The 228 Legacy by Jennifer J. Chow

Author:Jennifer J. Chow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Taiwan, 228 Massacre, mothers daughters, historical, secrets, Asian American, Taiwanese
Publisher: Jennifer J. Chow
Published: 2020-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Abbey

From her comfortable seat in the stage wing, Abbey imagines the sweat running down the poor drama club member who’s controlling the spotlight. She bets the mandatory black attire would trap in the heat that rolls off the huge light like waves. Abbey’s been assigned to handle the props for the evening. She darts back and forth across the stage, setting the scene whenever the curtains come down between the acts. Earlier, she had applied stage makeup on the principal actors in the play. She remembers swiping candy apple rouge on the cheeks of Tess Bourke.

Fourteen-year-old Tess serves as the star of Atchison’s Drama Club. Her head’s scarlet waves fly up whenever she moves. Even Tess’ hair makes a statement. Despite Tess’ small 5’2” frame, her voice can boom across an auditorium.

Abbey first spotted Tess, planted on center stage with a completed Rubik’s cube in her hand, at the drama club’s initial meeting. She wore a blazer paired with a T-shirt and jeans. A red paisley tie looped around her neck. Next to her, a lean boy with a runner’s physique sat cross-legged. He flung one arm around her shoulder, in a casual but protective manner.

A motley group of students, arrayed on relocated cafeteria benches, circled the girl and boy. Abbey noticed with relief that none of them were in her grade. Abbey chose to position herself in the far back, but before she had settled in, Tess’ clear voice urged her to come closer. Abbey felt both a flush of embarrassment and pride as she advanced forward—usually nobody noticed her at school.

“Take a seat up here, if you’d like.” Tess patted the wooden stage. “I won’t bite.”

Abbey shook her head and settled on one of the nearby benches.

“Welcome to the Atchison Drama Club,” Tess said. “I’m glad you could make it here today. The drama club is not supported by school funds and is run by a volunteer system of students. Currently, I’m serving as the president.” She touched the knee of the boy next to her. “This is Drake Blakely, the vice-president of the club. He’s also my boyfriend and co-conspirator.”

Drake smiled at the introduction and looked over the crowd. “I’m glad to see a lot of new faces. I know that the drama club has a reputation of having only 8th graders, but we’re actually open to everybody. I don’t even know where we got that stigma, except that an eighth-grader started the club a few years back. So welcome, everybody.”

Tess clapped her hands once, a ringing vibration. “Let’s start with some icebreakers now. Then we’ll talk more about the specifics of our group.”

They started with a round of charades and “Two Truths and a Lie.” At the end of their time together, the group felt so comfortable that they even practiced voice projection exercises. They formed a circle, with each person lying on top of someone else’s stomach. Everyone produced belly laughs to work their diaphragms, and people ended up in fits of giggles afterwards.

Abbey enjoys the anonymity of Atchison Drama Club, with its lack of seventh graders.

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