Hollow Bamboo by William Ping

Author:William Ping
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2022-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

16

An Idea

It was not an easy transition to being a manager. Fong never came back to explain this turn of events, and many of the long-time laundry workers questioned whether this promotion was true and why they weren’t the ones to get promoted. And it was never clear to Ping what role the manager was supposed to play, other than be the one to count and divide the cash among the workers. After having worked the laundry for the past few weeks, Ping couldn’t fathom just sitting around all day while the others worked all day and night.

The next problem was Lee’s disappearance. Ping came to believe that Fong had either taken Lee with him down south or ponied up the funds to send Lee back to China. Neither of which seemed particularly likely, but the alternative was something he didn’t want to think about. After all, how would he know when to return home if Lee never came back?

The following morning, Ping and the others waited around for a bit to see if Lee would reappear. Soon enough it was nine o’clock and no one had rung the bell and no one had begun sorting the blue bags of dirty laundry. Ping took it upon himself to ring the bell, which was bolted to a steel beam near the front door. It was a nice little brass bell. He swung the rope once and it produced a faint ring, certainly not loud enough to rouse people from the iron bedroom in the back. He swung it again with more intensity, loud enough this time, maybe too loud. The laundry workers began shuffling into the workroom, filling the tubs, adjusting the temperature.

The next matter of business was sorting the growing pile of blue bags. Ping quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to do this job. He couldn’t read the notes, and he couldn’t make the lists of what belonged to who and from where.

“Shaowei,” he said. “You do this.”

“What happened last night?” Shaowei asked as he opened the first blue bag.

“He took me to a bar and told me that I don’t owe Lee any money for the head tax anymore,” Ping said.

“He paid your uncle for you?”

“I’m not sure. He just told me not to worry about it.”

“He definitely killed Lee.” Shaowei dumped a bag out onto the floor.

“He didn’t kill Lee,” Ping said. “Isn’t that the type of thing you would complain about white people saying?”

“Yes, but I’m not a white person, so I can say it. Fong killed Lee.”

“Stop. Fong didn’t kill Lee. They’ll be back later today.”

“Whatever you want to believe,” Shaowei said. “So, what, you’re the manager now? You don’t have to work with the rest of us anymore?”

“No, no, I’m still going to do the laundry with you guys. That just wouldn’t be right.”

“Why is he making us call you by the name they forced on you?”

“He said I should try to become a part of this community. That by using the name they gave me, I’ll have an advantage.

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