The Interior Read online

  David hung up and resumed the pacing he’d started last night, which only exacerbated his feeling of being ensnared. He stopped, searched through his papers, found the number for Governor Sun’s office, and dialed. The woman who answered didn’t speak English. But after repeating Sun’s name several times, he was transferred to Assistant Secretary Amy Gao. When David said he urgently needed to see Sun, Amy asked him to come straightaway. “Governor Sun has several appointments this morning,” she said, “then he’s going out to the factory. After that we’re flying back to Beijing. Still, I know he’ll make room for you.”

  David packed Sun’s papers in his briefcase, went downstairs, and found Investigator Lo ready with the car. They rode a few blocks down Yingze Avenue and stopped at the guardhouse of an official-looking compound. On the gate was a plaque with red and gold Chinese characters announcing that this was the headquarters of the provincial government. A Chinese flag flew from the building’s roof. The guard, armed with a machine gun, wore the drab green uniform of the People’s Liberation Army. He eyed David in the backseat as he phoned the main building. Once he got the okay, he had Lo sign a check-in sheet, then waved them through.

  Inside, the walls were a dirty beige and the floor was composed of gray stone. Lo went to the desk and explained that David was here for Governor Sun. The woman made a call, rattled off a few high-pitched phrases to the investigator, and pointed at the straight-back chairs that lined an adjacent wall.

  “She says you are to wait here and I am to wait outside,” Lo explained. “Someone will be with you shortly.” Before David could say anything, Lo exited the building. David did as he’d been told. Five minutes turned into fifteen. Despite the open windows and the fan whirling overhead, the room was desperately hot. Every few minutes someone opened a door, peeked out, stared at David, then closed the door again.

  Finally Assistant Secretary Gao emerged, her high heels clicking efficiently on the stone floor. She wore a light suit and somehow managed to look cool. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Stark. I was not told of your arrival until just now.”

  David found this unlikely.

  “Please come with me.”

  Again David obeyed.

  But instead of going to Governor Sun’s office, he was led into Assistant Secretary Gao’s. “Please be seated,” she said. She sat down behind her desk, pushed an intercom button, and spoke a few words. A minute later a pretty young woman arrived with a thermos and cups. After the tea was poured and the girl left, Amy asked, “How can I help you?”

  “I need to meet with Governor Sun.”

  “What is this in regard to?” she asked earnestly.

  “He has asked me to represent him on some matters. I’m here to go over them with him.”

  “I’m familiar with all of the governor’s affairs. Please feel free to discuss them with me.”

  Hulan had often talked about Chinese bureaucracy and how it was designed to move sluggishly, create the most paperwork, and aggravate, thereby controlling the petitioner. No wonder guanxi—connections—were so important. People did anything they could to circumvent bureaucratic layers and go straight to the top, whether in a hospital emergency room or in a business situation such as this.

  “With all due respect, Assistant Secretary, I think it prudent to wait for Governor Sun.”

  “I believe Governor Sun himself told you that if you had any problems you should speak to me. That is my job and I’m here to help.”

  How tempting it was to just open his briefcase, toss Sun’s documents on Amy’s desk, and ask her what they meant. She was bright. Like most women in similar positions, she probably did more work and knew more about Sun’s affairs than he did. Still, if Sun had committed a crime, then David would be violating China’s judicial code in discussing these affairs with the assistant secretary.

  “I’ll just have to wait for the governor.”

  “Then you’ll have to wait a long while. He has already left for Knight International.”

  “But you said that I should come right down and I’d be able to see him.”

  “Unfortunately, he was unable to delay his departure. Mr. Knight wanted to meet with him before the ceremony started. If you’d gotten here earlier, then perhaps he would have been able to see you.” She glanced at her watch, then offered helpfully, “You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry. I’m sure you don’t want to miss anything.”

  “I’ve been sitting out in your lobby for the last hour,” David said coldly.

  “This is unlucky, but as I said before, I didn’t know you were here.” In light of the two phone calls that had announced his arrival, as well as the numerous people who had taken a gander at him, this seemed disingenuous at the very least.

  “And, I might add, as I was sitting there, I didn’t see Governor Sun leave the building.”

  Amy smiled at David in a pitying way. “Attorney Stark, surely you don’t believe that a building such as this would only have one exit.” She paused, then added, “Perhaps if you come back on Monday or Tuesday, the governor will be able to accommodate you.” She opened the top drawer of her desk, pulled out an appointment book, opened it, and looked at David expectantly.

  Again, this kind of runaround was common in China, but it wasn’t common to David. Not only was he used to appointments being met—certainly as an assistant U.S. attorney he was accustomed to being treated with respect—but he was feeling very much at the mercy of circumstances. So, he did the one thing he shouldn’t have. He lost his temper.

  He stood, leaned over the assistant secretary’s desk, and said gruffly, “Tell your boss I’ll see him later. Tell him it won’t be so easy for him to avoid me. Tell him…” David looked down at Assistant Secretary Gao. She looked frightened, and he wondered just how far he could or should go. He wanted the urgency of his message relayed, and he wanted to guarantee a prompt response. The only way to do that was to shade the truth. “Tell him I understand what he was doing. Tell him I have other documents that will be of great concern to him.”

  David didn’t wait for a response, sensing that the impact of his words would be greater if he walked out. Once he had left, however, he felt anxiety bubbling up in him again. Miss Gao was young and, for all he knew, inexperienced. What if she didn’t understand the seriousness of his words? What if she dismissed him as just another rude American? As David stepped back into the sweltering heat, he knew he’d done the best he could given the circumstances. But after the revelations of last night, he’d hoped to grab the loose ends, examine them, make sense of them. Instead it was quarter to eleven, he was sweating like a pig in a government courtyard, and all that he’d accomplished was a conversation that by Chinese standards could only be considered ill-mannered and lacking finesse.

  16

  BY THE TIME DAVID AND INVESTIGATOR LO REACHED THE compound, the festivities were in full swing. A podium, dais, dance floor, and seating for two hundred had been set up under a canopy. Balloons swayed in the hot air. Streamers billowed from poles, and posters of Sam & His Friends stood on easels in a semicircle next to the dais where Henry and Doug Knight sat with Governor Sun Gan and Randall Craig. Music played from loudspeakers, and on the dance floor a group of about twenty girls dressed in colorful costumes came to the end of an acrobatic routine. The audience, which seemed to be made up almost entirely of Chinese women, politely applauded.

  Sandy Newheart saw David and waved him over to the front row. As David sat down, Sandy whispered, “You’re late.”

  “Sorry,” David said. “It couldn’t be helped.”

  The performers gathered into a little group. One of the girls stepped forward and in a loud but melodious voice announced that they would now sing a few American songs, all favorites of President Jiang Zemin. An instrumental introduction blared through the loudspeaker, and a moment later the girls were singing “Row Your Boat” in ever more complex rounds.

  Sandy inclined his head toward David and said under his breath, “Practicall
y every goddamn meeting has to have this rigmarole. Hero music. Firecrackers. Out-of-tune marching bands. Twenty-seven thousand verses of ‘Jingle Bells.’ Then an exchange of gifts. Then speeches. Meanwhile everyone here is roasting to death.”

  “Then why do it?”

  “Custom.”

  “For Knight?”

  “Hell no. It’s a Chinese custom.”

  “Knight is an American company.”

  “So? This is how it’s done over here. At least that’s what that grease-ball Sun says. And whatever he says, old man Knight’ll do it. He’s into this shit.”

  The last strains of the tune faded, and the girls broke into a spirited rendition of “Jingle Bells.”

  Sandy looked over at David and raised his eyebrows. “I told you. It’s a hundred and fifty degrees in the shade, and they’re singing about snow.”

  “Are they employees?”

  Sandy shook his head. “They’re a local performing troupe. I’ve probably seen them five times in the three years I’ve been here.”

  David jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. “And them? Are those all of your employees?”

  “You kidding? No, they’re just the women from the Administration Building.”

  “Why aren’t the others here?”

  “Henry wants a show, not a convention.”

  This was the first time David had been alone with Sandy. With Henry Knight he played the sycophant, but alone he seemed not only disillusioned but like he wanted to complain.

  “Sandy, what are you going to do after the acquisition?”

  “When the old man asked me to come out here, I thought it would be a big adventure. But look at this place. It’s a hellhole in more ways than one. As soon as I got here, I called Henry and said I wanted to go home. But Henry was sick, so what could I do? He said he needed me to make Sam & His Friends a reality. The deal with the studio had been cemented and the prototypes were ready. Henry practically begged me to stay on until we’d gotten the first line out. Toys are a crazy product. You do a hundred lines and if you’re lucky—really lucky—one hits. Well, Sam hit. I’ve been with Knight for fifteen years, and we’ve never had anything like this craze. I’ve tried to look at it as my big opportunity.”

  The girls had now broken into four groups and were skipping in little circles, imitating horses drawing sleighs. Sandy wiped the sweat off his face and neck with a handkerchief, and said, “I’ve given the company fifteen years, and now they’re selling. For all I know, I’ll be out of a job by the end of the month. The only good news is that I’ll be able to leave this godforsaken place.”

  The girls finished their song with a loud “Hey!” They bowed to the audience and to the men on the dais, then walked in a straight line off the dance floor. Henry Knight, beaming and clapping, stood and walked to the podium.

  “Thank you, Number Seventeen Shanxi Province Acrobatic Company! You have, as always, done a beautiful job. Let’s all give them another hand!” He stepped aside and continued to clap, while Madame Leung translated his words into Mandarin. Behind David the women increased their applause. Henry resumed his position. “Today we have with us Randall Craig from Tartan International. Very soon I will turn the company over to him. But don’t worry. My son will be here, and things will continue on as smoothly as they have since we opened.”

  As Madame Leung translated, David glanced over at Sandy. He could read nothing from Sandy’s expression, except perhaps boredom.

  Henry continued, thanking Governor Sun Gan for years of help. Sun stood, bowed, accepted a loud round of applause, then sat down again. Then Henry launched into an introduction of Tartan, but it was so hot even under the canopy that David doubted anyone was listening. Finally Randall Craig stood and joined Henry at the podium. They shook hands, then motioned for Sun to join them. Just as Sandy predicted, there was a three-way exchange of plaques. At twelve sharp the ceremony ended. Military marching music came blaring out of the speakers, and the women in the audience quickly left their seats and hustled back to the Administration Building. The sweating Knight contingent was introduced to the equally sweating and wilting Tartan contingent; then Henry announced loudly, “Everyone please follow me. It’s time for lunch and something cold to drink.”

  The group entered the Administration Building and went to the conference room, where, as Henry had promised, lunch was laid out. There were soft drinks with ice (made from sterilized water, or so Henry said), potato chips, and a platter of sandwiches. Looking around, David saw Governor Sun deep in conversation with one of the Tartan people. Henry, Doug, and Randall grabbed plates and took spots at the table. This lunch would be immediately followed by a tour of the compound—a sanitized tour, David was sure of it. As much as he wanted to ask these men questions, he was simply going to have to wait for a more private opportunity.

  At one o’clock the bell rang in the factory. Before the machines had fully wound down, the women began filing out of the room. Hulan, Peanut, Siang, and hundreds of other women emerged out into the sunshine and headed back toward the dormitory. The festival was over and so completely cleared away that, except for a few eddies of spent firecrackers that had yet to be swept up, the courtyard seemed back to normal. Hulan had expected an air of release, but the women just seemed tired after their week’s work. Once inside, Siang ducked into her room, while Hulan and Peanut continued on to theirs. Hulan pulled out the bag she’d brought with her on Thursday and slung it over her shoulder.

  “Where are you going?” Peanut asked. “I thought you weren’t from here.”

  “I’m not, but you know I have a friend in the village. I can stay with her.”

  “I wish I had somewhere to go,” Peanut said as she stripped off her pink smock, threw it on the floor, and climbed up to her bunk.

  “At least you can come to the village,” Hulan said. “Get a bowl of noodles, walk around.”

  “I’ve seen that village. What’s there? Nothing I haven’t seen a hundred times before in my own village. No, I’d rather stay here and save my money.” Peanut sighed and rolled over to face the wall. “See you later.”

  Hulan stared at Peanut’s back, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be returning. “Okay,” she said, then added, “take care of yourself.”

  Without turning, Peanut held up an arm and waved as if to push Hulan out the door. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  Back in the courtyard, the men who worked in the warehouse waited for the gate to open, while about fifty women and girls boarded the bus, their attitude very different from those left behind. Going back to their families, if even for a day and a half, gave them a buoyancy, a sense of expectation. Hulan took the seat next to Siang, and the bus drove out of the compound. Neither spoke and Hulan chose not to push it.

  Just outside Da Shui Village several barefoot children waited for their mothers. After a flurry of hugs, they set off toward their homes, perhaps stopping at the meat shop to pick up a few slivers of pork with their hard-earned salaries. Siang said good-bye and turned down one of the alleyways. Hulan adjusted her bag on her shoulder, then hurried back onto the road.

  A half hour later, she cut down into a cornfield. She called out that she was there, and Suchee called back so that Hulan might come toward her voice. A minute later they were face to face. Suchee’s shirt was wet with sweat, and her face was streaked with the red earth that had dusted up as she’d hoed a furrow.

  “I go back to Beijing today to follow the story,” Hulan plunged in. “Before I leave, I want to see Miaoshan’s belongings from the factory and ask you a few more questions.”

  Suchee set down her hoe and led the way along the furrow back to the house. From under Miaoshan’s kang Suchee pulled out a small, unopened cardboard box. “The factory sent a message to me through the men in the village that I should go and pick this up,” Suchee said, holding the box on her lap. “I haven’t opened it.” Her lips trembled, then she brusquely set the box down and went outside.

  Hulan found a knife and slit ope
n the tape that held the box closed. On the top was folded a black miniskirt and a little lace blouse. The label said THE LIMITED, and Hulan had a vague memory of that chain of mall stores in California. She set these aside and pulled out a pair of Lucky Brand jeans and a T-shirt with a Wal-Mart tag. She’d seen these T-shirts before, since they were manufactured in China and often pirated out of factories by employees or the seconds were sold off in free markets, but the jeans brand was new to her and she wondered where they’d come from. Unzipping a toiletry bag, Hulan found a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, gel, and hairspray, Maybelline mascara and eye shadow, and a bottle of White Shoulders perfume. Then she flipped through several glossy magazines filled with colorful photographs, looking for hidden papers or notes but encountering none. Some underwear littered the bottom of the box. Tucked into the sea of cotton was something wrapped in tissue and tied with silk ribbon. Hulan opened the package and found a bra and panty set of pink silk edged with black lace. Things like this could certainly be found in China, but not in Da Shui Village or even Taiyuan. Hulan looked for the label and read NEIMAN MARCUS.

  Hulan repacked the box and slid it back under the kang. She went outside, stopping at the shed to pick up a hoe, and waded into the field to find Suchee. Once she reached her friend, she eased into the space next to her and began working the soil around the base of the corn. She hadn’t done this in more than twenty years, but the movement came back to her as though it had been yesterday—the chop into the soil, the quick jerk to lift it up, and then going back into the mound to aerate. Occasionally she bent down to pull out a weed. Soon sweat ran down her face, and the hand that had been punctured throbbed. Her shoulders, already sore from the factory, burned from a combination of her exertions and the sun’s rays coming through her cotton shirt. She knew her discomfort was compounded by her pregnancy, but at the same time realized that peasant women never stopped working for such an insignificant reason. At the end of the furrow, the two women crossed over to the next row and bent once again to their labors. Hulan’s mind was filled with questions she wanted to ask, but she was reticent, not knowing how to bring up Miaoshan’s sexual activities. But soon enough Hulan lost awareness of proper conduct, time, and even of the heat as she glided into the ancient rhythm of human and soil.