Mandarin Mannequins of Chinatown. Patricia Laurel

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СКАЧАТЬ girl to the ground. “You stupid girl! Can’t you see we’re not alone? If we are discovered, I will make sure you never have one moment of peace, ever!

      “Sit there quietly, and let me think of a plan to get us safely out of here. I am ravenous! Take out the last of our pitiful food. I promise you this is the last time we will eat this slop,” she said, biting down hungrily on hard bread not even fit for the birds.

      A single tour bus was parked in the lot. They waited until finally two women walked by their hiding place. Bao Yu put a finger to her lips, cautioning Mei Li to keep very still. She noticed no other people with the women. They must have been separated from their group.

      Bao Yu found her one and only chance to freedom. She cast a spell to stupefy them and signaled Mei Li to follow her lead.

      Hands grabbed the stunned women and they disappeared in the thick cover of reeds and mangrove trees. Fluttering wings and shrill crying of birds taking flight, disturbed by the sudden movement were the only sounds heard.

      A few minutes later, the same two women emerged from the marshy reeds, patting their hair in place.

      “Act normal, Mei Li. We don’t want to draw any attention. This illusion will only last for a few hours, but by the time these two are discovered, we will have reached our destination,” she whispered.

      Behind them in the reeds, two unconscious forms were sprawled out on the ground, dressed in very shabby clothes.

      And soon it came about that Bao Yu, the girl from the mud hut who was born with nothing, the girl who had been thrown away by her parents, found the path that led to her transformation.

      “I like the name on this identification book,” she said, studying the women’s passports. “From now on my name will be Lily, and yours will be Blossom,” she said.

      “Blossom? What a pretty name. Thank you, Mistress," Mei Li said timidly.

      “We have to get on that bus before it leaves us behind,” said Bao Yu — now Lily — dragging Blossom to the bus.

      All the other passengers were seated. The tour guide looked at his watch impatiently as the women took the two empty seats previously occupied by the unconscious women in the reeds.

      “Ladies, please remember that we are on a schedule. I hope this does not happen again at the next stop.”

      The guide continued to rattle on about being considerate of others when Lily gave him a withering look that stopped him in mid sentence. His face blanched in fear, the guide turned around, walked back to his seat at the front of the bus, and ordered the driver to take them to their next stop.

      Blossom stared back at the lush green background and a white spiral of birds climbing into the sky as the bus drove away. She didn’t have a family to worry about her whereabouts, but she felt a lump in her throat. The simple girl was leaving behind the only life she knew, pitiful as it was.

      Soon the scenery changed drastically from the nature reserve park to an eyesore of concrete buildings side by side on either side of the road. It was not Lily’s problem to dwell on man’s callousness and lament the loss of the beauty of nature. She had things to do — many, many things to do in her new life.

      Lily foresaw a bright and prosperous future. She could achieve it with her acquired knowledge and powerful magic, thanks partly to the shriveled old man she left behind.

      Her thoughts were interrupted by the tour guide’s voice announcing that they were approaching their next stop, one of the many shopping malls cropping up in the New Territories bordering Mainland China. He seemed to forget what happened and wished everyone a pleasant two hours of lunch and shopping.

      “Mistress, look what I found,” Mei Li whispered in her ear. “This Blossom woman has money in her bag. We could shop for a few things we’re going to need in our new home.”

      Lily stared daggers at her servant. “What did I tell you my name was? You will not call me mistress,” she said, grabbing the wallet from the bag.

      Crowded souvenir shops, clothing stores, restaurants, just about anything to tempt a tourist were lined up in rows, and each vendor vying for attention; hawking their merchandise, and boasting of its superior quality.

      Lily led Blossom into a clothing store. The anxious shop owner greeted them with offers of discounts on any of the clothes on the racks, except for the mandarin-collared blouses and jackets behind the glass case. Those were hand made from the lovely, soft material made of the finest silk.

      “Well, except maybe for the discerning client interested in our finest piece,” the owner said, eyeing Lily. He shooed Blossom out of the way.

      “She’s with me, she is my assistant and helps with my shopping,” Lily said.

      “Yes, of course, of course,” the owner said, bowing his head.

      “I want to see your blouses,” Lily said.

      The owner went behind the glass case, and pulled out different designs and colors of the blouses wrapped in plastic. “Is there a particular color the lady would prefer?”

      “You call this superior quality?” Lily asked, yanking a blouse from its wrapper. “My assistant here can do a better job.”

      “I will give it to the lady for a special price,” the owner said hopefully. The sale was lost, but it didn’t hurt to try.

      Lily’s face suddenly lit up, as if a light bulb switched on. “Come, Blossom. Hurry!”

      Once outside, Blossom meekly said, “I thought the blouses were very pretty. The red one would have looked good on you. It brings out the sparkle in your eyes.

      Lily was so excited, she blurted out some of her plans. “Blossom, we are going to be rich. I’ve just realized a way to make a living. Of course, it will take time. I will have to consult the old man's book and transfer all his power to me.”

      “How will you do that mistress . . . ah . . . Lily?” Blossom asked.

      “I’m going to open a shop that specializes in mandarin-collared blouses. They will be very special. The shop will be exclusive only to women and their daughters, absolutely no men will be allowed in the store.”

      “But you don’t know how to sew, Lily,” Blossom said.

      “Oh, don’t I? I can do anything I want with magic, you stupid girl! Now go back to the shop and buy one of those inferior blouses. I need a sample.”

      After lunch, the two women headed back to the tour bus, but the door was locked. They had no choice but to wait.

      “If we go back to the shops, we might return too late. I don’t want another episode with that tour guide. It might arouse suspicion,” Lily said, sitting down on a bench.

      She heard a kitten meowing nearby, and looked around to see if the mother cat was somewhere nearby. I wonder if she knows her young is hungry? What was that? Beside a garbage bin next to the bus something tiny was barely moving and mewling underneath a pile of rags.

      A voice inside her head nagged at her incessantly to check the bundle. She seethed to think that it was a male voice and was not about to follow what it said, but curiosity СКАЧАТЬ