“If we can get back our deposit on the store and add it to the cash we’ve saved, we’ll have enough to cover the down payment.”
The following day Xiang and I stayed locked up in the motel room while Zhou, flanked by the bald man and another man, spent the day downtown.
On our last night in Dalian, the bald man’s accomplice showed us where to go. We followed him across the railroad tracks to the wharf. I could hear waves breaking against the sea wall, and even the air was salty. In the dark, the lights of a fishing boat switched on and then the engine roared to life. Faint, shadowy figures appeared. As I stepped closer to the boat, two hands reached down over the side.
“Grab hold,” a voice said.
I was pulled up first. My body spilled over the side and into the boat. Xiang followed right behind me, but when Zhou tried to climb up, the man in the boat shoved him away.
“You only paid for two snakes.”
I heard Zhou shouting: “Xiang! Xiaaang!” into the wind. The man who had taken us to the wharf was holding him back. The engine revved as the boat pulled away. Xiang clung to the side of the boat, howling in misery. The man struck her hard across the face, and Xiang flopped onto the wet deck like a frog.
As she struggled to get up, one of the men said: “If you make any noise, we’ll throw you overboard. Sit there and be quiet.”
The small fishing boat lurched across the harbour to where the large ships were anchored. They pulled up alongside a huge container ship, the sides of which rose up like an enormous wall blocking everything from sight. One of the men pointed a torch up at the deck looming faintly above us and flicked it on and off several times. A dark figure appeared. They called back and forth to each other, and then a rope was lowered. The man who’d been standing at the side of the fishing boat grabbed the rope and tied it around my waist without any explanation. He gave the rope a few tugs, and they started to pull. I dangled in midair, unable even to scream, as they hauled me up. The wind spun me in circles, and my body slammed into the side of the iron ship with a loud clang. As soon as I reached the railing, two men grabbed my arms and pulled me over. I was so dizzy I thought I was going to vomit. They lowered the rope again, and after a moment Xiang was brought up too, her body limp and dangling. Neither of the men said a word to us. They led us into the ship, prodding and shoving us along. Xiang practically had to be dragged. We went down a stairwell with a metal railing and through a low-ceilinged corridor with many high door sills. I kept stumbling. My knee slammed into a chunk of metal, and blood trickled down my shin. Later, I realized we were in the very bottom of the ship. Freight containers were stacked in neat rows, and there were narrow spaces in between where we could sit with our legs stretched out. In the darkness, I could just make out other people sitting with their backs against the walls. Xiang fell across my lap and sobbed, her shoulders trembling.
“Xiang, are you okay? Are you injured?” I asked.
“Shh!” Someone whispered in the dark. “Not a word!”
I quieted instantly. The sound of machinery and metal clanging against metal was constant. After what felt like a long wait, the floor seemed to shimmy, and then the boat began to move. We were off. Xiang and I sat against the wall with our heads touching, and dozed off. The tremendous fatigue that had been building up over the past several days washed over me at once.
*
Bari-ya! Hey, Bari! It’s me!
Someone calls to me through the dark. I see two blue, glowing lights. I know at once that it is Chilsung. I have seen him in my dreams now and then over the past few years, but this is the first time he has spoken to me just as he did in life. A ring of milky-white light, like moonlight, appears in the blackness and wobbles as it widens. At the end of this tunnel of light, Chilsung wags his snowy white tail and waits for me.
He takes off running, glancing back occasionally and pausing so I can catch up.
Stop running, I say. Stand still.
Someone’s waiting for you.
We reach a riverbank. The water looks black. A silent breeze passes over us and kicks up a cloud of dust. There is a long bridge, and at the entrance to the bridge stands a woman dressed all in white. It is too dark at first to make out her features, but as I step closer a light seems to shine forth from her and a familiar face appears.
Our little Bari is here!
Grandma! Where’ve you been?
I take a step forward to hug her, but she drifts back exactly one step, lightly, like a plastic bag filled with air. I take another step, and she drifts back again.
I’ve missed you so much, and now you won’t even hug me.
Grandmother smiles and nods.
I know. I wish I could. But I’m in this world now, and you’re in that world. I called you here because I was worried about you. Now, pay attention to what I’m about to tell you. You’re going to travel thousands and thousands of li across the ocean and across the sky. This path will lead you through Hell, filled with the clamour of toads and the ravings of demons and the spirits of the dead. You could wind up torn to pieces. But whatever you do, stay away from the blue and yellow paths. Always take the white path. When your journey is complete, you’ll no longer be little Bari. You’ll be Bari, the great shaman. I will help you as much as I can, so whenever you’re in trouble, Chilsung will guide you to me.
*
Grandmother, Chilsung and the foggy riverbank vanished, and everything went white before my eyes. Someone was shining a torch at us.
“Raise your hand as you call out your number. Start at that end.”
The man sitting at the far end of the wall raised his hand and said one. The woman next to him was slow to react. After a beat, she mumbled t-two, and someone stepped in front of the man with the torch and slammed her head against the wall.
“Again!”
This time, everyone called out three, four, five and so on, in quick succession. There were twelve people altogether.
“You little snakes all know your numbers? Those are your names from now on.”
I was Number Eleven, and Xiang was Number Twelve. Judging by the voices, there were four women and eight men.
“I’m the one responsible for getting you safely to your destination. Your lives are in our hands. Don’t forget that. If you don’t do as we say immediately, we’ll throw you overboard. In a few days, we’re going to dock briefly at Xiamen, in Fujian Province. Until then, you will not move from this spot. You’ll get one meal every morning and one bucket of water that you’ll all have to ration. You’re each responsible for your own survival. It takes one month to reach England. If you can survive the last ten days upon arrival, then you’ll get to set foot in a new land and make all the money you want. Right before we reach Xiamen, I’ll explain what you have to do.”
They gave each of us a single ball of rice and fed us a cup of water. They also designated a spot for us to relieve ourselves: just inside the entrance to the cargo hold in the belly of the ship, they’d set up a metal drum that had been sawed in half and placed a couple of wooden boards over it. At first we all slept sitting up against the walls, but after a while negotiations were made, and everyone was able to sleep lying down in the narrow spaces between the containers by placing their legs between one another’s legs. For the first few days it was too dark to see anyone, but later we got just enough light seeping in from above during the day that we were able to learn each other’s faces. Twenty more joined us in Xiamen. Like us, they were brought aboard just before the ship departed. We had to stay hidden for two days while more containers were loaded. The snakeheads divided us up and stuffed us inside the already-packed containers. We really were like snakes, as we had to burrow deep into the tiny crevices between the packed freight loads. We had to remain standing the whole time, though we were able to take the weight off of our legs a little bit by wedging our upper bodies in, and we had to urinate and defecate in place as well. There was no food, of course, but we also weren’t given so much as a drop of water to drink.