Xia of Tumen

Chapter 9

Xia lay flat on the river bank in a small patch of thorn bushes, watching the guards. This time there was moonlight. She had to be more careful. Plus, she had bags of food that she must avoid losing at all costs. Even if she didn't get across the river with the food, the food must make it to Chung-Ae some way or another.

Xia stepped into the river, and started across. It was terribly cold, but she had made it safely across before suddenly pain flew up her arm as someone twisted it from behind her. She looked, and it was a guard.

"Let go of me!" to Xia's surprise he did.

"What are you doing crossing the border?" The soldier obviously didn't actually want an answer, but Xia answered anyway.

"Getting something just for you, but of course, if you don't let me continue, you won't get it." she had already thought about what she would do if she got caught, and had gotten the cheapest watch she could find.

"I could just take it and turn you in anyway."

"No you can't, because they would confiscate everything I have. And if you took it first, I would tell them about it. So let me go."

The guard hesitated, but not for long. He said, "Alright, you can go. What is it?"

"It's a Chinese watch" she said, then tossed it to the guard. She walked home as quickly as she could, making sure no one saw that she was carrying food. She went through the door and hurriedly shut it behind her. She had made it home, with no thieves taking their precious bit of food.

When Chung-Ae saw the bag of rice Xia was carrying, he jumped up and asked, "Where did you get that?"

"Don't worry, I didn't steal it" Xia said, "I went to China."

"So they hand out free rice in China?" he said in a tone where Xia could tell he didn't believe it.

"No, no. I got a job in China, and used the money to get the rice. There are so many jobs in China. It's a wonderful place."

"You're not going back."

"Wait, why not? It's not like it's dangerous or anything."

"It is Illegal. I know selling our TV was illegal, but it wasn't the type where if you ever get caught, you will get put in concentration camps for the rest of your life! Maybe for a year, but that's different. I should be the one to go, after we finish the bag of rice." Chung-Ae said.

"I hate to ask this question," Xia said, "But, are you sure you can cross the Tumen river on your own? I almost didn't. But it doesn't help that it had been raining hard, which makes it deeper and have a stronger current."

Chung-Ae sighed, "Maybe not. I am a little older than you. But I don't want you to be the one getting into trouble."

"I don't want you to drown. But you might be stronger than you think. But I like it there, I would love to go. So, Can I please go back?"

"I guess I can't say no. You're an adult now, remember? It's your decision."

"Ohhhh.... If you hadn't put it that way I would have liked to make a decision, but when I think of it as me making the decision, I don't want to anymore." Xia took a deep breath, and said, "I'll go."

Xia smiled at Chung-Ae, "For today, I will cook some rice. I do not want you and Dasom starving to death. "

Xia cooked some rice, then everyone sat down together for the best meal they had in a long time. It was wonderful to eat an entire bowlful of white rice. That didn't happen very often, but Xia was very much looking forward to the days of white rice they had ahead of them.

Xia felt terrible about the fact that she brought back white rice, the day before Dasom was going to leave. Dasom had decided to go and try to earn money to provide for herself. Dasom didn't want to make Xia have to provide for her, even though Xia told her over and over that it was alright, that she could stay.

Xia was worried about what would happen to Dasom. And Xia knew that eventually, they would start guarding the borders better, and sneaking back and forth would no longer be an option.