Phoenix (9 page)

“Sure I can. I’ll just close up the shop for a couple days. A ride in the mountains usually takes more than a single afternoon around here. If the shop gets an order for some bikes, my father can take care of it. It’s my summer vacation, after all. I deserve a short getaway.”

“If you want a getaway, go by yourself.”

“It’s more fun to ride with someone else.”

“Why me?”

Hú Dié paused. “Honestly?”

“Yeah.”

“I want to study in America someday, remember? You’re American.”

I nodded. “I see. You think by riding with me, we’ll become friends and I’ll help you go to college in the United States?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Even if you can’t help me or you decide that you don’t want to help me, so what? At least I’ll have a fun ride in the mountains and get to practice my English.”

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. This is something that I have to do alone.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Hú Dié said. “You can’t do this alone. How are you supposed to accomplish anything if you barely even speak the language? I can be your interpreter. What have you got to lose?”

“The answer is still no.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, growing feisty again. “Is it that you are afraid you won’t be able to keep up with
a girl? Maybe you
should
be worried. I ride the mountains whenever I get the chance. I am good. Very good.”

I took a deep breath and thought about what she was saying. Maybe I would be better off with her coming along. Beyond speaking the language and having knowledge of the roads and mountain terrain, she definitely seemed to know bikes. Equipment broke all the time on mountain trails. More than that, riding with a buddy was simply responsible mountain biking. Anything could happen out there. Just because she went along did not mean I had to tell her what I was up to.

“Well?” Hú Dié pressed. “It’s getting late, and this is not a safe city after dark. I’ll tell you what—if you let me go with you tomorrow, you can sleep here in the shop tonight. I live upstairs with my father, and it will be easy enough for you and me to leave first thing in the morning from here. I will even throw in dinner tonight. You won’t find a better deal than that in this city. What do you say?”

I closed my eyes and thought about the encounter I’d just had on the street. She was right. This city wasn’t safe, and I wouldn’t find a better deal anywhere.

I decided to take a chance. After all, she was only a girl. I opened my eyes and nodded.

And just like that, I had a new riding partner.

The question was, how safe was
she
?

I spent the rest of
the evening in the bike shop, toggling through screens on the GPS unit while Hú Dié cooked dinner upstairs. When she finally came down, I was so hungry I could have eaten scrap metal.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to. She had made a huge bowl of pork wontons in chicken broth with fresh napa cabbage and sliced pickled ginger on the side. It was delicious. We ate with metal chopsticks while sitting side by side at a grease-streaked workbench strewn with bike parts. Pretty much an ideal dinner setting. When she wasn’t being feisty, Hú Dié was actually fun to be around. I even stopped getting that strange, nervous feeling when she was close to me.

We talked some, and I learned that while she lived here with her father, her mother lived elsewhere. I didn’t ask why. Like me, she had no other family.

Hú Dié’s father was out for the evening on business, and he didn’t make it home as she’d expected. We ended up eating the bowl of food she’d set aside for him, too. By the time we’d finished, my hunger was more than satisfied. I pushed our empty bowls aside and handed Hú Dié the GPS unit, showing her the route that PawPaw had laid out for me. Both kilometers and miles were displayed.

“No problem,” she said after looking things over. “This route appears to be programmed primarily for travel by bus, but we will be riding bikes, so we can take some shortcuts.”

“Really?” I asked.

Hú Dié nodded. “I know roads through several small villages where buses don’t go. This route shows sixty miles to the trailhead, but I can cut it down to about forty-five. We should be able to make it to the trailhead in four or five hours at a moderate pace.”

“What about the trail itself?”

“It appears to be ten miles one way into the mountains. I have ridden out there several times, and we’re probably going to have to spend the night. Those ten miles will take a couple hours, both going out and coming back. From what I remember, though, there is nothing at the final destination but a small, empty valley. Why would you want to go to that place?”

I’d been expecting this question. I had decided that since she would be with me the whole ride, I might as well tell her about the ruins. Of course, I wouldn’t tell
her
why
I wanted to go there. As for the man I was supposed to find, I would deal with that topic when the time came.

“There was a temple in that location,” I said. “It was destroyed a long time ago.”

“Cangzhen Temple?” she asked.

My eyes widened. “Yes! How do you know about Cangzhen?”

“I don’t know much, only the few things my father has told me. There is supposed to be a crazy old hermit who lives in the temple ruins, but no one knows exactly where the ruins are located. Are you sure that’s the spot?”

I couldn’t believe my good luck. Her already knowing about the man would make things much easier. “I’m fairly sure that is the location. The person who programmed the GPS said it might not be exact, but it should be close.”

She shrugged. “I guess the ruins could be in that valley. I’ve ridden all over those mountains except down there, and I’ve never come across any destroyed temples anywhere else.”

“Do you know anything more about the hermit?”

“Not really. My father spends a fair amount of time in one of the villages out that way, and he hears things. People see the old man a few times a year, buying food and other supplies. My father said that he saw him once, and that he didn’t look crazy at all, just really big. Maybe people only call him crazy because he prefers to be alone, or because he often talks to himself about the glory days of Cangzhen Temple. I’ve never heard stories about him being dangerous or anything.”

“That’s good.”

“Do you want to talk with him or something?”

“Maybe. I just want to find the ruins first. Do you know anything more about Cangzhen?”

“There are legends, but they seem pretty unbelievable. Can I ask why you want to find it?”

“No. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s personal.”

“Fine,” she snapped, her feistiness rising once more. “Be that way.” She grabbed the dirty dishes.

I stood. “Here, let me help with those.”

“No. I’d rather you didn’t come upstairs. I’ll take care of it.” She headed up a staircase at the back of the shop. She returned a few minutes later with a couple of old blankets and a threadbare pillow. She handed them to me.

“I apologize for the condition of these,” she said, stern-faced.

“These are great,” I replied, trying to lighten the mood. “They are much better than what I had on the bus, which was nothing. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Do you think you will have a problem spending the night in the mountains tomorrow?”

“Not at all. I love camping. My grandfather takes me sometimes.”

“Good. I enjoy it, too.” She looked over at my backpack. “Do you have anything smaller?”

“I have a small duffel bag, but I don’t think it’s going to help much on a ride.”

“I have a pack that you can use. What about riding pants?”

I frowned. “No. I had planned to hike to the ruins. I
didn’t think of riding a bike there until I came into your shop.”

Hú Dié sighed. “You at least brought short pants, right?”

“Yes. Several pairs. Why?”

“Give me one.”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

I rummaged through my backpack and pulled out a pair of brown cargo shorts. I tossed them to her.

“These will work,” she said. “Now get some sleep. You are probably jet-lagged, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“If you say so.”

“I
do
say so,” she said, “and from this point forward, you will do exactly as I say. If you think Kaifeng is a dangerous place, you should see some of the villages and mountain trails.”

I groaned. “So I’ve been told.”

“This is serious. Do you agree to listen to me or not?”

“Agreed.”

Hú Dié nodded and turned away. “Good night then, Phoenix.”

“Good night, Iron Butterfly.”

She left, and I spread out my makeshift bed. As I lay down among the bicycles, I wondered what the heck I had just gotten myself into.

I slept very little that night. I wanted to blame my wakefulness on the time difference and the eight hours I’d
slept on the bus, but I knew there was more. Not only did I have concerns about Hú Dié, who had just pushed her way into my life, I was also worried about Grandfather. He had appeared more or less okay when I left, but he was extremely tough, and he had always had a face of stone. It was impossible to tell how he really felt. He could be in agony and no one would know it. I looked forward to calling him as soon as the ride to Cangzhen Temple was over. I was dying to know how he was doing. It took me a long time to fall asleep.

I woke to something having dropped onto my face. I scrambled to sit up, finding that the object was the cargo shorts I’d given Hú Dié the night before.

“Try them on,” Hú Dié said, hovering over me. “I hope they fit. I do not want to have to make another pair. I spent half the night working on them.”

I examined the shorts and found that she had sewn padding into them. I didn’t know what to say. Like many riders, I felt that padded riding shorts were a rider’s most important piece of equipment outside of a helmet.

“Thank you,” I said. “They look awesome, just like you’d find in a store.”

“They are better than you would find in a store. Now put them on. I’ll turn around.”

Hú Dié turned away, and I hurriedly changed into the shorts, embarrassed. I squatted a few times. “You’re right. These are better than anything I’ve tried from a store. They are really comfortable, like they were custom-made for me.”

“They
were
custom-made for you.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks a lot.”

“Can I turn around now?”

“Sure, sorry.”

Hú Dié turned and looked me up and down. “The shorts do fit you well,” she said. “Now let’s see how I do with a bike. Do you still like that blue and white full-suspension? The one with the welds you questioned?”

I nodded.

“How do you like your ride? Firm? Soft?”

“I like my front forks firm,” I said. “I’ve never ridden a bike with a rear suspension, so I don’t know what to tell you about the rear shock absorber adjustment. I ride a hard-tail back home.”

“Don’t you like shocks?”

“I can’t afford full suspension. I’ve always wanted to try one, though.”

“Well, now is your chance. Hard-tails are good for smooth tracks with small hills and lots of turns. More of your energy is transferred to the rear wheel instead of being absorbed by the rear suspension. However, on rocky trails in the mountains like we’re going to ride, full suspension is the way to go, especially over long distances. Your butt will thank you.”

“My butt already thanks
you
for the padding,” I joked.

Hú Dié rolled her eyes, but she cracked a smile. She went behind the tall counter and returned with a handful of hex wrenches, motioning for me to follow her over to the blue and white mountain bike. She began making adjustments, looking back and forth several times between the bike and me as she worked. I’d never seen
someone work so quickly. First, she raised the seat post and adjusted the seat angle. Then she changed the angle of the handlebars and repositioned the brake levers. She even moved the gearshift thumb toggles to a slightly different location.

“Don’t you need to measure me before you make those changes?” I asked.

“No. I am very good at judging dimensions just by looking at things.” She grabbed a small, specialized hand pump to adjust the air pressure within the bike’s rear shock absorber, which isolated the rear tire from the frame. “How much do you weigh?” she asked. “A hundred thirty pounds?”

“One-fifteen.”

Hú Dié grinned. “So, the phoenix is as light as a bird? Maybe you will be able to fly with me, after all.”

“Count on it, Butterfly.”

She laughed and adjusted the shock’s air pressure; then she inspected the tires.

“Are those tires tubeless?” I asked.

“Of course, and I’ve already treated the inner walls with sealant. We will bring inner tubes as backup in case we get a pinch flat on the trail or pick up a nail on the road that the sealant can’t handle. I’ve also got several patch kits and a small hand pump. Nothing worse than being miles from anywhere with a flat tire.”

“Agreed,” I said. I watched as she checked the pressure in the tires by squeezing them between her thumb and forefinger.

“Don’t you need a tire-pressure gauge for that?”