MacCallister Kingdom Come (3 page)

“I knew.”

“And you knew as well,” she said to Elmer.

“Yes, ma'am. I've seen the Chinese priests fight like that before.”

“Priests. Good heavens, are you saying he is a priest?” Megan gasped.

“Yes, ma'am, but not like any priest you've ever heard of.”

That night, Duff hosted a dinner for Megan, her sister Melissa, her brother-in-law Jason, and her nephew Timmy. Elmer was there with his “personal” friend, Vi Winslow. Biff Johnson and his wife Rose came, too. Rose was a first-generation American, the daughter of Scottish immigrants. Duff was a Scottish immigrant, which had helped establish an immediate friendship with Biff.

“This is absolutely delicious,” Duff said. “What is it called?”

“
Tian Suan Rou
,” Wang replied.

“Sweet-and-sour pork,” Elmer translated. “That's why he needed the brown sugar.”

“When I hired you, you told me you couldn't cook.”

“I can cook Mandarin. I cannot cook American,” Wang replied.

“I'll have 'im cookin' American in no time atall,” Elmer said. “But I had almost forgot how much I liked Chinese food.”

“I've had it in San Francisco,” Biff said. “But I've never had it any better than this.”

For the next several minutes all the diners enjoyed their food, especially Elmer, who enjoyed showing off by eating his meal with chopsticks.

Vi Winslow, a widow in her mid-forties and still quite attractive, owned Vi's Pies, and she had brought a couple pies for desert.

After desert, they moved into the parlor, where they enjoyed a glass of scotch, which was Biff's contribution to the evening seeing as he owned a saloon.

“Well, 'tis a happy occasion for us all, what with the three of us, Duff, myself, and Sheriff Bowles winning prizes as we did at the shooting match today,” Biff said.

“I'm Sheriff Bowles when I am at work in Texas. Here, among friends and family, the name is Jason.” He smiled.

“Jason it is then,” Biff continued. “And you know what I liked best about winning? It was sending Mr. Carter and Mr. Wilson home with nothing to show for their efforts but a handful of spent cartridge casings.”

“You were magnificent, all of you,” Megan said.

“And shouldn't we be drinkin' to that?” Elmer asked, holding up his glass.

“Why should you be drinking?” Vi asked. “You didn't have anything to do with it.”

“Why sure I did,” Elmer insisted. “Who was cheerin' for 'em the loudest, I ask?”

“Aye,” Duff said with a chuckle. “There can be no denying but that Elmer was vocal in his support, and 'tis for sure and certain that he deserves to be drinking this toast with us.”

“Duff, give us an appropriate Scottish toast, would you?” Jason asked.

Duff lifted his glass. “Here's to the heath, the hill, and the heather, the bonnet, the plaid, the kilt, and the feather!”

“And while goin' up the hill of fortune, may we never meet a friend comin' down,” Biff replied.

The others laughed.

“What a great toast!” Jason said.

“Elmer, here's something you will appreciate,” Megan said. “I'll bet you didn't know that, for several years, Jason was a sailor, like you.”

“You sailed before the mast, did you?” Elmer asked. The term referred to serving as one of the crewmen, because the crew billets were ahead of the foremast.

Jason chuckled. “You won't hold it against me if I was one of the ship's officers, will you?”

“Nah,” Elmer smiled. “You never laid a cat across my back, so I got nothin' ag'in you.”

“I never laid, nor did I ever order, a cat-o-nine against the back of any man,” Jason said.

“It would-a been a pleasure to sail with you, then,” Elmer said.

“I'm afraid all of my voyages were on the Atlantic,” Jason said. “I never got the opportunity to visit China, and I admire you for picking up the language as you did.”

“I don't know all that much of the lingo,” Elmer replied. “Mostly I knew just enough to get around in the seaports.”

“I've never seen fighting like the kind Wang Chow did today,” Jason said. “Have you?”

“I've seen it a couple times.”

Timmy had not seen Wang Chow's fight, but he had heard about it. He was listening with his full attention. “Do you think Mr. Wang could teach me how to fight like that?”

“Wang can't teach you,” Elmer said.

“Why not? Is it because I'm too young?”

“No, that has nothing to do with it. In fact, people who learn
wu shu
generally start when they are your age or even younger.”

“
Wu shu?”

“That's what it's called.”

“Well, if I'm not too young, how come he can't teach me?”

“I tried to get someone to teach it to me once,” Elmer said. “But it's a secret that they learn from some temple, and word I've heard is, if they teach it to anyone outside the temple, why, they could be kilt. You wouldn't want Wang to be kilt, would you?”

“No,” Timmy said. “I wouldn't want that.”

“You say it's learned in a temple?” Duff asked. “Does that mean Wang Chow learned it in a temple?”

“More 'n likely he did. But it won't be somethin' he'll talk about.”

“I wonder what he is doing here, in America?” Biff asked.

Elmer shook his head. “I don't know, and it ain't my place to ask.”

“You are a wealth of information, Mr. Gleason. Even if you did sail before the mast, I would almost be willing to change places with you,” Jason said. “I'm afraid I have no experiences to match yours.”

“I never did get into the Atlantic, so I ain't never been to places like London or Paris, Rome, or anyplace like that.”

“Rome was the most fascinating,” Jason said. “Though London and Paris were very interesting, as well.”

For the next several minutes Elmer, Jason, and even Duff entertained the others with their tales of the sea and foreign places. After a series of misadventures back in Scotland, Duff wound up coming to America as an able-bodied seaman onboard the
Hiawatha
, a merchant ship plying the Atlantic trade. But his sailing adventures differed from those of Elmer and Jason, both of whom had spent a few years at sea. Duff's maritime experience was due to a set of circumstances, and he left the sea as soon as he reached America.

Biff shared stories of riding with Custer, and, after much prodding, Duff even told a few stories of his own service where he took part in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt.

“What Duff left out was that he was awarded the Victoria Cross,” Biff said. “That's like our Medal of Honor.”

 

 

Wang Chow overheard some of the conversation, especially the part of the conversation that had referred to him. He could understand English better than he could speak it, and he heard someone ask why he had come to America.

He'd had no choice in the matter. It was come to America or be killed. He thought back to four years ago in Shishou, Hubei Province, China.

“You have had much luck today, Wang Chow.” The speaker was Ching Ji, a member of the warrior society Taiyang. Although the town had a
shizhang
—mayor—and city government, Taiyang and another warrior society, Yuequi, actually ruled the city, levying heavy taxes, which they called, “tributes for protection.”

What no one in town, except Wang's family, knew, was that he was a priest of the Shaolin Temple of Changlin. He had entered the temple as a boy of nine, and left when he was twenty-eight years old, a master of the Chinese martial art of
wu shu.

 

 

Now he was cooking for the man who had saved his life. Still lost in thought, Wang made a personal vow to be ever loyal to the man who had saved his life and, if required, to give his life in defense of
Xiansheng
MacCallister.

“Wang?” Duff's call interrupted Wang's rumination.

The Chinaman stepped out of the kitchen and through the door into the dining room.

Duff held up his glass of wine. “Join us, Wang. Someone who could cook a meal such as the one we have just enjoyed should be able to bask in the compliments of appreciative diners.”

Wang put his hands in a prayer-like position and dipped his head slightly. “I thank you a thousand times, Xiansheng.”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked Elmer.

“I think it's either sir, or mister, or something like that.”

“Yes,” Wang replied. “It is a word of respect.”

Later, as Biff and Timmy were playing a spirited game of chess, Duff stepped out onto the porch and watched the last rays of light play on the Laramie Mountain Range. As he expected she would, and as he hoped she would, Megan came out onto the porch a moment later to join him.