A chime sounded on Fawn’s phone and woke her from a nap. She took a deep breath and turned under the blankets to look at her phone resting on the bedside table. It chimed again and she grunted as she grabbed it.
When she looked at the screen, she saw a strange notification. Her brow creased as she tapped it. The message thread between she and Zhù opened to reveal a game within the chat.
“What is this?” she wondered to herself.
She turned on her back and waited for the three dots to become a message.
🗡️“Good morning, Yuè! I hope I didn’t wake you.”
With another deep breath, she sat up against her pillows and replied.
🥀“Good morning, Zhù. It’s almost noon. I should be up,
anyway.
What did you send?”
🗡️“It’s a game I thought we could play, especially on days
you don’t feel like talking.
If you don’t want to, it’s okay.
We can find something else if you don’t like this one.”
She cleared her throat and drank water from a glass beside the bed, then clicked the link to open the app. She smiled when she recognized it.
🥀“This is like that old electronic board game.”
🗡️“Yes but much better because there’s no setting up
pieces and no looking around to see where your
opponent’s ships are located.”
The deeper into the game they went, the more invested Fawn became. As soon as she was certain of the pattern he had formed with his ships, she destroyed them one right after the other before he could destroy more than one of hers.
🗡️“I had no idea I was playing against a champion.”
She laughed as the game played a victory tune in her favor.
🥀“The foster home had the game. There was a boy there
a year older than me. He was the only one who was ever
nice to me. Maybe not nice but he wasn’t mean. He was
lonely like me because he wasn’t like other kids. Something
was wrong with his brain, I think. Maybe he had autism. I
don’t know.
He received money for a disability, so they took care of him
to look good for the child services people checking on his
condition. The other kids hated him because of the attention
he received while the rest of us were neglected. He wasn’t
mean to anyone. He didn’t pretend to be better than anyone.
He was almost ashamed of the attention.
I was the only one who was nice to him, so he talked to me
the most. We played board games a lot, and this one was
his favorite. He said he liked the little lights and sounds
when the ships were hit. Even when I could easily end the
game, I let him win. He would cry if he lost, and the other
boys would make fun of him.
Sad to say spending time with him, even though it was
stressful, is the best memory I have of that place.”
Garrett could feel the heaviness in her words as he read them. There was a conundrum in the joy she had over playing and the pity over the boy from the home.
🥀“The saddest day of my life at that place was when he left.”
When she didn’t elaborate, Garrett became curious and concerned.
🗡️“What happened to him?”
🥀“I don’t know. No one knew where he went. It didn’t
seem likely the people would have sent him to live with
anyone else. They liked the money too much. He didn’t
age out. He was only twelve. He just didn’t come down
for breakfast one morning. When I asked where he was,
the woman slapped me and told everyone to mind their
business.”
🗡️“Do you remember his name?”
🥀“Christopher. I don’t think I ever knew a last name. He
had reddish brown hair and freckles. As a little girl, I
thought he was cute. I don’t know if it was his
appearance that made me think so or just that he was
good to me.”
Garrett opened a text to Doug to quickly send him instructions:
🗡️“Look up a boy named ‘Christopher’ who would have
had something akin to autism. He disappeared from
that foster home at twelve. Red hair, freckles. They were
getting disability checks for him.”
🥀“Zhù?”
🗡️“I’m here, Yuè. I’m sorry you lost your friend. I hope our
game didn’t make you sad.”
Fawn pulled away the blankets and hurried from her bed to use the bathroom. She brought her phone with her so she could reply.
🥀“Not at all. I had fun. Thank you for playing with me. I’m
sorry about being so down yesterday. Can I tell you what
happened?”
🗡️“Of course. You can always tell me anything. Did
something happen at that party?”
He went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee while he waited for her to tell him how she felt about what he’d seen.
🥀“The usual. There’s a woman who has never liked me,
but I don’t know why. I’ve never been mean to her. I
don’t really talk to anyone there because I’m not
comfortable meeting new people.
It’s the foster home. I’m always afraid they’ll find me and
bring me back. I know that’s silly because I’m 22, but it’s
what they always told us. We weren’t allowed to tell
anyone about them or how we came to the U.S. They
said they would even know if we told after we left.
I sometimes wonder if being afraid to talk to people makes
them not like me. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with the
people at the office. Maybe they think I believe I’m better
than them since our boss hired me on his own right away.
I didn’t have to go through any training, and he put me in
charge of an important and sensitive area of the company.
I know they say gross things about us. He’s old enough to be
my father, and I would never do such a thing. Not just
because of the age but because I’m not like that. I don’t use
my body to get things. I can see why they might think so,
though.
I have tried to make friends there. After our boss told me they
would like me if I was more approachable, I tried to speak to
them. I brought in mooncakes for the first time and even made
tea from special herbs I imported from China.
They really liked the cakes but they still didn’t like me. The
tea, they said, was disgusting, and then they accused me of
trying to force my culture into the workplace.
My boss and some of the higher employees were appreciative
and kind, but since I’m not one of them, they don’t talk to me
unless they need to get into my office.
This one woman has been the worst of them all. She wears so
much make-up and the most expensive clothes I’ve seen
anyone in Camden wear. I heard she has a make-up tutorial
channel on the internet. I’ve never watched it. The other
women aren’t as mean as her, but they aren’t nice, either.
She was mean again yesterday about my clothes. She made
more racist remarks.”
Garrett read as he sat at his kitchen counter and opened his laptop. He decided to look through links Doug sent the night before as they talked. Her mention of the gross rumors made him feel guilty of his own speculations. When she spoke of the women, he knew right away she meant Monique. He wondered what she thought of his silence.
🗡️“No one said anything to her about her behavior?”
🥀“No. The jerk was there. He saw everything. He didn’t even
defend himself over the comments that would have applied
to him, too. I thought about what you said and it helped. I
guess he hates himself for conforming instead of being true
to his ancestors.”
Garrett coughed on his coffee and found himself laughing softly at her assessment. As he thought of her words, though, he wondered if there might be some truth to it.
He’d always had the freedom to be the person he wanted even though he grew up in a non-Chinese home. He was raised as Doug had been raised, which naturally wouldn’t have been with a Chinese heritage in mind. He hadn’t turned his back on his culture. He simply wasn’t exposed to it.
His biological mother and his adoptive mother began speaking about how to introduce those things to him, and after his Chinese mother moved to Canada for a while, he learned even more.
Still, he could see why Fawn was drawing her conclusions. She didn’t know anything about his upbringing or what he did away from the agency. His teasing of her clothes, the criticism of the mooncakes in Mr. Pinkerton’s office, and the way he stood silently as Monique mocked her was enough to make anyone believe he was ashamed of his blood.
🥀“Can we watch a movie?”
Fawn’s message surprised him. What exactly did she mean? He hesitantly responded.
🗡️“Would you like to go out to a theater or find something
on TV?”
🥀“Please don’t be angry but I’m still not ready to meet you.
Is it okay if we watch in our own apartments and talk like this?”
🗡️“I’m not angry at all. I told you before to take all the time you
need. I have something to do for a minute, so find something
you want to watch while you wait. Let me know when you’ve
found it.”
🥀“Thank you, Zhù.”
While Fawn looked for a movie, Garrett read over the text Doug had just sent. The more he was learning about the foster home, the more it appeared to be connected to the organization responsible for the atrocities he and the Order were trying to bring down.
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