Ash Ketchum: Hunt For Jade Dragon

Ch. 24 The Art of War

   The Grand Hi-Lai Hotel was the nicest place I'd ever stayed. It had like five or six restaurants and a large fitness center with a yoga room and spa. Clemont and I had a room that faced west with a view of the Kaohsiung harbor. Across the street, twenty-two stories below us, was some kind of temple with green and blue dragons and tigers on its roof. It also had symbols that looked like swastikas.

  "That's a Buddhist temple," Clemont said, looking over my shoulder. "The Buddhists and Hindus used the swastika symbol thousands of years before Hitler flipped it around and made it the symbol for the Nazi party. Ironically, the word 'swastika' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'well-being.' The Nazis kind of ruined that for the rest of the world. "

   There was a lot that I wanted to see, and I kept thinking what a shame it was that we weren't there on vacation.

   Clemont and I ordered room service (something we'd never done before), and a waiter brought us Cokes in Chinese bottles, ham fried rice, and barbecue chicken. Even though it was just a little after two when we finished eating, we were both exhausted, and I drew the room's blinds and we went to sleep.

   I woke early the next morning to the sound of classical music, like a symphony. I tried to turn off the radio, and then I realized it wasn't on. The music was coming from outside our window. I got up and looked out. On the street behind the hotel a garbage truck was playing music from a sound system.

  "That's weird. It's a garbage truck," I said. "People are bringing out their garbage."

  "They do that in Taiwan," Clemont said. "It's like the ice-cream trucks in America; they play music to let people know they're there. He's playing Beethoven's Für Elise."

   There was something funny and happy about the combination of garbage and Beethoven.

  "What time is it?" Clemont asked.

  "Time to go back to bed," I replied, lying back down.

  "I'm going to watch television."

  "It's just going to be in Chinese," I said, hoping to deter him.

  "I know. I can practice my Chinese."

  "Practice softly," I said. I pulled the pillow over my head and tried to sleep but couldn't. About forty-five minutes later I got up and looked out the window again. The harbor was filled with boats of myriad shapes and sizes. The sky was overcast and my view was slightly obscured by fog.

  "I think it might rain," I said.

  "Rain's never hurt anyone," Clemont said.

  "Tell that to Zeus," I replied.

 

   Clemont and I went down to the lobby a few minutes before ten. Everyone else was already there, though it took a while before I could tell since they weren't standing together. Zeus, Calem, and Brock were sitting in the restaurant, and Korrina and Iris were looking at jewelry in a display case on the far side of the lobby.

   I could see everyone but Marnie. Serena had shared a room with her (in part because no one else was willing to, and also to keep an eye on her) and she was standing alone in the center of the lobby beside a massive display of flowers. I left Clemont next to the concierge desk and casually walked up to her. "Where's Marnie?"

  "She'll be down soon. She didn't want to wait around down here with everyone."

  "I don't blame her," I said. "How was she last night?"

  "Quiet. She went out to buy some clothes. She brought back some pastries from the bakery over there. She gave me one."

  "She gave you a pastry?"