by Meris Lee
“Did you know my foster dad raped me?” Gina blurted out, tears streaming down her face now. “Yes, he did. And my foster mom would kick me after he kicked her…”
Stunned, Elias stopped scrubbing the casserole pan and came to sit with Gina, offering her a tissue. She’d heard similar stories in prison, but she did not expect to hear it from a proper-looking girl like Gina who seemed to have it together, going to college and all that.
“I got with a man to get away from my foster parents,” said Gina, “and then I got with another man to get away from the first one. And then it just kept on and on. The only thing I remember about all the men I’ve ever been with was how much I hated them in the end.”
Elias had heard this sort of tale in prison as well. Some women always fell for the same type of men, the type that was good for nothing, according some of the older inmates who had weathered a few disastrous relationships that seemed to follow a pattern. Gina wiped her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Maybe it’s because Sam made me realize what poor choices I used to make. He’s so different. And now I’m like, why do I keep wasting my time with those heartless pricks? I need a man like Sam. I should love a man like him. In fact, I think I’m already in love with him.”
Elias was astonished. She wanted to tell her friend how she felt about Sam, too, that she also was, perhaps, in love with him. But somehow, she felt Gina needed Sam more. Gina had been hurt, and she shouldn’t jeopardize what seemed to be Gina’s only chance at happiness.
She tossed and turned in bed that night thinking over the matter. Finally, she decided that, if she couldn’t bring herself to help Gina win Sam’s heart, she ought to at least clear out of Gina’s way. That was the right thing to do for a friend, was it not? And friends were more important than romantic interests, at least that was the general wisdom portrayed in movies, and since movies made up most of her education in prison, she tended to follow their guidance, and she would do just that now.
Chapter Seventeen
Elias already had a plan in action when Sam showed up at the hotel kitchen the next day. She had given Josh a call first thing that morning, and he arrived at the same time Sam did.
“You’re both coming?” Sam asked harshly.
“I’m going on a date with Josh,” said Elias, feeling the annoyance coming from Sam’s eyes. Josh put his arm around Elias’s shoulders. Although uncomfortable, she refrained from wiggling out of Josh’s hold. “I’m sorry to miss your program.”
“Are you?” said Sam, his face tense and his eyes unforgiving.
“We should go now,” said Josh, moving out of the kitchen with Elias still attached to his arm. “Wanna grab a beer first?”
“Sure,” said Elias, her heart sinking to her feet.
Josh took her to the saloon, and after a couple of beers, began to rant about his job as a medical assistant. He lamented about spending way too much time on the phone, being the middleman between doctors and patients, and being put on hold for an hour at times to speak to an insurance company agent to get certain medications and procedures approved. It was frustrating. He did not become a medical assistant to be on the phone for more than half his career. No, he wanted to help people, medically, in the exam room, at their bedside, assisting in life-saving procedures. And so, he had been working as a paramedic on the weekends, to both supplement his income and, more importantly, to do something that mattered in terms of life and death.
Elias was only half paying attention. She was thinking about how Sam looked earlier when he saw Josh with her. Sam seemed disappointed, so that must mean that he indeed cared for her. She smiled bitterly at the thought that a gentleman should like her, bitterly because she decided that Gina should have him. It was only a matter of time before Wolfe would get his facts straight and expose her. She would then go back to prison, and so what was the point of leading Sam on?
“You’re still on a break with your boyfriend in Texas?” asked Josh.
Elias was caught off guard by the question. Now that she was brought back to the reality in front of her, she thought for a moment whether she should chastise Josh for blabbering about where she was from. After some consideration, however, she only said, “We’re not together anymore.”
“So, I don’t have to worry about some angry guy walking in here and beating me to a pulp.” Josh put his hand over hers. “Great. If I’m going to get physical with someone, I’d rather you than your ex.”
Elias wanted to withdraw her hand, but she didn’t want to be rude. After all, she asked Josh to take a day off without pay and drive four hours from Glennallen.
“So, what’s growing up in Texas like?” asked Josh.
She shrugged.
“I was born and raised in Glennallen. It’s a town where two highways cross each other. All the businesses are on those highways, and I could count them with my fingers. It’s damp, cold, and always cloudy.”
“You don’t like it?”
“It gets depressing when friends you grew up with keep leaving because there are no jobs and you are always competing with the Natives for help from the government. The Natives are guaranteed free health care even if they’re rich, and we struggle to get our poorest patients on Medicaid.”
Elias didn’t understand the complexities of rural Alaskan healthcare, but she could tell Josh was frustrated. His complaint sounded like it had merit. But although she and Josh shared the same fair skin, growing up in a place predominantly consisting of dark-skinned neighbors biased her sympathy toward the minorities, and that included descendants of those who occupied America before Europeans arrived.
“You can’t fish where they get to fish,” said Josh. “I have the right to share in the bounty of this God’s country, don’t I?”
“This was their country first.”
“They were conquered. They lost. Get over it. We rule now.” Josh raised his voice. “Our government needs to take care of us first.”
“Our government should try to take care of everybody.”
“Are you one of those liberal tree huggers?” Josh stood up with his fingers wrapped tightly around his bottle of beer, blue veins bulging on his forehead.
Elias was suddenly alarmed by Josh’s angry tone of voice. She had no idea what a liberal tree hugger was, but she wasn’t keen on finding out. “Thank you for coming all the way out here. I think I’m going to call it a day.” She stood up to leave.
“You’re in love with that ranger, aren’t you?”
With her back toward Josh, Elias froze in her tracks, her heart speeding like a runaway train.
“I saw how you looked at him that night at the cookout,” said Josh. “I didn’t expect you to call, but I thought you might have changed your mind. God help us. Pretty soon our race will be extinct, seeing as how our females are ditching our men.”
Josh breathed out a single syllable word that set every fiber in Elias’s body on fire, and she turned to stare at him. “What did you call me?”
“You heard me.”
Elias, enraged, stormed back to Josh, fist clenched and ready to punch him in the eye when all of a sudden, she felt the drag of the monitor around her ankle, and she stopped. She could be arrested for assault, and then she’d be hauled back to prison in Texas when they ran her fingerprints.
Josh sneered and finished his beer. “Go on. Don’t stand in my way. I’m feeling lucky. There’ll be another chick coming along, so this trip won’t be a complete waste of my time.”
Elias didn’t know how someone who seemed so decent at first could become so vulgar so quickly. She felt partly responsible because she did, in fact, use him without rewarding him. And then she shuddered. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that Josh might have wanted something from her more than a drink at a saloon, and if Josh were nice through and through, would she have the wherewithal to turn him down? Would she have wanted to turn him down? After all, she was curious about corporal interaction between the genders.
Elias shook her
head at her own answer to that question and hurried out of the saloon.
Chapter Eighteen
Katy and Gina were chatting excitedly when Elias got back to the cabin. Elias was still flustered by Josh, but when Katy asked her what the matter was, she decided not to talk about it. Instead, she asked, “How was your friend’s wedding?”
“It was marvelous,” exclaimed Katy, her eyes wide with amazement. “It was held at this beautiful lodge tucked away at the foothill of a mountain on a secluded beach. The groom had it custom-built. Huge floor to ceiling windows and the fireplace was a piece of art itself. The golden sunlight made everything look so radiant.”
“So now Katy wants Andy to build her a lodge like that, too.” Gina pointed her chin toward the dusty woodstove in the corner of the living room. “She’s ready for an upgrade.”
“I won’t ask Andy for anything,” said Katy. “Chloe’s in-laws own a commercial fishing fleet. They could afford extravagance.”
“Andy doesn’t want that lifestyle anyway, right?” said Elias.
“But Katy does,” said Gina. “All girls do. A rich husband so you won’t have to worry about money again.”
Just then, the door was swung open and in walked Shuping, arms folded in front of her chest and lips pouting. Her persistent pursuer, Chen Guo, followed her in and immediately fell on his knees, begging.
“Please, come back to China with me,” said Chen Guo.
“I’m not ready to go back,” said Shuping. “I love my life here.”
“How could you love your life here?” asked Chen Guo. “You don’t have your maid to wait on you, and no chauffeur to drive you around in a limousine. You can’t shop at your favorite department store or dance at your favorite nightclub. You’re dressed like a peasant. And, there’s no smoked fish here.”
Shuping cast her eyes to the floor, her tears slipping from her face to her chin. Chen Guo moved closer to her and held her hand. “You’re just doing this to prove you’re different from our friends back home. And you are. Just because you enjoy all the luxuries, it doesn’t make you a terrible person.”
“I have so many privileges,” said Shuping. “I didn’t earn any of it. I don’t deserve them.”
“No, you didn’t earn any of it,” said Chen Guo, in a softer but firm voice. “But you have power to do good things in China.”
Shuping sighed. “I don’t know. I can’t think right now.”
“Why don’t you let Shuping think about it?” said Katy. “It’s late. She won’t be able to decide on anything right now.”
“Okay,” said Chen Guo as he stood up. “I’ll come back tomorrow. I’ll be waiting for you, Shuping, forever.”
Chen Guo said it in such a sweet and sincere way it made Elias tear up. She wondered if anyone would ever say anything like that to her. She wanted to shove Shuping into Chen Guo’s arms and tell them to go back to China and get married and make beautiful babies and live happily ever after.
Chen Guo handed Shuping a bag. “I had this flown in from China.” With that, he turned and left the cabin.
“Wow,” said Gina. “That was something…”
Shuping looked in the bag and retrieved a red cardboard box with gold patterns printed all over it. She opened the box and immediately smiled, more tears streaming down her face.
“It’s Shanghai smoked fish,” said Shuping. She cut the vacuum sealed packaging with a pair of scissors and shared the fish with everyone.
Elias was intrigued by the look and the taste of the smoked fish. It had a tantalizing glaze from caramelized soy sauce, and Elias could taste ginger and wine. But there was a distinct aromatic flavor that Elias couldn’t quite tell from all her years of cooking. “Is there fennel in this?”
Shuping smiled. “It’s five-spice. There is fennel in it, along with star anise, cinnamon, clove, and Sichuan peppercorn. Um…I do miss home.”
“Does that mean you’re going back to China?” asked Gina.
“I don’t know. I am missing a lot of beauty sleep because of the midnight sun here,” said Shuping, and everyone chuckled.
“Chen Guo looks sincere,” said Katy.
“All men do before they have you,” said Gina. “And once they have you, they become pigs again.”
Elias knew Gina was referring to all the men in her past, but she agreed with Katy. “Don’t listen to Gina,” said Elias. “You know Chen Guo. You should follow your heart.”
They decided the question was best left to answer after Shuping had some time to think it over. For now, they just wanted to enjoy more of the smoked fish and talk about men and their peculiarities in general. Shuping, Gina, and Katy all had a lot to say, but Elias did not have much about men to comment on. Nevertheless, it was a great bonding exercise, and Elias was encouraged once again that friendship was a real, tangible thing now firmly in her grasp. At least, she wanted to believe it was, and not just an illusion.
Chapter Nineteen
Elias found herself alone with Mr. Mason one night after the last customers left the Kennecott Hotel restaurant and the kitchen was put to order. Mr. Mason was sitting by the back door, sipping a cup of tea. Elias dried her hands, took off her apron, and put on her coat.
“Mr. Mason,” Elias said. “I’ve already counted off the inventory, ordered supplies, paid the bills, and updated the bookkeeping like you showed me. Looks like we’re on track to making more than the projected revenue this season.”
“Wonderful,” said Mr. Mason.
“Do you want to check and make sure I didn’t make a mistake?”
“No need. I’ve verified several times before, and you’ve been doing great. We’re short-handed, and my eyes are getting worse, so I’m glad you’re willing to help me look at those tiny numbers.”
“No problem. I love learning about the business side of running a restaurant,” said Elias. “So, if there’s nothing else, I’ll see you in the morning. Have a good night, Mr. Mason.”
“You’re always the last one to leave.” Mr. Mason surveyed the kitchen. “You’ve learned a lot of skills in just a short time here. You’ve got talent, and you’ve got the right attitude.”
“Thank you, Mr. Mason,” said Elias.
“If you try New York or Chicago, you may have a shot at one of those Michelin-starred restaurants. I was once the head chef of such an establishment in New York, and I say you’re good enough to be cooking in one of those places.”
Elias didn’t know what a Michelin-starred restaurant meant, but it sounded like a high honor of sorts for restaurants. “Tell me your story. How did you get to work in one of those restaurants, and how come you are here now?”
“My father was dying from cancer, and I was the oldest of his five children,” said Mr. Mason, sipping on his tea. “He wanted to make sure I learned a skill to live on and provide for my mother and my younger siblings. He had a lot of connections, being a local police chief, and he had a friend who owned a Michelin three-star restaurant. They talked, and his friend agreed to take me in. He died a few months after I began my apprenticeship.”
“How did you go to school and work in a kitchen?” asked Elias.
“I quit school,” said Mr. Mason. “I had to. But I never quit schooling myself. I checked out books from the library and taught myself history and government and even chemistry, which was useful in the kitchen. Then I taught myself French. No, I didn’t go to a culinary school, either, but I read all the master books about cooking.”
“That must’ve been hard.”
“Yes, but it paid off. One day, after I worked in my father’s friend’s restaurant for seven years, a wealthy customer asked to see who prepared his escargot. It was me, you see. When he heard of my story, he decided to sponsor me. He paid for me to go to France and study cooking from the masters, and when I returned to New York, he helped me open my first restaurant. I was lucky, many people said, but luck had only a little part in it, don’t you think? I worked hard, just like you are right now.”
El
ias wanted to say she wasn’t working hard. For one thing, she was not studying in her free time like Mr. Mason did. And she was sure her working environment now was far more comfortable than Mr. Mason’s was some fifty years ago. Elias had heard stories of other kitchen apprenticeships from the old days. Abuse was not uncommon. Besides, there were no electric mixers or dishwashers. Everything was done by hand.
“Well, my father’s dream came true, and I was able to help my mother retire and pay for all my younger siblings to go to college. Two of them became college professors. I opened three more restaurants, and then I got married, and had a beautiful daughter…”
The cheery excitement on Mr. Mason’s face disappeared, and he looked down in his cup of tea. Water was gathering near his eyes and nose, and Elias knew it was tears and not the condensation of steam from the tea.
“While I was working, I never had time to see my brothers and sisters. I just gave them money. So, we have this relationship where I know they’re thankful, but we’re not close. I don’t know their kids’ names or birthdays. Turns out, I was the same way with my wife and daughter. I just gave them money, but I never had time to talk to them. I worked and traveled and worked and traveled, and I was well respected. People looked up to me.” He choked up.
“Are you okay, Mr. Mason?”
“One day my daughter came to tell me she was pregnant. She was sixteen. She was in the honors track, and she was going to become a brain surgeon. She panicked, and I panicked, too. She didn’t want to keep the baby, but I said she had to. We’re not baby killers, I told her. It was too bad her doctor dream had to be delayed if not completely given up, but she had to take responsibility, just like I had to take responsibility when my father died. She begged and begged, but I wouldn’t listen. And so, she asked a friend to help her get rid of the baby, and the friend took her to someone who was killing babies without a license, and they got rid of my grandbaby.” Mr. Mason wiped his eyes. “And they killed my daughter, too.”