Rising Sun, Falling Shadow by Daniel Kalla

Author:Daniel Kalla [Kalla, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781443404709
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2013-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

“Papa sold them all!” Freddy exclaimed as soon as they were alone beneath the eaves behind the school. Laughing, he grasped Hannah by the shoulders and spun her around. “You’re a brave one, Banana, carrying all those cartons through that checkpoint.”

“It was nothing.” She tried not to remember queuing at the checkpoint in her bulky coat, which was lined front and back with cartons of cigarettes, worrying she might faint with fear. But in the end, the guard waved her past with only a few questions and seemingly no interest in what might be under her coat.

Freddy dug into his trouser pocket and pulled his hand out in a fist. “I wouldn’t call this nothing.” He made a show of slowly unfurling his fingers to reveal the five-dollar bill in his palm.

Hannah stared dumbfounded at the crumpled note. She assumed that the man with the beard was Abraham Lincoln, but she had never before seen anything other than an American one-dollar bill.

Freddy waved it at her. “For you.”

“For me?”

“Your share of the profit.”

“But Freddy this . . . this is a fortune.”

Still laughing, he leaned forward and pecked her on the lips. “No, Hannah, this is just the beginning.”

The kiss left her dazed. Warmth swept across her brow and cheeks. She stared wide-eyed at the boy before her, who was suddenly too handsome to bear. Freddy was saying something, but she couldn’t follow his words.

He shook her gently by the shoulders. “Next week again, yes?”

“Yes,” she murmured, uncertain of what she was agreeing to and not even caring.

“Papa was wondering if this time you might be able to carry a few more cartons?”

“I think so, yes,” she said. Anything that might encourage Freddy to kiss her again.

The sound of footsteps shattered the moment. Freddy dropped his hands from her shoulders as though letting go of a scalding pot. He stepped back just as Hannah saw Otto Geldmann rounding the corner.

Otto was a sweet kid whom she had known since her first week in Shanghai. But just then, she wished the earth would swallow him up and leave her alone with Freddy again.

Freddy straightened to his full height and took a step toward the slight boy. “Hey, Otto, you’re not spying on us, are you?” he asked in a friendly voice, but with a threatening undertone.

“No.” Otto’s cheeks reddened. “I was just—I don’t know—kind of bored. I came to see if I could find anyone behind the school.”

Freddy reached into his pocket and extracted a crumpled box. Hannah counted four cigarettes inside it. “We were just about to have a smoke. You want in?”

“Yes. Yes, please. I would love one,” Otto said. He glanced at Hannah, his eyes wary.

Hannah and Otto choked on their cigarettes while Freddy inhaled as smoothly as if he had been smoking for years, then tossed the stub to the ground and crushed it with the heel of his shoe. Hannah and Otto followed suit.

“Those were less than half done!” Freddy exclaimed. “What a waste!”

“Oh, sorry,” Hannah said, and meant it.

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