Summer Breeze - for a competition

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*This short fiction is written for a competition on the literature board. Ok. I have posted it on the literature board.

http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Literature/31155457.html

If you have an mitbbs account number, feel free to vote for me. Before you preceed to read it, please be adviced that this short novel contain strong languages such as spy, sex or kidnapp...Hope you have fun reading it.

Facing the rising moon, I was walking on a small road alone the Rappahannock River. The moon lights bathed the road tenderly, which made it looked incredibly milky. Stepping on this "milky" road, however, I can feel the growing pain on the tip of my left toe, which can barely hang on to my $1 slipper. I clenched my teeth and slowed down my steps.

Suddenly, I was embraced by some unusual summer breezes comming from the river. Something unsettling can be felt in these breezes. They were as gental as a wild tiger who swallowed a deep growl to keep its prey unalarmed. Dancing around me, they wispered in my ears that something was about to happen. I looked around cautiously. But nothing can be seen. I could feel my pounding heart. A dusk was also alarmed. It suddenly flew away. The sound of its flipping wings penetrated the peaceful river, inviting sea monsters hidden under the water. The wrinkles emerged on the water surface. Instantly, I was frightened and started to run away from the water. Without realizing it, I was already standing on a well maintained lawn infront of a big house.

“Hi, little girl”. While I was collecting myself, I heard a lady speaking to me. My first instinct was to run. Daring not looking towards the direction of the voice, I started to walk quietly towards the road.

“Hi, I am talking to you.” With the added determination in her voice, this lady had made it clear that no one can refrain her from entering your life. I turned and found myself looking at an old lady with a slim figure. She looked pale under the moon light.

“I am sorry. I don’t mean to trespass. I will get off your lawn immediately.”

“It is OK. Honey. I am just worried to see you walking alone at night.”

“I thought this is the richest neighborhood of the town, and I had thought that I would be safe here.” I always felt being safe to live in Fredericksburg. It is a small town. But due to its proximity to Washington DC, it was filled with political elites. In my mind, the politician rarely had time to commit to crimes, since they were busy with starting wars.

“You don’t look like anyone who live here.” Of course, I don’t live here. This part of the town is for lawyers and doctors. I said this to myself.

“Yes. I am heading home.”

“Where do you live?”

“Rose garden.”

“Well, I will give you a ride then. It is too far for you to walk.”

“Thank you. But I am not sure.” After being walking for four hours, I can really use a ride. But my self-esteem tried to stop me from taking that offer. Being poor is one thing. Using your poverty to redeem help is however another thing.

“I insist. It is dangerous to walk at night. By the way, my name is Amy.” Without giving me anytime to reply, She quickly disappeared in the shaddow of the house. A minute later, I heard the noise of a car’s engine.

“I am Echo.” I entered Amy’s car with a little bit reluctance.

“Where did you come from?” After I settled in her car, Amy asked me. She always had some determination in her voice. I had to steady myself to give her an answer.

“You mean originally? China.” I moved from North Dakota to this town half year ago. But I knew that she wasn’t asking about that.

“But you don’t look like a Chinese.” She examined my face carefully.

“I am a minority.” I blushed and felt unease to be gazed at.

“I lived in China for 18 years.” She said this in a nostalgia tone, which made me feel being close to her.

“What did you do there?” I started to feel being relaxed.

“My husband was an engineer, and he had to work in China. I went there with him. I loved my staying there. I loved people there. Many talented people. It is a pitiful thing. Isn’t it?”

“What is the pitiful thing? Talented people?” I was a little bit confused. I was guessing. Maybe what she meant was that she was not as talented as people there.

“Well. I mean, they have a living standard which is not equal to their talents. “

“I see.”

“But you are a lucky one.” She glanced at me with a delighted smile. Me? Not as lucky as you may think. I was nearly homeless. I had no money to pay the rent for two months. My car just died on that day. But I decided that Amy was not going to hear about this mess.

“Well. Maybe.” I said in a falsely cheerful tone. I felt weary of talking further.

As soon as I arrived at my apartment, I found that something strange had happened. All my belongings were scattered on the lawn outside the apartment. Was I robbed? That certainly was not a wise thing to do. Nothing I own was worth any money. I run to the door and my keys can no longer open the door. Somebody must have changed the lock. Suddenly, it occurred to me that it must be the landlord. No. No. This cannot happen. I murmured. I just found a job in a local resturant and I should be able to pay off my debts.

“What happened?” Amy didn’t leave after she dropped me off. Seeing me running around like a mad bee, she got out of her car.

“I was kicked out. I didn’t pay the rent on time.” My voice was shaking. My eyes became watery.

“Oh, Sweet heart. Don't cry. Just collect your things. I can send you to your friends’ place.” Friend? What a beautiful notion. The only so called friend I had in this town was my boyfriend, oh, ex-boyfriend, I should say. On the day when I moved here to be with him, I encountered a sex show in his apartment. Unfortunately, it was a very low quality one and no one would pay to watch. With a broken heart, I lost all my strength to travel and decided to stay here. I had thought that this town was close to Washington DC and there should be more job opportunities here than in ND, where my job hunt was unsuccessful. I was an computer science major. About 10 years ago, any computer science major who can breathe can find a job. But now my OPT was nearly run out and I still couldn’t find a job.

Seeing me tranquillized by her question, Amy realized that I truly had nowhere to go.

“Echo. I hope you can stay in my place tonight. I would be honored.”

“No. I had brought too much trouble to you.”

“No. I know how hard it is to live in a place where you have no family and friends. My daughter’s room has been empty ever since she moved to Chicago. You can stay in her room. I always wanted to have a company.”

Half an hour later, we returned to Amy’s house. Amy brought me to her daughter’s room. It was such a beautiful room filled with expensive furniture. I felt being unbelievably lucky.

“Feel free to read her books.” I noticed that all the books on the book shelf were spy stories.

“Yeah. You have noticed. My daughter had a particular taste for spy stories.”

“I love spy stories.”

“In a romantic way?” Nothing can hide from Amy’s eyes. Yes. I liked reading spy story for its romantic flavor. One of my day dreams was to be a spy, who dress like a star, attend fancy parties and pull out a gun in one second. In those dreams, I was beautiful, lonely and unbelievably charming. But in this cruel reality, I cannot even keep my boy friend. I shook my head to clear my random thoughts and pulled out a book to find my sleep in it.

Since that night, Amy provided a shelter to me and she wanted me to stay until things start to turn around for me. The amazing thing was that she never hovered like a lonely old lady. I can still have time to search jobs. I also worked in a nearby restaurant. After I save enough to buy a flight ticket, I will go back to China. I have decided.

Several days later, after I got back to Amy’s home from my work, Amy told me that her son-Adam- had returned. It was too late to introduce Adam to me, since he went to bed already. Amy told me that he went to China for a contract job for Beijing Olympic.

“Really? What did he do?” It was the first time for China to host an Olympic game. The entire nation was thrilled to have such an opportunity. I was excited to be close to anyone who was linked to Olympic.

“He is also an engineer. He worked on a project that develops electronic signs that can direct people to go to right places.”

“It sounded like a fun project.”

“Yeah. But he had to return, since he had Asthma and it was difficult for him to adapt the air of Beijing?”

“What a pity.” I blushed a little bit, feeling guilty that my capital city did not have clear air.

The next day, I met Adam. For the work he did, I had thought that Adam was an middle aged man. But he was so young. He had a sunny smile which made him irresistible, just like her mother. “Echo, I will bring you to a party, tomorrow night.” He said this without thinking that I might not want to go. If he had asked me whether I wanted to go or not, I probably would say no, since I had no party mood. But he didn’t even ask, I had no other choices but to nod.

“What kind of party it is?”

“You know. Tomorrow is independent day. There will be fireworks in the park. This party will be on a boat. It is hosted by Kevin Flinch. Never heard of him? He is a very rich person. Anyway, many of my mom’s friends will be there.” My eyes lighted. I always liked fireworks. Besides, this may be my last chance to see fireworks in the US.

Learned that this would be a cocktail party, I took out my ethnic dress from my case, which was made by my mom. I never had any chance to wear it. Adam’s eyes were shined when he saw my dressed. “You look so beautiful.” He said.

For that entire night, I heard this sentence again and again. Everybody admired my dress.

While Adam was engaged in a conversation about politics, I held a cup of cedar martini and waited for the fireworks to begin. All of sudden, I heard Adam asking me a question:”What do you think, Echo?”

“Think about what?”

“We were talking about the future of American. Now more and more people here accept the communism. Especially, people in poor neighborhood. They wanted to turn rich into poor and wanted to have things that they don’t deserve. It was proven in China that the communism cannot work out. The government has to exploit rich areas such as Western China. Minorities living there had to give the resources to the government. Sad, isn’t it? I heard that most of minorities in China hate their government. Do you?”

I gazed at my martini. It was hard for me to say anything. I had no idea about the communism in the US, and I knew that I didn’t hate my government. But I felt that I was owning it to Amy to say things that Adam would like to hear. I said:”Well, many people starve to death due to the implementation of communism in China.” After I said this, Adam and other people were all nodding. I had a small feeling of triumphant, which was immediately followed by a feeling of sadness. This mixed feeling happened very often to me. I was always eager to make friends and please people. Sadly, one way to pleasing American was to feed their egos. They did need to hear about the tragedies going on in other countries. Even more sadly, I had my own egos. I wanted the world to recognize the progress made by our Chinese. Feeling completely confused, I left this crowd and waited in a quiet place for the fireworks to start.

“You like quiet places. Don’t you?” Adam said this quietly. I didn’t even know how long did he stand by me.

“Yes. I am waiting for the fireworks. I know very little about politics. Sorry, I didn’t understand what you were talking about.” Inclined to admit that I didn’t like the way they talk about China, I pretended that I didn’t understand what they were talking about.

“It is Ok. I understand. That is very typical for Chinese girls. Isn’t it? The social environment in China prohibits women from participating in political activities.” Adam showed some sympathy in his voice.

Without replying verbally, I shrugged to show my indifference. It was not that I was indifference in woman’s right in China. I was indifferent in Adam’s point of view. Based on his words, I could tell that he was just one of those “I know all about China” type of person. I met so many of them. They often asked about China, but they never listened. Whenever you said anything that did not fit into their stereotypes of China, they would think that you were brainwashed. I glanced at Adam and couldn't figure out if he deserved to hear my own voice. He gazed at the water and was seemingly reflecting on something. All of a sudden, fireworks started. I heard myself screaming in happiness.

After that night, I returned to my tranquil state. Several days later, Adam run into me in the kitchen.

“Hi, Echo. I heard from my mom that you are looking for a job.”

“Yes. I am looking. But I have no high hopes.”

“Really? I have some friends who might be interested in hiring you.”

“But I am afraid that they don’t sponsor VISA.”

“They are very powerful people.”Adam blinked to me. I had to say that I wanted to believe him.

“OK.” I hided my happiness carefully.

Three days later, Adam told me that I need to prepare myself for a short interview. An interview? That was unbelievable. I was thrilled.

“Do they know my visa statues?”

“Yes. I told them.”

“What is their company’s name? I need to check them on the internet.”

“You will find out yourself. No time for the internet checking. We need to go now.”

“Now? So soon.” I run to my room and grabbed my resume. Three minutes later, I jumped on Adam’s car.

An hour later, I found that we arrived at a club house. Are they going to interview me in a club house? I was confused.

When we entered the club house, I only saw one man sitting on a couch. He stood up to welcome us. He was an middle aged man with piercing eyes.

“Hi, My name is David Butcher.” He extended his hand to me.

“Hi, My name is Echo.” I squeezed out the most flattering smile on my face and added some firmness in my handshaking. They said that women needed to shake hands firmly to fool others that they were as tough as men.

“Echo. Adam and I are friends. He told me about your situation. I think I can offer some help here. We do recruit people like you. “

“That is great. Here is my resume. I am sure you will find that I have a lot of skills and experiences.” I soaked my sentence with a lot of confidence. In fact, too much of the confidence. I even heard it dripping to the ground.

“I will look at your resume later. But perhaps, I should give you a little background of the types of person that we are recruiting. I work for CIA.” David paused there. He seemed to be waiting to see my responses. At that moment, my brain run as fast as a super computer.

“CIA as in computer information association?”

“No, CIA as in central intelligence agency.”

“oh? The spy thing?” I was shocked. But I immediately regretted that I mentioned the word “Spy”. To remedy that situation, I asked:”Do you need people who know about the network security? I know a lot about network security, which is not stated on my resume.”

“I have a different kind of job in mind for you.”

“You mean spy?”

“Well. Not exactly spying.”Adam added.

“No. I am not sure about this. Sorry, sir. It is not what I have been expecting. I am not interested in taking on any jobs unless it is a job related to computer technology.” I shook my head and glanced at Adam angrily.

“Echo. You don’t understand. Working for CIA is great. My dad worked for CIA. He was very successful. He retired at age 50. Not many people can retire at age 50. It will be a very rewarding job. You don’t have to worry about your VISA.”

“Adam, please. Bring me back to your house.” Fear started to grow in my heart. Adam realized that I was frightened. He turned to David and said:”David. If Echo ever changes her mind, I will let you know.”

I didn’t say even one word on our way back home. Adam tried to start a conversation, but I just ignored him. I knew I brought this on to myself. I shouldn’t have tried that hard to please them.

At that night, I couldn’t sleep. Now, it was clear that I lived in a house full of spies. They were spies working in my country. People could have been killed. Maybe the bed that I was sleeping on was the reward of stealing information from China. Suddenly, an idea came to my mind: maybe the reason why Amy helped me was because of my minority background. Maybe they targeted me a long time ago. Maybe I was watched all the time. I couldn’t fall asleep. I got up and started searching affordable flight tickets online. But It looked like that I needed another month to get enough money for a ticket.

What now? What should I do? Maybe I should leave this town and go back to ND where I still have some friends who might provide me with a shelter. I started to collect my things and tried to pack everything as quickly as I can. Before the morning revealing itself, I dragged my luggage out of my room and moved it quietly downstairs. When I was about to open the door, I heard Adam’s voice:”Echo, what are you doing?”

I dared not to look back and I tried very hard to open the lock. It cannot be opened!!!

“Echo. Are you trying to open the door?” I wanted to run. But it was too late. Adam already reached the door. He turned the lock in exactly the same way like what I did and opened the door.

“Where are you going in the middle of night?” He asked with an apparent surprise in his voice. I looked at him. I didn’t know why I confronted him when I was so scared.

“I don’t want to work for CIA. I am leaving now.”

“It is OK if you don’t want to work for CIA. I understand. I will find other jobs for you, if you like.” Adam still had that innocent look on this face.

“No. I don’t want to work in this country anymore. I felt that people here are so biased about China.”

“Ha…ha..” Adam laughed hilariously.

“Who doesn’t have a biased view? Echo. Chinese also have biased views about the western world.”

“No. We are in general correct about the western world.”

“Remember, I stayed in China before. Before college, I spent all most all my summers in China. My father worked in many cities. I visited Beijing, Shanghai, and many other cities. It was quite interesting for me to observe the change of altitude of Chinese towards westerners. About 10 years ago, we were treated with respect that we didn’t deserve. In the past few years, people seemed to get used to our presence in big cities. Lately, I discovered that many Chinese have developed a strong opinion against us. They believe that we are simple minded and exploitative.”

“It is true that you are exploitative.” I couldn’t hold back my opinion any more.

“But why do you think in that way?”

“The westerners support Dalai lama. The true intention is however to generate conflicts that can weaken the Chinese community. Put the unity of a society at risk just to maintain one’s political and economical superiority. Isn’t that bloody exploitative?”

“Who told you so?”

“Well. It was my government. But you cannot deny the truth in it. After all, the US should mind their own business.”

“See. That is my point. Our government, on behalf of American, would be interested in weakening other societies, especially ones with different political structure. But a lot of people in this country believe in hedonism. It was not in their nature to stir up conflicts in other societies. But when I was in China, there were people who tried to tell me that my government should mind our own business. I don’t represent my government. Why should I be educated?”

“What do you mean?”

“We are all trying to exercise our ability to reason and we all have desires to express ourselves. But that shouldn’t be a barrier to friendship. Inside, we are still human being and longing for friendship.”

“But I wouldn’t take advantage of my friends. Am I right that I received helps from you was because that I have a minority background?”

“My mom helped you purely out of pity. A lot of American only notice the difference between American and Chinese. But my mom stayed in China long enough to be blind to such differences. I thought I was helping. You also said that you were not happy with your government.”

“It hurts me when I say things like that.”

“It troubles you when you had to say things that are not patriotic. Isn’t it?” Adam suddenly realized this.

“Yes. We value loyalty.”

“OK. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you about China and positioned you at a difficult situation. But I never meant to hurt you or take advantage of you.”

It was false alarm then. I was really embarrassed and didn't know what to do.

“Echo. You should get more sleep. If I let you go out at night like this, my mom will never forgive me. We will figure out a way to help you, as friends. Are you satisfied?”

I nodded and let Adam move my luggage back to my room.

A monthly later, Adam sent me to the airport. I shook his hand and said:”Goodbye, Adam. Please visit me when you are in Beijing the next time.”

“No. This would be the end of it. I knew you hate spies and I am one. Ha..ha….”He laughed and jumped back to his car. Soon his car disappeared in the first light of a summer morning. My face was kissed by the summer breezes when I was waiving to Adam’s car. There was still something unsettling and enchanting in these breezes. They seemed to prepare me for a new exciting journey. They were trying to tell me that in this new journey, something unforgettable would happen. I inhaled deeply and waited excitely for my new journal to unfold.

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