The Reinvention Of Rudd Carter. A Western Action Adventure Novel (8 page)

As Rudd left his father’s study, anger welled up inside him. He had never felt hatred for his father before, but his seeming disregard for Elizabeth’s fate and cold dismissal of his feelings, as always, triggered an overwhelming emotion in him. He resolved he would never forgive his father.

* * *

After Rudd had gone, Lady Carter stood silently at the window, studying the rolling hills in the distance, and then turned to her husband. “Is it really necessary to send Rudd abroad? Since everything is being taken care of in Canada, no one here will ever know the difference.”

“Margaret, I have to show my brother that I am taking strong steps with Rudd, or he will be greatly offended. His political and social reputation will be just as jeopardized as mine, and of course, his wife will feel compelled to write relatives over here and it will get out. We have to show that we have reprimanded him properly. After all, my political future could be at stake if this situation is not carefully handled.”

Lady Carter turned back to the window, her eyes filled with tears. “Elizabeth is such a beautiful, sweet girl. This summer I grew to love her as if she were my own daughter. They seemed so happy together. I can see now that they loved each other deeply or this wouldn’t have happened.” She turned her gaze back to her husband and asked, “Why can’t they be married? They love each other.”

Lord Carter let out a loud guffaw. “Can’t you just see the spectacle of our seventeen-year-old son marching down the aisle with his six-month expectant first cousin at Westminster Abbey in full view of the finest families in England?” Glaring at her sternly, he said, “Margaret, I’ll not hear another word about this! There will be no marriage and no leniency. They will each have to pay for what they have done.” He turned and stormed out of the room.

April 1893, Hong Kong

After a three-week voyage aboard a cargo ship that stopped at every port along the route from England through the Suez Canal, Rudd arrived in Hong Kong. A representative of his future employer was waiting for him at the dock. As he walked down the gangplank, he became aware of a whole new world of sights, sounds, and smells. Stepping onto the dock, a young Chinese man dressed in a dark, three-piece English business suit stepped forward. “Master Carter?”

“Yes, I’m Rudd Carter.”

“Welcome to Hong Kong, Master Carter. I am Sui Yen, an officer of the Carter Bank of Hong Kong. If you will, follow me please.”

Sui Yen led Rudd to two waiting rickshaws. He gestured to one of the rickshaws. “Please be seated while I go and gather your luggage.”

Rudd took a seat and waited while the luggage was gathered and placed in the other rickshaw, and they started for the bank. The journey was like no other he’d ever experienced before. The two-wheeled cart drawn by a man struck him as a more practical way to move about on highly congested streets than in a four-wheeled carriage drawn by horses.

The streets were narrow and bustled with people on foot buying and trading goods of all matter and description from open stands. Food was cooking in pots or grilling in the open, and the sweet, tangy aroma of shallot, ginger, garlic and chili blending with cooking wine and sesame oil permeated the air. A cacophony of sounds emanated from hundreds of people all talking on top of each other, ordering, bidding, or arguing over what they wanted. The smell of freshly slaughtered animals and spoiling fish wafted through the streets.

For twenty minutes, Rudd’s senses were bombarded by the everyday happenstance of daily survival in this new culture in which he would be living.

Coming to the Carter International Bank of Hong Kong, a modern three-story masonry building, they stopped. Sui Yen ordered the rickshaws to wait and then escorted Rudd into the bank. Once inside he was shown to the floor manager and taken to a spacious mahogany-paneled office where he was introduced to Roger Carter, the bank president and his second cousin. Rudd had heard Roger’s name mentioned in family circles a few times in the past, but he didn’t really know much about him. This man would be in charge of his life for the next few years.

Roger Carter was a man in his late forties, of medium height and build, whose impeccable manners and heavy Oxford accent seemed a bit much, for a man who lived and worked half a world away from England. Perhaps he’d turned it up a notch to impress the local English merchants he conducted business with every day.

“I’ve been hearing much about you as of late,” he said, exhibiting an upper class British smile. “There is no need for an in-depth discussion of why you have been placed in my charge. It is your father’s wish that you learn the banking business, and that responsibility has been entrusted to me.” He looked Rudd over for a moment. “Sui Yen, the man who met you at the dock, will be your guide and companion for the next few weeks to help you become acclimated to your new life here in Hong Kong. He will take you to the right tailor to have you fitted for clothes that are befitting your station here at the bank. He also will help you get settled in at the hotel where you will be living, and he’ll introduce you to restaurants and establishments you might like to frequent.” He hesitated for a moment, smiled, and gave Rudd an approving pat on the shoulder. “I would like you back in this office ready to work by next Monday. And, by the way, everything your father has written to me about you is not negative. He is quite complimentary about your abilities, and I for one am looking forward to working with you in the coming years. I knew your father quite well in our youth, and it appears to me that you’re a chip off the old block.” Pausing, he said in a more serious tone, “I’m sure you will be an asset to the bank. Now go and enjoy what Hong Kong has to offer.”

Rudd smiled politely. “Thank you for your kind welcome, sir. I will do everything in my power not to disappoint you. I’ll be here and ready to work come Monday morning.” He held out his hand for a polite shake, then turned and exited.

Sui Yen waited for him in the foyer. “As you know by now, Master Carter, I have been charged with helping you settle in to your new quarters and see that you are ready to work at the bank by next Monday.”

Rudd noted that Sui Yen spoke amazingly good English with an American accent and appeared to be just a year or two older than him. He liked the young man immediately.

Together they stepped onto the street, entered the rickshaws, and were taken to the Emperor’s Hotel. Sui Yen helped Rudd check in and carried his two suitcases in for him. The room was large and clean, though a bit run down, as was the entire hotel.

Retiring to the bar after unloading the luggage, they were met by the strong fragrance of cheap perfume. The moment they sat at the bar, they found themselves surrounded by a crowd of young, attractive, overly made-up, unaccompanied Chinese women dressed in tight-fitting silk dresses with slits up the sides almost to their hips, leaving little to the imagination. Rudd had never seen anything like this at home in England.

“They dress in the style of the famous Chinese prostitute from San Francisco, Ah Toy,” Sui Yen explained. “Master Carter, if you have the need, any one of these girls is available for a price… a pretty low price at that.” Turning to the bar, he asked, “Would you like an ale?”

“Please,” Rudd answered.

A dozen girls hovered around, flirting, giggling, and reaching out to touch Rudd. The girls called to him repeatedly in Chinese. “You’re all very beautiful, but not tonight. I’ll be living here in the hotel for some time, and we’ll have lots of time to get acquainted,” he said with a boyish grin, though it didn’t appear that the girls understood one word. He turned to Sui Yen. “I don’t think they understand English. Will you translate for me?”

Sui Yen repeated in Chinese what Rudd had just said. The girls applauded, giggled, and dispersed in search of other companions.

The truth was that he wasn’t ready for female companionship just yet. Not a day went by that he didn’t long for Elizabeth. He hadn’t seen or heard from her in over six months. The fact he wouldn’t be with her for the birth of their baby tormented him.

Rudd and Sui Yen left the hotel late in the afternoon.

Once they were in the street, Sui Yen asked, “Master Carter, would you care to meet the tailor now, so he can begin tailoring your new suits right away?”

“I think that’s a very good idea, Sui Yen, but I’d like it very much if you would call me by my first name, Rudd, and not Master Carter. All right?”

“Rudd, it will be,” he answered with a smile.

For the next few days, Sui Yen met Rudd at his hotel in the late mornings and took him around to the various establishments and government offices that he needed to visit in order to live and work in Hong Kong. In the evenings, they went to different restaurants and bars that Sui Yen thought Rudd should know about.

While at a bar one evening, Rudd asked, “What province are you from, Sui Yen?”

“I’m from a province in the Far East.” At Rudd’s puzzled look, Sui Yen laughed. “The Far East, San Francisco. I’m a native-born American. I also have a relative who works in the bank who offered me a job.”

Rudd studied Sui Yen carefully. “Wasn’t it difficult for you to leave your family and relocate to Hong Kong?” he asked.

Sui Yen nodded. “It was, until I understood the way things work here. Hong Kong has a lot to offer a young man who has his eyes open, as you will soon discover. As far as my family is concerned, it is a very large family, and I took a burden off my parents by leaving. I send money home every month to help care for my brothers and sisters.”

* * *

On Monday morning, Rudd began work at the bank. He made quite an impression on everyone in the office, especially the young Chinese office girls. In his new dark, English worsted, three-piece business suit covering his athletic build combined with his upper-class English manners, he gave the appearance of someone well into his twenties. He had a warm, receptive attitude and easily made friends around the office. Soon, his co-workers felt comfortable enough to tease him about his British accent. In the weeks that followed, he and Sui Yen became good friends. Because they spent so much time together, he made a conscious effort to copy Sui Yen’s American dialect. Over time, his accent softened.

A couple of months into Rudd’s stay in Hong Kong, Sui Yen invited him to attend a martial arts tournament. The arena where the tournament was taking place was in the slums of Hong Kong, about a half-hour walk from the Emperor’s Hotel. As Rudd and Sui Yen walked through the crowded neighborhoods along with masses of people on the streets, Rudd noticed that Sui Yen seemed amused at his reaction to the squalor and poverty they passed.

“I’ll bet you never dreamed in your worst nightmare that there were places in the world that looked and smelled like this,” Sui Yen commented.

Rudd glanced around and couldn’t help but register a look of disgust. “Living in England, I could never have imagined anything like this.”

Sui Yen shook his head in agreement. “This is mild compared to the rest of China. The British presence here has brought a form of civilization and sanitation that never existed in China before. Hong Kong is the cleanest and most civilized city in China because of the British. The locals don’t like to admit it, but they feel the same.”

They arrived at a large building that looked like a warehouse. Sui Yen knocked on a door on the side of the building, and it opened immediately. He spoke to someone for a moment, and they were admitted.

Once inside, it was apparent they had entered a fighting arena. It was unlike any boxing stadium Rudd had ever seen in England. There was no fighting ring, just a large clearing in the center of the room surrounded by a crude form of spectator seating, where 300 enthusiastic Chinese yelled and screamed for their favorite fighters. All the while, several men weaved through the crowd calling out odds and taking bets on the fighters.

Soon they found seats on the main floor. The announcements were in Chinese and Sui Yen, being aware that Rudd didn’t understand a word, assured him he would translate the entire event. Rudd had attended many boxing matches with his father in England but never anything that reached the height of excitement that he witnessed here.

They watched two matches that were a style of fighting he had never seen. There appeared to be no rules or even a referee to make sure there were limits to how far a combatant could go in defeating his opponent. It mattered little because the combatants seemed prepared to handle anything thrown at them. If a fighter was rendered unconscious, he was simply dragged out of the arena. The man left standing was declared the victor, and the next bout began. Amazed, Rudd thought,
No Marquis of Queensbury rules found here.

In the middle of the second bout, Sui Yen tapped Rudd’s arm and said, “I’m in the next bout. Wish me luck.” He jumped up and disappeared.

The present match lasted another five minutes with the loser being carried off the floor bleeding and unconscious. The spectators screamed and applauded the winner. When the fighters in the next match were introduced, Sui Yen appeared on the other side of the fighting area stripped to the waist, barefoot, and wearing white linen pants. At five feet ten and quite muscular, he had the look of someone who could handle himself. Rudd was surprised to see him this way, because Sui Yen always seemed so sophisticated in his English business suits. Before today, Rudd could never have imagined him in a bare-knuckles martial arts fight in the slums of Hong Kong. Across from Sui Yen stood a similarly dressed man a few years older but of about the same build. He looked equally confident and tough.

A gong sounded, barely heard above the din of the crowd. The two combatants approached each other and began circling around and around, looking for an opening. Sui Yen’s opponent kicked him in the side with his right foot, and in return, Sui Yen lashed out with his fist and gave the man a nasty gash on the left side of his face. Each punishing kick or punch was greeted with a cheer from the crowd. The two combatants prodded, feigned, punched, and kicked at each other for a few minutes. Sui Yen held his own, but as the match wore on, he seemed to get the worst of it. Finally, he caught a blow over the left eye that began to bleed so badly that he couldn’t see. Unable to continue, he conceded the fight, bowed, and left the floor amidst a background of jeers and whistles.