The Book of Dreams (57 page)

“I … I can’t say,” she said, at last. “That’s his stuff. His secret. I’m sure he’ll tell you himself if—
when
—we get through this. But I can’t do it for him. I’m sorry, I really am.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Georgia said, shrugging. “I’m not pushing you. I’m just glad you could tell me your side. I’d like to help if I can in my own little way.”

“You’ve helped me already,” Dana said, fervently.

“Well, maybe I can do a bit more. I’ll call you tonight about my great-granny.”

• • •

That night, Georgia rang Dana with the news.

“It’s all set. We’re to meet her on Wednesday first thing after school. We’re going to
yum cha
in her favorite restaurant.”

“To what?”

“
Yum cha.
Drink tea. You’ll love it. If we hurry, we’ll be in time for
dim sum
. Have you had that before?”

“No.”

“You’ll love it!”

• • •

On Wednesday, Dana and Georgia left school together and headed for the old Chinatown on Spadina Avenue. They hurried through the bustling streets past outdoor stands of exotic fruits and vegetables; small shops cluttered with porcelain statues, paper parasols, and ironware woks; clothing stores with their wares displayed on sidewalk rails; and butchers with barbecued pork and duck hanging from hooks in the windows. The air was pungent with the scents of incense, raw fish, cooked meats, and spices.

“This is it,” said Georgia, stopping in front of a large restaurant.

The Dragon Palace was a grand old establishment near an Asian mall. Two stone lions guarded the doorway. A silken banner above the lintel displayed a golden dragon with Chinese lettering.

“
Lung tik chuan ren.
” Georgia read out loud. “Children of the dragon. That’s what Chinese people call themselves.”

A wide stairway covered with a red carpet led upward into a cavernous dining room decorated with tasseled lanterns and delicately painted screens. The music of a two-stringed lute,
baa-u
, flute, and hand bell chimed behind the tumult of voices. The restaurant was packed to the brim. Round tables seated entire families. In among the diners, waitresses wearing embroidered cheongsam dresses pushed handcarts of food. From bamboo steamers and kettles of boiling water, they served the small delicacies that made up
dim sum
. Moving between the tables, the waitresses called out the dishes in Chinese and English.
Ha gao!
Shrimp dumpling!
Nor mai gai!
Sticky rice in lotus leaf!
Sui mail
Pork dumpling!
Wu gok!
Taro cake!

Georgia and Dana hovered in the entranceway till a beautiful hostess glided toward them. When Georgia spoke to her in Chinese, Dana noticed the change in the young woman’s expression. The gracious smile faltered. Was there a trace of fear in her eyes?

She led them down a corridor lined with paintings of dragons.

“I should warn you,” Georgia whispered to Dana, “if you see anything strange, it isn’t your imagination. There’s two of her.”

“What!”

“You’ll see. Maybe. Just remember I told you and don’t freak out. Oh, and she doesn’t speak English, so I’ll be your interpreter.”

At the end of the hall was a doorway draped with a heavy red curtain. The hostess drew the curtain aside and ushered them in, then hurried away with visible relief.

In contrast to the noisy restaurant, the private compartment was dim and hushed. The rich furnishings were of mahogany inlaid with ivory. A thick red-and-gold carpet covered the floor. Dragon images were everywhere, in carved red wood, bright ceramics, green jade, and pale porcelain. Against the back wall was an altar with joss sticks in brass holders. A musky incense smoked the air. In the center of the room was a lone dining table with high-backed chairs. Seated at the table was a tiny, wizened woman.

Dana was surprised. After the edginess of the hostess and Georgia’s warnings, she was expecting someone fierce. The little old lady with wrinkled eyes and beaming smile was the picture of a beloved great-granny. She wore a high-collared trouser suit of a flowered pattern, with buttons and toggles. Her wispy gray hair was pulled back into a bun. Except for the tiny golden dragons that dangled from her ears, she wore no jewelry. When Georgia ran to hug her, she cackled with delight.

Georgia waved Dana over to be introduced. Relaxed and smiling, Dana put out her hand. In that moment, she became aware of the other.

As the shock ran through her, Dana was glad of Georgia’s warning. It stopped her from crying out. For there behind the little great-granny, like a ghostly shadow, stood an imperious figure. Her features were haughty, her gaze cold and stern. She was formally dressed in the sumptuous robes of a Chinese noblewoman, padded silk and brocade finely worked with gold-wrapped thread. Her shining black hair was bound up with jeweled combs. Her throat and ears dripped with pearls.

Instinctively, Dana bowed toward her.

Georgia’s great-granny responded quickly in Chinese.

“Good move there, girl,” Georgia said to Dana. “She says you have good manners. But you needn’t address the Dragon Lady again. Don’t worry, you’re not being disrespectful. She’s the secret part of great-granny. No one else can see her, but I figured you might. I can only see her when Great-granny sleeps. No one else can, but they sense her sometimes. That’s what scares them, eh?”

The two girls sat down as various waitresses arrived, wheeling carts. Dana could see how nervous they were and how they avoided coming too close. Yet none looked directly at the Dragon Lady.

The little great-granny herself bantered away in Chinese as she chose different foods, while Georgia did her best to guide Dana.

Before she had even looked at the dishes of food on the carts, Dana was stumped by the plethora of small bowls, cups, chopsticks, and china spoons laid out in front of her.

“There’s actually a method to
dim sum
,” Georgia explained. “It means ‘light heart’ or ‘touch the heart.’ You start with the steamed stuff, then you move on to the more exotic, like the chicken feet—no?—then the deep-fried, and finally the dessert.”

Dana’s heart sank as she studied the portions of chicken, pork, shrimp, and beef.

“I’m vegetarian.”

“No sweat,” Georgia assured her, “there’s lots of things you can eat.”

Soon Dana was tasting turnip croquettes, red bean cake, water chestnut and taro root dumplings, sesame seed balls, and crispy egg tartlets. All went down happily with tiny cups of tea.

“This is delicious!”

As they ate, Georgia kept up a stream of conversation and translation between her great-granny and her friend. Like the little dishes of food, the talk was light and varied, and seemed to center for the most part on Dana’s family and background. Mindful of the Dragon Lady’s ever-watchful eye, Dana did her best to be truthful. Neither Georgia nor her great-granny showed any surprise when she spoke of her fairy mother.

“Great-granny’s like you,” Georgia said. “She’s the daughter of a human woman and a Dragon King. That’s how come she’s the way she is and why she’s able to talk to dragons. She said everyone in the olden days could, but things are different now.”

By the time they had finished their dessert of almond pudding, Georgia’s great-granny was looking sleepy. Her eyes kept closing, then fluttering open again, till finally they stayed shut. Her breath came in low whistles.

Georgia sat up straighter. There was an expectant look on her face, mingled with awe. Now she bowed her head toward the Dragon Lady.

Dana knew immediately it was time for the other to speak.

The Dragon Lady didn’t move from behind the chair, yet it seemed as if she had stepped out of the shadows. Her silken robes rustled. Small white hands appeared from inside her wide sleeves. Dana stared at the long red fingernails. When the Dragon Lady spoke, her voice was cool and aloof. Her language sounded different from the little great-granny’s, more formal.

“She’s speaking Mandarin,” Georgia told Dana. “We were using Cantonese before. She has only one question for you. It’s not a trick or anything, so just answer as honestly as you can.”

“Work away,” said Dana, as her stomach tightened.

“She wants to know,” Georgia said, enunciating each word carefully, “do you respect your ancestors?”

Though Dana found the question odd, it wasn’t difficult to answer. She thought immediately of Thomas Gowan, the story of his life, and the Book of Dreams. She liked what she had read, what he had written, how he had thought, and she was proud to be descended from him. She thought also of his “beloved Harriet” and their children from whom Gran Gowan had come. On the other side of her family was her mother, Edane, the Light-Bearer, a
spéirbhean
and a queen in Faerie. Behind her was the fairy ancestress of whom Edane had spoken, the White Lady of the Waters.

“I’m very proud of my people,” Dana said. “I hope to do them honor when I face my destiny.”

Georgia looked delighted and quickly translated the answer.

The Dragon Lady nodded curtly but gave no other response. From deep in her sleeve, she produced three bronze coins. They had square holes in the center and were inscribed on one side.

She handed them to Dana.

“Keep throwing them on the table till she tells you to stop,” Georgia said.

As Dana obeyed, the Dragon Lady watched the falling coins with keen eyes. After the sixth throw, she raised her hand to stop Dana. Retrieving the coins, the Lady went to the altar and stayed there awhile, writing on sheets of gold paper.

“Have you heard of the
I Ching
?” Georgia asked Dana, who shook her head. “
The Book of Changes
. It’s so old, some people say it was the First Book. They also say it has a soul of its own and when you throw the coins, you’re asking questions of that soul.”

“A book with a soul!” Dana breathed. “But how can you talk to it?”

“It’s kind of complicated. Do you believe in coincidence?”

“There’s no such thing as coincidence,” Dana said automatically. Then she added, “That’s what they say in Faerie.”

Georgia nodded. “That’s what the
I Ching
says too. When you throw the coins, there are patterns in the way they fall. The heads and tails are lines of yin and yang. You throw six times to make a hexagram. The book describes the sixty-four hexagrams that three coins can make. The patterns you throw mean something specific to you. Not a fluke or coincidence, but something true and important.”

“I should have asked a question!” Dana said, disappointed.

“The Dragon Lady already did.” Georgia said in a low voice.

“What did she ask?” whispered Dana.

Before Georgia could answer, the Dragon Lady returned to them. She handed Georgia a piece of paper and went on at some length.

Now Georgia interpreted for Dana.

“The reading’s good! You get two with the moving lines. They’re the changes. I’ll explain that later if you want the details. The first pattern is Hexagram Ten, called
Lu
, meaning ‘Treading.’ The small and cheerful
Tui
here—that’s the Lake—treads upon the large and strong
Ch’ien
—that’s Heaven. It shows a very difficult situation ahead, but the message says
For the weak to take a stand against the strong is not dangerous here because it happens in good humor.
”

Dana looked skeptical. “I can’t imagine there’ll be anything to laugh at in this battle.”

Georgia caught her mood and wavered uncertainly.

“You said there’s another one?” Dana prompted, not wanting to discourage her friend.

“Yes, the first one changed to this, Hexagram Sixty-four.
Wei Chi.
‘Before Completion.’ Now, this is amazing,” Georgia insisted, as if hoping to convince her friend. “It’s the last pattern, the one that ends
The Book of Changes
. That’s auspicious in itself. But see how the two parts mirror each other? Fire and water.
K’an
over
Li
. The message says there is order inside chaos regardless of how bad things look. That’s the step ‘Before Completion’—get it?”

“The darkest hour is before the dawn?”

“Yeah, kind of.
The Book of Changes
ends with the promise of new beginnings and that’s the message it’s giving to you.”

“I like it.” Dana nodded. “Sounds more probable than the first one. So, do you think the readings will affect what she says to the dragons?”

Georgia glanced askance at the Dragon Lady, who had resumed her position behind the great-granny’s chair.

“You want to ask her?”

“Nope,” said Dana. “You?”

“No way.”

“Chicken.”

“Steamed chicken feet.”

Dana took a deep breath and was about to ask the question when the little great-granny yawned. She was waking from her afternoon nap.

The Dragon Lady withdrew into the shadows.

“Time to go,” said Georgia.

Before the girls left, the little great-granny gave each a fortune cookie. On their way down the stairs, they broke open the cookies to extract the slips of paper.

“You first,” said Georgia, popping the crisp biscuit into her mouth.

“
O nobly born, remember who you are.
” Dana felt a little shiver. “I keep hearing that all the time! What is it?”

“It’s a saying from the Buddha,” Georgia said, as if the answer were obvious.

Dana’s mouth dropped open. “You’ve got brains to burn. So, what’s your fortune?”

Georgia’s eyes widened as she read the piece of paper, then she burst out laughing and nearly choked on her cookie.

“I don’t believe it! From the sublime to the ridiculous. Just my luck!”

“Come on. Tell.”

“May your life be as long and useful as a roll of toilet paper.”

They laughed all the way to the subway.