Spilled Water

by Sally Grindley

  ‘Give us a pout,’ said Shen Enqing.

  I puckered my lips and we dissolved with laughter.

  ‘You’ll do,’ chuckled Li Mei. ‘Come on, let’s have fun.’

  We did have fun. The workers who had stayed behind and who normally used the other canteen were to use our canteen that weekend, adding to the noisy air of festivity. The canteen ceiling had been decorated with huge red lanterns, the tables were covered with red cloths, and large, colourful fish, birds and animals made of paper covered the walls. Everyone had dressed up and a party atmosphere was evident the minute we entered the room. A table at the front of the room was covered with a gold cloth and had two white ibises carved from turnips as a centrepiece.

  ‘Looks like we’ve got special guests,’ said Shen Enqing, admiring the centrepiece, which was beautiful.

  ‘There’s nothing special about the Wangs,’ said Song Shuru.

  She shut up quickly when Li Mei prodded her in the back and nodded towards the door. Mr Wang entered and waddled self-importantly across the room, followed by Mrs Wang, mincing in his wake, followed by his strutting managers and supervisors. We waited for a cue from him, then took our places at our own tables. Waiters immediately danced attention upon the top-table guests, serving each with sweet red wine. Large bottles of beer were placed on our tables. This was the first time we had ever been allowed alcohol. The bottles were passed round quickly, everyone eager to make the most of this rare treat from the Wangs. Mr Wang raised a first toast, to the health of his company.

  ‘Just sip, Lu Si-yan,’ warned Li Mei. ‘There could be many toasts and you will be expected to join in with them all.’

  I did as she said, which wasn’t difficult because I had no taste for the bitter, pale amber liquid before me. Then the food began to arrive. Enormous platters of chicken, beef, duck, fish and dumplings were carried ceremoniously to the top table. The dishes deposited on our tables were smaller and less varied, but still the food was delicious compared with our normal fare. Stiff and restricted at first by the presence of the Wangs, the workers gradually relaxed and the noise levels rose again. Conversations grew louder and more ribald amongst the males, and the girls grew giggly under the influence of the beer. The toasts came thick and fast: to the kindness of the factory owner; to the good fortune of the workers to be in his employ; to the health and wealth of the factory owner and his wife; to an increase in orders; to an increase in profits.

  Shen Enqing, giggly herself by now, leant over to me and raised her glass. ‘May he slip on a banana skin,’ she chuckled. ‘May he choke on his own self-importance.’

  I raised my own glass to that, and drank deeply, spluttering as the bubbles caught the back of my throat. I lowered the glass and felt a hand on my shoulder. A head pressed against mine and a voice whispered, ‘Are you still doing what they say?’

  I turned to see the boy from the karaoke bar disappearing towards a table at the back of the room. I was so shocked that the colour must have drained from my face.

  ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,’ chuckled Song Shuru. ‘Is it the beer doing that?’

  I tried to shrug it off. So what if he was there? So what if that meant that he worked in one of the factories? What could he do? I was with friends. They would look after me. But I couldn’t help glancing round every so often to make sure that he was still at his table, worried that he might approach me again. I lost my appetite for the delicious food, and the cheerful buffoonery of the evening failed now to embrace me.

  Li Mei put her hand over mine. ‘Too many sips?’ she smiled at me. ‘Or too many sad thoughts?’

  I didn’t have to answer. Mr Wang banged on the table for attention and rose to make a speech. I heard little of it, except to register that it was largely self-congratulatory but contained one small word of thanks to us, his workers, before ending with a final toast to himself and his wife for hosting such a magnificent Spring Festival celebration.

  We left the canteen arm in arm to the sounds of firecrackers ringing in our ears from all over the town and the nearby countryside. The New Year had begun. I had been away from home for seven long months.

  We slept late into the following morning, blissful in the knowledge that our time was our own. When, finally, we roused ourselves, slowly, delicately, the talk in the dormitory moved from the unexpected extravagance of the Wangs in providing the previous night’s banquet, to their extraordinary arrogance, to the talent show and what a cheap way it was of keeping us entertained. We didn’t mind. It was fun finding out who was going to do what and hearing them practise. Li Mei took us outside to run through The Bridge of Magpies. It was cold but bearable, though a shadow from the previous evening drifted across my mind and made me shiver.

  ‘Our little princess will freeze waiting for her prince,’ smiled Song Shuru.

  We stopped at lunchtime and headed for the canteen, where the decorations were still hanging, but the food had reverted to normal.

  On our way back to the dormitory to ready ourselves for our afternoon performance, a sullen-faced girl called Zheng Yi grabbed my arm and spat in my ear, ‘Keep away from my boyfriend, kid, or I’ll make you very sorry.’

  She pushed her way past me and into the dormitory before I could say a word. I couldn’t have said anything anyway. I was too dumbfounded. What boyfriend? She could only have meant my tormentor from the karaoke bar, but I had done nothing to encourage him. She must have seen him approach me last night, but I hadn’t encouraged that either. I hesitated outside, no longer wanting to go in, until Li Mei came to find me to begin my transformation into a princess.

  I sat on my bed while Shen Enqing applied my makeup. I kept my eyes averted from the corner of the room where Zheng Yi had her bed, but I felt her watching me, hating me. When I stood to change my clothes, I caught sight of her whispering to her friends, pointing to me. Suddenly the dormitory was no longer a safe haven.

  I wished now I didn’t have to perform at the talent show, but I went along so as not to disappoint my friends. The tables had been removed from the canteen and a makeshift platform erected at one end of the room. Our supervisor was in charge of the running order and told us we would be the fifth to go on. We sat near the back to watch the other acts – a dance with ribbons, a singing duet, a man on a flute, a plate spinner (not very successful). Everyone cheered enthusiastically as each act ended.

  Then it was our turn. We made our way to the platform and, as I turned to face the audience, I saw him. Right in the front row, staring at me. Next to him was Zheng Yi, who was watching his every move. I wanted to run away there and then, and when it came to the part in our play where the princess cries at having to leave her prince for another whole year, I cried for real and wished I could throw myself into the River of Stars and disappear for ever.

  As soon as we had finished, I leapt from the platform and ran to the door. I wasn’t quick enough. Zheng Yi followed and caught up with me outside. She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me round the back of the canteen.

  ‘I told you to keep away from him,’ she screamed. ‘I saw you looking him up and down. I saw you giving him the come-on with those crocodile tears. I ought to kill you.’

  ‘Please, let go, Zheng Yi,’ I pleaded. ‘You’re wrong. I haven’t done anything. I promise.’

  ‘You must think I’m stupid,’ she snarled, tugging my hair again so that my head lurched backwards. ‘What are you doing here, anyway? Spilled water, are you? Mummy didn’t want you? Pity she didn’t flush you clean away.’

  She pushed me to the ground and stood above me.

  ‘You might think life is difficult enough here already, but I can make it even more difficult. Believe me. This is just the start.’

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Ready to Run

  She was right. Two weeks later, on my birthday, I was removed from my job.

  I woke in the morning to find a cluster of little gifts by my bedside: a hairslide from Dong Ying, a book from Li Mei, a silk bag fro
m Shen Enqing and an exquisite hand-made card from Song Shuru. Apart from the card, the presents were all personal possessions which my friends had chosen to give to me. I was greatly touched by their kindness, and hugged them one by one.

  ‘Twelve years old, eh?’ said Dong Ying. ‘You’ll soon be a grown-up.’

  I aimed a playful punch at her, and as I did, I caught sight of Zheng Yi standing in the corner of the room looking at me smugly.

  ‘A very happy birthday, Lu Si-yan,’ she mouthed, before turning to her friends to begin a whispering session.

  ‘What’s going on between you and Zheng Yi?’ asked Li Mei, who had picked up on the unease I felt in her presence.

  ‘I don’t think she likes me very much, that’s all,’ I replied. I had no wish to escalate the problem by involving my friends.

  ‘Probably because you’re prettier than her,’ said Dong Ying. ‘She’s always been a sourpuss that one, anyway. Come on then, girls, let’s go and stuff those bears.’

  We skipped across the yard arm in arm, laughing at our own silliness, and tumbled through the factory door.

  ‘Eyes, here we come,’ said Li Mei and marched off to her bench.

  ‘Ears, here we come,’ I copied.

  But as soon as I reached my bench the supervisor called me over to speak to me. She said that she had received several complaints that I was too slow, that I was holding up the production line. She said that she herself had always felt that I wasn’t up to the job. I was to work instead as a ‘runner’ in the factory next door. It had been decided. Mr Wang was aware of the situation. I was to have no say in the matter. I was to start straightaway that morning. Li Mei and my friends tried to argue on my behalf, but with no success.

  I was numb with shock when the supervisor led me out into the cold February air, across the concrete yard and through the doors into my new workplace. The blast of sweat, heat and noxious fumes that greeted me as we entered made me feel sick on the spot. The noise from the rows of machines was pulverising.

  I looked anxiously across the room. Most of the workers in this factory were men. Some of them eyed me up and down with disdain, others with curiosity, one or two flirtatiously. I lowered my eyes, horrified, and waited to be told what to do.

  The supervisor in this factory, a small man with a wizened face and rat-like eyes, showed me round.

  ‘Your job,’ he said, ‘is to make sure there are no holdups in production. As each worker on the line completes a particular task, you must race, race, race whatever part of the toy they have been working on to the next person in the line. You must watch, watch, watch, so that you’re ready to run.’

  He showed me the order in which the production line operated, and a sample of the toy currently being made – a large multicoloured plastic dumper truck. Li-hu would have adored it.

  ‘Things are fairly quiet here at the moment,’ the supervisor continued, ‘but in a month or so’s time we’ll be at full stretch. Are you ready to race, girl, are you ready to run?’

  I suddenly felt a strong desire to laugh out loud as I pictured this funny little man turning into a rat and scuttling into a hole. I took a deep breath and nodded.

  ‘Good girl, good. Off you go then, and remember to watch, watch, watch.’

  There were thirteen machines in operation at that moment, though there were double that number in the building. I started circling round them, trying to fathom out the best way to see as many operators as possible at a time. Some of the processes took longer than others, so the order of completion of tasks was totally random. It was a case of reacting as soon as a worker put his part of the truck down, grabbing it and taking it to the next machine.

  The speed at which the tasks were achieved was breathtaking. I had thought I would be able to sit down regularly, but no sooner had I picked up and run from one worker to the next than another one was ready and waiting. The supervisor, much quicker to spot a completed task or a worker twiddling his thumbs than I was, was equally quick to shout at me to keep up. In the rank, airless atmosphere, I found it difficult to breathe, could feel myself wilting, but I dared not stop. I had no doubt that if I failed again to make the grade, I would be dismissed on the spot. I had survived for seven weeks. Mr Wang owed me nearly four weeks’ more money. I had made a start on saving to go home. I remembered dear Mrs Hong’s words: ‘Your resilience will see you through’. I wasn’t going to fail now, not if I could help it.

  I was comforted to rediscover my friends in the canteen at lunchtime. They bombarded me with questions about my new job. When I told them about Mr Ratty Eyes and his ‘watch, watch, watch, run, run, run’, they hooted with derision. ‘Are you ready to race, girl, are you ready to run?’ became our catchphrase, and was greeted with howls of laughter every time we used it. My friends were shocked to learn that I hadn’t been allowed to sit down all morning, and that one of the men put his hand on mine every time I went near him.

  ‘Smack him on the head with his toy part, that’s what I would do,’ raged Dong Ying.

  ‘Drive a dumper truck over his fingers,’ offered Song Shuru. ‘You poor thing. What a way to spend your twelfth birthday.’

  I nodded glumly. ‘It’s awful, truly awful. The only good thing is that we finish at half past ten, at the moment at least.’

  ‘Now that is good,’ smiled Li Mei. ‘You’ll have had an hour and a half’s sleep before we come stampeding in to wake you up again.’

  ‘I’d rather be with you and the bears for an extra hour and a half than with Ratty Eyes and Groper,’ I grimaced.

  I really didn’t know how I managed to stay on my feet for the rest of that day. Even standing up after dinner was difficult enough, and I still had another three and a half hours to go. The relief I felt when at last I returned to the dormitory that evening, and the pleasure I felt at having it all to myself, were indescribable. I threw myself on to my bed, stared mindlessly at the ceiling for a few minutes, then fell asleep.

  When I woke again, I was still alone. I went for a shower and stayed under for an eternity, almost as though I could wash away the horrors of the day. Afterwards, I sprawled on the bed, luxuriating in my cleanness, and picked up the book Li Mei had given me. I couldn’t concentrate, though. The words danced up and down in front of my eyes and made no sense, for part of me was listening for the sounds of the other girls returning.

  I had fallen into a doze when the door clattered open. Zheng Yi and her cronies came in first – deliberately, I suspected. She quickly approached my bed and said, smugly, ‘I hope you’ve had a nice birthday, Lu Si-yan.’

  I turned away from her. She grabbed my hair and pulled me back.

  ‘Don’t turn your back on me when I’m talking to you, Lu Si-yan. Where are your manners? No wonder your mother got rid of you.’

  That was enough. I kicked out at her as hard as I could, caught her in the stomach, and sent her flailing on to the floor between the beds. She scrambled to her feet, urged on by her cronies, and was about to aim a punch at my face, when Li Mei and my other friends came through the door and yelled at her to stop.

  ‘You keep your snotty noses out of this,’ snarled Zheng Yi. ‘She started it and I’m going to finish it.’

  ‘Leave her alone, Zheng Yi,’ ordered Li Mei. ‘She’s done nothing to harm you.’

  ‘And what would you know, Miss Let’s-keep-it-all-sweet-and-nice?’ Zheng Yi retorted.

  ‘She’s just a kid,’ stepped in Dong Ying. ‘Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?’

  ‘Who asked for your input, big mouth? She tried to steal my boyfriend. She deserves what she gets.’

  I couldn’t take any more. I leapt to my feet and yelled, ‘I didn’t do anything and you know it. You’re making it all up. Why can’t you just leave me alone? Haven’t you caused me enough trouble?’

  I flew across the room, out through the door and across the yard. It was freezing cold and I was in my nightwear, but I didn’t care. I slumped down behind one of the other dormitories and p
rayed that no one would find me. I decided in that moment that I would have to leave. I just couldn’t bear it any longer. I would wait until the end of the week, take my wages from Mr Wang, then go. I wouldn’t be able to go home, I knew that, because even if I had enough to pay my fare, I certainly wouldn’t have money left to give to my mother. But anything was better than the nightmare I was living now.

  My teeth began to chatter as the cold nipped at my skin and bit through my clothes. I wished I had thought to grab a blanket on my way out. I could hear voices coming from the dormitory, men’s voices, then other voices, girls’ voices, drawing closer, moving away, then drawing closer again. I pressed myself flat against the wall, but Li Mei and Dong Ying came round the corner of the building and spotted me.

  ‘You’ll catch your death of cold out here,’ said Li Mei gently.

  ‘I don’t care,’ I replied. ‘I’m not going back in.’

  ‘It’s all right now,’ said Dong Ying. ‘She won’t give you any more trouble. She won’t dare.’

  ‘She doesn’t need to. She’s already made it impossible for me to stay here.’

  ‘If you don’t stay, then you must go home,’ said Li Mei.

  ‘You know I can’t go home,’ I replied.

  ‘And you can’t go and live on the streets either,’ countered Dong Ying. ‘You’d be prey to worse than the likes of Mr Wang.’

  ‘There are other factories,’ I tried to argue, though I knew I was losing.

  ‘What makes you think they’ll be any better?’ Dong Ying persisted. ‘Besides, no factory owner who obeys the law will employ a twelve-year-old.’

  ‘You have friends here,’ said Li Mei, putting her arm round my shoulder. ‘Good friends who care about you. However hard everything else may seem, at least you have that. We’ll do everything we can to help you, so that one day you will be able to go home.’

  I knew, of course, that she was right and that I had no choice. They helped me to my feet and back to the dormitory. I went straight to my bed, pulled the blanket over me and lay there shivering, but I had noticed, as I crossed the room, that Zheng Yi was sitting on her bed in the corner with a split lip and a reddened face.