Mingmei Yip - Petals from the Sky

Old Mother threw another unexpected, irrelevant question. “Miss, you find everything you need?”

There was some silence before I said, softly, “Yes, and more.”

Before we left for Hong Kong, Michael and I decided to visit Master Detached Dust and Eternal Brightness in their hidden temple once more.

We took a taxi and went by the place where we thought we’d first seen it. But it wasn’t there. In one place, thinking we could see a corner of the old temple through a gap in the dense bamboo, we asked our driver to stop. Yet when we got out, to our disappointment, there was no sign of the path we had taken before. Unwilling to give up, we went back to the hospital to try to find our taxi driver. But he was not there. When we asked the porter at the hospital, he told us, “He left and we don’t know where he is. Anyway, even if you could find him it’s still no use, because I’m sure his license is already suspended because of the accident. Maybe they put him in jail.”

After a few more days’ rest in Hong Kong, Michael felt well enough to go back to the States. Before he left, we’d talked about our wedding plans. Now I wondered why I had ever thought of breaking the engagement and leaving him!

Suddenly there were all kinds of things to do. I knew I would have to ask Yi Kong to officiate at our Buddhist marriage ceremony, but in the meantime I occupied myself making arrangements: printing of invitation cards, trying on bridal dresses, ordering the banquet at a vegetarian restaurant. I was also desperate to see Dai Nam. Once back in Hong Kong, guilt welled up in me that my own karmic entanglements had kept me from doing much to comfort her after her attempted suicide.

One morning I took the MTR to Mong Kok, and from there changed to the train out to Golden Lotus Temple. I hurried past the stone garden and headed straight to Dai Nam’s dormitory. To my surprise, I found her room empty. Alarmed, I half ran to the temple’s new office compound to look for Enlightened to Emptiness. The young novice was arranging photographs of Guan Yin paintings on the desk. After we’d exchanged greetings and pleasantries, I plunged in and asked her about Dai Nam.

“The week after I came back from Chengdu, Wonderful Countenance Shifu left for China.”

“Why, what happened?”

“Nothing special. Shifu refuses to talk.” She frowned. “Shifu told us-in writing, I mean-that she wanted to go back to China to practice closed-door meditation.”

“Did she say exactly where she was going?”

“No, you know Shifu…but don’t worry, Miss Du. I’m sure she’ll turn up again someday.” Then she pointed to a photograph depicting a white-robed Guan Yin leaning on a rock by the river and asked, “You like this? This is Yi Kong Shifu’s favorite Guan Yin painting. She’s now in Suzhou. She said she’d see you later.”

I was not really listening and barely glanced at the picture. My heart started to pound. I hoped Dai Nam was not trying to imitate the now mummified Revealing Mystery, who hadn’t spoken, eaten, nor slept for her last fifteen years.

I thanked Enlightened to Emptiness, quickly left the office, and strolled to the stone garden. To relax, I inhaled the smell of the lush vegetation, appreciated the smoothly shaped stones, and listened to the poetic murmuring of the fountain. Then I realized I was not alone in the garden. The old woman, Chan Lan-Dai Nam’s great-aunt-was sitting on my favorite carp-viewing bench. My heart raced. Maybe she knew where Dai Nam was. I hurried to sit down by her side. A trail of bubbles spread out along the water as a fat carp surfaced and flapped its tail as if to greet me.

“Ah-po, how are you today? Why aren’t you practicing qigong?” Energy exercise.

Chan Lan smiled her toothless smile. “Just finished.” She leaned close to stare at me. “Are you the pretty, unmarried girl?”

“I’m unmarried, but…I don’t think I’m-” I patted her hand. “You have an excellent memory, Ah-po.”

She shook her head. “No good now, used to be excellent, can remember my grand-niece’s birthday, the date she arrived in Hong Kong, the date I paid one thousand dollars to buy her passport…” She stopped.

I seized the chance to ask, “You mean Dai Nam? How is she? Where is she now?”

“No good. Doesn’t talk and went to China.”

“Because she wants to practice meditation on the mountain?”

“No.” Chan Lan chuckled. “She went back to see her boyfriend.”

This was not what I had expected to hear.

“Ah-po, I think you’re mistaken, for she doesn’t have a boyfriend. She’s a nun!”

Chan Lan nodded emphatically, like a child trying to prove her innocence when accused of lying. “She does; he died long time.”

I muttered to myself, “Dai Nam went to China to see her dead boyfriend?”

Chan Lan turned to stare at the fountain, her gaze becoming abstract. I forced myself to keep quiet and wait for her to speak again. Only the sound of water and an occasional croaking of a frog interrupted our silence.

“She was nineteen, the boy much younger, only fifteen. Poor couple! No good!” Her voice sounded as shrill and excited as a five-year-old’s.

I asked softly, fearing that if I acted too eager I’d scare her out of talking, “I’m so sorry…how…did this happen?”

Chan Lan looked at me; her eyes flickered mischievously. “You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t. Please tell me. I’m her friend from Paris.”

“Ah, Ba Li, yes, of course, my niece hates Ba Li. She said no good, too cold, no friend, no money, only arthritis-”

“But, Ah-po, you were telling me about Dai Nam’s boyfriend.”

Chan Lan’s shrill laughter pierced through the humid air. “Ah, yes. See, my memory no good now. I used to remember my niece’s birthday, my daughter’s death day, my-”

“Ah-po, Dai Nam’s boyfriend, how did he die?”

“Ah, sad, very sad.” Chan Lan scratched her scanty white hair with her clawlike fingers. Then she hid her mouth with her hand and whispered into my ear, “Drowned.”

My heart flipped, then suddenly something connected. “Was he drowned while swimming with Dai Nam to Hong Kong?”

“Yes, yes, miss, you’re so smart.” Chan Lan turned to look at me directly. “Swam seven times together and failed, succeeded at the eighth.”

I was confused again. Was that boyfriend of Dai Nam’s dead or alive?

“But, Ah-po, didn’t you just tell me that he was drowned?”

Again she nodded emphatically. “Yes, but body arrived.”

“You mean…” I felt a small explosion inside me as I spat out, “Dai Nam carried his body all the way to Hong Kong?”

“Yes, strong girl, eh?” Chan Lan touched my arm with her bony claws. “Carried body and swam for many miles.” She leaned close to whisper into my ear, “Not only that, only half body arrived.”

“How come?”

“Other half eaten by sharks. Bad sharks!”

My eyes stung. “Then how come the sharks didn’t attack her?”

“Dai Nam lost him midway. Swam back for him but only half was left. Half still better than nothing, right, miss? So Dai Nam carried the shark’s leftover dinner to Hong Kong. Hard trip, eh? But she had to because she’d made a promise.”

“What promise?”

Chan Lan chuckled, then covered her mouth. “Miss, do I have bad breath?”

“No, Ah-po, you’re fine. Please tell me what promise Dai Nam made to her boyfriend.”

Something like a giggle wheezed from the space between her few teeth. “Ah, you don’t know?”

Now I was starting to think of throwing this centenarian to the sharks. But then she spoke in time to relieve my frustration. “They took an oath that they’d swim together to Hong Kong. If one died, the living one would still carry the other to freedom.” Suddenly Chan Lan looked sad. “Ah, shouldn’t have sworn like this-bad luck-so it did happen!”