Along the River (2 page)

D
avid cried out in horror as CC fell from the rooftop, landing with a sickening thud on the dirt below. He had been watching from behind a fishmonger’s cart and had seen CC’s encounter with the woman in black.

A crowd of people immediately gathered around CC’s inert body, including two policemen in uniform. The woman in black was saying something to them. David edged his way closer. He had no idea what to do. Could CC possibly survive such a fall? Then his heart leapt when he saw her chest moving up and down. Although her eyes remained closed, she was breathing and therefore must still be alive!

“I have no idea why she ran away from me,” the woman was saying. “I thought I recognized her from a photo. I just wanted to ask for news of her aunt. Nothing else.”

“These are troubled times,” one of the policeman said. “The girl might have been afraid of something or somebody. Who knows?”

“Thank goodness we’re safe here in Feng Jie!” someone in the crowd said.

“Still, there are many pro-Japanese collaborators,” the policeman said. “One cannot be too careful. Does anyone know this little girl?”

David stepped forward. “Her name is CC,” he said. “She’s my friend.” To his embarrassment, he started to cry.

The woman in black said sympathetically, “She should be seen by a doctor as soon as possible. I know the Medical Director of the missionary hospital here. He’s an American—Dr. Richard Allen. You need to take your friend there in a rickshaw. I’ll write a note and tell him what happened. By the way, is your friend the niece of Ye Jia Ming?”

“I have no idea,” David said guardedly.

“Ye Jia Ming was my classmate at middle school, and a close friend. I stayed with her once in Nan Tian, before the Japanese massacre. She had many photos of her niece throughout her house. Your friend looks just like the girl in those photos.… She
is
her niece, isn’t she?”

“I already told you I don’t know,” David replied with a hint of irritation.

“I feel so bad about her falling like that. Here’s the note for the hospital, and this is my card with my name and telephone number. Phone me and let me know how she is. I’m sorry I can’t accompany you to the hospital, but I’m late for work. Do you have money to pay the rickshaw driver?”

“Yes,” David said. “Please tell him the address of the hospital.” He looked at the card and saw that the woman’s name was Jiang Fei Fei
.

The rickshaw driver seemed to take forever to wend his way through the crowded streets. David kept looking at CC’s white, unconscious face, and willed her to wake up. He hadn’t realized, until now, how much he always relied on her bravery and sense of humor in dangerous situations. When they got to the hospital, two orderlies and a nurse came running out to help. The woman in black had telephoned in advance and spoken to Dr. Allen.

David handed over the note and was told to wait while CC was taken into the examination room. He sat outside in the waiting room. People kept going in and out, but no one said anything to him. He was about to go down the corridor to look for her when a tall foreigner in a white coat rushed by with a chart in his hand. So he grabbed the man’s jacket and asked in a hoarse, anxious voice, “Please tell me what’s happening. Is CC going to die?”

The man stopped and looked kindly at David.

“Hello, kid! Are you with the unconscious girl?” he asked in fluent Chinese. “What did you call her—CC? Did you bring CC to us?”

“Yes, I’m David. Her real name is Ye Xian
, but we all call her CC.”

“Well, David, my name is Dr. Allen. Your friend CC has twisted her foot and ruptured some ligaments in her ankle, but it’s her head we’re more worried about. She’s had quite a fall and is still unconscious. We need to admit her to the hospital and keep her under observation until she wakes up. Does she live in Feng Jie?”

“No, but I can get Grandma Wu.”

The doctor patted him on the shoulder. “That would be great! By all means, go and get her grandma. Be as quick as you can!” Seeing the anxiety on David’s face, Dr. Allen added in a gentler voice: “Try not to worry. People’s heads are my specialty. Your friend is in good hands with me.”

Hospitalization

A
s soon as Grandma Wu saw David running alone toward the boat with his dirty, tearstained face, she knew something must have gone terribly wrong. But she wasn’t prepared for the dreadful news he brought. Dropping everything, she hurried over to the hospital at once.

After speaking to Dr. Allen, she knew she faced a difficult choice. Should she stay with CC in Feng Jie, or go back to the boat and escort the American airmen to safety? In the end she ordered her son, Master Wu, and the three boys David, Sam and Marat to deliver the Americans to Chungking. She herself left the boat to look after the comatose CC, staying at the guest hostel attached to the missionary hospital and sitting by CC’s bed every day.

Jiang Fei Fei, the woman in black, came to the hospital the morning after the accident to check on CC. She worked as a nurse attached to the local Red Cross station and was much saddened to hear that Big Aunt had been killed by the Japanese. Jiang Fei Fei and Grandma Wu soon became friends. Through Fei Fei’s contacts, Grandma Wu was able to get the latest news from Chungking.

Although CC had broken no bones, she remained unconscious and required constant monitoring. Day after day, Grandma Wu helped the nurses wash and turn her from side to side as she lay, white-faced and still, on the narrow hospital bed. She wanted to be there when CC woke up, mainly to reassure her but also to stop her from saying anything indiscreet about the American airmen and the rescue mission.

During the first ten days, there were momentary signs that CC was emerging from her coma. Her eyelids would flicker and she would mutter something indistinct. But then she would lapse back into oblivion. From time to time, she called out quite clearly “Ah Zhao
” and “Gege
(Older Brother)!” but nothing she said made much sense.

Dr. Allen continued to hope that CC would make a full recovery. He instructed Grandma Wu to keep talking to her as if she could hear everything. So Grandma Wu passed the days chatting to CC and reading to her from newspapers and books she found in the hospital library. However, as day after day went by and there was no change, she couldn’t help worrying. The only good news was from Jiang Fei Fei, who reported that the Americans had arrived safely in Chungking. A ceremony had been held during which President Chiang Kai-shek himself had awarded the airmen medals for bravery, before flying them home to America. Soon afterward, Grandma Wu heard directly from her son that he and the boys were safe and well looked after by the Nationalist government. They would remain in Chungking until they heard from her.

Then one morning, three weeks after her fall and without any warning, CC regained consciousness. On opening her eyes, she was amazed to find herself in a hospital bed, with Grandma Wu sitting at her bedside reading a newspaper. As nurses gathered in her room and celebrated her awakening, CC noticed that the date printed on the daily paper was July 25, 1942. Remembering the American pilots telling her about Independence Day as the boat approached Feng Jie on July 4, CC realized with a shock of recognition that she had been unconscious for three whole weeks!

At first she could hardly stay awake for longer than an hour at a time. Repeatedly, she had to be reminded of where she was and how she had got there. She complained of a severe headache and often seemed confused. She asked about David, but could remember little about the day of her fall in the market.

Gradually, the periods of wakefulness grew longer, but CC remained muddle-headed and sickly. She was plagued by blinding headaches, and her sleep was disturbed.

Grandma Wu spoke to Dr. Allen about her concerns. “I know she has been very ill, but CC is really behaving most strangely. She often doesn’t respond to her own name and she forgets other people’s names too. She keeps calling me Nai Ma
(Nanny or wet nurse). This morning the nurse woke her up so that she could dress her injured foot, but as soon as she brought the bandages near the bed, CC screamed and cowered away from her as if she were being attacked. It took a long time to convince her that the nurse was not going to hurt her. She also seems very sad about something. From time to time she mutters the name Ah Zhao over and over. I know she has recently lost her Big Aunt, whom she loved very much, but she won’t talk about it, and to be honest, I don’t think that’s the problem.”