The Secrets of a Fire King Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Kim Edwards
through the bombed and ruined villages, turning away from the beggars with Spring, Mountain, Sea
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their lost limbs and terrible scars, that he understood the extent of what he had been saved from.
The other carpenters knew his history, and it was something they could never quite forgive him. The transgression of his easy war was compounded by the fact that he had brought home an Asian wife. The last two wars were still felt acutely in the small town that had given half a dozen of its young men. Many of the carpenters Rob worked with were older men, and had long memories. Stanley Dobbs and Earl Kelly had lost a nephew each in Korea. Euart Simpson’s only son had died during World War II, in a prison camp in the Philippines. One day Euart punctuated this fact by thrusting a photograph of his lost son at Rob. The picture showed a smiling boy in a man’s uniform, his face the image of his father’s before it grew so many lines of grief.
“I’m sorry,” Rob said, handing the photo back. Euart sat down, the spite and challenge suddenly drained from his eyes.
“Sorry,” Euart said, “doesn’t settle with bringing home a Jap wife.”
“She isn’t Japanese,” Rob said, struggling between anger and compassion.
“That don’t make no difference,” Euart said. He spat into the pile of sawdust around the planer. “She sure as hell isn’t one of us.” The baby came in late April, just as the lilies of the valley opened on the shadowy side of the house. In the manner of those days Rob drove Jade Moon through the winding backroads to the hospital and sat through the piles of paperwork while his wife caught her breath and bit her lips against the groans. Then she was whisked away, and twelve hours later he was allowed in to see her, sitting up in bed with her hair tied back, holding their baby daughter. Jade Moon was ecstatic, and also very angry.
“I was asleep,” she scolded, but he was relieved to see her spirit back, as if the drug that had kept her chilled and silent throughout the long winter had worked its way through her system and been expelled. “That whole time they made me sleep, and when I woke up it was finished. The baby was already born.
I have no memory of it!” He recalled the practice of her own 22
The Secrets of a Fire King
country, where women cloistered themselves with other women for a birth, and drank certain herbs, and let nature follow its course. Jade Moon went on, complaining softly but steadily, and Rob grew conscious of the curious glances from the two new mothers in the other beds. These grew longer and more amazed as Jade Moon slipped her gown open and let their new daughter begin to nurse.
“There is something wrong with them,” she confided to Rob, tilting her head toward the two women. “Those poor ladies, they have babies but no milk. Every day the nurse brings them cow’s milk, warm, in a glass bottle. Imagine!” Rob turned to see the nearest woman, who was pale and thin with red hair twisted back in a bun. She was looking at him with a severe sort of pity over the dark bobbing head of her child.
When their eyes met, she spoke.
“It’s really none of my business,” she said, “but someone should tell your wife about—about that.” She nodded emphatically at the white slope of Jade Moon’s breast, then at the bottle she held tilted to her baby. “This is a modern hospital. Civilized. We keep trying to explain it to her—we’ve even used sign language!—but she just smiles and looks embarrassed.”
Rob, taken aback, did not know how to answer this. Jade Moon was being modest, he knew, and polite about her own full breasts when these women seemed bereft of milk. He turned to Jade Moon, who stroked his daughter’s small head as she nursed, and then he forgot about the red-haired woman. He sat down on the bed, filled with joy and wonder.
“What were you discussing?” Jade Moon asked.
“You,” he said, taking her hand. “Our beautiful baby.” Jade
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their lost limbs and terrible scars, that he understood the extent of what he had been saved from.
The other carpenters knew his history, and it was something they could never quite forgive him. The transgression of his easy war was compounded by the fact that he had brought home an Asian wife. The last two wars were still felt acutely in the small town that had given half a dozen of its young men. Many of the carpenters Rob worked with were older men, and had long memories. Stanley Dobbs and Earl Kelly had lost a nephew each in Korea. Euart Simpson’s only son had died during World War II, in a prison camp in the Philippines. One day Euart punctuated this fact by thrusting a photograph of his lost son at Rob. The picture showed a smiling boy in a man’s uniform, his face the image of his father’s before it grew so many lines of grief.
“I’m sorry,” Rob said, handing the photo back. Euart sat down, the spite and challenge suddenly drained from his eyes.
“Sorry,” Euart said, “doesn’t settle with bringing home a Jap wife.”
“She isn’t Japanese,” Rob said, struggling between anger and compassion.
“That don’t make no difference,” Euart said. He spat into the pile of sawdust around the planer. “She sure as hell isn’t one of us.” The baby came in late April, just as the lilies of the valley opened on the shadowy side of the house. In the manner of those days Rob drove Jade Moon through the winding backroads to the hospital and sat through the piles of paperwork while his wife caught her breath and bit her lips against the groans. Then she was whisked away, and twelve hours later he was allowed in to see her, sitting up in bed with her hair tied back, holding their baby daughter. Jade Moon was ecstatic, and also very angry.
“I was asleep,” she scolded, but he was relieved to see her spirit back, as if the drug that had kept her chilled and silent throughout the long winter had worked its way through her system and been expelled. “That whole time they made me sleep, and when I woke up it was finished. The baby was already born.
I have no memory of it!” He recalled the practice of her own 22
The Secrets of a Fire King
country, where women cloistered themselves with other women for a birth, and drank certain herbs, and let nature follow its course. Jade Moon went on, complaining softly but steadily, and Rob grew conscious of the curious glances from the two new mothers in the other beds. These grew longer and more amazed as Jade Moon slipped her gown open and let their new daughter begin to nurse.
“There is something wrong with them,” she confided to Rob, tilting her head toward the two women. “Those poor ladies, they have babies but no milk. Every day the nurse brings them cow’s milk, warm, in a glass bottle. Imagine!” Rob turned to see the nearest woman, who was pale and thin with red hair twisted back in a bun. She was looking at him with a severe sort of pity over the dark bobbing head of her child.
When their eyes met, she spoke.
“It’s really none of my business,” she said, “but someone should tell your wife about—about that.” She nodded emphatically at the white slope of Jade Moon’s breast, then at the bottle she held tilted to her baby. “This is a modern hospital. Civilized. We keep trying to explain it to her—we’ve even used sign language!—but she just smiles and looks embarrassed.”
Rob, taken aback, did not know how to answer this. Jade Moon was being modest, he knew, and polite about her own full breasts when these women seemed bereft of milk. He turned to Jade Moon, who stroked his daughter’s small head as she nursed, and then he forgot about the red-haired woman. He sat down on the bed, filled with joy and wonder.
“What were you discussing?” Jade Moon asked.
“You,” he said, taking her hand. “Our beautiful baby.” Jade