Blue Gold (10 page)

“I'm trying to save all of us!” she protested, setting the laundry basket down on the ground. “Once I'm there and I get an education, then I can bring all of you to join me.”

“And how many years will that be? Who's going to help me with the children, unh? How am I supposed to manage, with you and Olivier both gone?” Tears of rage and helplessness rolled down her cheeks. Then, abruptly, she struck Sylvie hard against her cheek.

It took every ounce of Sylvie's self-control not to slap her back. “Listen to me!” she said fiercely. “What is there for us if I stay here, stuck like this? Nyarugusu is bad enough, but what happens when the Tanzanians send us back?” Mama covered her face with her hands and wept openly, but Sylvie wouldn't stop. “Mama, how long before Kayembe turns Pascal into one of his soldiers, the way he's doing with Olivier?”

At this, Mama dropped her hands. Her eyes were wide with terror, her gaze blank and far away. Sylvie knew where she was. She was back in their village, in their house, the day the soldiers came—the day they never talked about. But today, Mama surprised her.

“He looks just like them,” she said.

“I know,” whispered Sylvie. She watched as Mama inhaled a deep breath and let it out, her thin frame rattling. “Mama, it may be too late for Olivier, but it's the only way to save Pascal.”

Mama's eyes met Sylvie's without spirit, used up. She gave Sylvie a short nod, then resumed walking, as though putting one foot in front of the other took all the energy she had. Sylvie lifted the basket of laundry onto her head and followed, asking herself for the hundredth time,
How can I leave her?
And, for the hundredth time,
How can I stay?

THERE WERE EIGHTEEN BUNKS
in Laiping and Fen's dorm room. Laiping's was the middle bunk in the fifth row on the left, and Fen's was at the bottom of the third row on the right. All of the other girls in their room came from Guangdong Province, like them. Choilai was the eldest at twenty-two, and had been working for the company since she was seventeen. Choilai was a big sister. Her job was to make sure the girls obeyed the dormitory rules, such as not spitting and not having food in the room and being quiet after midnight. She also taught Laiping and Fen about the
unwritten
dorm rules. For instance, when the Guangdong girls outnumbered the Sichuan or Fujian girls in the common room, the Guangdong girls got to decide which program to watch on the television.

“If you have a problem, you must come to me,” Choilai told Laiping and Fen kindly.

“Don't tell her anything!” advised Older Cousin Min when the girls met her on Sunday, their day off. “Big sisters work for the company. Anything you tell them, they'll pass on to the bosses.”

Min was speaking to Laiping again after forgiving her for getting her into trouble, and had taken her to one of the campus Internet cafés to show her how to use a computer to call home. Fen had tagged along, to Min's annoyance. The three of them were seated at a table with cups of coffee, which Laiping found bitter and too strong.

“But Choilai is nice,” replied Laiping, swallowing a small sip.

“They're all the same. Don't trust them,” insisted Min. “Who do you think fined me a hundred yuan for letting you sleep in my bunk? A big sister. By the way,” she added, “don't forget you owe me that money.”

“How could she forget when you keep reminding her all the time?” Fen remarked.

“Who asked you? And why do you follow my cousin around like her shadow?” snipped Min, naturally suspicious of anyone outside her and Laiping's family. “Maybe you're a company spy, too,” she said, her hand trembling slightly as she lifted her coffee mug to her lips.

“Please don't fight,” pleaded Laiping. She wanted Min and Fen to get along.

“
I'm
not fighting,” protested Fen. “Anyway, I think Min is right about Choilai. I don't trust her, any more than I trust those supervisors in the factory.”

“Mr. Wu is nice,” Laiping pointed out.

Despite Mr. Wu's initial doubts about Laiping's suitability to work on his line, by the end of the week he was praising her for her accuracy and speed. In fact, Mr. Wu praised Laiping's whole line for their work, and scheduled Laiping, Fen, and the rest of them for a day of overtime on Saturday at extra pay.

Fen wrinkled her face in disgust. “Mr. Mole Face?! Maybe you want him for your boyfriend.”

Min burst out laughing just as she set her mug down, and coffee slopped all over the table. “
Ai
!
” she exclaimed. “You made my hand slip!”

“You're lucky you have me to blame for everything,” said Fen.

“Yes, lucky me,” replied Min sarcastically, but her mouth twisted in a smile. “And Laiping is lucky that she has both of us to stop her from trusting everyone she meets.”

“Yes, she is,” agreed Fen.

They were making fun of her—Laiping was annoyed. “I have to go to the washroom,” she announced, and got up from the table.

She walked to the back of the café, where she joined a line of girls waiting for a toilet. A couple of girls had their heads bent over their mobile phones. Laiping started to calculate when she'd be able to afford a mobile of her own, after she paid Min the 110 yuan she owed her—she refused to pay her twenty-five yuan fine she received for yelling in the cafeteria!—and after she sent money home.

“Those are crappy phones.”

Laiping snapped back to reality to find a boy of about twenty standing beside her—the same guy, she realized, who'd handed her the flyer in the employment line.

“Now this is a phone,” he said, showing off the shiny new touch-screen phone in his hand. It looked similar to the smartphones they made in the factory. Laiping had heard they cost more than two months' salary to buy. “My name is Kai,” he told her.

“I'm Laiping,” she replied, a little tongue-tied. She wasn't used to talking with boys, especially good-looking ones like this Kai. Curiosity helped Laiping find her voice. “Did they catch you?” she asked.

“Who?”

“Those security guards at the employment office, a couple of weeks ago.”

Kai let out a laugh. “If those goons knew who I was, do you think I'd still be working here?”

He's so full of himself!
thought Laiping, but she was aware that Fen and Min were watching with interest from their table. She hoped they were jealous.

“How's it going?” he asked. “Are the bosses treating you okay?”

“Yes, fine,” she replied.

His face took on a knowing look. “Just wait,” he said. “Word is there's a new product launch coming. When that happens, the bosses turn into slave drivers.”

Suddenly, Fen appeared at Laiping's elbow.

“Can I see that?” she asked, reaching for Kai's smartphone.

“Who are you?” Kai frowned, and folded his hand over the phone.

“I'm her friend,” explained Fen with a nod toward Laiping. “How much did you pay for that?”

Kai turned to Laiping. “Tell your friend she's nosy.”

Laiping gave Fen a wide-eyed look intended to tell her to go back to the table, but Fen ignored her.

“That's a cheap knockoff,” Fen told Laiping dismissively. Then, to Kai she remarked, “Are you trying to impress people? Make them think you're a rich American?”

“I don't want to be a rich American,” retorted Kai. “I just want to live like one.” He turned to Laiping. “If you want to get a good deal on a phone, let me know,” he said. “You can find me here most Sundays.”

Before he walked away, he gave Laiping a charming smile that made her heart flutter, just the way girls wrote about in magazines. Laiping had never felt that way before.

“Wait until I tell your mother you have a boyfriend!” laughed Min, joining them.

“Yes, Mr. Wu will be jealous,” added Fen.

“He's not my boyfriend!” exclaimed Laiping, fed up with their teasing. “He recognized me from the employment line, that's all. He was handing out flyers. The security guards chased him away.”

“What did the flyer say?” asked Min, losing her smile.

“Something about workers knowing their rights.”

Min and Fen exchanged a wary look.

“Don't talk to him anymore,” warned Fen. “He's a troublemaker.”

That was exactly what the girl in line in front of them had called Fen's father, back when Fen was Yiyin, Laiping remembered, but she kept this thought to herself. Despite their warnings, Laiping decided that maybe she
would
like Kai for her boyfriend, just to show them that she was more grown up than they seemed to think she was.

 

MONDAY MORNING BEFORE EIGHT
, another week on the factory floor began with marching and running on the spot, following the instructions of the loudspeaker lady.

“How is everyone today?” she asked.

“Fine! Fine! Fine!” replied the workers in unison.

Then the workers punched time cards in the machines and took their stations.
Circuit board-capacitor-solder; circuit board-capacitor-solder.
Laiping liked the work well enough, but at night she was beginning to dream about capacitors and solder. After ten hours bent over the bench each day, her shoulders and neck ached.

“There's a hot tub at the campus swimming pool that's good for sore muscles,” Min told her when they met at the cafeteria Monday evening.

“Can I borrow your swimsuit?” asked Laiping.

“No!” replied Min. “You'll stretch it all out of shape!”

One more thing to save for
, thought Laiping.

When she got back to the dorm, she stood under the hot shower until Big Sister Choilai came in and told her to turn it off—even though no one else was waiting for a turn. Laiping was beginning to think that Fen was right about Choilai. She pretended to be caring, but all she ever talked about were the rules.

On Tuesday, Laiping worked hard, willing herself to focus when her mind began to wander.
Circuit board-
capacitor-solder; circuit board-capacitor-solder.
At noon she went to the cafeteria with Fen and lined up for lunch. The food was the same at each meal—rice, vegetables, and a little meat or fish. Fen grumbled about the portions and the blandness, but Laiping barely had time to taste it anyway, so quickly did they have to eat to get back to the factory floor within half an hour.

On Wednesday, Mr. Wu complained that Laiping and Fen's line hadn't made its daily quota and forced the whole line to stay for an extra half-hour, without pay, until they had soldered enough capacitors to enough circuit boards.

On Thursday, Mr. Wu pulled a girl from their line and yelled at her for making a sloppy solder.

“A pig can only give birth to the brainless!” he shouted, loudly enough for everyone to hear. The girl hung her head and promised to do better.

On Friday, Mr. Wu announced that the line next to Laiping and Fen's would be given the honor of earning overtime pay on Saturday. Laiping and Fen's entire line lost face, considering that just last week they had been the praiseworthy ones. Burning with shame, Laiping made a silent vow,
Next week I will work harder!
She wanted Mr. Wu to be proud of her. She wanted Steve Chen to be proud of her, too. She remembered what Fen had said about the importance of having a plan, and made one up on the spot.
My plan is to be a good worker for the company, and then the company will be good to me.

SATURDAY WAS RATION DAY.
Leaving Mama at home with Pascal and Lucie, Sylvie made the long trek to the food distribution center, an open structure with a tin roof supported by posts. She had to stand under the hot sun for almost an hour in a line that snaked out into the dusty open space where the marketplace had once been. When at last it was almost Sylvie's turn, the woman in front of her started arguing with the aid worker behind the table, a young American with a scruffy blond beard.

“I want my share!” demanded the woman, swishing the contents of her half-filled jug of cooking oil—and drawing the attention of one of the United Nations peacekeepers standing guard, his rifle poised for trouble.