The Paper Daughters of Chinatown - Heather B. Moore Page 0,51
with the men who had come to search the mission home. So the moment Dolly and Ah Cheng were ready, they headed outside. At the bottom of the hill, they found the young Chinese man waiting. He nodded and took off at a brisk walk. Dolly was curious about this man who was leading their rescue, but asking questions would only delay them. He led them along several streets, then cut into a narrow alley. The darkness permeated the alley like a living thing, although there were plenty of people on the sidewalks, most of them loitering. Both sides of the alley rose up two or three levels. Someone was crying in a second-level room. Two men were arguing with each other somewhere above. She couldn’t see them, but she could feel their vehemence. Dolly’s stomach felt like a lead weight.
Although the scent of sweet, burnt opium was well familiar to Dolly by now, it singed her throat. And memories returned of finding girls in deplorable conditions, desperation in their eyes like vast pools with no end. The young man wove in and out of the groups of Chinese on the sidewalk, and Dolly and Ah Cheng hurried to stay close to him.
When he stepped inside a building that was a known gambling den, Dolly hesitated, but then he turned and motioned for her to follow. When Ah Cheng stepped forward too, the man waved her off.
“You must go without me,” Ah Cheng whispered. “I will not be welcome.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone,” Dolly protested.
“Then hurry.”
Dolly had no choice. She lifted her chin and walked in behind their informer. Her chest burned with the pungent smoke. Gambling tables were situated about the room, and in the smoky dimness, Dolly spotted several young women dressed in fine silk clothing, their painted faces garish in the yellow lamplight.
“Fahn Quai,” someone hissed. Another laughed. A couple of men started to tap their gambling table with their fists in an eerie rhythm. The Chinese girls watched her as well, some of them turning away after looking; others gaped, then whispered fiercely to their companions.
Dolly kept her gaze focused on the informer, although she had recognized members of the tong, with their American clothing of stylish suits and hats giving away their identities. And now she was in the thick of them with no police escort. The informer was a brazen man to walk right into this gambling den, leading Dolly. He approached a girl near a back table. She was a very pretty girl, no more than seventeen. The informer leaned down and spoke into her ear.
The girl’s beautifully decorated eyes connected with Dolly.
In a flash, Dolly saw the depth of pain this young woman must be experiencing. Dolly knew enough stories to know that whoever this girl was, her life was of more value than the amount of money a tong member had paid for her.
A few more steps and Dolly reached her side. “Do you know who I am?” she asked in her memorized Chinese.
The girl nodded.
“What is your name?”
“Kum Quai.”
“Kum Quai,” Dolly repeated. “I will take you to safety if you allow me.”
The girl grasped Dolly’s hand. Could it be this simple? The noise in the room had quieted as all eyes turned on them. Dolly knew they had only moments before someone tried to stop them. Whoever this girl’s owner was, he was not here. Surely someone would be quick to alert him, though.
“Come.” Dolly led the girl out, moving around the tables, past the heckling man. A few of them grabbed for Kum Quai, and she squealed. The other courtesans laughed as if it were a game. This would be no game once Kum Quai’s owner discovered his missing slave.
Outside, Ah Cheng joined their little group. The young man who had first brought them had disappeared, and apparently the women were on their own. Ah Cheng grasped Kum Quai’s other arm. Ah Cheng asked a few questions in Chinese, but the conversation was too rapid to understand. Besides, a crowd had gathered on the street, alerted by the appearance of Fahn Quai.
Dolly ignored them all, but her heart was racing faster than a train. Thankfully, Kum Quai was a willing traveler and moved quickly with them.
Once they had the Chinese girl inside the mission home, with the doors locked, Ah Cheng reported to Dolly that the gossipers on the street had said that Kum Quai’s owner was in San Jose.