Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Brother

Match Eight: Brother:

-July 10th, 1994-

Four months after Ju was born, Bik took her then seven-year-old son, Biao, with her to her local clinic. At the time, the nurse was hard at work. Just she began her shift, she dropped him off in the local playground.

"I'll pick you up by lunch," the nurse said. "If you need me for anything, come by my office. Will you please be good?"

"Yes!" little Biao said. Bik leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

"I'll see you at lunch," she said. "Bye-bye."

"Bye-bye," her son said back. He waved as she walked into the building. Little Biao looked around at the playground. He couldn't find many children around the tiny park. On days like this, little Biao wished that it would rain. When it rained, he could look through his mother's medical books as she filled out prescriptions and tended to youths too poor to go to a hospital in the city. He thought that he would be doing that today. But, Bik saw to that otherwise.

"It's a nice day out today," the nurse said. "You need to be outside more. Plus, you should go and make more little friends. You're too lonely with just Kee around the compound." Neither Biao or Hen-to dared to argue back with the nurse. Hen-to may be the man of the house, but Bik ran everything like a tight ship. Right now, little Biao shoved his hands into his shorts pockets and sighed. Despite it being summer, the child found himself getting bored. Kee had a cold that day and couldn't come with him. Most of his little friends went off on vacations throughout the country. Biao's dad was on a business trip with Khai and Fei and wouldn't be back until this evening.

The little boy walked over to the swing set and sat down. Maybe someone would show up and make things more interesting. Biao began to swing back and forth. Usually around ten or eleven, this playground would fill up with children his age. But lately, this summer's been rather slow. Biao sat up in the swing and tried to move higher.

That's when he spotted him.

Against the chain link fence next to the sidewalk, he saw a head of black hair. Biao jumped out of the swing and walked over for a closer look. A boy about four years old sat on the ground against the fence, staring down at his toes. The child looked like he hadn't seen a bath in days with the dirt in his hair and on his skin. He looked like he was biting on his fingers. The smaller boy froze when he heard footsteps walking towards him. He looked up to see an older boy dressed in a nice light space print t-shirt and black shorts.

"Hi!" Biao said with a big smile on his face. The smaller boy stared at him like the older kid was planning to exploit him in some fashion. Biao tilted his head.

"That doesn't look tasty," he said as he looked at the child with his hand in his mouth. "How are you going to eat lunch with no hands?" The smaller boy narrowed his eyes and turned away.

"What are you doing out here?" Biao asked. The child didn't move. The older boy got a good look at him. The dirty child's muddy white shirt hung off of one shoulder. His face told him that he wished that this little rich boy would go away. Instead, Biao sat down next to him.

"What is your name?" he asked. The smaller child didn't look up at him. Biao puffed up his cheeks. He doesn't talk much, does he? He watched as the smaller boy kept his hand in his mouth.

"You really shouldn't do that to your hand," Biao said. He reached over and took hold of the little boy's arm, but the smaller child yanked himself away. The older boy put up his hands.

"Okay, okay," he said. "I won't touch you, geez." The little boy mumbled something without moving his hand.

"What?" Biao asked. The smaller child didn't even lift his head. The older child looked up at the sky. To him, the clouds looked like fat pillows of white cotton candy floating by. They reminded him of the class trip him took before school let out for the summer. His class took a break for lunch. Biao and four other little boys lay in the grass, looking up at the sky. They would try and guess what the shapes looked like as the clouds floated by.