But on Tuesday when she still wasn't feeling well, Annie Lee came over, scowled angrily at her, and told her she'd made a mistake when she said the baby had died. The baby hadn't died. A lady had taken it away, but now the lady had changed her mind about keeping it and was bringing it back. And by the way,
gongxi, gongxi,
it was a boy.
Congratulations!
Lin was so stunned she almost fainted on the spot. She didn't know what to say.
Finally she asked, "
Weishenme?"
"None of your business
why,
you stupid girl," Annie snapped. "Just take it away. Your fault, your problem."
"Take it away?" Lin panicked. "Take it where?" She was whispering. She still didn't want anyone to know. She didn't want the aunties to know, nobody. She didn't know what to do with it. Throw it away in the garbage?
"Take it away during your lunch break, then come back to work or you'll lose your job. And don't tell anyone."
Her lunch break was ten minutes. She wasn't supposed to leave the building. What could she do with a baby in ten minutes? She didn't want a baby. She'd never wanted a baby. But why didn't the woman who took him want him, either? Lin couldn't understand why this was happening. Agonized, she finally asked, "Is something wrong with him?"
"Nothing's wrong," Annie said coldly.
"Why?" she couldn't stop asking the question. It was the only one she could think of. Why was the bad luck coming back to her? Why was this baby not dead and gone as Annie had told her it was? Must be a no-good baby. She thought of running out and putting the baby in the garbage. Then she and the aunties could disappear. They would cross the river and move to New Jersey where no one would ever find them.
But that didn't happen. She didn't wait for her lunch break. She left the factory right away. She stood on the street for more than half an hour, waiting for the woman to bring the baby no one wanted. Lin watched her get out of a taxi; she was a rich woman. She was crying when she handed him over and told her more than once that he was a wonderful baby who deserved to be with his mother.
Lin was too frightened to ask why give him back if he was so wonderful.
"He's a good baby. Take good care of him," she said one last time.
Lin didn't even look at his face before she got rid of him. By eleven-thirty, he was out of her life. Then she went home and lay on the old blankets, refusing to say anything about anything to anybody. And the quarrels about what to do with her floated around her.
Seven women lived in the apartment. They didn't like her taking up space on the floor for twenty-four hours a day, not taking turns as she was supposed to do. They talked about her bad cousin with no sense of family responsibility, who would probably not even come to take the corpse off their hands if she died. No one in the apartment thought Lin had a simple flu. She heard voices talking about taking her to the hospital. The aunties gave her special tea and tried to reason with her. But nothing they said helped Lin Tsing get over her fever. That same day Annie Lee from the factory came to talk to her, but the aunties hid her and said she wasn't there anymore, because they didn't want Annie Lee to find out that Lin was sick and fire her from her job.
The next day the aunties agreed that something had to be done about Lin, but they weren't sure what. They did not want to leave Lin on the street in the hope that an ambulance would come for her, because even if such a lucky thing were to happen, the girl would disappear into some hospital and they would not be able to find her again. Or she might be put in jail or deported without their ever knowing. If she got well, she might tell who her friends were and have them all deported. Early Wednesday morning Annie Lee came to ask about Lin a second time. This time the white-haired woman was so worried and concerned about the girl, so far from angry about her being sick, and so eager to care for her, the two aunties were happy to accept the fifty dollars' goodwill money and let the good-hearted woman take Lin away for medical treatment.
But Annie didn't take her to the hospital. She took her upstairs to that closet. Annie Lee promised she and the boss would take Lin to the doctors as soon as she told them what she'd done with the baby, but Annie had lied to her when the baby was born, and now Lin did not trust her anymore. She was as afraid of doctors as she was of the red-faced boss and Annie Lee, so she did not tell them what they wanted to know. She had no idea how long she had been in the closet when the boss came up to talk to her himself. He had forgotten that she couldn't speak English and didn't know what he was shouting at her. If she had been able to answer he wouldn't have known what she was saying. All she knew was that he was very angry. Then Annie Lee came back and made him stop. A little while later, the hitting and shaking started. She was pulled off the mattress and taken out into the attic room where the red-faced boss had raped her so many times. Her head was slammed against the floor and against the wall until she had no feeling. And still it went on.
CHAPTER 33
I think you should call April," was Milton's first response to the problem of Lin's ransom. It was late Thursday evening, and he was still wearing his restaurant uniform of black jacket, black pants, white shirt, and black tie. His handsome face looked unusually stern and serious. Annie Lee had not called back, demanding the money again. Nanci was even more worried than before, and now it was clear that somebody had to go into the city in the morning to deal with the situation. No more putting it off. She balked at the idea of calling April, though.
"What's the matter with you? This is something for the police to deal with." Milton was getting impatient with her, even angry, and this was something that rarely happened.
"I know." Nanci looked down at her hands, twisting a napkin around her fingers. How could she tell him she'd lied to April about everything? April would be mad if they called her now, and there'd be consequences, no question about that.
"So let's call her."
Nanci shook her head. "You know what would happen."
"Nanci, we have to deal with this," Milton said.
"I know." She wouldn't look at him.
"Then let's call her."
How could she tell him again about what happened when her father died, how much harder the cops had made the tragedy for her with all their questions? Even though she'd known at the time that they were just trying to find out what happened, they'd sounded so accusing. She'd felt it was her fault, and she'd been so frightened of the social workers and having the city take her away to a foster home, even deport her to China where she had no relatives who could take care of her. It was hard to explain these things to Milton, who was born here, had a big family, and didn't understand about money worries. April used to be a friend, but she was all cop now. Nothing but trouble, just like the rest of them.
"Let's just give her the two thousand and get Lin back," Nanci said.
They went around and around on it, and finally Milton suggested something that appealed to Nanci. He had a shady friend from Catholic school, Frankie Co-relli, who knew Chinatown and Little Italy better than anyone. He and Milton had started out in high school as opposites and sworn enemies, but had ended up unlikely friends. Milton had been responsible, got good grades, and had ambition. Frankie was a troublemaker then and had been in and out of trouble ever since. Milton hit on the idea of using Frankie as an intimidator to frighten the old-lady extortionist into giving Lin up without a bribe. Nanci liked this idea. It was always better to use local muscle. So Milton called Frankie, and Frankie was all excited: this kind of favor was right up his alley.