Buddha's Money Read Online Free PDF Page B

shit wouldn't happen to you."
    Herman raised his head and glanced back and forth between us. "We have to get her back."
    "No sweat," Ernie said. "We grab this jade bullshit from this chick with the big yubangs, hand it over to these tough boys, and they'll give you Mi-ja back."
    "But I don't know where the jade is at."
    Ernie shrugged. "So we'll find it."
    A bell tinkled outside. I heard a kickstand snap open and click against the pavement. A Korean boy in black shorts and a damp T-shirt pushed through the small door in Herman's gate.
    "Chunghua yori chapsuseiyo," he said in a singsong voice. Please eat Chinese food.
    The boy trotted past us, carrying a large tin box slashed with red ideograms. My regular attendance at Korean language night classes allowed me to read it: The Virtuous Dragon Dumpling House. The boy set the box down on the wooden platform in front of the hooches, slid back the metal sides, and pulled out a large plate of steaming dumplings. As he laid out plastic bottles of soy sauce and vinegar and a few paper-wrapped pairs of wooden chopsticks, Slicky Girl Nam roused herself from her grief.
    "Uri an sikkyoso," she said. We didn't order this.
    "Sonmul," the boy said. A gift. "Ohton chingu sikkyosoyo." A friend ordered it for you.
    Slicky Girl Nam nodded. One of the old women squatted near the plate, grabbed a small table, unfolded the legs, and started to arrange the chopsticks.
    The boy splashed past us, ducked through the gate, and hopped on his bike. In a few seconds, I heard the swishing rubber of his tires wheeling away. I turned back to Herman.
    "Tell me more about the guys who broke in here," I said.
    "They were foreigners."
    "Foreigners? Not Korean?"
    "Right. But not Americans, either."
    Ernie was growing impatient with the slow plodding of Herman's thought processes. "Then what the hell were they?"
    Herman shrugged. "I don't know."
    "What'd they look like?" I asked.
    "Sort of like Koreans, but maybe darker. They all smelled funny, too."
    "Like what?"
    "Like maybe incense."
    "How many of them were there?"
    "Maybe a half dozen. I fought 'em but they hit me a few times." Herman rubbed his head.
    Ernie was completely disgusted. He knew I had the patience to continue the questioning, so he strode over to the old women and the dumplings.
    "Okay," I told Herman, "a half-dozen dark Asian men break in here, demand a jade skull, and when they don't get it they torture you and kidnap your adopted daughter. Is that what happened?"
    "That's what happened. When they left I followed them, but I was still dizzy. I lost them in the alleys."
    "How long did you search?"
    "Almost an hour. Until I found you guys."
    "You never saw any of these men before?"
    "No."
    "And you don't have any idea how to get in touch with them?"
    He shook his head sadly.
    "I think what we have to do, Herman," I put my hand on his shoulder, "is talk to this woman antique dealer you were working with. She should be able to give us some sort of lead."
    A shriek filled my ears.
    This one was high-pitched like the others, but male. I turned and saw Ernie sitting on the raised wooden floor, kicking back with his feet, trying to get away from the plate of dumplings as if he'd just seen the flickering tongue of a cobra. I ran over, Herman huffing right behind me.
    One of the dumplings had been bitten in two. A sliver of meat lay next to it. The old women held their cupped fists to their mouths, looking like frightened schoolgirls. Slicky Girl Nam's mouth hung open. A croaking sound leaked out.
    "What is it?" I asked.
    Ernie pointed. "The dumplings. Look at the goddamn dumplings!"
    I studied the plate more carefully. The sliver of meat was raw flesh. Curled.
    I opened more dumplings, pulling back the soft, doughy crust. Each dumpling contained a similar sliver of flesh. Soon I had all the slivers in a pile in the center of the table and I realized that they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Using a pair of chopsticks, I twisted and turned until they