THREE MONTHS WITH CHARLIE CHAN
Author Robert Ray Moon
Copyright 2014 Robert Ray Moon
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 9781310251153
Smash Words Edition
Chapter 1 Quest for the Ming Vases
I could lay out a ton of facts about my life so far but for the last six years I have been in an intelligence prison.
You see I have been in college and law school. During my three years getting my BA degree, I had a little time for socialization, but while in Law school it was almost zero.
Living in New Jersey I was able to come home on occasion and get re-indoctrinated concerning my future. My problem was that I am from a long line of Lawyers and my father and uncles and aunts were all insisting that I excel above the rest of the people in my class.
During what some call summer vacation I worked in the law offices of my family and took some extra classes. As for dating I was assured by my dad that it wasn’t something necessary for lawyers.
After I had put in my time in law school studying and challenging my professors on much of what they were teaching. I passed my final exam. Before getting a chance to take the bar exam I had promised myself to take a little time off and to meld back into society or what some call “the real world.”
I fully realized I was so one sided that I must reenter the world gradually where normal routines were variable and changing. During the two weeks of waiting before graduation I had sought to make friends of people who were also graduating along with me.
There was a young man who was graduating in my class who was named Chan. Try as I would I couldn’t pronounce his first name. So many others had the same problem so he called himself Charlie.
This didn’t go unnoticed by the public at large but he didn’t mind if they called him names like detective and sleuth. In fact he liked it. It turned out that he was such an avid fan of Charlie Chan. We all took the bar exam and decided to forget about the law for a while.
During one of our discussions about the future, Charlie mentioned that right after graduation he was off to every Chinese community in the U.S. looking for two Ming vases that had great significance to his family.
He said I could come along if I choose to.
When I agreed to journey with him he said, “Come and meet my family, but first I must prepare you as to proper etiquette.” He met me and took me to his house where I tried to follow the instructions given to me by Charlie with the bowing and other cultural acts one must follow.
While there at his home, I met a lot of people who stared at me making me extremely uncomfortable. I didn’t know if I had done something wrong or if they were just curious, and then I realized I still had my shoes on.
I remembered that I should remove them while in the house. After all of the protocol had been followed we were invited to come and eat.
Charlie introduced me to the family as Logan Connors to which they took no notice. They just went on as if I wasn’t there. Charlie saw that I was taken aback by that treatment, so he said, “It’s alright - - it’s as if you are one of the family and didn’t need some special treatment.
After viewing the food, the rice was the only thing I felt comfortable with eating. The squid, fish heads, and chicken feet weren’t what my palate was used to. Charlie dived right in and it reminded me of slopping the hogs on my uncle’s farm.
After the meal was over and we were leaving Charlie said the family took a liking to me for they said it wouldn’t cost much to feed me. I said that’s true it wouldn’t if I stayed with them.
Trying to follow the proper etiquette just about wore me out and the chop sticks were a little hard to get used to. It became easier when I saw one of the elders take his rice bowl and rake his rice into his mouth from a bowl with his sticks.
After our food we went through the process of saying goodbye several times and offered good tidings to them and their ancestors.
When we were out of sight Chan said that their acknowledgment was important for it was their permission for us to act as their envoy as we went on our quest to find the Ming vases.
Chapter 2 Learning the Drill
After learning a little more about the drill when approaching the old cultural Chinese, I realized I needed to hit the books and learn more.
What I needed first was to learn and have what I had learned translated into a part of my demeanor. I really wasn’t good enough an actor to get by their scrutiny. They would see me as a pretender right off.
Even Charlie had to walk softly before them though he was raised up with the old style of living. As near as I could figure it out everything started with the ancestors at the top of the pile and worked down to the youngest who had very little standing.
As for me it was almost as if I didn’t exist until, as it were, I became one of them, and Charlie helped me as much as he could.
He said for me to follow his lead and not talk unless spoken to directly. Since I couldn’t understand what they were saying I just tried to look respectful and bow or look down when the others did. I knew what I was doing most of the time was wrong but it showed them I was ignorant, and my humility allowed them to feel superior.
After preparing for a week we were in New York China Town as our first destination.
One of the first things I noticed when we got there was that there was an infiltration of other ethnic groups where at one time it was only a Chinese community.
Of course there were Chinese from different provinces which to them made a difference.
With several different dialects being spoken many of them couldn’t understand what the other was saying such as those who were Mandarin, Cantonese, or Xiang.
The redeeming factor was they all wrote the same Chinese characters and could read what the other wrote.
The tonal inflection made a lot of difference far more than the accent one might have being from Brooklyn or the Deep South.
Early on I decided to leave all the conversing to Charlie. The first day in New York China town we just walked around, entering the stores that sold Chinese antiquities.
After the third day they had become used to seeing us, we bought some cheap trinkets and gave them the idea we might spend a lot of money for expensive items.
Charlie had asked about different ceramic vases and the era they were from and the conversations were quite fluid until he got to the particular item he wanted then the shop owner had other things to do for some reason.
I asked Charlie what was going on and he said he would tell me later.
I knew right off that something was up and after the same thing happened at each establishment we entered, I began to suspect that we were being followed.
Then it dawned on me the thought, why I was brought along on this trip. I was supposed to be an American who wanted to enlarge my collection of Chinese art works. Charlie asked the same inquires at each shop we went into but after the last shop my suspicions were confirmed.
There were about ten men getting closer to us. Charlie said let’s duck into this alley, so I followed him and we took off running as fast as we could.
When we were about two thirds through the alley there were several men coming from the other direction. We were trapped between the two groups.
We pounded on some metal doors but no one answered. They closed in on us and we backed up to one of the alley walls.
I said to Charlie, “Are you going to fight them?”
Before he could answer they grabbed us and started roughing us up. I was beginning to swell up almost immediately and Charlie was on the ground getting kicked.
/> Then a small old man stepped forward and the beating stopped.
Chapter 3 A Little Old Man intervenes
I didn’t know who the little old man was but I was certainly glad to see him. We stood Charlie up on his feet, and the old man spoke in the Mandarin dialect demanding to know what we were doing inquiring about the Ming vases.
Charlie spent some time explaining what our interest in them was. After some arguing back and forth for some time Charlie said, “C’mon let’s go.”
Those were the words I was praying to hear. Charlie started to run and I followed - - after getting slapped behind the head.
As we left China Town I asked, “What was all the discussion about?” and he said, “I just explained what our interest in them was.”
“Was that what all the beating was about?”
He said, “No not exactly. The old man said we had no business even asking about the vases and not to do it again, or the daggers in their belts would be soiled with our blood.”
Charlie continued. “That is why I started to run before they changed their mind.”
I told him, “If I could have understood what the little old man was saying I would have run over you.”
Charlie said. “We better get out of town for they will be tailing us and I have had enough of New York.”
I confirmed that feeling and said, “Me too.”
We headed down to the train station after picking up our bags and got tickets to Chicago. On the train I felt better and I said, “That was a waste of time.”
Charlie said, “No I learned a lot. He told me the vases didn’t belong to the Chan family. He said, for many generations they belonged to some family I never heard of.”
“Then is that is the end of it?” Charlie said, “No, the truth is they belong to the Chan clan, all we have to do is find them and restore them to the Chan family.”
I must say I was glad to get on the train because we were followed to the station.
Our train left at about three in the afternoon and arrived somewhere around nine the next morning. Uppermost in my thoughts was I wanted to get to the hotel and take a shower.
Due to our hasty exit and all the perspiring, I was ready for being refreshed.
We briefly discussed what happened in New York and I asked, “Do you think we will face the same thing in Chicago?” Charlie said, “I hope not for that was tough on the nerves.”
We had lunch and caught a taxi to the Chinese section of town. I asked if it might be better if I didn’t go into the stores with him and much to my chagrin he said, “No it will be better if you are with me.” He said, “This time you do the talking and ask if they know the beginning source of the vases.”
I must admit I felt uncomfortable with taking the lead but once I got started it went well.
They had to get an English speaking person to talk to me. The owner spoke to the clerk in Chinese, which I of course I didn’t understand but Charlie got it all.
When they spoke to him in Chinese he just stared and said in English, “I don’t speak Chinese. I’m American.”
The person who spoke to me gave me the history of the vases we were interested in. I asked if they could be bought from whoever had them now.
He assured me they weren’t for sale, the family Yiu has the vases, and it is a status symbol for them. He didn’t know where they were, or wouldn’t tell me out of fear someone might try to steal them.
Charlie said, “They probably have forgeries if they have them at all. Just making people think you have original vases carries with it a lot of prestige.
I asked, “Why do you think they don’t have them?”
“Because their name is phony, they changed it sometime back to Yiu and I know what the family used to be called.” Charlie said, “Word will be going around that we are seeking the vases and we had better conclude our business here rather quickly.”
That sounded good to me for the last thing I wanted was to get beat up again.
Chapter 4 The Search Continues
After garnering what information we could from the store keepers we went about our business finding some of the older men.
They would be sitting on benches and sunning themselves. Charlie would sit near them and start a conversation and eventually get around to what he wanted to know.
He didn’t learn much from any one person but putting it all together it was clear no one in Chicago possessed the vases we wanted.
Every larger city had a district where the Chinese were in the majority so to me the task was seemingly impossible.
Charlie said let’s go to L.A. next for they have a large community there.
So we chose the train again. This was in part because we could meet so many people each with their own story. A lot of them were traveling on the train because they were uncomfortable flying even though the airlines had a good safety record.
We met a few girls and had some nice conversations and a hug or two during the several days of travel. You couldn’t experience that on a plane.
Charlie spent a lot of time talking to an old Chinese man who was accompanied by his son. The old man had spent most of his life in Hong Kong before migrating to the United States, bringing his young family with him. He had heard of the vases we were seeking.
He said only one of them was left for the other was broken by the owners wife in a fit of anger. After breaking it she pounded the fragments into dust and cast it into Hong Kong bay. The man was so angry that he sent her away back to China to her family.
He then had a duplicate vase made to replace the broken one and never told anyone about what happened. There were only a few who knew about it and they swore not to reveal what happened.
Charlie asked the old man, “Why are you speaking about it now and to me of all people.”
The Old man said he knew of Charlie’s quest and since all parties involved in the event have passed on he decided to share his knowledge with Charlie.
He went on to say today there are many forgeries scattered throughout the world and they were so carefully made virtually no one could tell the difference.
He explained how they were able to accomplish this and still keep the secret about the one that had been broken.
Charlie asked, “Where is the real vase that is left?”
The old man said, “It is it is hidden in my ancestral home. I still own it and some of my family are the caretakers of it. I plan to return to China in a couple of weeks and live out my days there.”
Charlie asked, “What about your son and his family, will they return with you?”
He answered, “No; they will remain here for this is now their home. My son will only return for my funeral and my burial.”
I spent quite bit of time talking to the son, but he wouldn’t speak of the vases so we talked about his family and his clothing business.
They insisted that we come and stay with them for a few days which we agreed to do.
We were treated kindly and were fed traditional Chinese cuisine for the most part. They mixed some of the more American style Chinese food in for which I was thankful. Some of the old dishes were a little far out although Charlie managed them with ease.
The old man invited us to travel to China with him promising to show us the real vase that was left. Before I could say anything Charlie said, “We would like to go.”
While waiting for the departure date we went sight seeing and covered the tourist sights or perhaps I should call them tourist traps.
As we toured I found myself being asked questions about why we were in California and more specifically why we were asking the whereabouts of certain vases by people I had never met?
It was easy for me to answer that question for I didn’t know anything so I said, “Ask Charlie.”
Just before we were to leave Charlie shared what the old man had told him and why he had agreed to let us travel with him.
Chapter 5 Three China Dolls
I should have been surprised the old man knew so much about the vases, and told us about them. Since I had been traveling with Charlie, I had learned that he didn’t do anything without a reason.
I point blank asked him how he knew the old man knew about the vases and he told me, “One of the men he had talked to before leaving for the West had given, him the name and address of this family and had pointed him out.”
He went on and said, “This old man knows all about what we want to know.”
After engaging the old man in conversation he told Charlie he was getting ready to leave for China with a stop over in L.A. where he lived.
Charlie went on to say, “When I put all of the information together, I realized we needed to travel by train as they also were, and make friends of them.