Chapter 5
The Road Less Traveled
(continued)
April 25th, 1936…Fanjiadian district, Changchun…
The door to the tenement house swung open to reveal a slim, attractive, women in her early twenties. Her long black hair was held up with wooden pins. She was wearing a white blouse and gray skirt in the western style.
“Wu”, said Li in a surprised voice.
“Wang, how nice to see you”, said the women, in a surprised but delighted tone.
From the back of the house, a women’s voice yelled. “Wu, who is it?”
Li winced at the voice. Wu smiled and turned her head to shout down the hall. “It’s Wang, Mother”, she said and then turned back to Li. From the back of the house, “Wang! Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my.” An immediate clatter of noise now started to emanate from the rear.
Wu put her hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh, her other forearm running up the edge of the door as she leaned against it. “Well Wang, you have managed to make Mother all a flutter at your visit…as you usually do.”
“It was not my intention to cause any…” he waved his hand around fumbling for words as another crash reverberated down the hall.
Wu laughed, a sound like tinkling glass. “It never is. Hello Pinch. Haven’t you found yourself an honest job yet?”
Pinch smiled. “This will be as honest as it gets Wu.”
Wu smiled back. “And who is this new face Wang. Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
Li turned and gestured at Chen. “This is Lieutenant Chen. Chen, this is Wu Lio-fan.”
Chen gave Wu a stiff, formal bow. “A pleasure madam.”
Wu’s eyes widened in mirth. “Why Wang, you are consorting with gentleman now. Will wonders never cease? It is a pleasure to meet you as well Lieutenant Chen”, she said. “Well, I would love to stand here and chat, but I have to be getting back to the school.”
She reached behind the door and grabbed a handbag. Then, over her shoulder, “I’m leaving Mother. I’ll see you tonight.” With that, a short older woman, with skin like old leather, came out of one of the doors down the hall.
“Leaving?” the woman said as she made her way to the front door.
“Yes Mother. I have to get back to the school”, she said, as she bent to give the women a kiss on the cheek.
“Well, at least you visit”, the old woman said. “Unlike some people”, she said as her eyes narrowed on Li.
Wu started to brush past Li, then stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. “You are in big trouble you know?” she whispered. The she kissed Li on the cheek. Li turned crimson. “Call me for tea sometime”, she said as she skipped down the gravel path and onto the sidewalk. She stopped at the gate to look back. “Goodbye Pinch, and nice to meet you Lieutenant.” She smiled and continued on down the street.
Chen watched the girl go and then turned to look at the smiling face of Pinch. Pinch shook his head in the negative, indicating it was not the time to ask those questions.
“Wang Li I am very upset with you. It has been eight months since you have come to see me. What do you have to say for yourself?” said the women, shaking an accusing finger at Li.
Li started to protest but the women cut him off. “Please Wang, don’t lie to me. You would just break an old woman’s heart”, she said in a tone that indicated she might start crying.
“I’m sorry Mother. I know it has been some time since I have been by, but I have been busy” said Li, sounding like a boy who missed his supper while out playing with his friends.
“Busy, hah! To busy too stop by to visit an old woman”, she sighed, clutching her hands to her chest. “I have tea on. You will stay and drink some with me.” It wasn’t a request. With that, she reached up and grabbed hold of one of Li’s earlobes and started to pull him down the hall. “You are going to drink tea with me and tell me what you have been up to, do you hear me?”
“Yes Mother”, Li said in exasperation as he was lead along. The conversation continued on down the hall with the old women berating Li for his bad manners while Li replied with “Yes Mother” until the two turned into a door and disappeared from sight.
At that point, Pinch let go of the laughter that he had barely been able to contain through the confrontation. Chen’s wide eyes looked at Pinch.
“Is that really his mother?” he asked.
When pinch had stopped laughing he said, “No. It’s a long story. Let’s just say that no good deed goes unpunished. C’mon”, he said, as he lead them down the hallway, past the door to the kitchen, where Li’s haranguing was continuing, and towards the back of the house. When they had reached the end of the long hallway, there was a door that lead outside at the back. Just to the left before this was another door. Pinch reached up to a light on the wall beside the door and twisted it aside. He reached in and pulled out a key. He used the key to unlock the door. The two men walked inside what looked to be a dusty storage room. Pinch walked across the room to a shelf that was against the far wall.
Chen watched as Pinch fumbled behind the shelves to either side. “Give me a hand”, he said, and Chen walked over to stand beside him. “Put your hands here, and when I say, push.” Chen placed his hands where Pinch had indicated. Pinch placed his hands as well. “Okay, push.”
Chen started to push and felt the shelves give way and start to slide into the wall. When they had slid as far as they would go, Pinch grabbed the side of the shelf and slid it to the left. The shelf slid easily out of the way to reveal a dark opening. Pinch stepped into the darkness and groped around until he found what he was looking for. Suddenly, there was light above Pinch’s head, and a stairway in front of them that lead down.
“What is this place?” asked Chen, as he stared down into the darkness that was the descending stairwell.
“You’ll see. C’mon.” Pinch started down the stairwell with Chen right behind him. At
the bottom, Pinch fumbled around on the wall to his right. Chen heard a click, and lights
started to flicker. As the lights came to life, they revealed racks, crates, and boxes all stacked neatly in a long, narrow room. The room was ten feet wide and seemed to stretch away for at least thirty feet before it jogged around a corner.
“Welcome to the cache”, Pinch said with a flourish.
Chen’s mouth was agape. He went to the first rack that held some sort of large, automatic rifle. “What is this?” he asked, incredulous.
“If I remember correctly, that is a Browning Automatic Rifle. They call it a BAR”, Pinch said.
“I have heard of these, but I have never seen one. Have you fired it?” he asked Pinch, as he lifted the weapon and felt its weight.
“Me? no. Oh, I’ve fired some of the stuff down here, but by no means all of it”, replied Pinch as he looked around the room.
Chen set the weapon back in its rack and moved farther into the room. “Lewis guns!” Chen exclaimed. “You have Lewis guns!” Chen ran over and picked up the weapon. He checked the action on the bolt. It was still smooth.
“Yeah, there ok. But if you come with me, I’ll show you my personal favorite.” Pinch walked past Chen. Chen set down the Lewis gun and followed Pinch. Pinch came to a crate and popped the lid. He reached inside and pulled out a weapon.
“Now this is a gun. Say hello to the Thompson .45 caliber sub-machinegun. Just like that American gangster Dillinger used. It beats the hell out of those PPD-34 Russian made pieces of shit. Now this is a thing of beauty”, Pinch said as he pulled the bolt back, pulled the trigger, and watched the bolt slam home with a satisfying snick.
Chen looked around the room, marveling at the amount of weaponry that was stored here. “Where did this all come from?” he asked.
“I don’t know, here and there. The boss wasn’t one for gun battles, but he liked to be prepared, and he only bought the best. If some arms dealer or smuggler came through town, the boss would always check out what he had. If they had something he liked, he bought it. Didn’t matter how much we already had, he still bought the good stuff. Always said ‘You never know.’” Pinch said as he put the Thompson back in its crate.
“How much is here”, asked Chen.
“Don’t really know. No one has ever done an inventory. We just come by and check it every once in awhile, make sure nobody has been down here and everything’s alright”, said Pinch as he removed his cap and ran a hand through his hair.
“Well, he was right. This solves my problem. Now I just need to find out what we have. Is there any paper around, and something to write with?” asked Chen as he looked around.
“What for?” asked Pinch.
“To start an inventory, of course”, as if it was the most logical thing in all the world.
“What, now?” Pinch exclaimed.
“No time like the present”, said Chen as he started looking at crates.
Pinch rubbed his head again. “I’ll go check upstairs”, he said.
Chen didn’t even hear him go. He was like a kid in a candy store