Will of a Tiger

by Iris Yang

Ignoring the question, Birch asked again, “Are you all right?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “They…they didn’t hurt you?” Birch was afraid to use the word “torture” as though it would be true if he verbalized it.

  “No.” Danny gave an adamant shake of his head. His smile came back. “In fact, you won’t believe it.” He drew a small bottle from his pocket. “A young guard, School Boy—I guess that’s what everyone here calls him—came in and chatted with me for awhile. He speaks broken English. His uncle moved to the States years ago. Look what he gave me.” He handed the medicine bottle to Birch.

  “What’s this?”

  “For pain, he said,”—imitating the guard, Danny tilted his head, placed his palms together and put them on his cheek—“and for sleep.”

  “You believed him?” Birch looked incredulous. “It could be poison for all we know.” A gummed label with Japanese writing was stuck to the side of the bottle.

  “If they wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t go to this much trouble. Look at me. They could have me any way they want.” It was the sad truth. The Japanese could kill them anytime, anywhere, using any method they chose. “At any rate, I slept like a log.”

  Birch let out a breath of relief. Tension drained from his shoulders as he rocked back on his haunches.

  “He also gave me—” Danny pointed to the two sticks by the side of the door. “It took him a while to understand what I wanted.”

  Mr. Ding picked up the sticks. “Great!” He positioned them on Danny’s fractured leg, away from the burn wounds. “We need something to tie them.” His eyes searched the room and landed on Danny’s blood-stained white scarf. “We can tear that in half—”

  “No,” Danny refused without hesitation.

  “But we need—”

  “Forget it!” The American’s tone was imperative.

  “Hold on,” Birch ventured. “We don’t have to destroy it.” He understood that the white scarf was an invaluable gift—Jasmine had given it to Danny on his birthday three years earlier. “His red one should be long enough.” He was referring to the shorter, square scarf, which had also belonged to Jasmine. Birch had found it after she died, and Danny had asked for it as a remembrance of the girl with whom he’d fallen in love. Ever since her death, the American had worn two scarves wrapped around his neck.

  Reluctantly, Danny took off the scarves.

  Birch threaded the long white scarf under Danny’s injured leg above the knee. Carefully, he wrapped it around the sticks and the leg a few times, tying a knot.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Ding used the red scarf to secure the lower part of the splint. “That’s all we can do. I hope it will help.”

  “Your left leg is cursed, isn’t it?” sighed Birch, shaking his head. Danny’s left leg had been injured when Jasmine, Daisy, and Birch had rescued him three years earlier.

  “On the bright side, I’ve already practiced hopping on my right leg.” Danny made a face. Then his levity vanished, and with all seriousness, he asked, “What did they make you do today?”

  Birch recapped their day, skipping the beating. As an afterthought, he added, “I believe I heard the blasts last night.”

  “Can you tell where we are?”

  “No particular landmark.” Turning around, Birch asked, “Does anyone know?”

  Everyone in the room shook his head. Most sat on the floor, resting; only a couple stood near the trio.

  “We were blindfolded,” Mr. Ding clarified.

  “How long do you think it took to get here?” Danny asked Birch. He’d passed out on the way.

  “About thirty to forty minutes, less than an hour.” Time had seemed very different when he was blindfolded.

  “Let’s say the truck traveled at thirty miles an hour. The mountain road isn’t good. So we’re about fifteen to twenty-five miles from the town. Too bad we can’t tell which direction. Thirty miles west or south of Dashan would take us out of China. For all we know, we could be in Burma.”

  Birch shook his head. “We’re still in Yunnan, north or east of Dashan.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “There were ups and downs, but mostly we went downhill. I noticed the pressure change. There are taller mountains in the west and south. So it can only be north or east.”

  “Good call!”

  They were encouraged that they’d figured out roughly where they were, though it seemed useless considering that they were locked up and surrounded by barbed-wire. Still, any information, no matter how trivial, might later become crucial.

  Danny took another pain reliever before he went to sleep. He handed the small bottle to Birch. “Take one.”

  “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  Danny paused, his eyes focused on Birch’s battered face. “What happened, anyway?”

  Birch raised his broad shoulders in a shrug.

  Danny heaved a heavy sigh. Rolling on his back, he closed his eyes.

  Birch lay awake for hours, even though he was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before and the day’s hard work. His head was pounding. Blood pulsed in the flesh surrounding the welts. Because of the punches and kicks he’d received the day before, he was aching all over. He tossed and turned, trying in vain to find a less painful position. The hard floor covered by a thin layer of straw made comfort impossible.

  A horde of hungry mosquitoes descended upon him. He tried to ward them off, but they were so persistent that he was severely bitten. The itchy welts on his face and hands added to his discomfort. How can the others sleep, he wondered?

  Noise was another nuisance: several people in the room snored; one man stirred and twitched in his dreams; and a guard walked back and forth in front of the cell, his boots pounding against the hard ground.

  Occasionally, the bark of a dog rippled through the night. Birch had seen several German shepherds walking with the guards. Ever since the massacre three years earlier, he’d despised those huge, aggressive dogs. Whenever he heard a bark, a teenager’s torn belly appeared in his mind. A German shepherd had mauled the village boy.

  For a long time Birch watched the moonlight pour through the bolted windows. In the pale light, he clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt. Yet not once did he consider taking the pain reliever. He would rather have a sleepless night than take the precious medicine.

  Birch was only a couple of months older than Danny, but his youthful appearance made him look a few years younger. Nevertheless, he’d always taken pride in being the Big Brother. Daisy and Jasmine, his younger sister and cousin, had perished before him. It was the young women’s death that had brought the two men together and forged their unbreakable bond. Intuitively, Birch had replaced his affection for the girls with this newfound brotherhood.

  A restless night was a small price to pay for being Da Ge—Big Brother.

  Chapter 6

  Wincing from aches and pains, Birch rubbed the sleep from his eyes. After a breakfast of soggy rice, he plodded to the rear window. Twirling around, he angled his head toward Danny. Delight wiped away his drowsiness. “I wish you could see this.” His bloodshot eyes brightened with excitement, although his left eye was still smaller than normal from swelling.

  “Give me a hand,” said the American.

  “But—”

  “I have to move, or I’ll rot here.”

  Birch turned to Zhou Ming. “Help me, will you?” The two men wrapped the Flying Tiger’s arms around their shoulders and lifted him to a standing position.

  Danny cringed as he took a small jump forward. The sticks held well as a splint; his injured leg dangled an inch above the floor.

  “Not a smart idea,” frowned Mr. Ding. “You shouldn’t do this.”

  In traditional Chinese medicine, healing required bedridden rest. But in Danny’s dictionary, recovery meant vigorous exercise. The Flying Tiger couldn’t sit around waiting for his wounds to heal on their own.

  “Easy,” Birch called out as they inched forward.

  The dis
tance to the rear window was a matter of steps, but it seemed longer than the Great Wall. Every movement caused Danny more agony. He grimaced and gasped. But he didn’t stop, and took time only to catch his breath, waiting for the stabbing sensation to subside, before subjecting himself to another.

  For over fifteen minutes they struggled to travel those few yards. Danny’s chest rose and fell with labored breathing. Perspiration flowed in tiny rivers down his face when they reached their destination.

  Although the window was nailed shut with heavy planks, the openings between them were large enough to see through. The view wasn’t much—only a small meadow backed by dense forests—but it was revealing.

  “By golly!” exclaimed Danny. Grabbing the window frame, he hungrily took in what was in front of him. Tiny blue forget-me-nots dotted the field, their vibrant color highlighted by the brilliant sunlight. Industrious bees buzzed among the blooms. A yellow butterfly with black lines and dots darted in front of them.

  The beauty lay in stark contrast to the dark inside, and it transported Danny to another world where two gorgeous young women had lived. For a long while he said nothing, lost in his thoughts, immersed in his fond memories. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the sweet fragrance. “I can’t believe she never told me what happened that night.”

  “Jasmine was modest, you know, like most Chinese women,” said Birch.

  “I know. I just wish she’d told me. Now I’ll never find out.”

  Birch nodded.

  After the girls had found Danny unconscious in a meadow, Jasmine had spent the night with him while Daisy went to a village for help. No one knew how Jasmine had safeguarded the injured Flying Tiger. All she said was that she’d used forget-me-nots and another herb.

  “You’ll laugh at me.” A soft smile crossed Danny’s lips, but it was hollow. “Crazy as it seems, I think she kissed me. She was an angel. Her kisses brought me back to life.”

  His smile faded, leaving only sadness in his eyes. “It’s absurd, I know. Who am I fooling except myself? No Chinese girl would kiss a man without marriage.” His head drooped, hanging between his hunched shoulders.

  With a flicker of sympathy, Birch stared at his friend.

  “To this day, I still have trouble wrapping my head around it. How could a girl like Jasmine protect anyone? The pain she took—”

  “Danny, don’t go there.” Birch clapped the American’s forearm. “Jasmine wouldn’t want you to feel this way. She did it willingly.”

  “I know. I—” Danny paused to clear the emotional knot from his throat. His eyes had lost their usual glimmer. His vision was blurred by the haunting image of a young woman with three long, bloody cuts on her cheek. “I miss her. And Daisy, too!”

  “I miss them, too.”

  “Will the pain ever go away?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  They looked at each other, and in that single glance, unspoken sorrow flowed between them. Side by side the two men stood before the barricaded window, dreaming the impossible dream of being with the ones they loved.

  Danny shook himself out of his reverie. His gaze shifted to the woods. Birch and pine forest stretched endlessly beyond the meadow. “The birch trees seem short here.”

  “They are much taller in the north. Actually, I’m surprised to find them this far south. It must be the high elevation.”

  “Well, it may not be the tallest tree, but it sure stands straight.” After a pause, Danny added, “You know what? I wouldn’t name my child Birch.”

  “Why not? It’s a good name.”

  “The tree is beautiful. Clean-cut. Graceful. But look at those eyes! Every time I see it, I wonder if a tormented soul lives inside.”

  “You’d better lie down. You’ve been standing long enough.” Birch waved at Zhou Ming, and the two men helped Danny back to the pile of hay.

  Facing the American, Birch sat down, cross-legged. “So, what name would you give your child?”

  “Jack. It has a down-to-earth feel.”

  Birch dipped his head. Jack Longman had been Danny’s childhood friend, Susan Hardy’s fiancé, and another Flying Tiger. He’d been killed three years earlier. “What about a girl?”

  Danny opened his mouth but made no sound. He seemed startled by the question. Then he cracked a sheepish smile. “No clue. I guess I thought I’d have a son one day.”

  “As if you can control it,” Birch said with a chuckle.

  “What about you?”

  “If it’s a boy, he’d be Dan Ni.”

  “That’s swell.” Danny’s famous smile was evident. “A girl?”

  “Phoenix.”

  “Bai Feng Huang. White Phoenix. That’s a cute name.”

  “I hope she’d rise from the ashes of this damned war and become an incredible woman like Daisy and Jasmine.”

  “That’s something else. Hey, may I name my girl Phoenix, too? Phoenix Hardy.”

  Birch burst into a carefree laugh, but then grimaced. His palm went to soothe his left cheek. “Don’t you know a Phoenix is a female ruler of the avian world?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, remember the saying I taught you? ‘One mountain cannot accommodate two tigers.’” Birch shook his head with a wink. “We can’t have two phoenixes in the same household.”

  “Sure we can. Daisy used to say that both of us are the best.”

  “She had probably forgotten that both of us are Tigers.” A shadow of sadness passed over Birch’s face. “Daisy also said I wouldn’t promise anything I wouldn’t do. She trusted me.” He swallowed a mouthful of acrid saliva. “And look what I’ve done…?”

  Maimed and embittered, Birch lowered his head. His eyes became empty. Daisy was his sore spot. It had been three years, but the loss was still an open wound. The sheer horror on her face before she’d been killed by the hand grenade—his hand grenade—was etched permanently into his memory and never failed to bring a lump to his throat.

  Danny put his hand on his wingman’s arm, waiting patiently for him to collect himself. The silence was broken by a dripping noise. Captain Zhang was urinating into the waste bucket. A stench permeated the already smelly room.

  Birch pulled his shoulders back and gained a measure of control. Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. “What would you like to do after the war…if we get out of here?”

  “Go home for a while. Then I’d like… Hey, why don’t you go with me?” All at once, Danny lit up with vigor. “Mom, Dad, and Susan will be thrilled to meet you.”

  “I’d love to meet them, too!”

  “We’ll go hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, just like Jack and I used to do.” Danny’s eyes brightened with the memory.

  In their musty prison cell, Birch felt an unexpected surge of energy. He’d been to America once during his training. Danny’s words painted a bright picture and provided a temporary reprieve from the dire situation.

  Just then a guard walked past their cell. His boots made a clomping sound against the hard ground. Last night the thump-thump of the footsteps had bothered Birch, but now they didn’t deter his high spirits.

  “Afterward, I want to come back to Yunnan,” said Danny. “I’d like to go back to Tao Hua Cun to search for Jasmine.”

  Danny and Birch had tried to locate her remains near Tao Hua Cun, Village of Peach Blossoms. A girl who had seen Jasmine jump took them to a place on the ridge, but when they searched below they found nothing. After witnessing the massacre of the entire population of the village, and then gang-raped, the teenager might have been too traumatized to identify the correct location.

  “Then, I’d like to find Jack,” continued Danny. “It will be even harder; he went down in a remote area.”

  Birch nodded.

  “I’d like to bring him home.” Danny swallowed twice before continuing. “And I think we should look for those who died along the route to the Hump.”

  “You must be joking.”

  “Remember the reflections fr
om the wreckage that we saw? They were our colleagues. There must be more than a thousand, don’t you think?”

  “Probably more,” said Birch. Leaning forward, he planted his elbows on his knees. With his left fist supporting his chin, he tapped his lips with his right index finger. “That’s a long stretch in the remotest and roughest part of China—or in the world, for that matter.”

  “I know. But we both love the outdoors. What could be more rewarding?”

  “That’s some forward-thinking.” Birch slammed a fist into his palm. “I’ve only thought about Jasmine and Jack.” His eyes lit up, translucent with zeal and hope.

  Both Birch and Danny were born in 1914, the year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. Tigers were brave fighters. They would stand up to the bitter end for what they believed was right. They were passionate yet calm, warm-hearted yet fearsome, courageous in the face of danger, yet soft in other areas.

  Being a Tiger, Birch, like Danny, always had a thirst for adventure. “If you’re in, then I’m in!” he declared. Then he shifted in search of a more comfortable position. Running his hand through his dark hair, he scratched his head. “Mary is going to kill me. She won’t like this.” Mary was Birch’s girlfriend, an attractive translator at the commander’s office.

  “We’ll take breaks…go home to recuperate, so to speak.” Danny’s mouth stretched into a grin. “I love Xiao Mei’s dishes. She’s a great chef.” He licked his lips.

  “Good point. I miss her cooking too. Yi yan ji chu—once the word has come out of your mouth,” Birch cited the first part of a phrase.

  “Si ma nan zhui,” Danny finished. “Even a chariot drawn by four horses cannot pursue it.”

  They exchanged an understanding smile. Without knowing if they would live another day, the two brothers had just planned a thrilling future.

  Chapter 7

  August 7, 1945 started the same as every other day in prison. The summer had been uncharacteristically warm, and the sun grew stronger as the morning passed. Without a breeze coming through the window, the room was breathlessly hot.