My Asian Dragon

Chapter 3

The weather was perfect, and Joy stretched as she took a break from her work. After being a “guest” of the village for a week, the urge to do something to help out became overwhelming, and she asked Longwei what she could do. It had been a challenge, learning some of the basics that the villagers had known since childbirth, such as how to pick certain vegetables and how to milk a goat (the village currently had only three cows, all of which were calving, so bovine milk was currently unavailable). It was a unique and subtly challenging opportunity.

Today, her job was to help the school in chopping vegetables for lunch. This was her third day doing the work, and she thought she finally had the hang of it. The first day, she noticed that her supervisor would quietly re-chop everything she did, so she swore to get better. The second day had shown some improvement, but today she thought she had been doing a decent job. The supervisor, a wizened old grandmother who had perhaps ten teeth and therefore whose speech was unintelligible by almost everyone, had at least been making pleasant sounds when she brought over her bowls of vegetables to be stirred into the school’s soup.

Joy still felt like she was making little headway in understanding the villager’s spoken words, however. Thankfully, her limited writing ability combined with smiles, pointing, and Longwei’s assistance had made things easy for the past two weeks. Every morning, she would work next to the villagers, whether it be in the fields, or in the village itself. She had even taught English lessons to the schoolchildren, who were all fascinated by her Western clothes and mannerisms.

Thinking of her clothes, Joy fingered the loose t-shirt that Longwei had lent her. After wearing her initial clothing for the first week nonstop, even she had to admit that washing the same pair of pants and shirt every night was getting a bit difficult. Longwei had talked to some of the people in the village, and the next morning she had found three pairs of work trousers and four t-shirts folded neatly and laid next to her bed. “Unfortunately, none of the women in town wear undergarments that would fit your body,” Longwei informed her that morning as they shared breakfast. “The next time the traveling merchant is in the area, I will arrange for you to get the goods you need.”

“Wait a second,” Joy said before he could leave the room, “how do you know my size?”

Longwei smiled his enigmatic smile. “I would pretend that I have dramatic powers of observation or such, but really all that happened was that you left your clothes out to dry last night. You’re a size six in US sizes, according to your jeans. I didn’t concern myself with your bra.”

Joy shook her head, chuckling. “You’re funny, Longwei. Has anyone ever told you that?”

Longwei shook his head. “Only you. It is one of the things I appreciate about you staying for a while.”

For Joy, Longwei’s words warmed her in ways she was coming to appreciate. It wasn’t just that he was sexy, she could see past just that. Longwei also had a quiet sense of intelligence, confidence and humor that often had her laughing while at the same time pondering things he would say to her.

Joy thought about the weeks since she had called Billy, and the changes she had undergone. The warmth of the sun helped her smile, and she rolled her shoulders, looking around the schoolyard as the children played before lunchtime. As she watched two little girls jump rope, a sudden crash and scream from inside the kitchen caught her attention. Running inside, she saw fire blooming along the wall near the stove. Today’s lunch had included deep fried dumplings, and somehow, the pot of oil that was meant for frying had turned over, spilling hot oil over the wood stove and the rear wall of the kitchen. The oil was already catching fire, and the other kitchen assistant was holding her hand, which Joy could see was blistering and smoking. The cook, a pretty young woman, who Joy called “Ying-ying,” was screaming in a high pitched voice, horror written on her face.

Not considering the risk, Joy grabbed Ying-ying and dragged her out of the kitchen, pushing her towards the water pump that was in the corner of the yard. Pushing Ying-ying to her knees, Joy madly pumped the handle, until a torrent of cold water gushed from the outflow pipe over her hand. Joy yelled for two of the older children, pointing and gesturing, crying out “here! here!”

Thankfully, the two children followed instructions, and took over the pumping. Joy sprinted towards the kitchen door, which now roiled with black, stinking smoke. She grabbed a bucket next to the door, scooping up dirt from the ground to throw on top of the oil. She knew that she couldn’t use water, it would just spread the burning oil. The dirt seemed to make no difference, but she kept at it, running outside and getting another pail full of sandy dirt.

Running back inside, Joy threw the dirt again in a wide fan, hoping to smother the flames. The heat was intense as the flames licked up the wall, and the smoke was making her cough. She was driven to continue as she couldn’t imagine the village being without the school. Hacking and coughing, she got a third pail full, and then a fourth. Soon she heard voices, and saw Longwei and two other men of the village come running. Longwei carried a chemical extinguisher, and unleashed it on the flaming stove, quickly snuffing out the fire. The emergency taken care of, Longwei turned towards Joy. “What happened?” he asked, his voice shaky.

“I don’t know,” Joy replied, her breath quavering as the fear and adrenaline flooded her body. “I went outside to stretch after cutting the vegetables, when I heard a scream. I found Ying-ying burned, and got her out. I….”