicking the switch to turn it on. Then he rummaged