The Ordeal

Chapter Seven

I haven't slept all night.

For the first few hours I alternated between pacing and sitting at the edge of my bed. I couldn't think, I was too hyper. Did that really just happen? Maybe in a few minutes I'd wake up and it would have all been a bad dream. Then I let reality sink in, and the weight of it made me lay down. I closed my eyes and may have even drifted off a few times, but it brought me no rest. I lay in my bed now, completely awake.

Strangely, I haven't really thought any more about my confrontation with my dad. I haven't wondered about my course of action. There still seems to be only one thing to do.

I go to the door but before I open it I turn around and look back at my closet room. Everything in it is run-down, but up until now I had treasured all of it. My choices and my dad's help turned it into a refuge, a room of my own. Now all I see is junk, and I can't wait until I have a king size bed in my own master bedroom.

I turn back towards the door, and I wonder only briefly if I'll ever see this room again. No time for such thoughts now.

I open the door very slowly and look around. The door to my parents' room is closed. That's unusual, I would have thought my dad would be up by now.

I tiptoe the short distance from my room to the front door. I kneel and quickly start lacing up my shoes. So far so good. I doubt the Guyong is open yet but I'll just park myself outside until it does. Better to wait there than here, where my dad can harass me some more.

My hand touches the doorknob, and then I hear the unmistakable creak of my parents' bedroom door.

I freeze for a moment, then I turn slowly around and stand up. My dad's there, looking at me through the crack. It's still too dark to make out his expression. He probably can't make out mine either. Fitting.

He continues to look at me silently. For how long? I can't tell. I wonder what he's going to say when he finally opens his mouth. Will he tell me to come back? To shut the door and talk some more? I don't have any bearings in this strange new world. Nothing like this has ever happened between us.

"The shop opens at eight o'clock," he says. His voice is calm, matter-of-fact, but I know exactly what he means. That's his ultimatum. If I'm not at the shop at eight, I won't be welcome back.

Well, so be it. I open the front door, still looking at him, and then close it slowly behind me.

I sit on the ground right outside the door of the Guyong. Nobody has stirred yet. The sky is beginning to brighten. For some reason now I start to get sleepy. Maybe having taken this first step my brain is letting me relax, now that I'm on the right path. I put my head in my lap and close my eyes...

I'm startled awake by the latch on the front door being undone. I have a piercing headache, the price to pay for staying up all night and then falling asleep for a few minutes. It would have been better to just stay awake.

The door opens and before I can get up a man steps out. He has a youthful face but I know he's older than he looks. Something about the way he carries himself, and his eyes that seem set to perpetual interrogation mode. He wears plain black slacks and an equally plain grey tunic. This must be Wu Zhen.

I scramble to my feet. I thought I wouldn't be nervous. He invited me after all! But I find myself fighting to control my trembling just the same.

He looks at me, frowning, but doesn't say a word. It's been a few days so he must not remember me.

"My name is-" My voice is a comical squeak, coming from a parched throat. I clear my throat way too loudly. Off to a great start, Leander. But I've come all this way and this is all I have.