Memoirs of a Eurasian
Page 25
"Good news, Sha-fei." she squeals as she holds out both hands to shake my ill-prepared right hand. "It’s wonderful news for our community," she giggles, her eyes becoming two glistening slits of joy.
Master Worker Wu silences her with a hard look and says, "According to Marxist materialist dialectics, everything has two sides to it. It can be good and it can be bad. That’s why we’re seeking your cooperation to achieve the best result."
"My cooperation?"
"We’ll sit down and talk," he says, resting himself on the same spot where Stepfather was a few days ago and lights a cigarette. I hand him a soy sauce dish for an ashtray. Mrs. Wu stands beside him like a maid waiting to be given an order. I sit on the chair by the bed and stare at Master Worker Wu’s crooked front teeth, waiting for him to drop the bomb, my heart racing. Does the Neighborhood Revolutionary Committee want me to “cooperate” when it comes to what happened between Stepfather and me? But "good news" – does that mean the authorities are happy about Gordon Lou’s visit? What sort of cooperation does Master Worker Wu want from me? My thoughts swing like a pendulum as he sucks on his cigarette, puffing circles of smoke into the room.
"So we’ve all heard the news, Sha-fei," he begins. "As you must know from going to the university, the Party’s policy currently is to encourage cultural and business exchanges with the Americans. American friends and business partners are welcome."
I am more than relieved. This is not about Stepfather and me. "What am I supposed to do, then, Uncle Wu?"
"You may go and meet with the Chinese-American on your father’s behalf. Just bear in mind that you should report anything suspicious about our overseas compatriots to the grassroots authorities."
In other words, to him. After promising with a straight face that I’ll do as he says, I sit passively through his droning lecture. As Master Worker Wu rises to leave, Mrs. Wu slaps me on the shoulder and says, "Do let me know what your American friend looks like after you see him, Sha-fei."
What does Gordon Lou look like? I wonder myself. When Father mentioned Marlene Koo to me, I had asked if he had a picture of her. "No. The Red Guards burned all my photos in our house on Joffre and confiscated many old belongings.” I have no reference point as to what a Chinese from America would look like.
I lounge in bed, staring at the wall, trying to picture Gordon Lou. He must be around Father’s age, mid-fifties. Maybe he wears glasses, just like Father did. But his glasses would come with a chic, "MADE IN USA" frame, unlike Father’s old, broken pair he had worn throughout the decade of the Cultural Revolution. But what would a pair of American eyeglasses look like? Suddenly I remember the American who visited China when I was a teenager -- Henry Kissinger. He wore thick-rimmed glasses that made him look like a curly-haired panda. Is it possible that Gordon Lou looks like Henry Kissinger, only with a Chinese face?
I chuckle at the absurdity of my thoughts. No matter what Father’s old schoolmate looks like, something in my life is going to change. I hope for the better.
About the Author
Vivian Yang is the author of the novels Memoirs of a Eurasian (2011), Shanghai Girl (2010 and 2001), S.G. Shan Hai Gaaru (2011 and 2002), and the nonfiction Status, Society, and Sino-Singaporeans.
Born and raised in Shanghai’s former European quarters -- often the setting of her fiction, Vivian holds an M.A. in intercultural communication from Arizona State University and taught English and journalism at Shanghai International Studies University. She was a Literature Fellow in Prose of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a Publishing Project grantee from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, a Woolrich Writing Fund Scholar and a Writing Program Scholar at Columbia University, a Tuition Scholar at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and a top winner of The WNYC Leonard Lopate Essay Contest, the entry of which is a chapter of Memoirs of a Eurasian.
Vivian has written for Business Weekly, China Daily, Far Eastern Economic Review, South China Morning Post, and The Wall Street Journal Asia, and has published fiction in literary journals in the United States and in Asia. Her work has also appeared in the Opinion page of HK Magazine, The National Law Journal, and The New York Times.
She lives with her husband and daughter in New York City.
Visit www.VivianYang.net, start a discussion on the “Vivian Yang Page” on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Vivian-Yang/e/B001S03LZM/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0), join the Shanghai Girl Page on Facebook, and follow Vivian on Twitter @ ShanghaiGirlUsa.