Kung Fu Kellie and Sonam's Prophecy

by A. H. Shinn

  Kellie’s shoulders fell as she sat across from her mother.

  Victoria looked around the room and smiled. “You have a very nice home.”

  “We like it,” said Kellie, gawking at her mother and analyzing her features. Victoria was an Asian woman, petite build, and average height. She wore a gray skirt that went past her knees and an ivory cardigan over a white blouse. Her clothes were old-fashioned, but yet she looked refined.

  “I expect the both of you are surprised to see me,” Victoria began. “This was a difficult visit because I wasn’t sure how you would react,” she said to Kellie. “But I had to take that chance.”

  Kellie smiled sheepishly.

  “I expect you have many questions, and I want to answer them all.”

  Kellie’s heart beamed!

  “So I would like to make a date with you, Bao Yu, and take you out to lunch this Saturday. We can discuss everything then.”

  “Why not tonight?” Kellie asked, crushed.

  “It is already late, and I have come uninvited.” To Master Chen, who was now sitting stiffly, she said, “I would be honored if I could spend the day with my daughter…if that is acceptable to you?”

  “Sure, sure,” he said with a blank expression. “I am curious and must ask…how you find Bao Yu?”

  “After I failed in my own attempts, I saved up money to hire an investigator. He discovered a girl who fit my daughter’s profile. Once I learned her name, I didn’t rest until she was found.” Victoria smiled at Kellie.

  Kellie felt like she was floating off her chair seeing her mother’s warm expression.

  “It must have taken long time,” said Master Chen.

  “Yes, but I never gave up,” she said. “I jumped for joy when the investigator told me that a Bao Yu Wei was located in America and was the same age as my daughter.”

  Kellie was delighted to hear that her mother had been looking for her all these years.

  Master Chen didn’t seem to share the sentiment. “What about other name?” he asked with a glare.

  “Other name?”

  “Name she uses here. If investigator find her here, you would know other name—”

  “It’s Kellie,” said Kellie, rescuing her mother. “I’m sure you know I go by Kellie now…mostly.”

  “Yes, of course—I really hate to go so quickly, but I must.” She looked at her watch and got up. “And I’m sorry for troubling you both with this unannounced visit.”

  “No trouble at all!” said Kellie. She didn’t want to see her mother leave.

  As Victoria held the back of her hat, she moved toward the door. “I look forward to spending the day with you, Kellie…and have a good evening, Mr. Chen.”

  “Good evening…” replied Master Chen with an eyebrow raised.

  “I look forward to seeing you soon,” said Kellie as politely as possible. She held the door open for her mother, and watched her walk across the lawn and until she disappeared behind the studio. A car started, and Kellie lingered on the porch until the sound of the engine was no more.

  Kellie felt the silly grin on her face as she stared out into the clear night’s sky. Her mother had found her and wanted to spend the day with her on Saturday. How was she going to wait five days? What was she going to wear? What question would she ask first?

  The flowers in their yard caught her eye. A corsage, she remembered. On Mom’s Day in elementary school, she once threw the corsage she’d made in class into the garbage. She now had a mom to give one to.

  Dreamily, she closed the door and leaned against it. She’d finally met her mother face-to-face, and she was not only stunning, but polite and warm.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Master Chen cleared his throat.

  She glanced his way and saw a frown on his face.

  “I go, too, on Saturday,” he said.

  “I think she wants to spend time just with me…”

  “Want to make sure you safe.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be safe? She’s my mom. She’s not going to hurt me.”

  “Not so sure about her…”

  Kellie stiffened. “Why? Why would you say that?”

  “She is stranger who just come to our house. We know nothing about her…And I did not tell my name, but she know.”

  “What?” Kellie asked, crushed about what was being implied. “I’m sure it wasn’t difficult to find out who her daughter’s guardian is.”

  Kellie didn’t want to have this conversation anymore. “I’d like to have my day with my mother…alone. Please, give me this one day with her, and the next time, the three of us can hang out.”

  Master Chen sighed loudly, and the frown lines on his face deepened. “Ay. I don’t like…”

  “I’m going to bed,” said Kellie.

  Kellie turned off the lights in her room and lay on the bed. Saturday isn’t so far away when I’ve waited almost sixteen years, she thought. Until Saturday…

  The next four days went by excruciatingly slow. Kellie spent the mornings and afternoons either reading in her room or training in the studio. In the evenings, she assisted Master Chen with the group classes. They didn’t speak about much other than kung fu during the lessons. At dinnertime, Master Chen stayed relatively quiet. Kellie knew he was still uncomfortable about her spending time alone with her mother.

  Kellie called Jory immediately the day after the surprise visit to tell him the great news. He was ecstatic that she had gotten to meet her mother, though he did admit he’d enjoyed the hunt for Victoria Bean and now had to find something else to do.

  “What does she look like?” he asked. Kellie told him that her mother had black hair and green eyes, and she thought their noses had the same shape. Kellie then wondered about her father. Did she have similar features as his? What was his ethnicity? Was her mother still with him? Where was he? Did he even know how about his daughter? Kellie decided she had to write down all her questions.

  Jake, on the other hand, agreed with Master Chen. Nothing was known about this stranger, and he couldn’t understand how a mother could’ve let her baby be taken from her, if that was the case. “Whether it was voluntary or not, it shouldn’t have happened,” he said. He had expressed his indifference about his own father in the past, but Kellie suspected he was hiding his resentment. She realized that it must have been difficult for him not to have a father in his life.

  Since Jory was the only one in her corner, Kellie called him again. She told him that she and Master Chen hadn’t been talking much, and she was worried he wasn’t going to let her see her mother without him.

  “Well, to ease Master Chen’s worries,” Jory said, “I’ll do a criminal background check. If I find something, I’ll call you right away.”

  That was a great idea! Kellie just had to think of a way to introduce the idea to Master Chen. She stewed about it all day, then decided to bring it up at dinner Friday night.

  “Did I ever tell you that Jory is really good with computers?”

  “No,” said Master Chen as he took a bite of his vegetable dumpling.

  “Well, he is.” Kellie poked at the rice with her chopsticks. “And…uh…he’s doing something for us.”

  “Hm?” he grumbled.

  “Jory knows how to do things on the computer he probably shouldn’t be doing…But he wants to work for the CIA one day, so he’ll have to know how anyway…He can find people and stuff…Anyway, he’s going to do a criminal check on my mom and let us know if he finds anything. He’s a great friend and—”

  “He can see if Victoria is bad person?” asked Master Chen, straightening.

  “Yeah, I guess you can say it that way.”

  “When he is going to know?”

  “I talked to him today. He’ll let us know immediately if he finds anything.”

  “Good,” he said, looking a lit
tle less conflicted about the situation.

  “Master Chen, please don’t worry. Remember, I’ve been training in kung fu forever and I have the best teacher.” Kellie looked at his blank face. This buttering up never worked on him; Kellie didn’t know why she continued to attempt it. “I’ll be careful,” she said firmly. “And you’re right. I’ve been thinking about it. We know nothing about Victoria Bean, but that’s why I have to spend the day with her tomorrow. I need to get to know her.”

  Master Chen’s expression softened. “You are very mature young girl. You are right. You deserve chance to talk with her alone. Another thing right—you are trained by best.”

  Kellie jumped out of her seat and gave him a hug.

  “Ay, ay.” He waved at her.

  Kellie cleaned up the table and, as soon as she’d finished the dishes, went to her room to find the perfect outfit for her lunch date.

  It was Saturday morning and Kellie had hardly slept the night before.

  Jory had called to share his results; he had located hundreds of Victoria Beans in China. It would have helped if knew her date of birth, but regardless, none of them had criminal backgrounds.

  Kellie told Master Chen that Jory hadn’t found anything to worry about, and just in time, too. Her mother had called on Friday evening to set their plans. She was going to pick up Kellie at noon, and they were to have lunch and go shopping. Kellie wasn’t much of a shopper, but walking around the mall seemed like a mother-daughter thing to do.

  Kellie glanced at the clock. Now she had to figure out something to do for six hours. For the past few months, she had been training with Jake and Jory every Saturday morning, but this weekend, her friends had plans with their family. She remembered that Jory was celebrating his mother’s birthday and Jake was going to his uncle’s house with his mother.

  Kellie smiled. I have plans with my mom, too.

  She jumped out of bed, put on her workout uniform, and headed for the studio. After going through each kick and punch at least twenty times, she imagined opponents attacking her as she performed defensive techniques against them.

  Envisioning a big brute trying to grab her, Kellie blocked his flailing arms and threw a heel palm under his chin. This was an easy and effective maneuver for a person smaller than the attacker. He didn’t give up so easily, though. The man—who she envisioned having a five o’clock shadow and burly arms covered with tattoos, and wearing a grease-stained bandana around his head—swung a hooking right punch. Using the universal block, Kellie dropped low, threw up her left arm and shot her right fist into his ribs: another great move for a smaller person. She followed that up with a knee lift into his stomach and then cross-stepped out of the way.

  The bully hunched over but wasn’t ready to quit. When he straightened and lifted his head, Kellie was about to continue her offensive, but instead gasped, retreated, and tumbled onto the carpet.

  Hagos’s snarling, hairy face had replaced her imaginary brute. The vision of the monkey quickly dissipated, and her pale face stared back at her from the mirror.

  She stayed sitting on the floor for some time, afraid to get up. Kellie didn’t want to see the dreaded animal again, but she couldn’t let him prevent her from continuing her training.

  After forcing herself up, she took several deep breaths. She raised her hands and began going through all her forms, one after the other. She noticed herself stumbling through her steps and looked down at her feet.

  “Keep head up,” said Master Chen. “And why you look like that?”

  Kellie dropped her arms and stopped midstep. “Like what?”

  “You holding back.” Then he muttered flatly, “Almost twelve.”

  She glanced at the wall clock. It was eleven thirty-five! She’d lost track of time and had less than half an hour to get ready.

  “Oh no! I can’t be late!” Kellie yelled as she scrambled out of the studio.

  The doorbell rang exactly at noon. Kellie heard it only after turning off her blow-dryer. She shoved money into the pocket of her khaki pants and grabbed a light sweater, putting it over a yellow, floral tank top. The finishing touch was her jade necklace. With one last check in the mirror, she took a deep, nervous breath.

  She exhaled as she turned and pulled back the door handle. “Hi! Please, come in.”

  Her mother was breathtaking. She wore a white dress and a beige, woven sun hat. Holding onto a small handbag, she said with an affable smile, “Are you ready to go?”

  “I’m ready!” Kellie had been ready for years.

  “Do you need to get your purse?”

  “No.” A purse! Kellie didn’t own a purse. That’s what’ll I’ll shop for today. “But I do have something for you.” From the end table, she picked up a white lily with a pin through it. “It’s a corsage.”

  Her mother’s lips turned up gently. The reaction was exactly how Kellie imagined it would be.

  “It’s beautiful. Thank you.” She cradled it in her hands as they exited the house.

  Skipping down the steps of the porch, Kellie said, “It’s really hot today.” The weather was always a good way to start up conversation. She didn’t want to bombard her mother with the tough questions just yet.

  “Yes, it is.”

  As they walked near the studio, Kellie said, “I need to let Master Chen know that I’m leaving.”

  As if on cue, Master Chen came out and greeted Victoria. To Kellie, he asked, “What time you coming home?”

  Her mother quickly answered, “I’ll bring her back before dinnertime. If that is all right with you?”

  Master Chen’s brows furrowed. “Fine.”

  He followed them out to the car and waved as they drove away. Kellie looked back as they turned the corner and saw Master Chen still watching them.

  “So, where are we going for lunch?” asked Kellie, looking at her mother.

  “San Francisco,” she said. Her mouth tightened as she concentrated on the street signs.

  “Will we be shopping there, too?”

  “Yes.”

  Kellie turned to face forward. She didn’t say anything else and neither did her mother. Feeling strangely uncomfortable, she wondered if it would have been better to bring Master Chen along after all.

  They drove down an isolated road for about forty-five minutes without a word exchanged, so Kellie decided to try again.

  “Where do you live? I was wondering because—”

  Suddenly, a white van pulled up close behind them and started honking. Victoria pulled over to the side, Kellie assumed to let the vehicle pass. To her surprise, her mother got out of the car, and Kellie watched her approach the van.

  Kellie could feel her heart racing. Something was definitely not right here.

  After a brief conversation, Victoria returned to the driver’s seat, and someone exited the van and approached Kellie’s side of the car.

  “Do you know those people?” Kellie asked her mother.

  Victoria smiled. “They are your family. And it’s going to be all right.” Then she reached over and held down Kellie’s arms.

  “What are you doing?” Kellie yelled, her voice shaking.

  The hooded stranger opened the passenger door, pulled up Kellie’s sleeve, and jabbed a needle into her right arm before she could even think to react.

  With the sting of the needle, Kellie’s instincts and training kicked in. She jerked her other arm loose and elbowed her mother in the face, then punched the other person with the same hand. As the stranger winced, Kellie kicked him out of the way and fled the car.

  She pumped her legs as hard as she could, her breath coming in shallow gulps. She could hear footfalls behind her, and chanced a look over her shoulder. More people had gotten out of the van and were pursuing her. Kellie ran down the side of the road, screaming. But both sides of the street were nothing but fields, and there
were no cars in sight.

  Twisting her neck around again, she saw a group of bald men chasing her. Kellie knew she could outrun them, but where would she run to? After what seemed like an eternity, her legs began to grow heavy. Her thighs cramped and she couldn’t catch her breath. Her head became dizzy, and her vision doubled. She couldn’t stop running, but she didn’t know if her body would keep going.

  What had they injected her with?

  Her legs finally gave. Kellie fell to her hands and knees, and her sight turned black.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Where am I?

  Kellie lifted heavy eyelids to the drone of an engine. She blinked a couple of times. As she moved her hands up to rub her dry eyes, she realized something was holding down her arms. She wrestled with the straps around her wrists. Her legs were also bound. She was lying on a bed, and an oxygen mask was over her nose and mouth. Tubing went from her left arm to a clear bag filled with fluid, which was hanging beside her.

  Kellie turned her head from side to side, but couldn’t figure out where she was. The bed suddenly began to shake, and it felt as if she was on a bumpy ride. She had experienced this before. Turbulence.

  But how…?

  She was on a plane! With all the energy she could muster, she lifted her head. She could see people sitting about ten feet away in passenger seats.

  “Help,” she cried, her weak voice muffled. Her throat was dry and she coughed into the mask.

  They heard her! About six people turned around, and one of them got up. They were all bald, and the person approaching wore a monk’s robe.

  Were they the Taiping monks? Kellie didn’t recognize any of them, but her vision was hazy.

  Was she sick? Had Hagos’s Emotive Chi made her ill? Shaking, she called out, “Master Chen,” but somehow knew he wasn’t nearby. If he was, he would be by her side.

  The man in the orange monk’s robe grabbed the IV line. He had a syringe in his hand and inserted the needle into the port. This wasn’t a Taiping monk.

  Kellie’s entire body relaxed, and her vision began to fade. “Why are you doing…?”