by Vann Chow
I barely took a moment to appreciate nature. Come to think of it, the only time I did it was when I was so upset I wanted to commit suicide in the Huang Pu river. That night I went to the river side, looking in despair out across the Bund and that was when Marvey came over to ask me to take a picture for her with her iPhone.
“Marvey, can I borrow your cell phone?” I asked.
“Of course, what for?”
“Let's take a selfie together by the lake.”
She smiled. I loved her smile. The smile I saw in my head every night lying in bed before I fell asleep since I had met her. It would be forever captured on the picture we were taking now.
“Photo bomb!” John Senior poked his head into the frame and said as the iPhone clicked.
His wife heather was laughing so hard at his goofy husband that I could not bare getting angry with him for ruining Marvey and my selfie. We took a group selfie together in the end to satisfy her father's appetite for posting for photographs.
“That second one is really nice!” Heather said. “Send it to me. I am going to print it out and put it in a frame.”
I did not recall hearing anyone print a photo because they liked it so much for so many years.
“I will put them alongside your photos together with Jong in your bedroom.” Heather said to her daughter, who turned red almost instantly.
“Mom! Don't talk about my bedroom! It's private!”
Surprise. Surprise.
Chapter 34: Church of God
We went to church together on Sunday morning.
The Alexandria Covenant was housed in a nice brick structure with a big cross on top of the center building. It appeared to have been recently renovated.
It was my first time in a Christian church. Actually, it was the first time I was actively involved in religious activity in my life because religions in China were invisible, and illegal. It was practically a crime to congregate for religious purpose. Of course lots of people practice local beliefs which were ingrained in their everyday lives individually without getting into any trouble.
Still, I had a scare the first time I hold a Bible. Heather had given me a Bible and asked Marvey to guide and translate for me if I could not follow the service or the verses. I said thanks to her thoughtfulness and quickly left the Bible on the back of the pew directly in front of my knees.
“Money matters are spiritual matters!” The pastor proclaimed on the stage. He was a middle-age man in his late forties or early fifties. He did not have a stand in front of him like how it was in a lot of television shows I watched. He was just standing there speaking with his microphone in one hand, Bible in the other, opened to Ecclesiastes 5:10. The passage was then read together, “whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too, God said, is meaningless.”
“Alright!” John Senior, along with a couple of others in the audience said in reply.
“Do you spend your time worrying about money? Do you spend your time worrying about how to accumulate more money? Do you spend your money on how to accumulate even more money? And do you spend your time and money on people who care only about money and not about each other? The pursuit of money is destroying relationships between people. It is because we have approached money matters as if they were financial matters. How hard is it to monitor or money flow? No hard, I'd say. All you need was elementary maths. It was all addition and subtraction. How hard is it to budget? We all know it doesn't take a PhD. Many housewives do it everyday triumphantly. How hard is it to start saving? You have seen your child done it, just like you have done it yourself when you got your first piggy bank to save up your pocket money. And yet many of us are struggling with money matters now that we are adults.”
I let out of gasp. I felt like the pastor was talking to me directly.
“I will say this again. Money matters are spiritual matters, not financial matters. You don't know where your money has gone because you did not put it on things that mattered to the heart. You wish always to have more money because you did not do it because it will make you happy. The accumulation of it does not feed your soul.”
“Let us recite Matthew 6:19-21 together!”
Marvey picked up the Bible in front of me and flipped to the right passage the pastor indicated with expert speed. She pointed to the text and started reciting with the rest of the church. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
The rest of the sermon I could not recall on paper, but it had deeply affected me. I had listened to all kinds of talk on money, from financial software to stock picking theories, from mutual funds saving plans to experience shared by the rich and successful at various conferences on their thoughts about how to become just like them. And yet none of it touched me as deeply as this sermon the pastor delivered. As a matter of fact, none of those advice had really worked out for me as well.
“Where can I buy a copy of this book?” I asked Marvey when the service ended.
She let out a soft laugh. “You can get it in every book store in the world.”
“No, not really...” I said thoughtfully, thinking if I had ever seen one in my life. I supposed I could download it online, or couldn't I?
“Take this one,” Marvey stuffed the Bible in my hand. I was reluctant, because it belonged to the church, I explained. “No, take it. It belongs to us anyway.”
I looked around the church and saw there were still many Bibles left on the back trays of the pew. “Do you mean people leave their Bibles in the church normally?”
“Yes, why not?”
“Wouldn't they get stolen?”
“They are here for our convenience. And if they disappeared, that means someone wish to read God's words direly, and that is more than welcomed.”
“What do you do then when your Bible disappear?”
“We share with our neighbors.” She smiled at me as if I had just asked the silliest of questions.
I tucked the book under my arm and went over to fetch Jessie from the Sunday School classroom.
Chapter 35: Thunderstorm
Two days later, we huddled around the television, watching the latest weather forecast which was all what the news of the night was all about as thunderstorms raged outside.
In anticipation for more severe weather, we had driven up to Wal-Mart a few hours ago to stock up on edibles that did not require any cooking. It was chaos in the store, people were fighting for fruits and baked goods, as well as bottled water.
John Senior had stoked up a fire in the fireplace to keep us warm despite being in the middle of summer as the temperature dropped significantly to only single digit after the sun went down that evening.
“I'm bored! I'm bored!” Jessie shrieked, acting childish as ever. “There is nothing to do in here.”
“Shh...” I hushed him. “If you behave, we can go play video games online upstairs.”
“Well, sorry guys, the internet is out for now.” John said, as if he was glad something evil finally went away. “Our service provider got one of their hubs struck by lightning and nobody in this area is getting any internet any time soon.”
“What?” I said in disbelief and instinctively pulled out my smartphone to check for signal.
“Trust me, Junior. It's all over the news.” He pointed at the scrolling text at the bottom of the screen which told the same thing.
“Let's put a puzzle together.” Marvey said, sitting down next to me and the boy on the rug with a box the size of a takeaway container. “1000 pieces puzzle. Let's try to finish it together tonight.”
“Puzzle?” Jessie and I said in unison. Neither of us had ever put a puzzle together before. I meant, who had the time?
Chapter 36: Puzzle
“Not that kind of puzzle,” Marvey explained as she opened the box in her hands. “A jigsaw puzzle. They are pieces of a bigger picture cut into different shapes so that you will need to concentrate and put them back together.”
“That's sounds like a really stupid idea,” the boy said bluntly. “You break it apart and then you put it back together. What is the point?” I was glad Jessie was the one who said it, because I had exactly the same thought in my mind. Of course I did not want to voice it out lest I would disappoint Marvey, who looked very enthusiastic about this group activity.
“Well, look at this!” She poured the content, one thousand pieces of puzzles, on to the carpet, and said, “This is more challenging than all the other puzzles you plan online.”
“I wouldn't say that,” my mouth opened before I could control it. “But sorry, you were saying?”
Marvey gave me a look, then she continued, “do you know that human brains consist of two parts? The left hemisphere and the right hemisphere? The left brain thinks logically and rationally. It is very good at math and sequences. Our right brain is creative and emotional. It recognizes imagery and patterns better.”
“Yes! Of course!” Jessie said proudly, thinking this might be his excuse to pardon himself from this boring activity, “our teacher taught us that already.”
“Do you know then that there is continuous communication between the two parts and when you put puzzles together, it exercise the brain cells, activate the connections and increase their efficiency and capacity? You won't have Alzheimer’s when you're old if you exercise your brains regularly.”
“Are there moments when our brains are not exercising?” I questioned. “That would be almost like brain dead...”
“Well, watching tele, for example, has been the classical example of brains being in hypnotic state. Your brain activity is higher when you're sleeping than watching television.”
“Are you serious?” I eyed the glossy eyed John Senior who had been watching the news for the last couple of hours since we arrived from home. He paid no heed to what we were saying and kept his eyes glued to the screen. Surely he must be processing some information, right?
Marvey asked Jessie to pull out all the pieces with flat edges from the pile because it was easier to start from the edges of the puzzle. It will serve as a kind of frame in which we place the rest of the pieces. “When putting a puzzle together, a chemical called dopamaine will be released. It helps with learning and memory. If you do it more often, you will find yourself better at concentrating and being more alert in general.”
“I just felt like falling asleep,” I said to Marvey, as I squinted under the dim light inside the house at the darker color pieces that Jessie threw at me which looked almost exactly the same except for their shapes.
“Am I supposed to be putting these together? They look the same.”
“Look again.” Marvey said, holding up the two pieces I had in front of me in the light.
I squinted at them, and saw, after my eyes adjusted to the light, the details finally. “Oh, okay, I see the lines now. They appear to be different parts of the picture frames.”
“Very good.” Marvey nodded in encouragement.
Marvey's puzzle was a painting of an art museum by some old Dutch artist I did not know. The painting was itself a painting of fifteen or so paintings and statues, with a dozen of museum visitors dressed in gowns and waistcoats from the 18 th century, the Age of Enlightenment chatting among themselves as they appreciated the arts around them.
“My therapist gave it to me,” she spoke of it without warning. “He said that looking at the same image for a long period of time has a meditating effect. It can induce calmness and tranquility.”
Seeking psychological help was not very popular in my culture, however, again from my study of American culture on what Marvey claimed to be hypnotizing, brain-death inducing television shows, I knew it was quite a common practice. I was happy for her that she sought help when she needed it.
“It's the perfect thing to do in such a stormy night. We all need some peace.”
I did not answer, toying with the random pieces I picked up from the pile with my fingers to see if those I picked out would fit together. Even though we spoke in a foreign language, her good will was not lost. I understood her undertone.
“Uncle Jong, you are doing it wrong!” The little brat yelled at me. “You need to put the edges together first like Miss Marvey said!” He climbed across the pile of puzzle pieces and snatched them away from me.
“Hey!” That got me worked up. “Let's see who put the most pieces together first!”
“I'm going to beat you to it. You're doing it all wrong.”
Marvey giggled at our silliness.
Chapter 37: Tornado
At around 6:30pm a day later, the National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for Alexandria. The outdoor warning siren was activated and we could hear a loud beep from inside the house.
John Senior had his hand held radio on. The broadcaster read out a message from the Weather Service. “A confirmed tornado has been located over Ottertail Lake. It is moving with very high speed towards the South West. All residence of Alexandria are advised to take cover NOW. Move to the basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows. If you're outdoor, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris. I repeat, the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning. A confirmed tornado has been located...”
I had never seen a tornado before, and blindly I moved closer and closer to the windows as the occupants of the house busied themselves with packing their valuables to ready themselves for the hideout in the storm shelter below the house, which I did not know exist until now.
Through the reinforce window panes, I could see the column of swirling cloud from afar, sweeping towards us in slow motion. I still had faint hope that it won't hit us, but John Senior later explained that it only looked slow because it was still far, and it won't be long when it was too fast for my eyes to catch.
He grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me down the stairs. At the staircase, I ran into Marvey, who asked me where was Jessie.
“He is taking his afternoon nap upstairs.” I replied.
“No, he is not upstairs!” Marvey said, breathless. “And he is not down here either.”
“Where is Rocky?” Heather yelled from the second floor, after her search for the dog had came up empty.
“Are they outside? Are they both outside?!” Marvey said, distressed.
That was when I came out of my tornado stupor. I was no longer in awe. I was afraid. I need to find Jessie. I need to find Jessie now.
Marvey and I both started up the staircase at the same time, wanting to race outside in the backyard to search for Jessie and the dog, and we crashed hard into each other. Marvey faltered backwards. I grabbed her by her arm before she fell down the stairs. That was when John Senior shove his wife towards me as well and shooed all of us downstairs. “You're the man of the house now. Take care of my wife and daughter.”
“John!” Heather cried out after her husband who already slipped out through the back door and slammed it shut immediately to keep the wind out of the house.
I looked out the window and saw the ever growing tornado turning the sky above us darker and darker. Branches of the bushes in the front lawn quivered and pieces of them broke off from their main bodies, pelting the wall on the front of the house as if they were bullets.
“Let's go downstairs as he instructed.” I hurried the ladies.
“Yes, mom don't worry. Dad can handle it. I trust him.” Marvey said.
Inside the shelter, we locked the door but kept our ears open to any sign of someone outside wanting to come in. The wind was wheezing in through cracks between the windows of the house and we heard it even inside the shelt
er.
After about five minutes of waiting, there was still no sign of John Senior coming in. Heather said to us with trembling lips, “let us pray. Let us pray to God for mercy upon this family.”
She huddled us into a small circle and spoke her plea to God. I did not know if the same God would become my God, but I pleaded anyway with her in my heart for John Senior and Jessie's safe return. I would not forgive myself shall anything happened to him, who was not my son but was almost as important as my own. “I want to go look for them.”
“You're thin as a sheet. You'll be blown away!” Marvey said. Her words were not very flattering. “Stay here with us.”
Just when I was about to be convinced, I spotted the redness that started to shade Heather's big blue eyes. It had already been almost eleven minutes and her husband had still not come back. Gentle as she was, she did not want to say it out loud but I could tell from her imploring eyes that it would be something she appreciate.
“Let me do it. We will come back together, all six of us, including Rocky.” I did not know where I got that confidence. I had never walked in a wind storm before, lest a tornado. Yet I felt like those were the only right words to say to these two women who had taken care of me while I needed it the most. Before I had time to think everything through, I unlocked the shelter door, bolted for the staircase and out the back door.
Chapter 38: Hold on to me
“Johnnnnn!” I shouted. “Jessssie! Where are yooou?”
As soon as I stepped out through the back door, I was slammed by the gust of wind with my back against the door. I had never felt anything quite like that. Storms in Shanghai generally mild. There was once where storm warning was activated and everyone had to leave work immediately before it hit, to put tape crosses on our windows lest they would break. If I was not wrong, the wind speed was only about 75mph. From what I recalled, the wind I felt now ripping my hair and facial muscles away from my skull was at least a 120 or more mph. It was expected to get stronger by the minute as the tornado got closer.