by Shinn A. H.
“I wish I was there to see that!”
“Stop it, you two!” pleaded Kellie, then said in a whisper, “— and it’s kung fu.”
“Okay, sorry Kung Fu Kellie,” Jake joked.
Jory giggled at his remark. Kellie couldn’t stop herself from smiling.
Biting her lip, she said, “Seriously, I really shouldn’t have done that. Derek is a jerk, but he didn’t deserve that.” She felt a knot twist in her belly.
“Are you kidding me?” said Jory, his face puffing up. “He picks on me all the time and now he got to feel what it’s like to be on the other end!”
Kellie saw Jory’s anguish and felt badly for him. She never knew how awful it could be to be bullied, but today had an understanding.
“Well there my man, you have a bodyguard now, and I doubt Derek will be bothering you anytime soon,” said Jake.
“And I will see you tonight, champ!” Jake said as he pointed at Kellie with both forefingers, in a mildly cheesy fashion.
“What’s tonight?” asked Jory.
“I’m going to learn some kung fuey from the champ.”
“See you tonight,” Kellie murmured, the knot in her stomach tightening even more. She began to dread the end of the school day because she knew she would have to explain the unpleasant incident to Master Chen.
ellie cracked the front door open and poked in her head. She assessed the room and saw an empty couch and an abandoned newspaper on the dining table. Since the coast was clear, she quietly, but swiftly went inside. Carefully, she shut the door and tiptoed to her bedroom.
“Kellie.”
She sucked in her breath at the sound of her name.
Kellie turned around and found Master Chen standing in the kitchen where he went unnoticed. When she exhaled, the words came pouring out.
“Master Chen, I didn’t mean to. I couldn’t control myself — which is so unlike me. I will understand if you ground me forever. That isn’t how you taught —”
“Principal’s office left message on machine for appointment. What happen?”
He didn’t look upset, so she suspected he hadn’t heard yet.
“Well…I…uh…sorta…got in a thing….Well, it was more like a scuffle with Derek,” she said, trying to downplay the fight.
“You got in brawl?” asked Master Chen with great concern. “Did he try to hurt you?” There was a shake in his voice and he appeared overly worried. Kellie thought he might have momentarily forgotten she had been training in kung fu most of her life.
“I’m fine….I’m trained by the best,” she said, trying to butter him up, but his expression didn’t budge. “Well, Derek,” she explained, “pushes people around all the time. He tripped a friend of mine and I got really angry.”
“You have friend?” interrupted Master Chen, appearing surprised.
“What?”
“Nothing, nothing…go on.”
“Anyway, I had enough of him and I just lost my temper!” explained Kellie, getting riled up. “I just hated him for picking on Jory in class…then outside of class… and he’s so much bigger than —”
“Jory?” asked Master Chen. “It’s a boy or girl?”
Master Chen sounded oddly delighted.
“It’s a…I mean, he’s a boy,” answered Kellie. “What’s that have to do with —”
“Go on, go on.”
“After he knocked off my backpack, I struck him with a tiger strike. My eyes went blurry for a second and then before I knew it, he was almost down the hall lying on his back. By the way, I think I need to get my eyes checked….I hope I don’t need glasses….”
Master Chen’s demeanor changed and he looked a little pale. After a moment, he said calmly, “It’s done.”
Kellie was flabbergasted. She was sure he was going to be disappointed in her, but all he said was “It’s done.” What did he mean by that? Why wasn’t he upset with her?
“Aren’t you going to ground me or something? I mean if you don’t want to that’s great, but —”
“I have work to do in studio — get ready for lesson tonight. Oh, we have meeting with principal tomorrow after school.”
Master Chen rushed out of the house without saying another word.
Kellie stood there alone, not understanding what just happened, though Master Chen’s altered disposition didn’t go overlooked. She was thankful she didn’t get in trouble, but wasn’t sure why.
She drifted to her bedroom, fell on her bed, and stared up at the ceiling, uncertainties swirling inside her head. Why did I lose control and hit Derek? Why was Master Chen acting so weird? What’s gonna happen at the meeting with the principal tomorrow? Am I going to get suspended or… expelled?! Kellie closed her eyes, envisioning the worst.
Hours later, Jake rode up to the studio on his beat up old silver dirt bike. Kellie was instructing a few students when she caught sight of him on the other side of the glass doors. He chained his tire to a pole and entered the energetic room as she waved to him.
“Hey, I’m glad you made it!”
“Wouldn’t have missed it!”
She showed him around, pointing out the various activities going on: some of the students were sparring with each other; others were hitting and kicking a heavy cylindrical punching bag hanging from the ceiling; and another group was practicing their forms.
Admiring her uniform, Jake said, “Cool outfit! Do I get one?”
“Something like it.” Kellie beamed as she adjusted the black belt she was wearing around her white Chinese gi top; Master Chen had given her the uniform for her fourteenth birthday after she admired it in one of their catalogs. She loved the black frog buttons down the front and the black trim on the collar and sleeves that matched her gi pants.
“My mom is making me learn self-defense. She gets worried about me. A kid in my neighborhood got beat up by a group of boys. I personally think I know what I would do and would have no problem in a fight. I’ve been in a few in my day and have to say, I kicked some butt!”
“Oh, really?” Kellie questioned him slyly, as her fist came up and lightly punched him in the face.
“Ouch!” yelped Jake, rubbing his nose. “What was that for?”
“I thought you said you would know what to do?”
“That wasn’t fair. I wasn’t ready for that!”
“Are you ready for this?”
With lightning speed, Kellie struck him on the forehead and stomach without much force, and went behind him.
Jake’s face cringed and his stomach contracted from the blows. He staggered around to face his opponent. It was obvious he had no idea what was happening or how to react.
“Hit me,” said Kellie.
“What?” Jake grunted, still in pain.
“Hit me!” she said louder.
“I’m not going to hit a girl.”
Kellie started slapping Jake on his cheeks to get a reaction out of him. He tried to protect himself by waving his hands frantically in front of him, but only became frustrated.
“Stop it, Kellie. Stop it!”
“You said you know how to fight, so fight back — Hit me!” she bellowed, continuing to beleaguer Jake with taps on his head.
Jake’s hands were swinging in front of his face as he tried to block Kellie’s relentless teasing. He finally fought back and threw a hooking punch at her. When he made the ill-fated move, Kellie blocked his arm as she stepped behind him, and threw him down.
Jake fell on the carpet with a thump and was lying face up. Applause and cheers spread across the room for the victorious black belt.
“Okay, okay,” Jake moaned, surrendering. “You win. Where do I sign up?”
Kellie extended out her hand to help him up. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“I’m a fast healer,” said Jake, as he got up and rubbed his lower back.
Kellie had the feeling the only thing that needed healing was his ego.
“I’ll get you a uniform. Class starts in ten minutes.”
Waving goodbye to the last student, Kellie straightened up the room with a smile on her face. She quite enjoyed having Jake in the lesson that evening and even forgot about the meeting with the principal. She whistled as she restacked the hand held punching bags and organized the protective sparring gear. Noticing hand smudges on the mirror that covered the front wall of the studio, she headed to the back storage room to grab some cleaning supplies. As she passed the office, she overheard Master Chen speaking on the phone to someone in Mandarin.
“I think something is happening to her again,” he said, distressed.
Although Kellie spoke to Master Chen in English, she learned Chinese when she was growing up at the monastery. Her Mandarin was a little rusty, but she understood what was being conveyed. She stood like a statue by the door, listening to every word he said.
“I am very worried. What should I do?”
Kellie’s heart pounded so hard, it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Millions of thoughts raced through her head. Is Master Chen talking about me? Who else could he be talking about? What does he mean that something is happening…again? I’m not feeling like myself lately, but it couldn’t be as serious as he sounds. What if I have a disease they’re not telling me about? I knew they were hiding something from me!
Kellie backed away from the door, trembling. Standing alone in the studio, she mulled over whether she should go into the room and confront Master Chen or let it go like she usually did. She wanted so badly to know what he was talking about and needed to get the truth. Her head was bursting with questions and it felt like it was going to explode. Her whole existence was an enigma, her life an obscurity. She wanted answers… now! Making up her mind, she didn’t care if she sounded irrational; she was ready to demand some information. She stormed into the room as Master Chen hung up the phone.
“I heard you!” Kellie yelled uncontrollably, her bottom lip quivering. “I heard what you said and I want to know what is going on! I want to know who I am, where I’m from, and what you meant by ‘something is happening to her again.’ I know you were talking about me!”
Kellie had never shouted at Master Chen like this before and was unsure of how he was going to react.
Master Chen stood up from behind his desk during her outburst and waited patiently for it to end. When she said no more, he nodded slightly and in a low, calm voice, he said, “You right, Kellie. You deserve to know truth.”
Kellie couldn’t believe her ears. Not only was he not upset with her tirade, but he was going to give her an explanation. She had been waiting for this her entire life!
“Please, have seat,” said Master Chen, pointing at the old wooden chair on the other side of his cluttered desk.
“I’m fine.” Kellie was too anxious to be sitting and didn’t budge from the spot near the door.
Master Chen sat down himself and gazed at his hands. After taking a deep breath, he got straight to the point.
“Kellie, you found in Shenmi Forest.”
Kellie’s mouth fell open. “Y-you found me in the f-forest?”
“You found by Shifu Lau.”
Kellie could feel the disbelief displayed on her face. Before she could ask anything, Master Chen continued.
“You remember his love for botany?”
Kellie nodded, as she had never forgotten Shifu Lau.
“He loved forest because of many different exotic plants and flowers there. He explored Shenmi Forest by himself almost every day. Even though he knew of its great dangers, he spent much time there. One day, when he studying new plant, he heard baby crying. He couldn’t believe his hearing. He followed cries and discovered you! You just a small baby.”
Kellie remembered Shifu Lau vividly. Although she was well taken care of by all the monks at Taiping Monastery, she was especially close to Shifu Lau. He watched over her daily, making sure she was learning, eating well, and having fun while she trained in kung fu. At age three, he began to share his passion with her: botany.
Master Chen shifted around the creaking chair nervously and said, “We told you that you left by young couple who could not take care of you….It was lie.”
“Why? Why was I lied to?” Kellie was stunned by the news. “All these years, I wondered why my parents left me! I don’t understand…”
“I against deceiving you, but we could not explain where you from…and telling you that you found in Shenmi Forest was more hard to explain. Du Zhen was closest town and no baby missing from there. Very strange — very strange. It is such mystery how you got to forest and how long you there. Even more, who is watching over you?”
“What makes you think someone was watching over me?” Kellie asked curiously, as she met his eyes.
“Baby could not survive in Shenmi Forest,” he said as if it was obvious. “Woods is filled with wild animals. You clean and well fed. We could not figure out who is caring for you. Only monastery nearby, and would be difficult, almost impossible for anyone to live there without us aware.”
Maybe it was my mother or my father…or maybe both, thought Kellie. Maybe without knowing, Shifu Lau took me away from my parents. Why didn’t they search for me, then?
Kellie didn’t know what to make of all this. She often explored the forest with Shifu Lau and couldn’t imagine anyone living there, especially a baby. She had so many questions she wanted to ask Master Chen, but he seemed just as confused about the whole thing.
“D-do you think it was my parents watching over me in the forest?”
“Is possible.”
“Shifu Lau didn’t see anyone?”
“He waited hours to see if person would return,” said Master Chen. “When sun start going down, he could not leave you, so he take you. He brought you back to monastery and we could not believe our eyes! He brought back many strange things from woods, but baby? He went back to forest next morning and…”
“And what, Master Chen?”
“He couldn’t find spot he found you. He said it vanished. He truly believed he was in right place, but nothing there but brush. Big flat rock he found you on also gone. We all thought maybe he could not remember area, but he knew Shenmi Forest best. He tried for months to find spot and person who left you there, but failed. He even went to all neighboring towns, which were very far, to try to find parents. When he could not find anybody to claim lost baby, we all decide to raise you at monastery. We thought if somebody come searching for you, they come to monastery…since we only ones near forest. We also grow quite attached to you.” He smiled at Kellie. “We did not want to give you away to orphanage.” He sighed heavily and said, “I am very sorry Kellie, but no person ever came.”
Kellie felt both sad and bewildered. Maybe something happened to my parents in the forest. Or maybe they left me there because they didn’t want me. Since she was now in America, she was afraid she would never get answers.
Kellie then remembered the conversation Master Chen had on the phone.
“Master Chen — on the phone — what did you mean by ‘something is happening to her’ — er — to me again?”
Still sitting, Master Chen fidgeted around, trying to figure out how to begin.
“Things happen when you young we could not explain.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me start from beginning. When you baby, you had eyes black as your hair.”
“But my eyes are green,” said Kellie, baffled.
“We all confused when we saw change. It was on first birthday. One year after we found you, we had big party. Whole day was nice celebration, and for us, it was day of rest and important time to spend with you,” he said, reminiscing back to memories he held dear. “Sun started going down and we brought out rice pudding…. You loved rice pudding. Then suddenly, you start to cry so hard and we did not know why….Tears just coming down eyes.” He paused for a moment and wrinkled his forehead. “Something unusual was tears were black.”
Kellie listened attentively, making sure she didn’t miss a
syllable.
“You finally stopped crying when sun gone and sky dark. You opened eyes…and eyes green!”
“How could my eyes change colors?”
“It was strangest thing any of us at monastery ever saw. Not only you show us you have green eyes when you stopped crying, but eyes appeared to be glowing that night! We thought maybe you had disease and took you to Dr. Lee in morning.”
“And?” asked Kellie.
“Doctor said you fine. That is when we name you Bao Yu, since your eyes green like jade.”
This was the first time Kellie was given a reason for her Chinese name. She knew it meant precious jade, but it never crossed her mind why they chose it. This enlightened her; she felt as if she took one step toward finding out who she was.
He took another deep breath as he went on. “There is more.”
Kellie looked at Master Chen intensely, finding everything he said fascinating. She was in awe of these stories and was even more in awe that they were about her. She tried to remain calm, waiting for what he would say next.
“When you about four years old, Shifu Lau took you into Shenmi Forest. He wanted to show you some funny flowers he found there.” Master Chen paused with a shake and said, “Something very scary happened….You two attacked by tiger.”
“I don’t remember that,” whispered Kellie, as she tried to recall.
“You probably too young. Shifu Lau tried to fight off tiger, but animal overpowered him. Tiger about to bite him when something unbelievable happened.” Kellie was on pins and needles. “When you watching Shifu Lau get attacked by tiger, you yelled out huge roar! The tiger stopped, turned around, and left. Shifu Lau came back to monastery injured, but alive. He told us story. You saved him.”
“How could I have done that?” Kellie was now standing up, back straight and at full attention. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing could possibly be true.
“Shifu Lau said it was with powerful chi! It was mystical — that’s how he described. We all shocked because you just small child. We give you surname, Wei, after that. It means powerful. We always know you very special, but we begin to believe you mysterious, Kellie. We did not know what to expect anymore.”