CHAPTER THREE

Chinatown, San Francisco
April 18, 1906
Wednesday morning, 5:14 a.m.

Dust filled my lungs. I coughed. “Lee!” I shouted.

I stretched my arms out until I felt the rough cotton sleeve of my brother’s shirt. I pulled him in close. “Are you all right?” I asked.

Lee groaned. “I think so. I can’t see anything.”

The room was no longer shaking, but Lee was. We were buried underneath our kitchen table. But we were alive.

“What happened?” Lee said.

“I think we were in an earthquake,” I said. “This table saved us.”

“Lily, where are Mother and Father?” he asked.

I pressed against the chunks of plaster and fallen bricks that surrounded the kitchen table. “Somewhere on the other side,” I said.

All around us was rubble. We had no idea what the rest of our house looked like.

“We are trapped,” Lee said. I heard a quiver in his voice.

I ran my hands along the wall of debris. “It feels like chunks of the wall and ceiling,” I said.

“Are we going to get out?” he asked.

I couldn’t find any words to answer Lee. They seemed stuck in my throat. Even at really important times like this one, I couldn’t find the right things to say.

“Lily! Lee!” Somewhere in the room, Father was calling for us. He sounded far away.

“Under here!” Lee shouted. “Under the table!”

I pounded on the underside of the table. Lee did too. I heard my father grunt. He was right next to us, but hidden behind the rubble.

The room shook again. I braced myself, placing my palms on the floor.

“Is this another earthquake?” Lee asked.

“Don’t worry,” Father said, his voice was muffled. “I’ll get you out.”

I heard the hard pattering of many tiny pieces of debris hitting the top of the kitchen table.

Lee grabbed my arm. “What was that?”

I didn’t know how to answer him. I wanted to be brave, but I was scared too.

After a few seconds, the shaking stopped.

“Are you both okay?” Father said.

“Yes,” Lee said.

From the other side of the rubble, different voices joined Father. I heard Mr. Quan’s familiar grumble. It was our neighbors. They groaned as they tried to move the heavy debris around us.

I heard a familiar cry. It was fussy and angry. Baby June!

Even though my sister was cranky, it was a relief to hear her voice. I strained to hear one more.

“Father!” I shouted. “Where is Mother?”

Father couldn’t hear me. He was talking to the neighbors. Their voices were further away and muffled.

Lee started to sniffle.

I reached out to feel his face. “Father is right there, and he will get us out.”

“This is so scary,” he said.

In the dark, I felt around the floor until I found my book. Even though I couldn’t see the pages, I remembered the story. “Do you remember the Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Lee said. “He was a big ’fraidy cat, right?”

“It’s okay to be afraid,” I said. “We can face our fears just like that lion.”

I pressed against the wall of debris. “Let’s get out of here.”

Lee and I did our best to help. We worked hard, clawing our way through broken pieces of plaster. My hands and arms felt sore. It felt like we had been trapped for days.

Soon, little cracks in the rubble turned into bigger slices of light.

I could see Father. He was moving fast, clearing away debris to get to us. “Almost there!” he said. “Just a little more.”

I took my book and pounded at the wall. I used the hardback cover to clear away more rocks. The openings grew bigger. I could finally see Father’s face.

“Are you both okay?” Father asked. He was caked with dust and dried blood.

“Yes,” I said.

“We will get you out, Lily,” Father said.

Another tremor rocked the room. They were coming close together now. We needed to get out of the building.

“How long have we been stuck here?” I asked.

Father’s eyes found mine. “We’ve been trying to get you out for quite a while. And we will.”

I believed him. I picked up my book and started pounding again. Soon, there was a hole big enough to push my hand through. I felt the warm grip of my father’s hand. Then there was another hole through the debris and another hand.

I continued to use my book to chip away at the debris. As I imagined the plaster tearing at the edges of my hardback book, I winced. Better my book than my hands, though.

Lee was using debris to scrape away at the wall.

“That’s a good idea,” I said and put my book down.

As we worked, bits of wall came off into our hands. Some plaster pieces crumbled into our space beneath the table.

The opening was finally big enough to wiggle through. I was free!

As soon as I got out, Father reached for Lee.

When Lee was safe, I threw my arms around Father. He nestled his face into my hair.

“Going under the table was very smart. You are so brave,” he said.

I took a deep breath, exhausted. We must have been trapped for hours. Broken items littered the floor.

Just then, the building shook. It was stronger this time. Father grabbed Lee and me. More pieces of plaster fell around us.

Father handed me a laundry basket. “I collected some extra clothes and food for you and Lee. I already have some things for Mother and June and myself.”

I looked at Father. “Where are Mother and June?”

“They are waiting outside,” Father said.

Mr. Quan came to what was left of the apartment door. “We need to get out now,” he said. “There are fires all around the city. You can see the smoke in the skies already.”

I carefully walked through the debris to look out the window. I could see rooftops caved in. Two-story buildings were leveled to the ground. People were outside, making their way out of Chinatown. Mr. Quan was right. A thick cloud of smoke settled over the city.

“Have you seen my hat?” Lee said as he looked around frantically.

I glanced around the room. “No.”

I saw Father tuck papers under his shirt. “What are those?” I asked.

“Legal documents,” he said. “The last thing we need is for these to be destroyed. It’s hard enough to be legal Chinese workers here. Imagine what they will do to us if we no longer have our paperwork.”

I took my copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and placed it in the laundry basket. I remembered my birthday party just hours before. It felt so long ago now.

“Oh no!” I said, glancing around the room. “The drawing of the horses is missing.”

“I still can’t find my cowboy hat!” Lee said.

Another tremor rocked the building.

“Forget the drawing and the hat,” Father ordered. “We need to get out now!”