My Asian Dragon

*****

Billy was true to his word, pulling up exactly as he had promised, right around lunch time. Joy came out of the village doctor’s to greet him. She had been in to visit Yingtai, and with Longwei’s help told her about Joy helping out. She was just telling the young woman about what the school children were having for lunch when the puttering sound of Billy’s van came through the doorway. Smiling, Joy excused herself before sticking her head out the door, flagging down Billy who was still fifty meters down the road. It was amazing to her how far sound carried when there was so little man made cacophony around.

“Wow, you’ve gone country,” Billy remarked, after giving her a friendly hug. “It looks good on you.”

Joy smiled and stepped back. “Thanks. Billy, this is Longwei, the leader of the village. Longwei, this is Long Pao Chin, or Billy as he likes to be called in English.”

The two men exchanged greetings in Chinese, before Billy switched back to English. “So, he’s the guy, huh?”

“What do you mean?” Joy asked nervously. She was sure she hadn’t said anything about Longwei’s secret to Billy, but still, she was nervous.

“I mean, this is the guy you’re in love with,” Billy said with a laugh. At the shocked expressions on both of their faces, his laughter grew. “Come on, Joy. I knew from the moment I met you the only way to pull you away from the reporting gig would be if you found love, and I mean real love. Also, your body language was practically screaming that you wanted me to like Longwei when you introduced us. I’m no police profiler, but I can read people pretty good.”

“Whatever the case may be,” Longwei said tightly, “there is another reason Joy has decided to stay here for a while.”

Longwei led Billy inside the doctor’s office, where Yingtai was getting her hand re-wrapped carefully with gauze. “She faces a long and difficult rehabilitation,” Joy said sadly. “I’ve agreed to stay and help Yingtai until she can use her hand again.”

“I see. You know, I know a medical supply guy back in Shanghai. I bet I can get some medicine from him if you think it would help,” Billy said, smiling and looking at Longwei. “It would truly be my pleasure.”

Longwei nodded. “Your generosity is most welcome. However, you must be exhausted, and should rest and be refreshed before you and Joy head back to Shanghai. How about some lunch?”

Over a simple lunch, Longwei and Billy chatted in Mandarin, which allowed Joy to at least follow along, and interject in English occasionally. Thankfully for her, both men seemed to like each other, with only the minimum amount of uncomfortable silences and figuring each other out. Since both men had spent time in university in the United States, they had a common ground to work from. They even had some good natured verbal sparring in the sports area, where Billy’s UCLA and Longwei’s Oregon had been conference rivals for years. By the end of lunch, while the men couldn’t be called friends, Joy was at least happy that they could co-exist peacefully.

Longwei had a somber look on his face as Joy put her bag in the van threw her for a moment. “What is it?” she asked, worried.

“I will miss you,” Longwei said. “I have grown used to having my breakfast and dinner with you.”

Joy smiled, and quickly kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll miss you too. But it’s only for about a week.”

Longwei nodded, and Joy climbed into the passenger’s seat of the van. While the sun was going down soon, Billy could make his other stop on the way back to Shanghai before midnight if they left now. Billy beeped his horn twice and pulled away. Joy watched Longwei’s figure disappear in the rear window, until he was too small to see.

Turning back to the front, Joy could see Billy looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “What?”

Billy smiled, and turned on the van’s CD player. The heavy guitar of rock music started up from the speakers, as Billy looked back out at the road. “You’ve got it bad, Joy. Real bad.”

*****

 Emptying out her apartment in Shanghai was surprisingly simple for Joy. Her landlord, in a show of generosity, was willing to waive the early lease termination fees if she was willing to leave behind most of her furniture. He would be able to rent the space out for more as a furnished apartment than as an unfurnished place. Since the village didn’t have electricity in all but the school and the doctor’s office, she didn’t see the point of keeping most of it anyway. She could take her laptop, her CD and DVD collection, and the clothes that would be useful in the village. She also decided to take as much dry and preserved food as Billy could carry.

More difficult for her was talking to the AER offices. Her boss, whom she had only ever met once as his office was in Beijing, was a bit of a stickler on the rights to her research. Finally, after agreeing that any stories she had submitted but had not had published could be used without her byline, he relented, and she cleaned out her desk. As she did, she saw a final e-mail on her office computer. Curious, she opened it, and was chilled by the contents.

Your lies have injured some very honorable people. If you do not cease your investigations, you will be punished for your actions.

The unsigned e-mail was from an anonymous address, and the spelling errors made her suspect it was from a Chinese source. She was no idiot, she could see the fingerprint of the Triad on the message even if it was unsigned. She flipped open her phone, calling Billy. “Hey Billy, just got a threat from what I think are Triads.”