The Scavenger's Daughters (Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters, Book One) (23 page)

Setting the book on the bench outside the door, Linnea looked up and down the lane to be sure she was alone. Around her the crickets sang and shadows played on the low courtyard wall, and Linnea fought the urge to shiver with fear. The dark shadows looked like people to her, fluttering about and watching her. Working quickly, she settled onto the concrete seat and
picked up the book. On the cover she traced the gold-embossed character of
Family,
then untied the leather cord and opened it.

Luckily it was a bright moon and Linnea could easily see the neat characters made by Nai Nai’s hand. On the first page she read the familiar character of their family name. She felt a burst of quiet anticipation; she’d never seen inside the book with her very own eyes.

Book of the Official Zheng Family History.
The characters swept elaborately down the page, along with a sketched trail of flowers. Nai Nai, always being fair-minded, had drawn every type of flower that her girls represented around the page. Linnea had never seen it before and she was amazed at the beautiful picture it created.

Turning to the next page, she hesitated when she saw the name Dahlia at the top. That wasn’t one of her sisters—she’d never heard that name before. The page was filled with penmanship and in places, blurred by what appeared to be drops of water. Linnea’s brow wrinkled as she studied the characters.

1982
Zheng Li Dahlia, born at 11:15 p.m. on February 9. A small girl of only six pounds, she fits neatly in the crook of my arm. Dark eyes and a head of wavy black hair, Dahlia looks like a dainty porcelain doll. A quiet infant, she rarely cries or makes any fuss. Thanks to the heavens! I finally have my daughter! Benfu has hopes that our Dahlia will be the salve to bring his parents to their senses and show them he made the right decision to marry me. They know a grandchild has been born and they’ve agreed to visit. We see it as a step toward a much-awaited reunion!

Linnea read on, mystified by the words about a reunion of her Ye Ye and his parents, but most of all by the description of a sister she had not known anything about. By the date, this child was the first one the Zhengs had taken
in. Suddenly Linnea realized that if the child had been found, there wouldn’t be an official birth date and weight recorded in the book.

February 10. Benfu’s parents arrived to visit Dahlia. Mother Zheng refused to hold her and declared the birth a travesty. Her dashed hopes for a boy child made her ugly and she left in tears. Father Zheng refused to enter the house and followed his wife down the lane. They threatened to withhold Benfu’s inheritance if he didn’t follow their atrocious wishes. He doesn’t want their money. Benfu held his daughter and declared her perfect, despite her gender. All is well, though my heart aches for my husband and the hurt he feels at his parents’ disdain.

The realization that she was reading about Ye Ye and Nai Nai’s own baby hit Linnea like a punch to her gut. She couldn’t believe they had their own child and never said a word about it! She read again the part about Ye Ye declaring his daughter perfect and smiled as she recognized his actions as ones he would do today. He had been a supporter of girls for decades and ranted against anyone who tried to say girls were inferior. But what had happened to their Dahlia?

March 17. Tomorrow is Dahlia’s one-month party. She has been registered and is now a citizen with a
hukou
. One day she will attend school and be very successful! The red eggs are ready and will be handed out at her party to represent fertility and renewal of life. Dahlia’s new name will be chosen by her grandparents and officially announced to all. Benfu has secured the banquet room at the Lotus Hotel in town. I will be sad to see her wavy black hair sheared off but it will mark her independence from the birthing process and that she is now a separate person. And I can be happy knowing that her hair will grow back much prettier! Today, after
our afternoon nap, I will finish sewing her tiny red tiger outfit and attach the frog ties. Tomorrow will be a special day!

Linnea felt another twinge of guilt that she was reading something obviously meant only for Nai Nai’s eyes. But she couldn’t stop herself. She still felt as if she were intruding on Nai Nai’s privacy, but instead of flipping to her own page to quickly finish her task, Linnea continued to read about Dahlia.

March 19. There was no one-month party and there is no more Dahlia in our life. I awoke from my nap to find my daughter snatched from her cradle. There is no proof but I know from the familiar lingering stench of garlic just who was in my house. Mother Zheng. She took my child but swears she has done no such thing. We have traveled to every police station and orphanage within fifty miles. The local officials are of no help because Dahlia was only a girl. I can only hope that she was given to a distant cousin or uncle and that her life was not extinguished. Benfu is devastated, as am I. I have a pang in my stomach that will not go away. I never want to see Mother or Father Zheng again. I don’t even know if I want to continue living, but how can I leave my grieving husband?

The words were dotted with smudges and Linnea was sure they were her Nai Nai’s tears. She felt sick and fought to keep from heaving up the food in her stomach. She wondered how Nai Nai had survived all these years, not knowing what had happened to her daughter. She wanted to hug her, comfort her, and beg her forgiveness for reading her private words. But she’d do no such thing. She didn’t want them to know she had done such a dishonest deed. There was another paragraph, and she had to finish. But what more could be said, she couldn’t imagine.

September 3. There will be no more children for us. The officials rounded up every woman who had registered a birth in the last five years and after three days of nonstop lectures about rules for family limitations, insisted we all receive IUDs implanted for birth control. Benfu and I refused and tried to make them understand our baby was stolen, but they accused us of hiding her so that we could try for a boy. We held out for days but when Benfu got word that his parents had been rounded up and were also being detained until we complied, I relented. He didn’t ask me to but I could see the fear in his eyes for what might happen to his mother. I didn’t want him to carry that burden. But instead of an IUD, I was sterilized against my will. I am now a barren woman and trying to recuperate from the pain. I only hold on to the hope that my Dahlia could be out there somewhere. Maybe she will find her way back to me and her father.

Linnea wondered if all of these years, each child her Ye Ye had brought home represented his own daughter. She choked back a sob as she thought of the love and acceptance the two broken parents had selflessly given to so many girls, despite their heartbreak. She wondered what had become of the first sister. Was she alive? Out there somewhere wondering who her parents were?

November 30. Benfu now also believes his mother was responsible for the disappearance of Dahlia. They threatened terrible things if Benfu continued to barrage them with questions. His parents didn’t have to disown him after all, for now he has disowned them. He said he would rather continue to pick up trash and live a life of poverty than forget what his parents have done in their attempt to lure him back to his old lifestyle. Benfu feels he is at fault for allowing his mother such control over his life and he no longer wants a part of their good fortunes. I agreed and we’ve committed our life
to being on our own, sink or swim. Without his father’s influence and reputation to back him up, it will be a hard road to take but together we will survive. Somehow I must help Benfu understand he is not responsible for his parents’ deeds or the guilt will kill him.

Linnea could read no more. She felt a heavy sadness envelop her as she gently shut the book. She held it close to her heart as she reached up and wiped at the trail of tears on her face. She didn’t need to read about her own details any longer. The mother who had abandoned her had done her a favor—for just as she’d always known, what she’d read proved that she couldn’t have ended up with better parents than Nai Nai and Ye Ye. She looked down at the book and saw the corner of a photograph sticking out. She pulled at it and without letting it lose its place in the book, examined it closely. It was of a little girl standing in front of what appeared to be a small eating shop. The girl looked pensive, staring past the photographer with a blank look on her face. Linnea flipped it over to see if there was anything on the back but it was blank. The tiny girl looked about four years old, so was too old to be their Dahlia. It wasn’t her, either, she was sure of that. But there were many other sisters it could be. In the moonlight Linnea squinted at the photo, trying to make out familiar features, but it was just too hard to tell. She poked it back down into the pages of the book.

She rose and quietly entered the house, put the book back, and locked the cabinet. Slowly she crept to the table and returned the key. She looked at the bed and shook her head in amazement. Jasmine was there, sleeping soundly while holding Ye Ye’s pillow. The little girl had cried herself to sleep and refused to return to her own pallet when Linnea had explained to her that Ye Ye would be staying all night at the hospital. The bed looked huge without Ye Ye and Nai Nai in it. She imagined them there as they were every night. Ye Ye, always the protector, would be lying with his arm draped over Nai Nai. Linnea adjusted the covers over Jasmine and crawled under the light blanket beside her. Jasmine wasn’t the only one who needed to feel the presence of Ye Ye and Nai Nai.

Linnea turned to the wall, closed her eyes, and pledged silently that she would find out what happened to Dahlia. Some way, someday, she’d give her Ye Ye and Nai Nai some answers. Then she began to count to one hundred again.

B
enfu sat on the bed and looked out over his girls. He and Calli had just returned from the hospital and he was exhausted. Looking around, he marveled that his whole world sat within the small confines of the room, in the faces of those he loved. They sat quietly around him because they were afraid. He knew they were waiting for him to tell them what the doctor said but first, Benfu wanted to lie back and relax his aching body. The doctor had stopped giving him the relaxing medicine that morning and because of that, he had coughed so much that he was sore all over. The day had been long, the news grim, and he was exhausted.

“Girls, let your Ye Ye rest,” Calli said, bustling over to him and helping him lift his feet up on the bed. She put a tiny basin beside him, in case he needed to cough up more blood. He hoped he could keep it back so that he didn’t scare the girls any more than they already were. Linnea got him a clean handkerchief and went to see about the dinner the twins had started. As she walked away, Benfu remembered the conversation he’d had with Gong about Jet. He planned to tell Linnea that he wanted her to follow her heart and not pay any attention to an old man’s prejudice. Linnea deserved to find her own way, without his interference. And if the boy was good to her and had his own stand-up character, what did it matter about his parents? But that would have to wait, as he was so tired.

He and Calli had been at the hospital for a whole day and night. Finally, after several examinations and a round of X-rays that cost them at least a week’s salary, they had met with the chief doctor and he had given them the grim diagnosis. It was tuberculosis. He’d also chastised Benfu for not coming in years earlier. He said that the disease was progressed but if he’d caught it earlier, they might have been able to cure it. As it was now, the disease had damaged his lungs as well as the lining of his heart. His old ticker was having problems pumping blood, which had caused him to pass out. The doctor had said with the right drugs, and a strict regime of exercise, he could get Benfu’s symptoms under control and make him more comfortable. Benfu had declined—those kinds of options were for rich men, not an old man with pennies to his name. Benfu didn’t explain; he just shook his head and proudly left with Calli on his arm.