AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chang Jiechi's eyes remained on his son for a long moment then slid to the name plaque on the improvised altar. Chang . . .archer. "And what would you do if you found him?"
He said to the old man, "Kill him."
"Why not go to the police?"
Chang laughed sourly. "Do you trust the police here any more than in China?"
"No," his father answered.
"I will kill him," Chang repeated. He had never in his life disobeyed his father and he wondered if the man would now forbid him to do what he'd decided must be done.
But, to his surprise, his father asked only, "You would be able to do that?"
"Yes, for my family. Yes." Chang then pulled his windbreaker on. "I'll go to Chinatown. I'll see what I can do to find him."
"Listen to me," his father said, whispering. "Do you know how to find a man?"
"How, Baba?"
"You find a man through his weaknesses."
; "What's the Ghost's weakness?"
"He cannot accept failure," Chang Jiechi said. "He must kill us or his life will suffer from great disharmony."
And so Sam Chang had done just what his father had suggested--offered the Ghost the chance to find his prey. And it had worked.
Holding the cold beer bottle to his face, Chang now reflected that he himself would probably die. He'd shoot the Ghost immediately--as soon as he opened the door. But the man would have associates and bodyguards, who would in turn kill him.
And thinking this, the first image in his mind was William, his firstborn son, the young man who would, sooner than anyone thought, inherit the mantle of the Changs.
The father now heard the son's insolence, saw the contempt in his eyes . . .
Oh, William, he thought. Yes, I neglected you. But if only you understood that I did so solely in the hopes of making a better homeland for you and your children. And when it grew too dangerous in China I brought you here, leaving my beloved country behind, to give you what I couldn't back home.
Love, son, is not manifest in the gift of gadgets or coddling foods or rooms of one's own. Love shows itself in discipline and example and sacrifice--even giving up one's life.
Oh, my son . . .
Sam Chang paid for the beer and left the bar.
Though the hour was late some stores were still open to tempt the last of the tourists. Chang went into a variety and gift shop and bought a small shrine box, a brass plate, electric candles with red bulbs, some incense. He spent some time trying to find the right Buddha statue. He picked a smiling one because--even though he would kill a man tomorrow and would himself die--a cheerful Buddha would bring comfort and solace and ultimately good fortune to the family he was leaving behind.
*
"The thing is, Amie . . . "
Amelia Sachs was driving downtown, uncharacteristically close to the posted speed limit.
"The thing is, honey," her father had said to her in his dissipated state, ravaged by the greedy cells that were dismantling his body, "you got to look out for yourself."
"Sure, Pop."
"Naw, naw, you say, 'Sure,' but you don't really mean 'sure.' You mean I'm agreeing with the old man 'cause he looks like you know what."
Even lying in West Brooklyn Hospice on Fort Hamilton Parkway, near death, the man hadn't let her get away with a single thing.
