A Free Life Page 12

  Nan went back into the kitchen and resumed chopping vegetables and slicing beef. Today the assistant to the chef was off work, so Nan took over the kitchen chores, which he liked doing, as he was eager to see how the chef cooked.

  From that day on, Kellman would come to Ding’s Dumplings at least three times a week. Whenever he was here, the room would echo with his laughter. Nan liked him, though he felt this man was reckless, flirting with Maiyu openly and never noticing her husband’s furious eyes. Kellman would talk excitedly to the waitress, who at first seemed reluctant to speak, but her face would turn sunny whenever he was here. Heng hated to see him, yet he couldn’t throw out a regular customer. He had neither the muscle and guts to confront this big man nor the English to spoil his conversation, which at times could be heard by the entire room. One day, after Kellman had left, Heng exploded, accusing his wife of having become Americanized and degenerated into a shameless broad.

  Chinchin reproached him, saying he ought to have a large heart. She kept shaking her oval face, on which lingered the last trace of youth, and said to the waitstaff, “You people have been brainwashed by the Commies and are too serious about what happens between a man and a woman. A husband should feel proud if his wife is attractive to other men. Heng, just because Maiyu spoke a few words with Kellman, you think she’s carrying on with him? You’re dead wrong. Truth be told, I’m pleased to see that Kellman has become a regular. If only we had more pretty girls here. Then you all could get more tips.” She caught herself and glanced at the homely Aimin, whose eyes were fixed on Chinchin, glinting behind her thick glasses.

  But Heng couldn’t be appeased, and was visibly jittery and grumpy whenever Kellman was in the restaurant, so Chinchin scheduled Maiyu and Heng for different shifts. As a result, Nan often filled in, waiting tables in the daytime. He made four dollars an hour as a busboy and was glad about the tips he got. Unlike him, the waitstaff were each paid only $1.50 an hour because they kept the tips.

  Nan would phone Pingping in the morning before he set out for work. Occasionally she called him, especially when she had run into difficulties. One recent day she was unable to use his credit card to order things on the phone because she couldn’t recall his mother’s maiden name. Neither she nor Nan actually knew what a maiden name was. Three years ago, when they were opening a joint bank account and a woman representative asked Nan for his mother’s maiden name, he had been stumped, but on the spur of the moment had told her, “Fengkou,” which was a rural town where his grandparents had lived. When Pingping was asked, she said to the woman, “My mother has same maiden name.” The representative said, “How did that happen?” Nan explained, “It’s common in China, where a billion people have only a hundred family names.” From then on, both of their mothers had shared the same maiden name—“Fengkou,” a word that might never have been applied to a human being before.

  Once in a while Nan didn’t have time to call Pingping before going to work; then she’d phone him at the restaurant around noon. His fellow workers often teased him, saying his wife was an insomniac without him in bed, and asking him if he and she had grown up together. He once answered with a poker face, “Of course, we were engaged when we were tots. That’s why I’m so henpecked.”

  They were amused but unsure if he had told the truth.

  5

  THREE WEEKS LATER Howard hired another busboy and promoted Nan to the chef’s assistant, because the former kitchen aide had left for Miami to marry a Cuban Chinese woman. Nan got a one-dollar raise too. Chef Zhang needed a lot of help, and Nan’s job was mainly to cut meats and vegetables, fry chicken cubes, and wrap dumplings. Nan watched carefully how the chef cooked. Zhang told him to memorize the entire menu and the ingredients of every dish, so that Nan could assemble all the things needed for each order in a bowl or a plate or a Styrofoam container before the chef cooked it. On occasion Zhang would let Nan make fried rice or noodle soup while he stood by to supervise. He also taught Nan how to concoct various sauces. When it wasn’t busy, Nan would go upstairs to chat with the waitstaff. Chef Zhang, always cooped up in the basement, told Nan not to “gab too much with those bitches up there.”

  The waitstaff disliked the chef, partly because they made money in different ways. The chef was paid by the hour and so were Nan and Chinchin, but the waiter and waitresses depended mainly on tips. When business was good, both the boss and the waitstaff would get excited, whereas the chef would become grouchy, having to cook without respite. Old Zhang often struck his legs with his fists to help the blood circulate. He revealed to Nan that he suffered from piles because for many years he had stood for more than ten hours a day in the kitchen. Whenever the work turned hectic, his pain and itch would grow more intense, insufferable. He said to Nan, “Lots of people in this business have this problem with their asses. Be careful—don’t end up like me.”

  At last Nan understood why there were advertisements for treating hemorrhoids everywhere in Chinatown. No matter how tired he was, he’d take a shower before going to bed. Also, at night he’d place his pillow under his feet instead of his head to prevent his legs from developing varicose veins, which were also a professional hazard as a consequence of standing for long hours. He wasn’t interested in managing one of Howard’s dumpling houses, but he was eager to learn how to cook. Neither did he feel he could be a good waiter, who would have to carry a loaded tray on his shoulder steadily while climbing up the narrow stairs. Worse yet, a waiter had to put on a smile in front of customers, some of whom were nasty and wouldn’t leave tips on the grounds that the service wasn’t good enough. So Nan felt that by nature he belonged in the kitchen, where he wouldn’t have to face any customers. Chef Zhang seemed fond of Nan and taught him how to cook and how to make dumpling stuffings whenever it wasn’t busy. He often said, “You’re lucky, Nan. When I started, I was not allowed to touch the rim of the wok during the first year.”

  Nan had heard a lot of stories about the difficulties in finding a job at a Chinese restaurant in New York. The waitresses told him that if you were unable to speak Cantonese, most places wouldn’t hire you. Ding’s Dumplings was one of the few restaurants in Chinatown where the owners didn’t know Cantonese. Heng said he had once worked at a place where all the waiters had had to wear a short bow tie, which made him miserable, unable to breathe freely. Chinchin, the hostess, had worked in other restaurants before and also talked about how the Chinese waitstaff were exploited and humiliated by their bosses, and even mistreated by barkeeps, most of whom were Caucasians. In contrast, Howard was by far a better boss, who wouldn’t dock your pay if you came to work an hour late because of an emergency. Nan felt lucky he had this job.

  6

  THE CIRCULATION of New Lines had dropped by nine percent in recent months. Bao was worried and held an editorial meeting, at which five people were present, counting himself and Nan. They were to decide whether they should expand the journal, namely to include articles on current events and social issues, and even a few advertisements. There were a good number of Chinese dissidents living in North America and willing to contribute political essays to the journal. However, except Bao, those at the meeting all opposed the idea, arguing that New Lines should remain strictly literary. Bao complained that there wasn’t another way to revitalize the journal. As a compromise, they agreed to print two or three pieces of fiction in each issue, though at present they couldn’t pay the authors.

  Bao knew many Chinese dissidents living in New York. One Saturday morning he and Nan went to visit Mr. Manping Liu, the well-known scholar in political economy who lived near Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn. They wanted to get the older man’s endorsement for their journal. Nan had seen Mr. Liu at Harvard last June and was eager to meet him again. Mr. Liu opened the door, his eyes and mouth both sunken, and said to them, “Welcome to my hovel.” His apartment had only two rooms and was on the ground floor, but in his tiny backyard were some wilting sunflowers and chrysanthemums, and also some tripods for supporting vegetables, m
ade of whittled branches tied at the tops but all unloaded now. The living room cum study was lined with books, and a small desk stood next to the window, strewn with manuscripts. Liu was well respected in the Chinese community, not only for his incisive writings but mainly for his integrity. In June 1989, when the field armies began attacking civilians in Beijing, he had bought a large wreath and intended to take it to Tiananmen Square personally, but his friends had restrained him despite his wailing and struggling to break loose. Within a few days his name appeared on the Most Wanted list; fortunately he and his wife managed to flee to southern China and from there were smuggled to Hong Kong through an underground channel. Unlike the other dissidents in the United States, he had always refused to accept financial aid from any organization and to date had supported himself mainly by writing for Chinese-language newspapers and magazines. Also, his wife was very adaptable and worked in a gift store in downtown Manhattan.

  After Bao and Nan sat down and made their case, Mr. Liu happily agreed to write a few words for their journal. But for a moment he looked rapt in thought, then moved to his small desk, uncapped his fountain pen, and wrote something on a card. He turned around and handed the endorsement to Bao. It read: “I greatly admire the young writers at New Lines. May their effort flourish and their work endure!”

  Both Bao and Nan thanked him. Then his wife, a sturdy woman with a heart-shaped face, came in, holding a kettle of boiled water to make tea for them. She looked tired, saying she had worked late the night before. After serving tea, she went back into their bedroom.

  Mr. Liu said he remembered an article Nan had published in the Journal of Political Economics a few years earlier. But on hearing that Nan had left the field, he said, “I understand. Life is hard here, and you have to survive first.”

  “Not only because of that,” Nan told him. “I made a vow not to be involved in politics again. I’m not cut out for it.”

  “I see.”

  Bao put in, “Nan has been writing poetry.”

  “Good. Every road leads to Rome,” said Mr. Liu. “China needs all kinds of talents.”

  Nan turned reticent, not knowing what to make of the old man’s remark. Mr. Liu talked as if he were still an official.

  Soon their topic shifted to life here. “I just bought a car,” Liu told the visitors.

  “A new one?” asked Bao.

  “No. How could I afford a new car?”

  “How much did it cost?”

  “Four hundred dollars. It’s a pretty good Toyota. A friend of mine drove it and said it was better than his car that cost him over a thousand.”

  “Can you drive?”

  “I just got my license.”

  “You’re very brave,” Nan put in. “I wouldn’t dare to drive in New York.”

  “I have to be able to drive, or else I’d feel as if I’m missing a limb. Also, as long as I live here, I’ll have to make a living on my own. A driver’s license is a means of independence. Once I can drive really well, I’ll deliver food for a restaurant.”

  “You shouldn’t do that. You have poor eyesight, don’t you?” said Bao.

  The old man laughed heartily. “Maybe I can deliver computer parts in the daytime. Anyway, driving a car on the highway gives me a feeling of freedom. What fun! What exhilaration! Do you want to see my car?”

  “Sure, let’s have a look,” Bao agreed.

  On their way out, Nan said, “Mr. Liu, from now on we’re going to publish two or three short stories in each issue of New Lines. If you come across any good fiction, please recommend it to us.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. As a matter of fact, my wife used to write fiction under the pen name Purple Lilacs. She’s working too hard now, but she may write again.”

  Bao said, “When she finishes a piece, please show it to us first.”

  “By all means. I’ll tell her.”

  Her pen name reminded Nan that he had read a novella by Mrs. Liu back in China. It had felt to him like a piece of reportage, but she had indeed had a name.

  The three of them walked out of the building. Along the curbs were parked many cars, some dented and rusted, one with both front lights smashed and another wearing a boot. Nan looked back and forth, unable to determine which one might belong to Mr. Liu. The old man was taking them farther down the street, chomping on a thick pipe, a puff of smoke wafting about his head.

  “This one,” he said finally, pointing at a hatchback with a warped front fender.

  Nan looked closely but couldn’t decide what color the car was. It was battered and repainted. It appeared dark brown, but some bright orange patches were scattered all over it. “This is a good car,” Bao managed to say.

  “Impressive,” echoed Nan.

  “Want a ride?” Liu asked.

  Bao and Nan exchanged glances. “Actually, we should be leaving,” Bao said. “Nan’s going to work in the afternoon.”

  “Then I can take you to the train station.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. My driving skill isn’t good enough yet, or I’d drive you all the way home.”

  They got into the car, Nan in back and Bao in front. The seats were broken, yellow foam stuck out in spots, and there were also cigarette burns on them. An acrid smell of sweat and tobacco emanated from the interior.

  “How old is this car?” Bao asked Mr. Liu.

  “More than ten years old.”

  As soon as the engine started, the car began shaking, coughing and moaning as if it were an animal seized by a crippling pain. Nan was unnerved as he noticed a pedestrian turn to observe them. He craned to look at the odometer, which showed merely seven zeros in a row. “How many miles are on this car?” he asked Mr. Liu.

  “Hard to say. Probably two hundred thousand.”

  “What?” cried Bao.

  “Just a guess. A Japanese car like this can run forever.”

  The car jolted along as if running on cobblestones. Despite the bumpy ride, Nan soon turned thoughtful. Mr. Liu had formerly lived a privileged life, having his own chauffeur and secretary, but now he had to restart his life here, writing for newspapers and magazines like a hack and even ready to do menial work. Still, he seemed quite buoyant and didn’t regret his exile at all. Nan was full of both sadness and respect.

  At last they arrived at the Nostrand Avenue station. Even though he had stepped out of the car, Nan still couldn’t shake off the jitters. “It’s a real experience,” he told Mr. Liu.

  “Next time I can drive you all the way home,” the old man said with a broad grin that revealed his tobacco-stained teeth.

  “Take good care, Mr. Liu,” said Bao.

  “You too, young men.”

  They saw the jalopy roll away, dragging a tail of exhaust, and merge into the flow of the traffic. They turned and entered the station to catch the train. Nan asked his friend about Mr. Liu, “Doesn’t he often say he’ll return to China?”

  “Yes, but he must have realized that would be impossible in the near future. That’s why he has been learning how to support himself.”

  “He’s a remarkable man.”

  “And also an interesting character.”

  Nan was annoyed by Bao’s flippancy but said no more. They parted company to take different trains, Nan going downtown while Bao headed back. All the way to work, Nan ruminated on their meeting with Mr. Liu, who, unlike himself, didn’t show any bitterness about his truncated life, as if he were oblivious to all the evil he had suffered. How different the old man was from some Chinese dissidents who were well supported by universities and foundations. On the other hand, Nan was upset too, for he felt a man such as Mr. Liu couldn’t possibly live decently in this land because he was too old to start anew. However hard he struggled to be independent, Mr. Liu would still belong to their native land, and his existence would still be shaped by the Chinese political center of which he had always been a part. The very fact that he thought of doing those odd jobs indicated that he didn’t plan to stay in America
for long. Perhaps at night he couldn’t help but dream of his former life.

  Unlike him, if Nan lived his type of life and drove that kind of car, he’d earn only contempt and ridicule. He had to find his own way here, living not as an expatriate or an exile but as an immigrant. He was still young and must put up a fight. If only he could figure out where his battlefield was.

  7

  UNLIKE NAN, Bao didn’t work and had been writing his memoir, which he said might bring him fame and fortune once it was published. That was why he didn’t edit the journal himself and had hired Nan to do it. He seemed determined to live an artist’s life, concentrating on his writing and painting. In his studio, the room opposite Nan’s in the attic, several unfinished gouaches leaned against the walls, and Bao told Nan that he had been experimenting with new techniques, including painting with fingers or with a palette knife. Whenever others asked him what he did for a living, he’d say, “I paint and write.” In a sense Nan admired that, though at the same time he could see that Bao had been using Wendy.

  What’s worse, Bao was an alcoholic. He often came to Nan’s room with a bottle of cheap wine and wanted to share it with Nan, but Nan usually declined. Bao seemed lonely, unable to speak with anyone during the day when Wendy would go out to meet friends or participate in community activities. After half a bottle of wine, he’d grow loquacious, but would slur his words so much that Nan couldn’t always follow him. He’d talk about whatever came to mind. He described how at the age of nine he had pilfered money from his parents and bought candies and Popsicles for his pals, and how he and a bunch of urchins had stolen into an orchard, eating their fill of fruits and melons. Once when he was tipsy, he even bragged about how firm Wendy’s breasts were because she had never suckled a baby, and how tight her vagina was since she hadn’t given birth. Another time he confided that he’d had a crush on the young Chinese woman who had been the managing editor before Nan. One night he took offense at Nan’s refusing to down the California Chardonnay he had poured for him. “If you want to write poetry, you have to be fond of drinks, like Li Po, the Wine God,” he told Nan. But Nan would have to read submissions the next morning before going to work and couldn’t afford to get drunk. Besides, he didn’t believe alcohol was a source of inspiration and could induce poetic spontaneity. To his mind, that was a mere excuse for would-be writers to indulge themselves.