The Laundryman's Boy by Edward Y. C. Lee

Author:Edward Y. C. Lee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2024-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

13

In mid-February, there came a thaw, and the roadways slickened with slush. Pedestrians sank mid-calf into potholes of icy water. The sun poked its face from behind the clouds, but then it paled and hid once more. Hoi Wing stood at the big table, wrapping shirts in brown paper. He grimaced when he looked out the window, but Second Uncle said spring was not far around the corner.

Hoi Wing continued his late night visits to the Sanctuary. Several riveting chapters remained in The Call of the Wild, and he looked forward to the denouement of Buck’s saga in the Far North. Never again would Hoi Wing stroll past a library without wanting to peer inside. He had discovered a new novel he wanted them to undertake, Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon, but Heather insisted their next choice should be hers: Little Women.

When Hoi Wing next attended a “special delivery” at Miss Martha’s house, Adele surprised him by setting aside his textbooks and sitting him down before a chessboard and pieces. Lofan chess! Hoi Wing had always wanted to learn the Western version of the game.

“This is a pawn,” said Adele as she picked up a wooden piece.

Hoi Wing studied a black piece shaped like a horse’s head. The goal of the game was no different than in Chinese chess, but it featured knights, bishops, and rooks rather than chariots, elephants, and leaping cannons. Hoi Wing quickly grasped how each piece moved, and the two were into the mid-game when Martha entered the dining room with lunch.

“Are we not continuing our regular lessons?” asked Martha, putting down her tray.

“We’ve been pushing Hoi Wing so hard, I felt we needed to do something just for fun. Chess is wonderful for the brain and relaxing as well.”

“But what about your plan to get Hoi Wing into school next September?”

Adele sighed. “A half-hour each week is just not enough. I’m never going to cover the curriculum. We need Hoi Wing in our two-hour class on Thursday nights.”

Hoi Wing looked up from the chessboard. He was beginning to see some of the stratagems of Western chess. “I no can do Thursday night. Elder Uncle say no.”

Adele moved her queen to an open file. “Then I will just have to take matters into my own hands.”

That night, Hoi Wing lay in bed, unable to sleep. He rose and lit a candle at his workbench. Then he completed his latest letter to Eldest Great Auntie, telling her of the clandestine lofan classes he was attending and Ah-Del’s plan to enrol him in the public school system. He questioned Eldest Great Auntie about his mother’s origins and the stories about his father’s great failure at the examination tables. When he put down his pen, he went back to bed, feeling a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps now someone would finally give him the answers to the questions that had haunted him all his life.

Two days later, he returned to the laundry in the early evening from deliveries to find Elder Uncle fuming.

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