Three Months With Charley Chan
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“Well that explains why we got here but why didn’t you let me in on what was going on.”
Charlie said, “I didn’t want you to have to keep all this stuff to yourself and worry about what was happening.”
He said, “Didn’t we meet a lot of pretty girls?”
“Yes, that we did, but that wasn’t the reason we were trying to find those vases.”
“If you had known everything, you would have looked suspicious and they would have viewed you as someone untrustworthy. As it turned out they accepted you as someone harmless.”
Logan replied that made him feel a lot better knowing that he looked harmless.
“Another thing you should know is that everywhere this family goes there are three men guarding them with the traditional Knives stuffed in their garb.
If any one is a threat to the family they appear out of nowhere and deal with the problem so watch your step.”
I didn’t want to admit that I had never seen the guards so I pretended that I knew it all the time. Charlie said, “Yeah - - sure you did.”
We prepared to leave and Charlie donned the Chinese style clothing and I must admit he fit right in. I told him maybe I should dress in the Chinese garb also. He laughed and said, “It would be better if you dressed in your regular clothing for to do otherwise would cause you to look suspicious.”
The next day we boarded a ship for China. We would first go to the main land and then journey to the city where the remaining vase was.
I was warned never to reveal our final destination for this was to always be kept secret. For me this added an air of intrigue to our mission.
The mother and all four daughters traveled with us and they would return after seeing the family. The girl’s mother was going to try to get her mother and father to return with her to L.A. but as it turned out they wouldn’t leave their home for the unknown place.
Charlie had taken a fancy to the oldest girl who was twenty which left me with trying to entertain the other three. The mother swatted all three of them several times during the trip for being too fresh. It was both a cultural and a generational gap they were dealing with.
All three of them were all over me and I tried not to be seen by the parents when they playfully pummeled me. They enjoyed saying that I needed a China doll instead of a white girlfriend.
I kept saying, “No I like white woman and because one white woman equals three China dolls.”
This stopped them for a day but then they came back at me saying, “Okay you get all three of us,” and started pummeling me again.
I talked to Charlie about what was happening and that I didn’t want to offend the parents. He said, “They understand their girls and their foolishness so don’t worry as long as you just stop, well you know where. Anyway aren’t you enjoying all the attention?”
I said, ‘Yes, very much.” He said, “Then what’s the problem?”
The rest of the trip was a lot more pleasant after my talk with Charlie. The girls were a year apart the youngest being sixteen and were competitive with one another especially when it involved boyfriends.
Chapter 6 Arriving in China
After three weeks at sea I was ready to get on dry land.
Once we arrived in China the girls straightened up and assumed the role of a proper Chinese young woman. After walking a narrow line with them it was a relief for me.
I scared them once during the trip by acting as if I was going to take advantage of them. They all had come to my cabin and I locked the door.
Then I started to make advances and pulling at their clothes saying I can’t stand it and must have them all. They started jumping all around the room. One of them managed to get the key and they ran out of my room.
I thought that would stop their teasing but that afternoon they came beck and said, that was the most fun we have had; let’s do it again.
When Charlie found about it he couldn’t stop laughing and said he had to explain to the parents that it was all in fun.
I thought, “Yeah, it was almost too much fun there for a while.”
Once ashore we immediately boarded a train and headed for our destination. We were on the old and extremely uncomfortable train for two days.
We then arrived at the family ancestral home which was nice except for the bath. It was one large bath where everyone bathes at the same time.
The weather was chilly and they only heated the water in it once a day. That was when I really felt accepted by the family as we all stripped down and got into the pool together. There were several of people who lived there and they joined in the bathing pool with us.
I was a little surprised that even Charlie was a little shy, even more than me.
While the older women were a bit of a turn off, several girls had gained my attention.
I was afraid I might be thrown out of the bathe for staring. We visited for a few days and doing the Bathe thing was my favorite thing even with the older women laughing at me. It was like they could read my mind.
Then after visiting for a reasonable time the men left to do the business we came for.
We arrived at a place where antiquities were sold. Charlie read the sign above the door and the name was something Chan. Charlie couldn’t make out what the first word was.
He said you better wait inside but the rest of us will be taken into a private room for our discussions.
Charlie later related to me what had transpired in the room and as best as I can remember it went something like this. At first there was a arguing about linage and after some disagreement it was agreed that Charlie was entitled to any and all artifacts that belonged to the Chan family line and they should be turned over to him for the future maintenance of them.
Charlie said the only things his father wanted was the vases and the remainder of the artifacts should remain where they were. The owner of the artifacts store left and returned a few minutes later with two vases and gave them to Charlie. He said take these with you as symbols of the real ones.
Charlie asked, “What was this all about?” The man responded by saying the real vases didn’t exist any longer. They had kept the truth quiet for they could sell the forgeries for a large amount of money as long as they thought the real one still existed.
Should the news that the real ones were destroyed then no big money collector would pay a big price for the forgeries. They could show them off and impress people by saying these vases go back over two thousand years.
Charlie said, “I heard what happened to the first vase, but what happened to the second?”
He was told it was during the Japanese occupation. Some soldiers came into the shop and searched for gold and jewelry. Finding no gold they discovered the vase and they smashed it and then stomped it into fine pieces and now neither existed.
These replicas are all we have. I have a back room full of them.
Chapter 7 Reflecting on Three Months Search
When we arrived back to the ancestral home Charlie was really put out and I felt very discouraged by what we had learned.
Charlie started to destroy the vases we had been given. I stopped him and said, “Your father should have the benefit of doing that should he want to for they really belong to him now.”
He said, “You are probably right it’s just that only the real item will do and anything else is an insult.”
The next day we decided to return home to America and the mother and the girls determined to return with us.
She felt the oldest girl should be with Charlie as they had become close during the weeks they had been together. After some discussion the father also choose to return to America. This whole experience had soured his desire to remain in China.
After a day or two at sea Charlie began to return to his old self. The train ride had been somber but his girl friend made him temporally forget about the events over which he had no control.
Upon arriving in L.A. we spent one day preparing for the trip home. It wasn’t easy saying goodbye for we had became close over these days.
It was back on the train which was a comfort compared to what we endured on the train in China. The trip was lonely without the girls for they always were up to something.
I asked Charlie if he was serious about the oldest girl and he said, “I don’t know, but I sure miss her and if this feeling doesn’t go away I might have to accept a job offer in a law office on the West coast.”
He said, “What about you? Are you going to take one white girl or the three China dolls?”
We both had to laugh at that and on the trip home we laughed at a lot of things we had done these last three months. There were several girls we met on the trip home but it wasn’t the same as before.
When we got to the station my folks met us there. They had briefly met Charlie but didn’t really know him. They offered to transport him and his luggage to his home but he said his parents were sending a car for him.
I told him goodbye, and made him to promise to call me when things settled down and let me know how his father was reacting to the bad news.
I didn’t hear from him for two weeks and when he did call he said, “I can’t talk very long. My father didn’t take it very well and at first thought they had not been truthful about what happened to the last vase, but he is now accepting it much better.”
He said, “I can’t handle the disappointment he has experienced and will continue to experience the rest of his life so I’m leaving here.”
“Those vases don’t mean much to me for I do not subscribe to the old culture and the mental bondage it carries with it. I have proposed to my lady, and have been accepted, and will be leaving in two weeks for the coast.
As soon as I get settled in my new job the wedding will take place.
I will be working for a Chinese firm and now I’m glad my father insisted that I learn to read and speak Chinese. I don’t know if I will be in contact with you before I leave but it was fun being with you for these last three months.”
I said, “Ditto to that and if I don’t see you again have a good life. Oh yes tell the girls I decided to settle for one white girl instead of three china dolls.”
After his call I felt a certain loss and one that remains even today.
As time went by, finding a wife and having three kids and working my busy job didn’t leave much time to think about those three months with Charlie Chan, but occasionally I still do.
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