Chook Chook (3 page)

Chapter Five

A circle of passengers was forming in the middle of the station. I followed the shrieks, winding through pairs of legs to get past the crowd.

It was the woman with the fur coat, only now the precious coat hung off her shoulders, the hem dragging on the floor. Her hair, which had been tied into a neat bun, was now loose and wild around her face. And she was screaming and pointing.

Silk scarves, fancy hats, pretty dresses and print skirts, even some frilly underwear, were spilling out onto the floor where the woman's bag had burst open. A sparkly jewellery box lay cracked on its side and strings of pearls, golden bangles and silver earrings bounced along the ground.

And right there in the middle of it all were Little and Lo, strutting about, as happy as two chooks could be.

BAWK! BAWK! BA-KAW!

I stifled a giggle. Little had a string of pearls around her neck and a white hat with a pale blue ribbon perched on her rump. A pair of underpants was tangled up in Lo's beautiful black tail feathers and he had a light pink scarf draped over his wings. When he scratched the floor, I could hear a metallic
ting
where a few rings were caught around his feet.

‘Monsters! Filthy, awful monsters. Get away!' the woman with the fur coat screeched, waving her arms about. The gawking crowd and the shouting were making my chooks nervous and they flapped about in a flurry of feathers and fabric. The woman took a step backwards and tripped over the hem of her coat, which sent her sprawling onto the floor.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Little tossed her head up and bobbed frantically, tossing her pearl-lined neck and flapping her wings. A light-blue handkerchief floated up into the air and landed on the woman's face. She shook her head violently and shrieked so loudly I had to cover my ears.

‘Make way, make way!' Two tough-looking security guards were pushing through the crowd. They were waving clubs and one had a whistle in his mouth.

I had to get my chooks out and fast. I saw the tip of Lo's flowing tail disappearing under a pile of scarves and grabbed for it. He let out a mighty crow and clawed furiously as I pulled him back, sending feathers and jewels sailing through the air, but I gnashed my teeth and held on.

‘Seize her! She's a thief, her and those filthy animals.' The woman was shouting and pointing at me now.

One of the guards grabbed me roughly by the arm. ‘Let go!' I tried to pull free.

The other guard spied Little among the clothes. He got on his hands and knees and crawled over to her as she thrashed about.

‘Don't hurt her!' I cried.

He managed to catch hold of her. Poor Little was crying out – I could tell she was scared.

‘Please, she didn't mean any harm.' I looked around desperately and spotted Cap. I called out to him.

He turned and started to come towards me. Then he froze.

‘Cap!' I struggled, but the guard's grip was firm. I pleaded with my eyes.

But Cap backed away, shaking his head.

‘Cap, help me!' He was gone and the guard was dragging me towards the station office.

‘Officer, wait please,' came a gentle voice. It was the old woman. I sighed with relief as she hobbled over on her cane. ‘Please officer, she's only a child and the animals are her pets. I'm sure this was just a misunderstanding.'

‘She's a little thief is what she is.' The woman in the coat had gotten up, wisps of dirt and dust clinging to the soft fur. She raised a finger towards me, her nails painted blood-red and filed into sharp points. Her voice was a sinister cackle as she said, ‘A pesky orphan. She tried to pickpocket me on the platform. I caught her red-handed.'

There were a few murmurs through the crowd.

Tears welled up in my eyes. ‘No, it was – it was an accident. I'd just gotten off the train . . .'

The officer holding my arm tightened his grip. ‘The train? Where are your parents, girl?'

‘I'm meeting my brother. He's in the city . . . at . . . the . . . the . . . university.' My words came out all muffled as I started to cry.

I heard a whisper from the edge of the crowd. ‘An orphan, tsk tsk. They're going to send her away.'

Send me away?

There were more murmurs. ‘An orphan thief.'

What was I going to do?

The other guard came towards us, my hen still tucked under his arm. His uniform had a few extra pins on it to show that he was the head guard. He held out a few scarves, rings and jewels to the woman. ‘Excuse me, ma'am. Is all this stuff yours?'

The woman narrowed her eyes and pulled her coat tightly around her. ‘Why of course it is. My husband bought those for me from Shanghai last week.' She reached out to take the precious items from him, but the guard pulled his hand away. Then I saw it.

Sunlight glinted off the stones in the rings, making them glisten and sparkle so much that you almost missed the tiny white price tags that were dangling from very fine threads.

I looked down at the dainty scarf that was still draped around Lo's body. And sure enough, there was a tag on it too. I could see the name of the store written on it: ‘Guangzhou Station Finery'
.

‘Thief! Thief!' a woman's voice called out. A young shopkeeper pushed her way through the pack. She went right up to the woman in the fur coat and pointed. ‘Arrest her!
She's
the thief!'

More clamouring erupted from the crowd. The guard let go of my arm with a gruff grunt and reached for the woman in the coat.

‘No, let go of me!' She struggled, but he kept an iron hold on her.

‘Don't you dare!' The shopkeeper was shouting in the woman's face. ‘You've been stealing from my store for months.' She turned to the guards. ‘She's always dressed in that fur coat and picking out things, saying that they'll be gifts from her husband. But when one of my girls goes to ring them up, she stashes everything into her coat and she's gone!'

‘She's lying, I swear,' the woman pleaded, but the guard was already taking out his handcuffs and fastening them around her wrists.

‘Alright, move along,' he shouted to the crowd. ‘Nothing to see here.' People were chattering to each other noisily as they started to move on.

The head guard still had Little in his arms. She clucked quietly as he carefully removed the string of pearls from around her neck. Finally free, she beat her wings in appreciation. Without a word, I rushed over to take her from him.

‘Excuse me, officer,' the old woman said as she hobbled over. ‘Surely the girl is free to go now?'

The head guard looked at me hugging Little and Lo, and then back at the old woman. ‘Young children cannot be running around the station unsupervised,' he said. ‘And chickens, chickens are definitely not allowed on the trains.'

The old woman bobbed up and down on her bamboo cane. ‘Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. But she's just on her way to the university to visit her brother,' she explained. ‘It's just a few stops on line 3.'

I pointed to my box, which we had left by the map on the other side of the station. ‘We'll keep the chooks in that box and they'll go to sleep. You won't even know they're here.'

The shopkeeper and the lady in the coat were shouting at each other again and the other guard was trying to keep them apart. The head guard looked back at them wearily. He made up his mind. ‘You can go, but ma'am, I'm leaving this girl and her chickens in your care.' The old woman nodded and I smiled gratefully, clutching my chooks in my arms. The guard dipped his hat to us before going over to march the thief and the shopkeeper to the station office.

Little and Lo were calm now after all the excitement. They settled into their box and I clamped the lid shut, checking to make sure it held. When I looked up, the old woman was smiling broadly so I could see the gums in her mouth.

I got to my feet, feeling a bit embarrassed. ‘I'm sorry, Paw Paw,' I whispered. I hadn't meant to cause so much trouble.

But the old woman let out a laugh. ‘Nonsense! That was some real entertainment. I've never seen such a thing in all my life. Imagine, chooks catching a thief!' I glanced up and saw that her eyes were shining.

‘Now let's get you on the train. But where has your brother gone?' She looked around the station.

I was wondering about Cap too.

‘Here I am,' came a loud voice and we both turned. There was Cap, by the ticket booth, his hands behind his back, grinning sheepishly. I glared at him. I was still mad he had run off like that.

‘Oh, there you are!' the old woman exclaimed. ‘We were wondering where you had gone off to. I was almost going to tell the guards we had a lost child.'

I saw Cap wince when she said the word ‘guards' but it was only for a moment.

‘I was going to get the train tickets but I didn't have any money,' he explained, not even bothering to say he was sorry. I glowered at him but he just shrugged.

The old woman helped us buy our train tickets. After all his boasting about being tall enough to ride the trains as an adult, I was pleased when she got Cap a child's fare. We helped her through the gates to the platform, where we waited for the train. Cap was chatting away about all sorts of animals he had seen solve crimes. I thought that he was showing off, but the old woman listened and nodded.

The train arrived and we got onboard. It was nothing like the trains I'd seen before. It was white and sleek, with hard plastic chairs and straps dangling from the ceiling for people to hold on to. It moved incredibly fast and we stayed underground the entire trip.

I sat still, clutching my chook box in my lap and counting the stops in my head. We were getting close. I was excited that I was going to see Guo. I could imagine his face when he saw us, how surprised and happy he'd be that we had come to visit. I would run into his arms with my chickens and he would wrap us all up in a big warm hug. I couldn't wait.

‘We're here,' said the old woman and I bounded out of my seat, eager to get off the train. The shiny silver doors slid open and I leapt onto the platform.

And came face to face with Guo's worried frown.

Chapter Six

‘Guo!' I shouted and went to hug him but stopped. My brother held his arms tightly crossed against his chest, his brow knitted and his mouth turned downwards. He looked furious.

Uh oh.

Cap and the old woman had stepped off the train and were looking at us, astonished. The old woman hobbled over to Guo. ‘You must be this young girl's brother. She's told us so much about you.'

‘Unfortunately, I am,' Guo mumbled. I shrank back. Guo had never said anything like that before.

He held out his hand to the old woman. ‘Ma'am, I am so sorry my sister has caused you so much trouble.'

‘It's quite alright. I can't remember the last time I had such an exciting adventure.' Her eyes twinkled and she gave me a wink.

Guo didn't care. ‘Mei, I can't believe you. Ma is so, so angry with you, and I am too. When she found out you were gone, Jin went to the village train station. The ticket man said he remembered a young girl trying to buy a ticket to Guangzhou. Ma rang me at the university and Jin called the Guangzhou train station. The guards said there was an incident with some chickens and a thief?'

I nodded eagerly. ‘That's right. Little and Lo, they stopped a woman who was stealing—'

‘I don't want to hear it, Mei.' Guo finally noticed Cap, who had been standing silently beside us. ‘Who's this?'

‘My name's Cap. I'm from the village. I helped Mei find her way here,' he said proudly.

I rolled my eyes. He was such a show-off.

Guo didn't say anything about it. Instead, he held out his hand to the old woman again. ‘Thank you so much, ma'am. I must apologise once more for all the trouble my sister has been.'

The old woman took his hand in hers and smiled warmly. ‘Please, it's been no trouble. I have been meaning to pay my son a visit for a long time. This gave me the perfect reason.' She gave me another wink. ‘Best of luck with your studies, young man.' And she shuffled towards the exit.

My brother slumped against the wall of the station, hunched over like an old man. He buried his head in his hands. I reached out and touched his arm.

‘I'm sorry, Guo,' I murmured. ‘I thought it would be a surprise.'

Guo pinched the bridge of his nose, not meeting my gaze. He looked more like Pa than ever before, but when he had been gaunt and very sick.

I wanted to cry.

Cap came to my side and said in a very grown-up voice, ‘I'm sure Mei didn't mean to cause trouble. I think she just missed you.'

Guo straightened up and put a hand on Cap's shoulder. ‘Thank you for looking out for her.'

‘We looked out for each other.' I gave Cap a grateful smile.

Guo picked up my chook box and headed towards the exit. ‘Come on, we have to call Ma to tell her you're okay. Cap, should we call your parents too?'

Cap shook his head. ‘Nah, they're out of town.'

I frowned but Cap didn't say anything else.

The entrance to the university was marked by a large white stone wall with the name South China University written in tall red letters across the top. It was all very cold and official-looking. I felt myself cowering behind my brother.

Once we were through the gate, there was a mess of wide roads going left and right and around in a circle, like the legs of a spider. Lots and lots of cars were parked along the sides. Only a few of the rich families had cars back in the village – everyone else, including Jin and Ma, got around by bicycle. There must have been a lot of rich people at Guo's university.

We walked down one of the long wide roads past a creek with some ducks splashing about. There were big buildings rising up like mountains all along the paths. They came in all sorts of shapes and colours and looked nothing like the little mud houses in the village. There was even one building with walls made entirely from glass. I thought I would be able to see all the way inside, but everything just looked murky and cloudy green, like the dirty fish tanks at the market.

We passed the main square and came to a group of smaller buildings. These buildings were much older and a dull grey, stacked close together to look like a big concrete box. I craned my neck up and up. There were lines and lines of drying laundry hanging from each of the balconies, dangling like tentacles.

There were no signs above the doorways of these buildings, but I could guess what they were.

The student dormitories.

Guo led us through one of the unmarked doorways and up the stairs. He perched the chook box on his knee as he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a single key tied on a piece of red string. He inserted it into the door handle and the lock opened with a gentle click.

Cap and I filed inside.

The room was very narrow with just a single bed, small dresser and a student's desk. Next to the desk was a door that led out onto the balcony.

Guo had always been very neat so I wasn't surprised that the bed was perfectly made and nothing in the room seemed out of place. Only his desk was messy with its piles of open books and papers strewn about.

Cap and I stood in silence, trying to make ourselves seem as small as possible in the tight space. Guo pushed past and plonked my box of chooks on the desk.

‘Do not step outside this room.' He pointed an accusing finger. ‘You have no idea how much trouble I'd be in if they found you here. We're not allowed to have people stay.' He pushed a hand through his hair, which had grown long and shaggy in the weeks since I'd seen him. His face was still clean and smooth, but that was because Guo only had a couple of whiskers, not like the bushy beard Pa had sometimes grown.

‘I have to call Ma and tell her you're okay. She's been worried sick.' With that, he started towards the door but stopped and turned back to us. I gulped loudly and tumbled onto the bed, trying to avoid his eyes.

‘Do not, I repeat, do not go outside.' And then he left, shutting the door firmly.

Cap went straight over to the balcony door and stepped outside.
Boys.

I shook my head and lifted the lid off my box to take Little and Lo out. My chooks flapped their wings, happy to be out of the crate and to explore their new surroundings.

But there wasn't much to see and the chooks got bored quickly. I had to keep Lo from scrambling onto the balcony. Cap was leaning way out over the railing, gazing down at a group of university boys who were tossing a tennis ball in the courtyard.

‘Get back inside,' I hissed.

Cap got up on his tiptoes as he watched one of the boys throw the ball way over his friends' heads. It bounced once, twice, three times before disappearing into a thorny hedge.

‘Aww man,' cried one of the boys. ‘Not another one!' His accent was strong, his words coming out clipped and fast. It sounded very different to the way the men spoke in our village.

‘Chun, you threw it, you go get it,' said another boy. His voice was softer and it was clear and crisp, like the way Ma always spoke. I realised it might be the city accent that she had never really lost in all her time living with Pa on the farm.

The boy called Chun went to fetch his ball while the other boys joked around, hurling insults at each other in a friendly way. Cap was listening, his eyes bright and shining. I was afraid the boys would look up and see him.

To my relief, Cap came back into the room. I pulled the balcony door shut to keep the noise outside and Cap and the chooks inside.

Cap flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. To pass the time, I took out a few stones and set them on the floor in front of Little. I pointed and waited patiently for her to peck the right one.

Cap rolled over onto his stomach to watch us. ‘What are you doing?'

‘Training,' I said. Little had managed to pick the right pebble twice in a row but she was distracted now. I snapped my fingers to get her attention.

‘Training for what?' Cap looked really interested and had propped himself up on the bed. I ignored him and pointed at one of the pebbles on the floor. But Little was too busy preening her feathers, reaching way back into the dimple of her wing. Finally, she turned back to our game and pecked at the pebble. I fed her some grains of rice that I kept for a reward.

‘Chickens are really smart. You can train them to play games,' I said, beaming with pride. I had come up with the idea after reading a book I had borrowed from school. A group of scientists had trained chickens to peck at different-coloured stones or perform routines, such as walking in a figure of eight. Little and Lo were so clever and already good at dancing, I figured they would be easy to train.

But Lo had been impossible to teach and spent most of our lessons running away or getting angry if I tried to keep him still. After getting too many scratches on my arms, I'd given up and tried with Little. She was much easier to train, but it was still hard to keep her attention.

Cap looked on as Little pecked pebble after pebble, putting on a bit of a show. I was really pleased – she didn't usually do this well. It was only after the seventh go that she suddenly let out a shrill squawk and beat her wings, sending the pebbles flying. I couldn't help but giggle at my silly chook.

But Cap shook his head. ‘You're doing it wrong.'

I rolled my eyes.
What did he know about chooks?

But Cap was up to something. He was pulling random items out of his pockets: pieces of crumpled paper, a feather, a pencil that had snapped in two. Finally, he held up a sparkling metal dial dangling from a gold chain. It was an old pocket watch. He pushed the knob at the top and the case sprang open, revealing a cracked glass face. There were official-looking stars carved into the back of the case, a bit like the ones on the badges and pins used in the army. Cap held it out carefully, showing me proudly. ‘It belonged to my dad. He got it for bravery.' I could tell that the watch meant a lot to him.

Cap got off the bed and moved to the window, holding up the watch face. The glass surface caught the rays of light that were streaming into the room. Cap turned the watch carefully in his hand.

And then I saw it. A disc of rainbow colours darted along the wall where the light was reflecting off the face of the watch. It jumped from the left to the right and then onto the floor as Cap angled the beam.

The second the rainbow hit the floor, Little pounced, her eyes wide. Cap stopped it in front of a pebble and she pecked. He moved it to another one and she pecked. They did this over and over and over, Little's eyes never leaving the disc of light.

She was perfectly trained.

My jaw dropped and Cap gave me a cocky grin. I wasn't annoyed anymore. ‘How did you know?'

Cap snapped the lid shut, killing the light. Little looked around, confused and disappointed. After a few moments, he reopened the case and the light sprang back to life. Little went right for it.

‘She likes shiny things,' he said. ‘Why do you think they went after the woman with the jewels?'

I was amazed at how he had figured that out. ‘You're really smart,' I said. ‘You must get really high marks in school.'

Cap was silent as he watched Little dart about. Finally, he shut the lid again and looked at me. ‘I don't go to school. I'm not allowed.'

My brow furrowed. ‘What do you mean? Everyone has to go to school.'

But Cap shook his head. ‘Uncle – who's not even my real uncle, just an old friend of my dad's – he melts gold and other metals into jewellery. He makes me work in the shop when all my cousins go to school. I have to work really hard or he gets mad.' His voice grew quiet.

‘Is that why you ran away?' I swallowed hard. My stomach felt queasy and my throat had gone dry.

Cap's expression was hard and unreadable. ‘Some gold and silver jewellery went missing. I don't know where it went, but Uncle said I took it. He was furious and hit me. He said he was going to call the police, have me locked up and put away.'

‘Cap, that's awful. I'm so sorry,' I said. That was why he'd been so worried about the guards at the station. Poor, poor Cap. I got up to give him a hug.