He hesitated and his eyes filled again with tears. ‘I should have suspected something was terribly wrong, because I couldn’t get through by phone, or buy a bus ticket from Sichuan to Yong Quan. On my way back by truck, foot and donkey, villagers along the coast on the mainland warned me to keep away from Nan Tian Island. Regular ferry crossings to the island had all been cancelled. No boatman would take me.
‘I finally hired a small sampan and sailed to Nan Tian alone at night. When I landed, a scene of unimaginable horror greeted my eyes. I saw bodies of men, women and children piled up and strewn about the beach. Blood everywhere. The place reeked of death and destruction. There were no other boats in the harbour. Grandma Liu’s village had become an inferno. All the houses had been burnt and smoke was still rising from their charred foundations…’
‘Big Aunt!’ I interrupted in a hollow voice. ‘How did she die? Where did you find her?’
Master Wu ignored my questions. ‘As I was surveying the scene in horror and disbelief,’ he continued, ‘I heard someone calling my name. It was Li Cha.’
‘So Li Cha is still alive!’ David exclaimed.
‘Yes! He was one of the very few who survived. But he looked haggard and gaunt. Li Cha’s father, old Mr Li, was the school principal and owned the hut on the beach that gave shelter to you and the Americans. Li Cha said that four days after I left, a whole division of Japanese troops arrived in gunboats seeking revenge. At first they made an announcement in the village square for the people to surrender any hidden American fliers.
‘When no one came forth, they became angry. The soldiers kicked doors open at random and terrorized the population. One or two of the fishermen must have squealed under torture because the soldiers headed straight for old Mr Li’s house. There they found some of the gifts that Lawson and his crew had left behind for the children.
‘They arrested the old man, wrapped him in a blanket, doused it with kerosene and ordered Li Cha’s mother to set it aflame. When she refused, they bayoneted her and threw her body into a well.
‘Li Cha had gone to warn Grandma Liu and Big Aunt. But it was impossible for Grandma Liu to run away. Big Aunt refused to leave without Grandma Liu, telling Li Cha that she was honour bound to stay with her gan ma ma (( godmother). Both Li Cha and Grandma Liu begged her, but to no avail. They heard the footsteps and voices of Japanese soldiers approaching. Li Cha hurried out the back door at the last minute, threw himself into a dry ditch and crawled away.’
‘What about Big Aunt?’ I asked again.
‘Li Cha only knows that she and Grandma Liu are both dead, but not how. The Japanese ordered everyone who had helped the Americans to assemble themselves in a straight line on the beach. Some of the fishermen who had carried the fliers did so and were immediately mowed down by machine-gun fire. The soldiers then went from house to house, shooting and bayoneting everyone in sight for two days. On the morning of their departure, they set fire to the entire village. The flames spread from building to building until they burnt themselves out a few days later.
‘Li Cha escaped only because he knew a cave where he used to hide as a boy. He said the sky over Nan Tian was filled with so much black smoke that he could not see the sun during the day. He could smell the horrifying odour of burning flesh and hear the sound of the fire even from his cave, sizzling and crackling like a rushing wind from hell. When the Japanese finally departed, there were very few people still alive; only those who had secret hiding places. Most of the residents had either been killed directly or died in the fire.’
‘Why did this have to happen to Big Aunt?’ I asked in anguish. ‘She was such a wonderful person. Why did she have to die? It’s not fair.’
There was a long silence. Then Sam came to my side. ‘My dad taught me a prayer once, when our Jewish relatives were being taken away from us one by one in Berlin. Would you like to hear it?’
I found it hard to speak so I just nodded.
‘It’s from a book called Ecclesiasticus. Dad told me to learn it by heart, because reciting the words would bring me comfort wherever I may be. Perhaps you should learn it, too. It goes like this.’
When you gaze upon the dead, remember this: you have been shown more than you can understand.
Search not for what has been hidden from you. Seek not to comprehend what is so difficult to bear. Be not preoccupied with what is beyond your ken.
Mourn the dead, yes. Hide not your grief. Restrain not your sorrow or your lamentations. But remember: suffering without end is worse than death.
Fear not death, for we are all destined to die. Fear not death, for we share it with all who ever lived and with all who ever will be.
The dead are at rest. Let the pangs of memory rest, too.
As a drop of water in the immensity of the sea, as a grain of sand on the measureless shore, so are man’s few days in the light of eternity.
O God, our Father, You redeem our soul from the grave. Forsake us not in the days of our distress and desolation. Help us to live on, for we have placed all our hope in Thee.
22
Last Letters
I couldn’t sleep that night. With all my heart I yearned for just one more day with Big Aunt. I buried my face in my pillow and sobbed deep into the night, then tossed and turned until dawn. I must have dozed off eventually, because I woke to the sound of the front door banging shut. My room was in its usual state of perpetual darkness, so I had no idea what time it was.
Without turning on the light, I groped my way to the kitchen. There I found Grandma Wu. She was reading the back of a poster in the bright sunlight flooding through the window.
‘The boys have gone to school and Master Wu just left to look after some business matters,’ she said. ‘I thought I’d let you sleep.’
‘Is that another one of Ivanov’s secret letters?’
‘This is the first one we’ve received since Marat has been visiting him in prison. There have been unfortunate developments in Bridge House. We must deal with these issues when everyone is home this evening. Meanwhile, I need to talk to you about your future.’
‘My future?’
‘Yes. I’m afraid the police are circulating posters, featuring your name and photo, around Shanghai. Next to your picture are the words “Have you seen this girl?”, followed by a telephone number. There’s a hefty reward for turning you in. People will be looking for you everywhere.’
‘Please don’t send me back!’ I pleaded desperately. ‘I’d rather die! Besides, my parents hate me! I don’t understand. Why do they want me back when they kicked me out in the first place?’
‘Your father doesn’t hate you. He loves you, but you’re not his first priority. As for your Niang, she simply wants to control you.’
‘But I’m happy living here with you! I’ve made friends with the boys. We’re helping to fight the war…’
‘The happier you are away from your Niang, the unhappier she will be. Misery loves company. She’s an unhappy woman who wants you to grovel at her feet.’
‘It’s too late! I hate her! She betrayed Big Aunt to the Japanese. She is a murderess! She is responsible for the death of my aunt.’
‘You have no evidence that your stepmother betrayed your aunt. Besides, hate is destructive to your qi! To lead a worthy life, you have to channel your qi into positive goals!’
‘How can I?’ I complained. ‘I can’t even think a single positive thought right now. My only goal is to avenge my aunt’s murder.’
‘Revenge is not worthy of you. If you concentrate on revenge, you will keep those wounds fresh that would otherwise have healed. Instead of revenge, you should focus your energy on positive things, such as studying hard and becoming educated; reading widely and developing your mind; making friends and helping others – especially helping our American allies in Bridge House.’
‘How can I do all that when I can’t even go to school? I wish my parents would leave me alone!’
‘The question is,’ Grandma Wu said t
houghtfully, ‘what can we do so that they will leave you alone?’
‘The only way is to convince them that I’m already dead,’ I answered. ‘How many people do you think the Japanese killed in Nan Tian Island?’
‘No one knows for sure. Thousands and thousands were massacred. My son has shown me some awful photographs. Our agents in Harbin have also discovered that the notorious Unit 731 of the Japanese Army has dropped fleas infected with bubonic plague by aircraft over Nan Tian and the rest of Zhejiang Province. The Japanese are testing their biological weapons on us as punishment for helping the Americans.’
‘That’s outrageous!’ I cried. ‘Oh, Grandma Wu! How can they do this? Are they going to get away with their cruelty?’
‘Of course not. The Japanese themselves must know in their hearts that they’re wrong to kill innocent civilians. I firmly believe that Right makes Might. So, let your conviction fill you with righteous qi to go on resisting the enemy.’
‘You’re right,’ I nodded as an idea came to me. ‘Those photos that Master Wu took of the massacre in Nan Tian should be kept somewhere safe. How about asking David to go to the market on Saturday and show them to Ah Yee? Tell her that I went to Nan Tian to look for Big Aunt. Unfortunately, the Japanese arrived soon afterwards and killed everyone on the island –’
‘– including Big Aunt and yourself!’ Grandma Wu finished.
‘Yes! My father will be shocked and saddened, but I don’t think he will go to the Japanese. I believe he loves Big Aunt and me, even though he’s under Niang’s spell. When he sees the photographs, he’ll know what the Japanese have done to his own people. After the war is over and I’m grown up, I’ll come home and surprise him. By then, he’ll be old and will need someone to look after him.’
‘This is a serious matter with many consequences,’ Grandma Wu said. ‘Let me think it over.’
That evening, Grandma Wu asked Marat to read Ivanov’s latest letter aloud:
‘Horrific things have happened since Marat’s last visit. You must hurry if you still plan to rescue them.
‘A “trial” was held in Bridge House. It was laughable because it was held in Japanese but no interpreter was provided for the Americans. The fliers were found guilty on the evidence of their fake “confessions”. Three of them were sentenced to death. The other five were given life imprisonment.
‘The prison warden, Sergeant Sotojiro Tatsuta, ordered the three condemned airmen to write farewell letters to their families. I had to translate them into Japanese for the sergeant. We should keep a record of the last words of the three who died. Let their names live on forever. I had the honour of meeting all of them.
‘First Lieutenant Dean Hallmark was twenty-eight years old and the pilot of The Green Hornet. Born in Texas, his nickname was Jungle Jim because of his splendid physique. He was tortured in Bridge House and lost over 60 pounds. This was what he wrote in his last letter, to his father, mother and sister in Dallas, Texas:
‘ “I hardly know what to say. They have just told me that I am liable to execution. I can hardly believe it… I am a prisoner of war and thought I would be taken care of until the end of the war… I did everything that the Japanese have asked me to do and tried to cooperate with them because I knew that my part in the war was over. I wanted to be a commercial pilot and would have been if it hadn’t been for this war. Mom, please try to stand up under this and pray.”
‘Lieutenant Bill Farrow was twenty-four and the pilot of Bat out of Hell. He wrote to his fiancée in South Carolina:
‘ “Thank you for bringing to my life a deep, rich love for a fine girl… You are, tome, the only girl that would have meant the completion of my life. Please write and comfort my mother, because she will need you – she loves you, and thinks you are a fine girl…”
‘To his mother he wrote, “My faith in God is complete, so I am unafraid.”
‘Sergeant Harold Spatz was twenty-one and the engineer-gunner of Bat out of Hell. He actually had his twenty-first birthday in Bridge House. He addressed his last letter to his widower father in Lebo, Kansas.
‘ “I have nothing to leave you but my clothes, Dad. If I have inherited anything since I came of age, I wish you to have it also. And, Dad, I want you to know that I love you and may God bless you.
PS Just want to tell you that I died fighting for my country like a soldier.” ’
We were all stunned when Marat finished reading. Tears ran down his face as he turned to Grandma Wu. ‘We must speed things up!’ His voice choked. ‘Otherwise they’ll all be killed Perhaps even Ivanov.’
‘What about your plan, CC?’ David asked urgently.
I took a deep breath. ‘It’s ready!’ I said. ‘I’ve written it down to show everyone. The plan consists of eleven steps. I began plotting the airmen’s escape on the day after we came back from Nan Tian. That was when Grandma Wu first told me they were being imprisoned in Bridge House. Because of this, the first three steps of my plan have already been implemented. Let me read it out loud.
1. Coordinate everything with Ivanov. Tell him he has to escape with the Americans.
2. Ivanov should gain Yonoshita’s friendship and convince him to build a vegetable garden in Bridge House using prison labour.
3. Building supplies should be moved directly from trucks parked on the street outside Bridge House and tossed over die wall into the garden.
4. Hide hacksaws in hollow bamboo tubes that have been specially marked. Toss them with the rest of the bamboo into the garden.
5. Build bamboo lattices close to the wall and plant vine-growing vegetables, such as sweet peas, tomatoes, bitter melons, squash and string beans.
6. Suspend long, sturdy ropes between bamboo poles to provide additional support for the vines. Ropes are needed for airmen to lower themselves from their cell to the garden, as well as from the garden wall to the street outside Bridge House.
7. Best day to pick for the airmen’s escape is the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Best time is in the evening at 10.15 p.m. The guards will be celebrating the holiday and drinking at that time.
8. Have false German identity papers for the fliers in case they are stopped by Japanese guards after their escape. Japanese and Germans are allies, but the guards may find it difficult to differentiate a German from an American.
9. Provide armbands, with the letter ‘G’, to go around the airmen’s sleeves, and have German clothes in dark material made for the fliers. We have their approximate heights and weights from Ivanov.
10. Should we get separated from each other while rescuing the Americans from Bridge House, we will each make our own way to a ‘safe house’ at 2105 North Szechuan Road, which has been rented by a member of the resistance. Grandma Wu tells me that this unique building happens to be situated in both the International Settlement (north half) and the French Concession (south half). The Japanese will need permission from the local French Consulate to search the premises. This delay will give us extra time if we need to make a quick getaway.
11. Provide transportation for Americans from Bridge House to the ‘safe house’. Americans will change out of prison clothes there. Arrange for taxis to drive Americans from ‘safe house’ to the Bund and board sampan. Then sail from Shanghai to Chungking via Huang Pu River and Yangtze River. Alert guerrillas along the way.’
There was a short silence. ‘What do you think?’ I asked.
‘Ivanov told me last Sunday that the Americans have tested their weight against the bamboo lattices they’re erecting and think they can use them to climb over the prison wall. They also plan to hide some ropes to lower themselves from their cell into the garden,’ Marat reported.
‘I’ll hire a removal van on the night of the Dragon Boat Festival,’ Master Wu added thoughtfully. ‘I can park it outside the vegetable garden of Bridge House, at the spot normally occupied by the gardening supply truck. Once we’re in the safe house, the Americans can wash and change from their prison uniforms into special German outfits that my m
other will make for them. We’ll transfer the airmen into a large junk. Good plan, CC. Congratulations.’
‘Well done, CC!’ Grandma Wu concluded. ‘The Dragon Boat Festival is only nine days away. We must start getting ready immediately. I’ve decided that we’ll all escort the Americans to Chungking. Meanwhile, CC, you must remain in hiding.’
Their words were music to my ears! Now I knew that I had well and truly earned my place in the Dragon Society of the Wandering Knights. We were about to face our biggest challenge together.
23
The Future Belongs to Us
The day of the Dragon Boat Festival began with a heavy downpour at dawn. At first we thought the acrobatic show scheduled for that afternoon at Du Mei Park would be cancelled. Thunder roared, lightning flashed and rain came down in sheets.
After lunch, the weather gradually cleared. The boys dressed in their colourful satin costumes. Grandma Wu and I stayed behind to prepare for the Grand Escape. We burnt all incriminating documents and buried our radio equipment in a lead-lined compartment, hollowed out beneath a wall.
As I ironed the jackets and trousers Grandma Wu had sewn, I noticed that she had stitched stripes to the sleeves and added piping around the collars.
‘You’ve made these jackets look like officers’ uniforms!’
‘That’s right,’ Grandma Wu answered proudly. ‘When the Americans put on these clothes, everyone will think they’re officers from the German Army. I’ve noticed that Japanese soldiers are particularly respectful of foreigners dressed in uniforms. Any uniform will do. Even a Boy Scout’s! Just to be safe, however, I had German identity papers prepared for the airmen as well.’
Master Wu and the boys came in to say they were leaving for the park. We wished each other good luck and arranged to meet outside Bridge House at 10.10 p.m. that evening. As they opened the door to leave, a beam of sunlight shafted in. ‘Look at that cloud formation in the sky!’ said Sam. ‘Doesn’t it look just like a dragon?’