The Silver Lotus (43 page)

Lady Yee still lived in a lovely stone house in the foothills overlooking Monterey Bay. She and her late husband, Captain Hammond, had purchased the property and its fifteen pine-crested acres from the estate of a wealthy rancher and farmer named Liam O'Sheen, and she lived there in what some people in town called “exotic Asian splendor.” The large house was noted for its beautiful walled gardens, which contained numerous floral specimens from around the world. Others in town still spoke about the time when all twelve varieties of fruit trees in her orchards bloomed at once.

No one knew exactly how old Lady Yee really was, for she never appeared to age. Her hair showed no signs of graying, and the skin of her hands and face appeared free of any of those subtle discolorations that hinted at advancing age. There were few people still living who could remember when Lady Yee first came to Monterey as the young bride of the redoubtable Captain Hammond. No one really knew how Captain Hammond acquired his considerable wealth, but it was
acknowledged that he'd been in the China trade for many years, most of the time in command of windjammers he owned and operated. And since anything having to do with Asia and trade implied great profits, most people just assumed he'd been highly successful in business and let it go at that.

When the good captain died suddenly of heart failure, it is said that Lady Yee inherited his entire estate. She then took her substantial wealth and went on to make many more sage investments that added considerably to her fortune. She owned a great deal more commercial property in Monterey County than anyone ever imagined.

All of her noteworthy accomplishments were not merely luck or happenstance; they were the creations of a remarkably creative and insightful intellect, and rather than weakening with age, Lady Yee's powers of perception and intuition only increased. The famous San Francisco jurist and writer Judge Duncan Haines faced her in a court case involving her late husband's maritime interests. After his clients lost the case, Judge Haines was overheard to say that Lady Yee made King Solomon look like a backcountry circuit judge. He declared she had a better legal mind than most of the political turnips warming the seats on the Supreme Court. He was so impressed that he later sought her out socially, and over the years they became good friends.

There were people in Monterey who were just as aware of Lady Yee's extraordinary powers of intellect and memory. She never forgot a name, or a face, or the place of first introduction. Her precise recollection of dates and figures seemed almost eerie. She could recall what she paid for a pair of black lace gloves when she was only twenty-two, and she could fix complex mathematics in her head by visualizing and manipulating an imaginary abacus. She knew to the penny how much ready cash she had at her disposal at any given time, and how much property she controlled, and what the rents were worth for each. These
skills engendered broad admiration and deep respect, primarily because she was so meticulously unassuming and reticent when it came to praise or acknowledgement of any kind.

The Silver Lotus professed to believe that all things in her life were in the hands of a merciful god. She would always smile demurely and say that she “simply rode the back of the buffalo and played her flute to ease the journey.”

No one quite understood what she meant exactly, but of course they weren't seriously fooled either.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT aware that a professionally published book is a complex team effort, and I don't mean just the physical book itself, for the creative process doesn't exist or bloom in a vacuum. Every artist, regardless of his or her medium of expression, stands in need of the support, creativity, and concern of others. My father once told me, and not in jest, that if I wanted steady and useful employment in a profession that was culturally necessary, and one that possibly offered the advantages of potential wealth, then I should avoid writing at all costs, and take up the study of drainage to become a plumber. He was right, of course. But like most children I didn't know sound advice when I heard it, so here I am. I seriously doubt that I shall ever become as wealthy as a successful plumbing contractor, but I'll wager that there are very few plumbers who get as much fun and enjoyment from their work as I do from mine. Even so, none of these blessings can be attributed to just one element or person. Indeed, it took the creative efforts, artistic sensitivity, openhanded generosity, and kindness of a goodly number of fellow travelers, family, artists, and good friends to bring this modest adventure to its present existence.

First in line to receive my sentiments of profound gratitude must be my wife, business partner, and the love of my life, Gail Knight Steinbeck. Her enlightened business acumen, industrious sense of detail, and most
of all, plain hard work have been the driving force that has mastered the technical hurdles of getting my work into broad publication. Few authors are capable of dealing with the challenges presented by such tricky endeavors as contract analysis, payment schedules, and the subtle business manipulations that publishers have traditionally been so fond of employing with their authors.

Next in line for my sincere compliments and gratitude is my dear friend and editor Dan Smetanka. He has been creatively essential in the guidance of my work from the very beginning of my career as a published author. Only a writer of ineffable ignorance, made blissful by vanity and self-delusion, or an author of mind-boggling genius, who possesses an infinite brilliance of wit plus an unerringly objective sense of self-appraisal, should even try to go to print without the assistance and support of a really dedicated and experienced editor. In this regard I have been blessed with the detailed and precisely objective literary skills of Dan Smetanka. I can state without the least reservation that a great part of my success is predicated on one principle. I never argue with my editor. His vested interests are the same as mine in the end, and his knowledge of the tastes and interests of the book-buying public is indispensable. Over the years that I have known and worked with him, I have learned a number of highly significant lessons. The first among these is “just because I think it's good doesn't necessarily make it so.” I have learned not to be precious about my work. In that regard writing is like sculpting in stone. With Dan's help and practiced sense of literary perspective, I keep chipping away at the marble because we both have every confidence that there is a book in there somewhere.

Every literary exercise, great or small, requires the support, both spiritual and material, of other people, and in that particular I have also been extremely fortunate. The backing of family and close friends has made this work not only possible, but also far easier than circumstances seemed to allow at the time. To quote an old Irish friend of
mine, “Sometimes we all need a kindly hand up, and sometimes we just need a good friend to bribe the wolf at the door to come back another day.” In that critical vein, family members have proved the truest guardians of my modest efforts. The fact that they are all, family and friends inclusive, very accomplished artists in their own right, might explain my survival and success as a writer. They all, without exception, organically understood and appreciated the challenges involved in bringing any creative endeavor to the public eye.

In particular I wish to acknowledge the kindness and generosity of my dear friend and niece (by marriage), Lindsay Hilton, an extremely talented graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and my darling nephew, the highly accomplished and internationally known composer and musician Johnny Irion. Both have been supremely supportive. The everyday world always appears more entertaining, and certainly more creative, when they come to nest for the holidays, or while on tour.

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Phillip Rosen, has always been my most stalwart ally, and for more years than I care to count, he has looked out for my well-being with grace, generosity, and a well-honed sense of humor.

It is often said that success has many parents, but in the case of this modest volume it is essentially true. And as far as this work is concerned, the generous godparents are Simon and Diana Raab. Again there was an empathy born of mutual interests. Simon is an outstanding, and intellectually courageous, painter and sculptor whose work enjoys an international audience. His wife, Diana Raab, is one of the few modern poets that I look forward to reading with loyal regularity. Simon and Diana are both, by any standard, extraordinary talents, and I feel quite honored that they count me as a loyal friend and worthy colleague.

Lastly, I wish to thank my father's granddaughter, Blake Smyle, her husband Jim, and their children, Nicholas and Hannah, for their love
and filial concern. It took years of searching, but we have at last successfully managed to reunite our wandering brood. It is every artist's private glory to feel that he can leave something of intrinsic value to generations of his own family yet to come. Thanks to my audacious and talented niece, after years of believing I was the last of a lost clan, I now have a whole family once again, and I sincerely hope my modest efforts finds favor in their eyes, and perhaps provide a tickle of pride.

Copyright © 2011 by Thomas Steinbeck

 

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

Steinbeck, Thomas.

The silver lotus : a novel / Thomas Steinbeck ; introduction by This Person.

p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-582-43837-5

1. Merchants--Fiction. 2. Trading companies--Fiction. 3. Pacific Area--Fiction. I. Title.

 

PS3619.T47615S55 2011

813'.6--dc23

 

2011026511

 

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