Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station by Dorothy Gilman

Author:Dorothy Gilman [Gilman, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-8041-5177-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2014-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

As he smiled at her Peter was thinking My God that was a close one, this is growing really difficult, I’ve begun to think in Chinese and I almost spoke in Chinese in front of Iris. As he passed Mrs. Pollifax, already seated, she glanced up; their eyes met and she winked at him.

He grinned, at once feeling better. She’s really something, he thought, taking a window seat two rows behind her in the bus, and to his surprise he found himself wishing that she could go with him tonight, when he planned to follow the river to the labor camp. She’s getting to me, he realized. Me, the hard-line loner. He wondered what it was about her that drew him, and for want of any cleverer insight decided that it was a kind of capable innocence, but that didn’t fit either. There had begun to be a sense of kinship between them; he felt at ease with her, which astonished him.

At dinner Peter made a point of yawning a great deal, which proved tiring in itself for there were twelve courses through which to yawn. Because of their busy day there were no plans for the evening, which was merciful, for an early start mattered very much to him tonight. Jenny suggested a get-together in the small lounge for some singing, a suggestion aimed at him, he realized, but he only yawned and said he was going to catch up on his sleep.

Once in his room he quickly changed into the cheap plastic sandals and gray cotton pants he’d purchased in Xian, added a white undershirt and then—leaning over his canvas dufflebag—he divested it of the thin mountain-climbing rope with which he’d laced the bag. This he wound around his waist and chest before adding the khaki Mao jacket over the bulk to conceal it. Into pockets he thrust his jogging shoes and ID papers, and then brought out the very clever invention that tilted his eyes by ingeniously concealed tapes. Peering into the mirror at the effect, he grinned: he looked very much like the workers he’d seen all during the day. When he’d undergone his wilderness survival class they’d gone to great lengths to prevent him acquiring a tan; now he understood the thinking behind it because he’d seen very few dark Chinese. Both Mr. Li and Mr. Kan had complexions like bisque china, the skin very white and opaque. His own pallor, his heavy brows and slanted eyes certainly removed all resemblance to Peter Fox: he was Szu Chou now, as his papers proved.

Unhinging the screen at his open window he pushed it back, slipped outside, and became part of the night.

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.