A Thread Unbroken (6 page)

“Josi! Josi! Wake up.” She scooted on her butt to the corner where Josi lay sleeping. Chai used her foot to push against her leg, trying to nudge Josi awake.

Josi didn’t move.

“Josi! Wake up! I mean it!” Chai began to panic, and then saw a slight flutter of Josi’s eyelashes. “There you go; you can do it! Open your eyes, Josi.”

Josi opened one eye and then the other. She stared quietly at Chai.

“Are you okay? Josi? Say something.”

“
Ni hao
, Chai.
Women zai nali?
” Josi’s voice was so soft it was barely audible.

“I don’t know where we are. Please get up, Josi.”

Josi closed her eyes again. “
Wo yao shui jiao.
”

“No, Josi, you can’t sleep any longer. You have to wake up! That woman didn’t take us home. We’re in big trouble.”

The door flew open and light poured in, blinding Chai and making Josi sit up. They both held their bound hands in front of their faces to block the sun that pained their eyes. Two men stood shadowed in the doorway, their faces obscured by the light behind them.

The girls were scared into complete silence.

“The one in the red dress is the one we’re keeping.” One man pointed at Chai.

“What’s wrong with the other girl?” the smaller one asked, his cracking voice giving away that he was more of a boy than a man.

“She’s a cripple.”

Chai brought her hands down from her face. She hadn’t caught most of what they said—their dialect was hard to pick up—but she
had
understood them calling Josi a cripple, and that made her angry.

The boy lashed out and kicked Josi. “We should just throw this one in the bay, then. What good is she for?”

“Who are you, and where are we? We want to go home.” Chai scooted closer and wedged herself between Josi and the boy to block any more blows. She was afraid, but not so much that she wouldn’t attempt to sway them to let them go.

A small woman made her way around the men and knelt down beside the girls. She examined their ropes and turned back to the men.

“Take these ropes off of these girls right now. You’ve caused them to bleed! They’re not animals!” Though the woman’s accent was strong, Chai was able to understand her words.

The man in front dug in his pocket and pulled out a small knife. He threw it at the woman, almost hitting her with it. She caught it with one hand while blocking her face with the other.

“You can cut the binds yourself. Start with the red dress—that’s the one we’ll keep. We will call her Jiayi—a name that means
fitting of the household
.” He turned and stomped away, the other one following close behind. Chai heard them talking to a third person, and then their voices faded away.

The woman used the knife to cut the cord on Chai’s wrists. Once it fell away, she rubbed them quickly, trying to return the blood flow to them. Chai didn’t want to be touched by her
and involuntarily pulled back from the woman’s attempts. She stretched her numb fingers and looked at the woman.

“Where are we? Please, cut the rope from Josi’s hands, too.”

The woman began freeing Josi. “This is a fishing village. It’s your new home. You can call me Mother.”

Mother? New home?
Chai was so confused. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but as soon as Josi was unbound she planned on finding out.

As the woman worked at the cords binding Josi, Chai stood up. Once on her feet, she felt the floor beneath her sway, and she quickly sat back down.

The woman laughed at her expression. “We’re not on solid ground. This is our home—the sway you feel under your feet is the water.”

“But...what? Water? Home? I already have a home. Please, please take me back. My parents are worried. And Josi’s parents, too. They must be frantic.”

Josi had yet to say a single word—she sat silently with her eyes as big as the moon, staring at the woman.

“Do not call her that name again. You can never go back. You will be a part of this family, and you are new girls now. Your friend—until we find a place for her—we will call her Niu. And you heard my husband: your name is now Jiayi.”

“No! You will not call me Jiayi—my name is Chai. And that is Josi—not
girl
. I demand you to take us home.” Chai had never heard of a fishing village before.
And living on a boat? What kind of people are these? They can’t just keep us here, can they?

The woman stood and helped first Chai, then Josi to her feet. For such a small woman, she was unbelievably strong. Despite her ruddy cheeks and shortened hair, she was still attractive. However, the clothes she wore did nothing to flatter her—dark
trousers, a dark blouse, and sandals that needed to be replaced told Chai that the woman didn’t have the time or money for frivolous things. At first glance Chai had thought she was much older than she appeared upon a closer look.

“Come. I’ll show you around, and then I’ll tell you what you will do to earn your keep. These are your sleeping quarters.” She turned and walked out of the metal room, leading them into the bright sunlight. Not knowing what else to do, and anxious to get out of their sweltering prison, the girls followed behind her.

O
ut in the light, Chai held on to Josi, putting her arm around her friend’s shoulders to keep her steady on her feet. The ground beneath them wasn’t soil, but instead they were on some sort of floating house, with plenty of room to walk on the rough panels used for flooring. In front of them sat a large wood building with a crude piece of metal for a rooftop. On the door, a large red knotted tassel hung from a nail, the only sign of welcome the girls could see. To their left, a long clothesline drooped from the weight of men’s long underwear and fishing waders in a variety of sizes. They stood in a large area, similar to a deck of a ship, filled with different piles of clutter, ropes, netting, and boxes.

Chai turned around to examine the room they had just come out of. It was nothing more than a small metal shack, no bigger than an outhouse or tool shed.

“
That
is our sleeping quarters?” She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

The woman—Mother, as she called herself—nodded her head. “Yes, and you’re lucky to have shelter. The winds from the ocean storms get up at night, and at least you’ll have protection over your heads.”

The girls looked out over the edge of the deck. All around them were water, other boats, and walkways of bamboo or boards tied to plastic barrels and white piping. It was an entire village of floating houses, as far as they could see.

Chai turned the other direction to see land way off in the distance. Other than the small canals, she had never seen this much water at one time, and she was relieved that land was at least visible, an even more comforting notion as she felt the swell of a small wave under her feet.

“But what are we doing here?” Chai asked, her eyes glimmering with unshed tears.

“I have four sons. You were brought here to wed one of them. You’ll be my foster daughter-in-law,” the woman answered matter-of-factly.

“Daughter-in-law? I’m only thirteen! I can’t marry anyone.” Chai stomped her foot in defiance, momentarily forgetting that she was a captive in a dangerous situation. She didn’t even like boys yet, and marrying one was not even a remote possibility.

The woman smacked her lightly across the top of her head. It didn’t really hurt, but it angered Chai. Even so, she refused to show it and instead held her tongue.

“I don’t mean
today
, stupid. You’ll work in our household until you are of marrying age, and then you will wed our son. During that time, you’ll learn the life of a woman in a fishing family, and you’ll be molded to fit our expectations of a wife for our son.” She looked over at Josi, giving her a pitying glance. “And your friend, she’ll go to another place to live. Tomorrow we will find her a new home.”

At that announcement Chai grabbed Josi in a tight embrace. Josi started to wail, and Chai held her tightly, pushing back her own tears.

“
No!
If Josi goes to another place, I go to another place. Or I swear, I will jump in that water and drown myself.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared the woman down.

The woman muttered, “
Aiyo
, and we spent so much money on this one, only to have bought a stubborn girl attached to a useless, crippled one.”

Chai continued to hold Josi, stroking her hair and hushing her softly.

“Oh, forget it. She can stay for now. But when Zhongfu, my husband, returns, he’ll be angry at this decision. She’d better be good for something. What can she do? Cook? Sew? Keep children?”

Chai got her first clue of how traditional a family it was when she heard the woman use the word
Zhongfu
, the formal title for husband. Her own mother called her baba by his name. She thought for a moment. “She’s very good with children, and she can cook. She takes care of her brothers all the time.”

“You might have just said the magic words. If she isn’t too much trouble and she doesn’t eat much, my two smallest sons need a nanny; they drive me crazy all day and night. Come—I will introduce you.”

They entered the larger structure and found themselves in a living area, simple yet complete with a table, mismatched chairs, and small sofa. An array of toy cars and action figurines covered a colorful braided rug. In the corner, four rolled-up bamboo mats were bundled together. Against the far wall was a kitchen area. A countertop held a small sink with crude piping run through a hole carved in the wall. Chai was disgusted that
it appeared they used the salty bay water for washing and probably even cooking.

Next to the sink was the largest rice cooker Chai had ever seen, with eight small bowls stacked beside it. A hook above it held a wire basket of onions and various peppers. The room was surprisingly bright, considering the only light came from the one tiny window over the sink.

Another door led to a room that was obviously a bedroom, complete with a small bed piled high with pillows. A metal rack in the corner held hangers fitted with clothing of many sizes, a few pairs of shoes lined up underneath. Both rooms smelled strongly of fish, making Chai wrinkle her nose in distaste.

Two boys sat at a scarred wooden table, loudly slurping from the bowls of noodles they cupped in their chubby hands. At the interruption, they set their bowls down and stared at the girls, their eyes twinkling with mischief.

“The taller one is Ying, and his brother is Yifeng; they are three and two.” The mother pointed at her sons, her smile wide and proud. “They are already much bigger than others their age. They will make fine, strong fishermen like their father and brothers.”

The boys continued to peek at the girls curiously from under their shaggy dark hair, which needed trimming.

Chai didn’t reply; she had nothing to say. She didn’t want to take care of someone else’s children, and she didn’t want or need a new mother and father. She only wanted to go home. Josi stood silently beside her.

“You’ll begin to care for them tomorrow.”

The woman led them back to their room and beckoned for them to enter.

“Stay here and be quiet. The men have left to go fish for the day. If you’re good, you’ll help to prepare the family dinner for their return. If you’re very quiet and do a fair job at your chores, I will give you food and blankets to sleep with. If you’re loud and refuse to cooperate, you will not eat, and I won’t return until morning. You must learn your place here. It’s simple. If you are obedient, you will be treated well. If you bring shame to me, then you’ll suffer the consequences.”

She slammed the door and locked it behind her. Chai immediately tried to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. She kicked it, then went back to where Josi stood, shaking silently in the corner.

“It’s okay, Josi. Don’t worry, I’ll figure out something.” She put her arms around her best friend and coaxed her to the floor. They sat together, staring at the door, willing it to open again.

A
s evening began to fall and the light slowly disappeared from underneath the door of their small prison, the girls waited for the woman to return. Chai knew that soon Josi would be very afraid. She crossed her fingers that the woman would let them out before it got too dark.

Finally, they heard a door slam and the woman’s soft footsteps. She unlocked the door and opened it, beckoning the girls to come out.

“The boys will be here in an hour. You girls can go in and prepare the fish for dinner. Remember, do a good job and you will eat, too. Do a bad job and I’ll rename you Crippled and Useless.”

Chai followed the woman, not saying anything. She wasn’t sure how to prepare fish, but she hadn’t been lying when she had said that Josi could cook. She just hoped that Josi knew how to make a meal from fish.

In the big house, the woman pointed at the counter. Four fresh croakers were laid out on a slab, their eyes staring, unseeing, at the girls.

Josi immediately went to the fish, with Chai close behind. She picked up the first one and turned on the spigot, then washed it under the water.