Dragon Hearts by Carol Ann Nix

Author:Carol Ann Nix
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633931428
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2015-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

January 5, 2010

Yo and I awoke cold, hungry, and thirsty. We had places we wanted to be, but nature cracked her icy whip and kept us confined in our train-car cage.

Around noon I heard a sound and looked up. Surely I was hallucinating. Men were walking into our car carrying food. Everyone stood and cheered. The men handed each of us a box of food and a bottle of water. The food included rice, pork, and a green vegetable. Much to my surprise the food was both warm and delicious. In a silent prayer I thanked God, the women who cooked it, and the men who delivered it.

Yo spoke with one of the workers and turned to me grinning. “The snow has stopped, and the wind is still. There is blue sky outside, and the sun is shining.”

“Yeehaaaa!” I yelled and gave Yo a massive bear hug. We did a little victory dance. “It’s over. It’s over. We’ll live to tell of our adventure. You can tell your son someday.”

“Yes, I will, but now I want to tell my mama and papa. May I use your cellphone?”

“Of course,” I said. Use whatever power is left. Reassure them that their one and only child is alive and well.”

I expected the locomotive to fire up immediately. Why not? We had waited long enough. Why was it still motionless on the tracks? It was as useless as a dusty exhibit in a railroad museum.

No one made an announcement. No one explained anything. I thought it was stubborn silence. But Chinese people do not demand information, and Chinese authorities do not volunteer it. We continued waiting. Throughout our ordeal, waiting was our constant.

It was dusk before the powerful diesel engine fired up. At long last it began hauling its heavy load of weary passengers toward Jining. As we wheeled into the station Yo and I said goodbye to the professor and student. They were bound for Hohhot. Yo and I stood in line to buy first-class sleeper car tickets on the overnight train to Beijing. We would sleep en route. That was the plan, but it miscarried. Every bed was taken. Only general seating tickets were available. We would sit for the next eight hours. Not what we had hoped for.

I forgot about beds upon seeing a reasonably clean squat toilet in the station bathroom. I almost kissed it. And what joy to see running water in a sink – even though the sink was dirty and the water wasn’t drinkable. I eagerly brushed my teeth with the toothbrush stashed in my purse. Meanwhile, Yo bought six bottles of drinking water. We would not run out again.

Train No. K90 arrived on time. Together we ran to a car and boarded. Yo commandeered two adjacent seats. He would have fought for them – and won. He stowed our belongings overhead. It wasn’t long before the train began moving southward toward Beijing. We looked at one another and exchanged knowing smiles. We had shared and survived a uniquely perilous forty-eight-hours.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.