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Tim Lan and I made a routine of pearl-making every day after that. Early morning, we worked the oyster beds. With the pearls, I paid him my daily rent, and then he’d go to town, or dig for clams, or work on his house. There was still debris laying under the pier from the ruins on the wharf. Somedays he would drag the timber, or boxes, or relics up the beach to his shanty. I think Tim Lan had plans to remake the entire remains of the once bustling dock into a mansion for himself. Once he even dived under water and retrieved a glass case full of sand. After cleaning the case, he used it for a shelf in his secret room. I never saw what he displayed, as I was never allowed in there, but I imagined the case was being used for something special.
Occasionally, if he had something heavy to carry I would help him, but he never asked me to work on his house. That was not our agreement. I had the day to myself and I spent my time combing the beach for my favorite findings, like sand dollars or sea glass or cork floats which I rarely found. Occasionally I would visit the tidepools. Mostly, though, I would let my mind wander, sometimes dreaming up what sort of banquet to prepare for me and Tim Lan that night. Or I would just sit and listen to the sounds on the beach. That’s what I liked the most about being free.
I felt creative the evening Tim Lan found the glass case, so I cooked him a beautiful Asian meal that night. I set the table when he was still outside wiping the case clean, using my magic to spread out a red tablecloth with golden dragons embroidered on the edges. I used simple napkins, and chopsticks. Tim Lan still didn’t know how I acquired these special items for our dinners, but because there wasn’t any other explanation, I think he suspected a supernatural answer.
“Your magic has the power to create tangible things.” Tim Lan spoke frankly after I had made him a meal of pho hoi soup, egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce, jasmine rice and vegetables sautéed in peanut sauce. “Where did you get the ingredients for all of this?”
“I know a grocer in town,” I lied. Tim Lan never questioned my lies.
He bit into his egg roll and nodded approval. “I have never seen this kind of magic before.”
Startled, I looked up at him. Did he know my cooking was magic?
“Illusions, yes. Slight of hands, of course. But this with the pearls?” he shook his head. “You are a good cook, Em. Maybe we should open a restaurant.”
I laughed at the thought but when he nodded as if he was serious, I shook my head rapidly. “No. No way, Tim Lan. I like to cook, but I don’t think I could handle a restaurant. When I was younger that’s what I wanted but not now. Now I just want to be alone. On the beach.”
“Why not? You’ll make money. Live in a nice house.”
“A nice house? Where?”
“I don’t know. Maybe in a ritzy neighborhood.”
The more I thought about owning a business, the less his suggestion made any sense. I was not that sharp a thinker, so I worried about this. “Is that what you would want to do?” I asked him, because he had once said his heart was the same as mine.
“No,” he admitted and dipped the tip of his eggroll into the sweet and sour sauce, shoved the roll into his mouth, and licked his fingers. When he finished chewing he nodded. “Just testing you.”
“Why?” When he didn’t answer, I let the conversation stay at that. The prospect of being a famous chef had been something I wanted ever since I conjured up my first bologna sandwich years ago. I practiced improving my skills ever since. However, I wouldn’t enjoy being bogged down in one place all the time, never being able to leave the kitchen. That would take the fun out of what I do. I still remember Uncle Jim’s words that day he gave me Annabella. He told me to find what I want in life, and that didn’t mean what I do in life. I was to find love and acceptance, he said. Tim Lan accepted me just like Uncle Jim had. I think that was good enough.
When we finished eating, and had cleaned the dishes, I stepped outside to get a breath of fresh air. The stars were out, the sky a deep blue. The breakers whispered in the distance and nearby I heard frogs which were probably croaking the creek in the forest. Everything was quiet except for movement down by the ocean. Curious, I stepped a little way past the shack where I could see the beach better.
There were people moving around in the oyster beds. No one ever came to these beds that I knew of, so I was a little bit annoyed with the invasion. I’d always thought we were in a secluded area down here by the old wharf. Tim Lan should know about any trespassers, so I quickly returned to the shack.
“Tim Lan, come see this,” I whispered and waved him to the door.
He hurried to me and peeked over my shoulder. By now the invaders were close enough that we could see them from the shed. He let go a low whistle.
Four people moved about on the beach. Three men and a woman. The woman carried a bucket, swinging the empty container back and forth carelessly. One of the men placed a cooler down and then sat on it. Another held what appeared to be a guinea sack. He knelt low to the ground, but I couldn’t tell if he was just sitting there or what. After a while, the man who was seated stood up, lifted the cooler lit and took out a can. I heard the pop all the way where I was at and watched him take a drink.
“Give me one of those.”
Their voices were loud and carried all the way up the beach so that we could hear them no problem, though I couldn’t understand everything they said.
“Who are they?” I whispered to Tim Lan.
“Don’t know,” he answered quietly.
“Are they digging for clams?” I asked, because I saw one of them with a shovel. Soon everyone joined the man on his knees. A flashlight was lit and beamed all over, on the ground, the beach, the water.
“No,” Tim Lan answered. “They’re not far enough out. They’re digging up the oyster beds.”
Tim Lan was right. They were in the beds, not the sand. And from the laughter, and occasional pop of a can, they were drinking.
“Digging oysters with a shovel?” I could only imagine what kind of damage they would do.
“A difficult task,” he answered. “I don’t think they’ll have good luck.”
At the sound of another pop of a can, I was ready for war. “They need to go,” I rolled up my sleeves and prepared to charge out there like a madman, but Tim Lan held onto my arm.
“What are you going to do once you get there?”
“Stop them!”
“How? There are four of them. We’re only two.”
“But they’re destroying the beds.”
“We can fix the beds. Think of what they would do to us if they get mad, eh, Em? Too many for us if they want to fight. They’re drinking. Men without minds make for trouble.” He patted me on the shoulder and eased me back inside. “Come away before they see us.”
Tim Lan snuffed out the lantern, watched for only a moment longer, and then went to bed. I lingered by the door, half in and half out, studying them.
The woman looked familiar. I couldn’t see anything but their forms because of the night, and the figures were only dark profiles against a starry sky. Her movements were familiar though, her unkempt hair, the way she tossed back her head and puffed on a cigarette, and the off balance of her walk. I didn’t want to wake him up and say anything to Tim Lan. Why would I? But, though I hoped not, she looked very much like my mother. I stood guard until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any more. They didn’t leave before I went to bed.
I woke early, and I think Tim Lan had the same idea I did because he was already dressed. The sun had not even risen yet when we stepped outside. Tim Lan had a bucket in his hand and together we made a bee-line for the beds to see what sort of damage the invaders had done. A mess! There were cigarette butts and tobacco pouches and beer cans and plastic wrappers, and even a broken vodka bottle in among the oysters. I cut my finger picking out the glass from in-between pebbles and shells and had to suck on the wound to stop the bleeding. Tim Lan shook his head in disgust whenever he found another piece of trash.
He put the garbage in a bag and took it to his house. I figured he would take it to town when he took our garbage. I stayed on the beach nursing my finger and watching the sea gulls that swooped near shore. When he came back, he went right to shucking as though nothing foul had ever happened. He tossed me the shells and I lined them up in a circle. By that time the bleeding had stopped, the peace had returned to me, and tingling magic entered my body.
I held my healed finger over the shiny colors of the shell and started spinning. When the first pearl appeared a foul smell and a raspy voice broke my concentration. I looked up and there was my mother. I about puked.
“I thought I’d find you here.” Her voice smacked of anger.
I was quick with rolling the pearl into my fist and dropping the gem into my pocket as I stood.
“What...?” was all I could manage—her presence had shocked me so.
“You and your conniving, sneaky conspiracy ruined my life.”
“What? What are you talking about? What did I do?”
“You think I don’t know about this? Gathering pearls on the beach?”
“What pearls?”
She leaned over and looked at my shells, drool from her toothless mouth dribbled into them. “Pearls.”
“Those aren’t pearl oysters,” I said. That was no lie. They weren’t, at least not the kind that make real pearls by themselves.
“They’re around here somewhere.”
“No, mother. I don’t think so.”
“No? That’s a lie and you know it. You know how I know?”
She pounded her finger on my chest.
“Because I ran into that China man yesterday. He was at the trading post with his shiny little baubles. Selling them.” She leaned into me, expecting a reaction. I stood stiff as a brick. “He had pearls, Dylan. This is your friend we’re talking about. And they were worth so much more than what I had, that I couldn’t sell my shells. Do you know why I couldn’t sell my shells.?”
I remained speechless, still in shock from seeing her, and wishing she’d go away.
“Because they spent all their money buying pearls from your friend. They snubbed me. I don’t like being snubbed.” She pushed her pointed nose into my face, reeking of vodka breath, probably vodka from the broken bottle I cut my finger on. “So now I find you, my only son, in cahoots with the China man.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do. I’ve seen you with him before. You used to hang out with him at your uncles. Lots of times. Jim even knew him. You don’t fool me. Your lies don’t fool me. I got friends that tell me the China man hangs out on this beach. Right here, as a matter of fact. And would you look where I find you.”
“He’s not Chinese, he’s Vietnamese.”
“I don’t care what he is. He’s a crook and you are too. Always knew you were a good for nothing, just like your father.”
“My friend is no crook.”
She spat at my feet and jabbed her finger into my chest, pushing me off balance so that I staggered backward. “Give me some of that money, Dylan. Pay me back what you owe me. Help your mom.”
Steam had to have been rolling out of my ears I was so angry. I didn’t owe her a thing, but I didn’t say so because that cowardly little boy from my past crept into me like a ghost hovering over a graveyard.
“Give me some money, Dylan.”
“I don’t have any money.”
Her eyes widened. Foam dribbled from her mouth. “You lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
She wiped her face with her arm. She was loaded with something; drugs, beer, I don’t know what, but her eyes couldn’t focus on me. “Bull! You always lied to me, always did. Lied and robbed. Good for nothing thief. Take after that bum dad of yours.”
“I swear I don’t have any money.”
She studied me for a moment, blinking. Maybe she believed me because she stepped back and gave me a once over from head to toe. “Then you’re a damn fool.”
I caught my balance again and stepped away from her. The friction of our relationship quaked, like how the earth trembles when a train rumbles on the tracks. My fists were white from clenching them.
“If you’re broke, then you’re letting that old man take you for a dupe. Do you know how much he’s selling those pearls for, Dylan? Did he tell you?”
I shook my head.
“Thousands. I saw the bills myself. Thousands of dollars. And here you are hanging out with him in rags. Can’t even afford to wash your clothes or...” She leaned forward and yanked at my hair. I reached up to pry her fingers off. “Or get a haircut. Look at you. Dreadlocks, is that you’re style now? Gonna be a pirate, are you? You look like crap. When’s the last time you had a bath? Your shoes are full of holes. Can’t afford shoes, Dylan? And the China man is letting you hang out. What? Is he your friend? Say it. Is he your friend? What’s he doing for you, Dylan?”
I would have answered her, but I didn’t want her to know I was living with him. I didn’t want her to know anything even though she thought she knew all about me. She pulled on my shirt. I brushed her hand away. She gasped in surprised that I would do such a thing, and then mocked me. “Don’t you dare recoil from me, boy!”
I eyed the beach, the cliffs in the distance, wondering how far she’d follow if I ran. That’s when I saw Tim Lan. I moved toward him, and she pulled on my shirt again.
“Leave me alone,” I growled.
“Don’t sass me, Dylan. I’m still your mother.”
“Stop!” I said louder, partly to vent the steam, and partly to get Tim Lan to move faster. “Leave me alone!” I pulled away from her and jogged toward Tim Lan. She made tracks right behind me, just like she did last time she stalked me on the beach. I could hear her breathing heavy. She stopped when I met up with Tim Lan.
“You!” she said to Tim Lan when they came face to face with each other.
He smiled at her, his friendly Asian smile, and bowed cordially. “Good morning.”
“Not really,” my mother retorted. “Not without breakfast or dinner or facing the day poor again.”
Tim Lan’s smiled disappeared. He glanced at me.
“You should know what I’m talking about. I saw you yesterday at the trading post. That’s my bread and butter, the wares I sell. But you! You had to go in there and sell your precious pearls and now they won’t even talk to me about my stuff.”
“So sorry,” he said.
“No, you’re not because you’ll go in there again and again. And now I find out you’ve got my boy and you’re letting him starve. You with all that money. Look at him!” she pulled my arm and maneuvered me in front of her, between Tim Lan and her. I couldn’t stand to face Tim Lan like that, so I turned away. “You call yourself a friend? Who lets their friends down like this? He can’t even afford a haircut.”
“Mom,” I interrupted and loosed myself from her grip. She caught me again.
“You’re both a couple of scam artists. Probably steal those pearls is what you do.”
Tim Lan said nothing. I pushed my mother’s hands off my shirt sleeve and stumbled away from her. Tim Lan put his hands in his pockets and bowed again. “Good day,” was all he said before he walked away. Not toward his shed. He was smart and didn’t bring attention to his little home. Instead he headed toward the beach, south. He was not happy, and I think she had just ruined my chance of continuing to live with him.
“Go away!” I said to her.
She lifted her fist and shook it in my face. “You’ll pay. You’ll both pay.”
“Is that all?” I asked, giving her my dirtiest glare that I could, and then I tramped away from her. Fortunately, she didn’t follow me. I needed to catch up to Tim Lan and apologize.
Chapter 15
