A Cup of Light Read Online Free PDF Page A

understood; it
was
too much to believe. In a world in which it was a major event to find two, first they had twenty. Now eight hundred. And so far, they were breathtaking. “How’s David?” she said, nudging her well-loved director off his closed loop of amazement.
    â€œOh! He’s fine! David’s fine. He’s just where he’s supposed to be today. Lia, don’t worry. Hospitals in Japan are first-rate. He’s being showered with attention. Half the Tokyo office is there!” Dr. Zheng grumbled affectionately over this loss of productivity, proud of the network of relationships that held together the working world around him.
    â€œBut of course I worry. The last time I saw him he was being wheeled into the O.R.”
    â€œHe’s doing fine.”
    â€œI’ll call him when we get off.”
    â€œNo,” Zheng said quickly. “David doesn’t need to know what you’ve just told me. It would serve nothing. It would gain us nothing. Think what it could cost. Eight hundred pots!
No one
can find out.”
    â€œI see what you mean. Then I’ll call him but I won’t tell him.”
    Zheng laughed, his characteristic little staccato bounce. “Impossible! You? You’re a terrible liar.”
    She laughed. “You’re right! That’s true.”
    â€œDon’t call him.”
    â€œNot at all?”
    â€œI’ll tell him you are asking after him.”
    â€œAll right,” she said. She put her reluctance away because she trusted Zheng. He had taught her and guided her and he had never, ever tried to fix her. “So who will you send?”
    â€œI have to think. If anyone, it should be Phillip, don’t you think?”
    â€œDefinitely. In fact he’s the only one.”
    â€œBut I’m not sure it’s the best thing.”
    â€œI was afraid you’d say that again.”
    â€œFor every additional person who finds out about this, a thousand points of danger arise.”
    â€œBut I need someone with me.”
    â€œWe’ll see. At least we should avoid the word getting out as long as possible. In any case, Phillip’s in England. I can get him back and ship him out again if we need to.”
    She calculated. “If I did it alone I could finish in ten days. Well, twelve. I’m still not sure that’s a good idea.” A job like this needed more than one pair of eyes. They both knew it.
    â€œI’ll call Phillip. I’ll at least see what it would take to have him close down what he’s doing and come back.”
    â€œI’ll work as fast as I can in the meantime.”
    â€œGood. My God! Eight hundred pieces!”
    â€œIf it’s what it looks like,” she said.
    â€œIf it’s what it looks like,” he repeated, and they both smiled and hung up.
    She checked herself in the mirror. Now she was ready to go out and look for food, look for entertainment, or even just walk. For this she would turn her hearing aids up. She loved walking on the streets of China. She loved controlling the volume on her world, and this was one of the times she liked it up high. Walking through a Mandarin-speaking crowd, hearing the evanescent bubbles of their lives as she passed their pockets of conversation—their jokes, their gossip, their talk about what they were going to eat and whom they were going to see—this was always soothing to her. She liked to feel the ways in which other people were connected with one another. Here she could eavesdrop almost invisibly. She was tall, white, female; people never thought she was listening to them. She could walk with her hands in her pockets and be part of things.
    Glancing back at the mirror, she touched her cheek. Her face was too long, her eyes too sad. She had tried makeup, every imaginable way, but it never seemed to really make her look any different. She was getting older too. Lines were showing in the corners of her eyes. She was