A Thread Unbroken (20 page)

Chai rolled her eyes at the ceiling and prayed for patience. “You aren’t going to die, Mother. You only have a virus of some sort. Once your fever breaks, you’ll be fine.”

Mother tried to slap her hand away but gave up. “Yesterday you said I didn’t feel well because I was too fat. Today you admit I have a fever. Which is it, Chai?”

Chai ignored her rambling. She dipped the cloth back into the pan of water, wrung it out, and laid it across Mother’s forehead again. Her back ached. She had been up and down for hours nursing the woman and longed to close her eyes. “I told you being exiled to this room for so long wasn’t good for you. It made you fragile. No wonder you caught a flu bug.”

Josi had covered all the other chores for the day, allowing her to focus on Mother. The woman refused to allow anyone but Chai into the bedroom with her. She said that Josi was weak and would only make her worse, and she didn’t want Lao Chan to see her looking so wretched, so he was camped out with the others in the living room, where he’d moved the television.

“Mother, it’s way past midnight, and I need to go back to my room and sleep. I’ll be back to check on you first thing in the morning.”

Mother struggled to push up to her elbows, causing the wet cloth to fall from her forehead. “No. I want you to stay. Please don’t go.”

Chai sighed. “Mother, you’ll be fine. Josi doesn’t like to sleep alone. How about if I come and check on you in a few hours? If I don’t get some rest, I won’t be able to care for you tomorrow—”

“No, Chai. I’m begging you; don’t leave me. You know Zhongfu won’t send the boys in here. He’s too afraid they won’t be able to work if they get sick. No one will come if I call out. Josi knows I’m sick; she’ll understand. I swear to you, if you don’t stay, when I am well, I’ll make you regret it.”

Chai knew only too well that Mother would stand by her threat. She’d probably withhold food other than rice for a week. Still, she didn’t want to leave Josi alone all night. She debated about what to do as Mother watched her carefully.

“Fine. I’ll stay. But only until three o’clock, and then I’m going to wake up Tao to come in here so I can go back to Josi. Lao Chan will be good and asleep by that time, so he’ll never know.” She didn’t mention that the old man had consumed an entire bottle of
bai jiu
and was more than asleep—he was passed out cold with the television blaring out a late-night soap opera. Chai didn’t know how the boys were able to rest with the racket, but obviously, it had lulled them to sleep.

Chai held up the cup of warm water and urged Mother to take a few sips. “I hope you’re better by tomorrow. I heard on the radio that Typhoon Keso might bring some heavy rain and wind our way. I definitely can’t leave Josi to sleep out there alone in a storm.”

Mother lay back down, and Chai readjusted the cloth again. She swiped a few pillows from the bed and laid them on the floor, then lay down.

“Chai, you can get a blanket from the chest at the end of my bed.” Mother sounded much more pitiful than she should have, in Chai’s opinion.

Chai got up and crossed over to the chest. She opened it, and the first thing she saw was the blue receiving blanket Zee had been wrapped in after she made her entrance to the world. Chai had wondered where it was. Feeling a touch of compassion for the mother who was probably silently missing her newborn, she moved it aside and pulled out a thick blanket.

“Mother, how come you have never asked me where I took your baby girl?”

The woman was quiet for a moment. Then she turned over and faced the wall, giving Chai all the answer she was going to give. “Good night, Chai.”

Chai sighed as she returned to the pillows on the floor and groaned as she lay down—her back really ached. She spread the blanket over her body, tucking it in all around her to fight against the cold draft she felt along the floor. She planned on staying awake, but before she knew it, she was snoring lightly, exhausted from her day of playing nursemaid.

Josi tossed and turned on their pallet, wishing for the hundredth time that Chai would come to bed. She was cold, and because she was afraid to turn off the lantern, she couldn’t go to sleep.
If Mother would stop being such a baby, I wouldn’t have to be out here alone.

Finally, giving up on getting any rest, she pulled out the book that she and Chai had started the night before. She knew Chai would not like that Josi was reading on without her, but she had to do something to pass the time until she could go to sleep. After just a few pages, she heard a light knock on the door. Mother had ceased locking them in after Zee’s birth, and knowing Chai would have just come in, she realized who it was.

“Go away, Tao,” she whispered. “Chai is still with your mother.”

While she would have loved to have his company, she was still too shy to visit with Tao without Chai there to help keep conversation going. It also wasn’t proper to have a boy in her room with her alone, and Tao would understand that.

He knocked again, more insistently.

“Tao!” she hissed. “Go away—you’re going to wake everyone up and get me in trouble!”

She knew Tao wouldn’t enter the room without permission, so she was startled when the door slowly opened, allowing a sliver of moonlight to sneak through.

“What are you—” Her question was cut off when Bo stepped through the door, a sneaky grin on his face, his blue fishing cap pulled down low just above his eyes.

“Ha. You thought I was Tao, huh? Did you think I didn’t know he’s been coming out here and messing around with you girls? I’m not stupid.”

“Uh, wh—what do you mean?” Josi was terrified. She had never been alone with Bo before and couldn’t imagine what he wanted. She hoped he couldn’t see her begin to tremble. She also didn’t want to admit anything about Tao’s visits. He would be in big trouble, and his visits were the only highlights of her boring life.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you two. And the way you and your bossy sister flirt with him. You treat him nice, but you look at me like I am dirt under your long, ugly feet.”

“Bo! What are you talking about? My
sister
? Leave my room right now, or I’m going to scream!”

Bo dropped to his knees and immediately clamped one arm around Josi’s neck, with his hand over her mouth. He grabbed her sweatshirt and with one quick move, ripped it open down the front, exposing her breasts.

Josi screamed and fought to get away but he threw her down and straddled her body. He leaned in close enough that his hot breath made the hairs on her neck stand up. When she felt his tongue on her throat she struggled harder, kicking but making contact with nothing but blankets.

He was all over her, and Josi felt nauseated from the strong smell of fish that emanated from his pores. She was light-headed from the lack of air but not ready to give up. She clawed at his hands, but his grip was too strong.

He growled through his teeth as he struggled to unbutton his trousers. “I’m going to teach you to go around tempting my little brother. You want to see what a real man is like? You’re going to find out right now.”

He reached down and grabbed her flaying hand, forcing it between his legs and holding it there tightly. “Feel that throb? That’s a man, not a boy like Tao.”

Josi kicked and yelled, desperate to be heard over the pounding rain and wind. She felt like her fingers would break, but she finally got her hand loose from his crotch and pushed against his chest with all her might, trying to move his unrelenting body off of hers.

Bo snarled in her face, his spittle flying into her eyes. “If I didn’t think Baba would kill me, I’d have gotten Chai first. But you’ll do, at least until they officially give her to me. You might be a cripple, but you’ve still got all your female parts, and you’d better be a virgin.” He grabbed her hard between her legs to prove his point.

He clenched her so violently and the pain was so intense that a wave of dizziness overtook her. Bo took advantage of her hesitation to yank at her clothes. His brute strength overpowered her, and her body began to give up. When he ripped the blouse right off of her shoulders, she whimpered, too exhausted to cry out any more. Then she thought of her best friend asleep in the house only feet away.

Chai would never give up.

With a burst of energy, Josi kicked, making contact with Bo’s groin.

He hunched over and grabbed himself. “You’re going to pay for that!” he snarled as he lunged and grabbed her hair.

“No—please!”

Using his free hand, he struck her across the face. The blow was hard, and again she felt a wave of weakness, giving Bo another opportunity to sprawl over her squirming body and get into position again. With one hand he pulled his erection free from his pants and frantically tried to guide himself between Josi’s splayed legs.

“No, Bo, please, stop!” Josi begged, crying loudly.

The door flung open. “Bo! What are you doing?” Tao stood in the opening, his eyes wide with shock.

“Tao!” Josi cried, kicking and flailing. “Help me!”

Bo’s thick arms held her down as he turned to Tao with a menacing sneer. “Get. Out.”

Rage filled Tao’s eyes. “The hell I will! Get off her right now, Bo!”

Bo continued his tug-of-war with Josi’s clothes. A large rip sounded as her trousers and panties came off in his fist, exposing her to both boys. “We—bought—her. I can use—her!” He huffed through each word, never relenting in his struggle to make her cooperate.

Tao dived for Bo, knocking the breath out of Josi. She rolled out from under them and ran to the door, crouching to cover her naked body. She yanked at one of their blankets until she freed it from the fray and wrapped it around herself. Even more than the pain of the beating, she felt mortified that Tao had seen her naked. She looked out the door but decided not to run for the house. She was too afraid to go for help, sure that Lao Chan would blame her. Tears ran down her face as she grabbed clothing from the corner and struggled to pull it on and catch her breath.

“Damn—you—Bo!” Tao used too much energy to cuss at his brother and not enough to get the upper hand. They wrestled, trying to overcome one another.

“
Tamade!
” Bo cursed, now out of breath and heaving hard. He finally maneuvered himself on top of Tao, pummeling his face. He outweighed his little brother by at least fifty pounds and used his weight as an anchor. Still barefoot but at least semidressed, Josi cried harder and the two continued to fight viciously. Tao showed signs of slowing down, terrifying Josi even more. Bo might kill his own brother if he didn’t stop punching him. The fury on his face suggested they could be the last few breaths Tao would ever take.

“Stop! I’m going to go get Lao Chan if you don’t stop!”

Josi was too afraid to really go after the old man. She looked around desperately for anything to use as a weapon. Their
ceramic toilet bowl sat in the corner, and she ran for it. Bo saw her only a split second before she tried to crash the bowl on his head. He rolled left, tipping over the crate they used as a table, loaded with books and the lantern. The bowl shattered, and the spilled kerosene ignited the bedding.

Bo went back to pummeling Tao as Josi screamed at them to stop, her cries drowned out by the wind and rain, but still she tried.

“Stop! Please—please stop...” Josi sobbed. She jumped on Bo’s back and wrapped both her arms around his neck and squeezed.

Shocked at the sudden heat from the fire and another set of arms in the fray, Bo hesitated long enough for Tao to slip out from under him.

Coughing and choking, Tao stood up, pulled his leg back, and let loose, kicking Bo’s nose with the heel of his shoe.

A sickening sharp crack filled the room and Bo fell face-first onto the pallet. Other than Tao’s ragged breathing, silence filled the room until Josi sprang into action.

“Tao! What are we going to do? Oh my God—did you kill him?”

“Get some water, quick!” Tao yelled. He grabbed Bo’s legs and pulled him out of the room and onto the deck.

“Tao, wh—what are you doing?” She was afraid to hear his answer. She was seeing things.
This isn’t really happening.

Tao stopped at the edge of the deck. Bo stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

Tao kicked him again. “You’ve beat up on your last victim, Bo.” He pulled his leg back to give another kick and Bo caught his foot in midair, jerking Tao off his feet. Tao fell on his hind end. The fight was on again.

“Stop!” Josi hissed. “You’re going to wake up Lao Chan!”

They wrestled closer to the edge, and Bo tried to get to his feet. Tao shoved Bo, and he slipped on the wet deck. He waved his arms around like a windmill in an attempt to regain his balance before falling backward into the bay. A loud splash broke the night air.

“Now. You can cool off in there,” Tao slurred, his breath coming in short pants. He bent over and put his hands on his knees as he struggled to breathe. He shook his hair like a wet dog as he tried to clear the water from his eyes.

Josi stood in the pouring rain and watched Bo splash while he tried to reach the edge of the platform and pull himself up. “He was going to rape me,” she mumbled.