Posted: 05 August 2011 at 5:39pm | IP Logged

It felt good to walk, moving down an open road. I just needed to persuade my feet and lungs that it was a good idea.

        And now I was officially carless and hoped Er the drummer boy used the scrap deal to get After the Fire (aka my payday) mobile again. All I had to do was get Ms Eden down to the Starlight club and they could play the old stuff before their main gig, supporting the last of the red hot momma’s the Three Decrees. It almost sounded simple. Yeah, way too simple.

        I was en route to lunch; for once I was using my head knowing that I would need  plenty of strength to get me through to my just reward tomorrow night. The one downside was my ears might just have to suffer some aural carnage from those country caterwauling boys After the Fire. Remind myself to get some cotton wool. A thick wad.

          The San Francisco breeze was helping my appetite to build. Decided to drop into O’Malley’s for strong coffee and a bit of office work.

          It was a grand old style place where the dock workers replaced their calorific output and tried to get through the previous night’s stout overload. Using the payphone, called a few contacts to try and get a handle of what was allegedly going down at the docks. Made little progress, I knew I should have just stuck with the After the Fire odds-on favourite, but that was me all over, couldn’t keep my snout out. Rang Ms Eden, got the same brush off, but not too concerned as I knew I was turning up in person at her lair soon enough.

             As I drank my coffee decided, against all my inclinations, to do some paperwork. Felt like some kind of insurance as I made notes of names and places to be and a few instructions to others if need be. Fail to plan, plan to fail; I was worrying myself that I was beginning to think ahead.

          Thirty minutes later I was sitting down in another establishment, ordering my Chinese lunch. Li Feng’s my favourite restaurant and with the right face, access to the bigger gambling establishment at the back. I had the right face and the gambling losses to prove it.

             Maybe one day I’ll learn how to use the chopsticks, called for my bill. Received my fortune cookie, but decided not to open it. Asked if I could see Li Feng?

Before I knew I was being escorted by two Chinese, with torsos like wasps, upstairs and through a few doors. The two martial arts aficionados were going to keep me company during the visit. I was offered a seat at the large round table.

               The walls of the room were covered with silk tapestries and at the other end of the table was the matriarch of the Frisco Chinese gambling scene, the venerable queen bee Li Feng herself. She wore black silk with a red dragon motif across the front.

                 ‘Douglas, you not playing at my tables today?’

                 ‘Since my last short winning run last year, you changed the dealer.’

                 ‘I like you Douglas, you’re a good loser.’

                 ‘Had plenty of practice.’

                  She laughed with her mouth but not her eyes.

                  ‘You’re beginning to look like my people. You’ve got yellow eyes.

                  ‘Li Feng I’m actually cutting down on the ol’ rice wine intake, there’s only so many vices a good man can handle.’

                   ‘Look at you Douglas, why can’t you find a good woman.’

                   ‘Ah, perhaps I could take a charm school correspondence course.’

                    She paused to stretch her small gnarled hands, the fingernails protruding a good three inches.

                    ‘There’s something about you Douglas that intrigues me. A failed cop, and, from what I hear, a barely employed private eye. No centre in your life; money, either drank or gambled away in my premises.’

                      ‘It’s not the winning Li Feng; it’s the taking part that counts.’ I toyed with my unopened fortune cookie.

                      ‘Douglas, how old am I?’

                      ‘Now that would be a rude question to put to a lady.’

                        ‘I am 87 years old. I have seen many faces, and I feel I’ve lived several lives. I look at you Douglas and it is as if your heart and your brain at war.’

                          ‘Conflicted?’

                          ‘Don’t deflect me; have you ever really looked at yourself?’

                          ‘Once a day in the mirror, do a bit of maintenance on the stubble front, that’s it I suppose.’

                          ‘How would you describe your own spirit?’

                           ‘Stir fried.’

                          ‘Douglas when I was a young girl I was taught by your American missionaries that came to China.’

                           ‘From what I see on the streets of San Francisco today Li Feng we need all the missionaries we’ve got right here.’

                             ‘Maybe you’re right Douglas, but they told me something I’ve always remembered – then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. You need setting free Douglas. I will be soon be free of this earthly life but my grandchildren they will live to see the day when China rules the world and all you Yankees will be beholden to our wealth and power. We built the railways like slaves but we will return as masters.’

                           ‘Interesting vision Li Feng. And when I find the truth, whatever or whoever that is, I look forward to being free. Maybe the man that inspired those missionaries needs investigating.’

                           ‘Enough now Douglas, I have many businesses to run. Why did you want to see me?’

                           ‘I know you control the Chinese labour at the docks. To be honest I’m not too happy about the some of the noises coming out of there. I’m concerned for a friend’s safety.’

                           ‘Suppose I do. But Douglas I’m also very far from happy. A new organisation has taken control of the docks and my workers are being mistreated. It will all come to a head.’

                           ‘Who are they?’

                           ‘They are run by a Chinese devil back in Shanghai, I’m ashamed to say. But they are working with white devils from your country. They have taken the reins of Edencorps, and are running the show. Their importing and exporting is not all to do with legal things. And they are hurting my workers.’

                            ‘Sounds more like a wild west show.’

                          ‘They are trading red petals for white flesh.’

                          I gave her my quizzical look.

                           ‘Opium and its finished product heroin. The white flesh, well they collect white songbirds to entertain them. Some are tricked over, some are forced over. They are then kept in place by a morphine habit, and one not of their choice. Two-way trafficking. Don’t forget Douglas not that many years ago the British went to war with China to keep their opium traffic going.’

                          As usual my mind was rapidly and queasily making two plus two equals five point five recurring. White songbirds? Doesn’t look too good for the Three Decrees, Wendy, Maggie, Jenny and probably Uncle Tom Cobley. And they are playing to my wage packet After the Fire. Looks like an interesting engagement coming up at the Starflight club.

                             ‘Douglas, I am going now but another thing the missionaries taught me- blessed are the peacemakers. And I will make peace.' She smiled at her young strong-arm men standing by. 'We may have to fight to secure it, but that is the way to settle it.’

                               ‘Li Feng, there’s got to be a better way than spilling blood. Go to the police.’

                               She smiled, ‘they own the police they need here. I don’t need police, I need justice.’ Her hand slipped under the table and she pulled out something resembling a meat cleaver. Gripping in her small hands, she hammered into the table. Leaving the cleaver twitching in the table, she got up and walked out of the room.

                               I looked at the fortune cookie, and decided to leave it alone. I didn’t want to hear anymore about the future.