Skeleton Women

by Mingmei Yip

  The players stopped again to stare at one another questioningly. The manager dashed back onstage, reiterating in his booming voice, “Ladies and gentlemen, trust me, it’s a false alarm. Please stay calm, and don’t cause chaos by rushing out of the ballroom.”

  Contrary to his advice, people began to head toward the exit as they whispered heatedly, “Fire! It’s a fire! I can smell smoke!”

  Jinying put his arm around my shoulders protectively. “Camilla, I think I smell smoke. Do you?”

  My head nodded vigorously to match my pounding heart.

  “Let’s go.”

  He half pushed me onto the small stage, then led me through a back exit into a long, dim corridor. We groped in the dark for a while before we finally found our way to the main deck. People, some of whom I recognized from the ballroom, were milling around, looking frightened and helpless. Listlessly they either stared at the boundless sea or looked at one another, desperate for reassurance.

  I was frightened as well, because I had no idea that starting a fire was part of the plan. I’d thought that the Japanese would just set off the alarm to create confusion and provide a chance to kill Lung, a strategy called hunshui moyu, stir the water to catch the fish. But the idea was certainly not to have ourselves killed to accompany the gangster head on his trip to hell!

  Jinying and I squeezed our way through the other passengers till we reached the rail. As people pressed against my back, I stared at the dark sea and felt a sense of hopelessness.

  “Jinying, if the whole ship is on fire, where can we go?”

  “I don’t see any other way out except the sea,” he said, taking off his suit jacket and draping it over my shoulders. But this kind act hardly gave me any comfort.

  Just then another mob of passengers, probably from the ballroom and its neighboring casino and restaurant, rushed onto the deck for fresh air. The adults looked alarmed and worried; the children had mixed expressions, some oblivious, others happy, probably thinking this was a much more exciting game than those played at home.

  In the distance, a little girl cried hysterically for her parents. “Baba, Mama, where are you?”

  “Jinying, where do you think your father is now?” I asked, secretly hoping that the old man’s soul was already on its way to where it deserved to go.

  He pointed to the milling, agonized mob around us. “Possibly in the front of the ship ...”

  “What makes you think he’s in the front?”

  He scoffed, “Because he has to be ahead in everything!”

  I nodded, wondering what to do next.

  “Anyway, I don’t think we can get through this crowd to find him. But I’m sure he’ll be safe as long as he’s with Gao.”

  “I hope so,” I said, hoping the opposite.

  However, it seemed nobody was paying attention to anyone but themselves and their family.

  Jinying said, his voice filled with worry, “I don’t see any of the crew around. I hope they’re downstairs extinguishing the fire. Camilla, can you swim?”

  “But, Jinying, we’ll freeze to death in the icy water!”

  “I know. But sometimes in life we don’t have a choice, do we?”

  His sentence hit a chord in me so hard that tears rolled down my cheeks despite my effort to stop them.

  Jinying pulled me to him and pressed my head against his chest. “Don’t be sad, Camilla. If we die, at least we’ll die together.”

  I was about to ask, “Why do you love me so much? Would you love me if you knew that I am your father’s fateful star? That I am just using you for an evil purpose?”

  But then a uniformed man climbed onto the ship’s bridge and spoke through a megaphone. “Ladies and gentleman, I’m this ship’s first mate. There’s very good news—the fire has just been extinguished! Now everything’s fine and under control. So please go back down to continue to enjoy our ship’s many entertainments.”

  Thunderous clapping burst in the chilly night air.

  A white-haired man asked, “What happened?”

  “Somehow a fire started accidentally outside the ballroom. We have no idea how. My guess is that some children were playing with matches. Anyway, everything is fine now.”

  Not far from us, a gray-haired grandmother yelled in her alto voice, “Children who play with fire should be punished! And so should their parents, who fail to discipline them!”

  The people around her echoed, “Yes, naughty children should be punished!”

  Of course I knew this was not a child’s game but an assassin’s. I decided I should show some concern about Lung, so I said to the young master, “You think your father’s okay?”

  “Yes, as long as he’s with Gao.”

  A man ‘s voice slashed the air. “You’re sure nobody’s hurt?”

  “Absolutely—”

  Just then a loud commotion burst forth near the bow, followed by a loud shout, “Someone fell overboard!”

  Could that be Lung?

  Jinying and I pushed forward to the front to have a better look. Not one but two heads were bobbing in the angry waves like two huge bugs. To my dismay, Lung was one of them, and the other was Gao. Lung was still alive. This meant that the mission had failed yet again. Now my only hope was that Lung would catch pneumonia and die. It should be so easy!

  The first mate screamed to a uniformed man beside him. “Get the ship’s doctor, quick!” Then he dashed to snatch two life preservers attached to long ropes and threw them into the sea. “Grab a hold! Hold on tight, and we will lower a lifeboat for you!”

  As the two men bobbed in the sea, holding on to the life preservers, some sailors climbed into the lifeboat while others lowered it down. Soon both Lung and Gao were in the small boat, and it was being raised back up to the deck.

  Jinying leaned over the railing. “Father! Hold on tight!”

  I had no choice but to join in. “Master Lung, you’ll be fine! A doctor’s on his way right now!”

  Other voices were heard in the chilly, tense air.

  “Hang on there!”

  “Don’t be frightened—help is on the way!”

  “Your lucky star is protecting you!”

  Finally Gao, helping a soaking wet Lung, cautiously stepped onto the deck.

  Cheers burst in the air from the crowd.

  As if on cue, the ship’s doctor arrived with his medicine box and two uniformed men. Immediately he pounded on Lung’s, then Gao’s, chest to clear the water from their lungs. There was much coughing and spitting, and soon color began to sneak back into their faces.

  Blankets were draped over the two shivering bodies. Jinying and I knelt down beside them.

  The young master asked, “How are you doing, Father?”

  I chimed in, smiling faintly. “Master Lung, don’t worry, you’re safe now.” I added, “Again, it proves your lucky star is shining high to protect you.”

  Gao, though a little pale, looked fine. But it took a few moments longer for Lung to completely regain his senses.

  Then, to our surprise, he even regained his sense of humor, suddenly cracking a joke. “Hmm ... then why did I fall into the sea in the first place, huh?”

  I was relieved. Since he was in a good mood even after such a scary incident, he must not have realized his plunge into the ocean was not an accident. However, I was also regretful that he had escaped death yet again. Maybe Lung was right about fengshui. And maybe my boss, Big Brother Wang, had picked the wrong girl. For it seemed that I truly was his bitterest rival’s lucky star!

  People nodded approvingly and smiled, among them the Japanese couple, who cast me a disappointed look. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Zhu and the other bodyguards pushed aside the crowd to get to their boss.

  Zhu asked, “Master Lung—”

  The doctor cut him off sharply. “Enough talking! These two gentlemen are chilled and need to be treated promptly.” Then he turned to the onlookers. “Please go back. I’ll take them to the dispensary for a thorough checkup. Make way! Mo
ve now!”

  Reluctantly the crowd dispersed, heading toward the exit to go back downstairs. Four uniformed sailors helped Lung and Gao onto stretchers, then soon disappeared.

  The doctor turned to Jinying. “Are you his son?”

  Jinying nodded, and the doctor asked for his room number. After that, he said, “It’s been a hectic evening. Go get some rest. When I have finished my examination, I’ll send someone to tell you. It may take a while.”

  Zhu asked, “May we go with them?”

  The doctor gave him a suspicious once-over and said sarcastically, “No, the exam room is too small for your gang here. You can all wait in the ballroom.”

  Had he known what kind of person Zhu was, the doctor wouldn’t have spoken to him so flippantly!

  As if hearing my thoughts, he softened his tone. “Anyway, don’t worry too much; they’ll be all right.”

  After the doctor left, Zhu said to his boss’s son, “I think we all need a drink. You want to join us, Young Master?”

  Jinying shook his head. “No, I’m tired. I’ll stay in my room and wait for the doctor’s news.”

  Zhu turned to me. “Miss Camilla?”

  “I’m tired, too. I’ll take a nap and wait for word.”

  “All right,” Zhu said to his boss’s son, “but when you get the news, come tell us in the bar.”

  Once Jinying and I were back to our floor, instead of letting me go inside my room, he pushed me inside his.

  “Jinying! What do you think you are doing?”

  “This is the perfect chance, Camilla. Everyone’s away, so we have at least an hour together.”

  Ignoring my protests, he scooped me up, carried me straight to the bed, and impatiently pulled at my clothes. It must have been the release of tension, for instead of struggling to free myself from his grasp, I found myself helping him remove my dress, my bra, my panties... .

  19

  Plaza Athénée

  The next morning, Lung held a small celebration in his luxury suite. Because Gao had saved Lung’s life, he was invited, for the second time, to share his boss’s table and meal. His three underlings stood guard outside the room.

  Lung, still in his pajamas, looked fully recovered from last night’s mishap. He ravenously gulped down his ham, eggs, potatoes, and toast and even cracked a few jokes. Unfortunately the chance that he’d catch pneumonia and die was vanishing as fast as the food disappearing into his mouth.

  My heart was clicking like an abacus, but I tried my best to act calm and cheerful, so as not to arouse any suspicion.

  I brought up last night’s incident but only risked doing so in a humorous light. “Master Lung, were you trying to imitate our great poet Li Bai by scooping up the moon reflected on the sea?”

  My patron thought for a while, then burst out, “You’re damn right Camilla! Though I love money, once in a while I’d also like to be a poet—ha! I especially like Li Bai’s ‘Drinking under the Moon.’ His broken eyebrow knit as he stumbled over the poem’s famous lines. “I should take advantage of the moon’s company to enjoy spring... . When I sing, the moon’s shadow ... when I ... when I ...”

  I immediately came to his rescue.

  I sang, and the moon danced with me.

  I danced, and my shadow danced with me.

  Sober, we talked together happily.

  Drunk, we went our separate ways.

  We met by accident, but someday,

  We shall meet again along the Milky Way.

  Lung smiled proudly at his son, his right-hand man, and his head bodyguard. “Wow! See how smart my Camilla is, huh? That’s why she’s my lucky star. Last night I cheated death again, ha!”

  I smiled coyly. “Thank you, Master Lung. Like the moon, my light is but a reflection from you, the sun.”

  This time Lung laughed out loud, making his belly shiver like a small earthquake. “See how her tongue is washed in oil? I love that!”

  Jinying cast me a disapproving stare, probably resenting my overly greased tongue. Then I noticed that Gao, looking upset, kept chomping down his bacon, eggs, potatoes, and whatnot. Maybe he was bitter that he had jumped in after Lung to save him yet I was the one who got the credit because I was supposedly the bringer of good luck. But that was life. You do your job, get paid, and the rest is up to your boss to decide. And the boss can be a gangster, a Buddha, God, karma, fate. Maybe Gao still feared that I’d tell Lung what had happened in the bathroom. Or maybe I had broken his heart, as I had broken Jinying’s.

  As I was feeling relieved that Lung had succumbed to my sweet talk, Zhu looked up from his plate and threw out a question. “Master Lung, we’re all glad you’re all right, but what happened?”

  How came no one had thought of asking that question earlier? Of course he’d been pushed by the Japanese. My heart skipped a beat.

  To my great relief, Lung replied, “I don’t really remember. Maybe because of all the wine and the dancing, I was so exhausted that I fell overboard amid the crowd running from the fire. Anyway, the whole place was chaos.” He turned to Gao. “Right?”

  The bodyguard stopped chewing; his knife and fork were suspended in midair. “Master Lung, you said you were tired and wanted some fresh air, so I walked you up to the deck. Then you asked for a cigarette and another drink. As I was on my way down to the bar, the fire alarm went off. It took me a while to get back to you because everyone was rushing up to the deck. It was after I’d made my way through the crowd then I heard the splash. I pressed through another crowd, saw you, and plunged in.”

  Lung didn’t respond but nodded approvingly, then went on eating with great relish.

  With this new revelation, it was as if a heavy stone had been lifted from my chest. Now everyone resumed clinking their knives and forks and smacking their lips. Though Gao pretended that he was only interested in his food, his eyes were also devouring me.

  Gao was a man of action and few words. I heard that he was single and didn’t even have a girlfriend. Girls he met would fall for him, and friends proposed eligible brides. But a wedding banquet was nowhere in sight. Poor man, I thought, as I watched him sip bitter black coffee with an equally bitter expression. Too bad he loved me, since I could not possibly love him back. Nor any other man, for that matter.

  I thought of the two men who were in love with me—and who had just made love to me. My eyes wandered to the young master, and I mentally compared the two. Gao was tall, muscular, loyal, cautious, responsible. Jinying was equally handsome but in an entirely different way—medium build, delicate features, refined manner. He was soft and naïve, the child of a privileged and protected life.

  Gao, on the other hand, came from a poor family who used him to pay off a debt. Painfully, he had worked his way up to become Lung’s most trusted bodyguard, by taking brutal knife wounds and excruciating bullets for his boss. Each knife and bullet hole, instead of turning women away, worked more powerfully on them than any aphrodisiac. Women, including myself, could not resist taking this damaged man into their arms to lick his wounds with their warm lips. Why had none of them been invited to stay?

  Jinying’s experience of life was luxury and privilege. However, rich or poor, privileged or impoverished, neither man, it seemed, had tasted much happiness, because they couldn’t have what they most wanted.

  Fate always has its own plan, in this case choosing me to be a spy, Jinying to be my patron’s son, and Gao to work for my boss’s bitterest rival. Had I not been thrown into this star-crossed configuration, I am not sure whom I would have picked to be my lover.

  As my mind was imagining all kinds of possible or impossible scenarios with these two men, suddenly Lung spoke, his hoarse voice slashing the air like scissors ripping silk.

  “I didn’t drink all that much last night.”

  Our ears perked up like a dog’s. We all stopped eating as we put down our silverware, cups, or glasses and listened.

  A graveyard silence followed.

  Zhu was the first to speak, his sm
all eyes darting between his boss and us. “So?”

  The boss replied. “So I don’t think I was drunk.”

  “And?” Jinying was the second one who dared to pick up the conversation when his father’s face was as dark as the mushrooms on his plate.

  “So it’s not possible that I simply fell,” Lung huffed, his hand hitting hard on the table. Everything—knives, forks, spoons, plates, salt and pepper containers, as well as we—began to tremble.

  “Then what happened, Father?” Jinying asked, dabbing his mouth and paying full attention.

  “Now I remember—” Lung stopped in midsentence, his eyes scanning us for any response.

  “Remember what?” his son implored innocently.

  “I. Was. Pushed.” One by one, the words spit from his mouth like mahjong tiles thrown onto the gaming table.

  I bit my lip to will myself to stay calm. Then, with great effort, I put on a very tender smile and looked at my patron like a mother her firstborn. “Master Lung, last night on the deck, it was complete chaos. So maybe you were accidentally pushed by the panicky crowd, or even by children desperately looking for their parents.”

  “Maybe. But maybe not.” As he stared at me, the gangster head’s expression softened—to my great relief.

  “Master Lung, last night everyone seemed to have lost their mind, screaming and pushing like crazy in all directions.” I took the risk of painting an exaggerated picture.

  He studied me, raising both his slashed eyebrow and his voice. “Then why was I the only one who ended up in the sea?”

  Hearing that, Jinying immediately came to my rescue by asking his romantic rival, “Gao, you didn’t see anyone suspicious, did you?”

  Gao shook his crew-cut head. “I don’t think so. Everything happened so quickly, and there were so many people.”

  The young master went on. “Father, maybe you leaned too close to the railing, and someone bumped into you from behind.”

  Lung said, “Could be. But I think this matter needs some investigation.”

  With an evil grin, Zhu volunteered, “I’ll do that, Master Lung. And if I find out who did this, his brain will be like—” He concluded his sentence by poking the scrambled egg, then squirting a pool of ketchup onto it.