Talitha Koum

Chapter 20

TALITHA KOUM

CHAPTER 20

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Julie woke up and yawned. The sun pierced through the gaps in the doorway, painting the tabletop yellow. Mr. Fong was snoring over by the other side of the tent. She peered over to where Tom slept.

He was lying on his couch, on his stomach, with one arm up on his back and the other one contorted beneath his chest like a misinformed yogi. She wondered at him, curled up in his bed like a pretzel. She shook her head.

She stole over to where Tom lay. Sitting down next to him, her eyes came to rest on his hair, as the morning gold wound its way through the oval loops. Sea anemones in a coral reef. She touched his ear and he stirred. She bent her face down to his cheek.

“Julie…”

Julie sat up again but didn’t take her hand away. Tom’s eyes were still closed.

“It’s a good offer, Julie.” His mouth was in the pillow and he mumbled. “They’re going to have me on special residence and everything.”

He was slurring all of his words. His eyes darted from side to side under his lids. Turning over, his arm flipped out from under him but still he didn’t wake. “I know you’re waiting for the results, but you can call and tell me over the phone…can’t you?”

Julie withdrew her hand. She jerked to her feet, tugged her tunic down and stomped back to her own couch.

“I’ll get to tutor…no! It’s okay. I’ll come back to visit all the time. Or you could come to visit me…! What do you mean? Of course I’ll have to go.”

She threw a banana at Tom’s head.

Tom woke and bounced up.

~~~

As the three of them cleaned up for the morning, Mr. Fong filled Julie in on lord Pang, telling her the same things he had already told Tom the night before. When they finished, men came and led them to the camp’s meeting place.

“Just one thing,” Mr. Fong said to the other two as they made their way over to Pang’s. “Be very careful and if I don’t tell you—no—talking.” He looked to Julie. “Especially you.”

Julie chuckled. “Me? Why?”

He looked to Tom too. “Understand?”

Tom nodded.

Julie rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Pang’s meeting pavilion stood alone on the highest point in the settlement and presented its face to the west. Stationed all around it, were guards that stood at attention, looking neither to the right nor the left. The flaps at the front entrance were tied back so they stayed open. Fingers of the morning sun reached from the far east and caressed the back of the canvas shelter. A back door in the tent was also open. Through it, streams of gold fell upon the three as they ascended into the auditorium and came before the presence of their esteemed Asian host. Both Tom and Mr. Fong raised their hands to shield their eyes from the glare of the sunrise.

This enclosure, when compared to the one that belonged to Abda, housed far fewer objects. Chairs and tables occupied one corner, but they were less decorated. No incense burned here, only oil lamps, though they were cold and not lit at the moment. Off to one side was a rectangular table, with various types of food and bread laid out and jars of wine. Guards stood sentry here as well, both just inside the door and on either side before a stairway, leading up to a dais at the far end of the tent.

Upon the dais was a chair, which was the only piece of furniture in the room with gold trimming. It was made of cherry wood, stained dark red and polished so it gleamed in the sunlight. Along the side of the seat were inlaid likenesses of a dragon and phoenix, locked in battle over a flaming pearl.