Mambo in Chinatown

by Jean Kwok

  I knew what an honor it was for Julian to take an interest in us, and for free. Simone stared at us as we left for the small ballroom. When I glanced back at Ryan, he looked a bit annoyed, focused on the hand Julian had laid on the small of my back to escort me into the separate room. I put on our music. Ryan seemed to grit his teeth and we did the routine from beginning to end.

  “Lovely, Charlie.” Julian turned to Ryan. “You need some work.” But instead of giving Ryan any tips, he held out his arms to me.

  Julian had only seen us do our choreography once, but he took me through the entire number. His hands were gentle yet firm, and with a minimum of pressure, I felt exactly where I needed to be and where he wanted me to go. When he brought me up into the final overhead lift, the one that still gave Ryan and me problems, it was effortless. Julian was far stronger than he looked. After he put me down and we finished our final series of turns, I felt myself glowing from the exhilaration of dancing with him.

  Ryan was leaning a shoulder against the mirrored wall, his arms folded. “Isn’t that impressive.”

  Julian ignored him and gave us both a few general tips, which Ryan responded to with guttural noises. When Julian was about to leave, he kissed my hand and held it clasped in both of his. “I am glad I discovered you.”

  I couldn’t help blushing a bit. “Julian, I’m so grateful to you for everything.”

  Behind us, Ryan sighed loudly.

  Julian turned and said, “Best of luck to you with your charming partner. May you endeavor to deserve her.” Then he left the small ballroom.

  The moment the door shut behind him, I said, “Are you okay?”

  “I don’t like the way he looks at you, that’s all,” Ryan muttered. “He’s got the hots for you.”

  I blew a strand of hair off of my face. “Oh, I wish. There are girls lining up to be Julian’s chosen one, why in the world would he pick me?”

  “Lining up, huh? He’s not all that.”

  I remembered what Nina had said. “If a dancer’s with Julian, she becomes a star, so there are enough women after him. But he wasn’t that nice to you, and I’m sorry about that. Still, please try to get along with him the next time you see him because he’s judging our event, will you? Julian feels nothing special for me, he’s like that with any woman. It’s in his job description.”

  Ryan said, “Yeah, right.”

  Nineteen

  It was time for Ryan to fulfill his part of our agreement. Zan had been so excited when I told her. She and I took the subway into Brooklyn to meet him at his apartment, a fourth-floor walk-up in a nice residential area.

  When Ryan opened the door, I glimpsed a jungle of greenery behind him. “Hey, come on in.” His feet were bare beneath his simple cotton pants and T-shirt.

  There were masses of plants everywhere in his large studio. His bed was just a mattress on the floor, like mine, although his apartment was much more spacious. The mattress was covered by a red blanket, with a low shelf next to it, filled with worn books. He’d built a tall arched trellis over the bed, the kind you see in gardens, and it was surrounded by several pots of ivy that grew upward, interweaving through the slats. When he was lying down, he’d be able to look up at the leaves and trailing tendrils forming an archway of green above the mattress.

  His windowsills held a system of artificial lights shining upon an array of dazzling orchids. The blooms weren’t orderly, like the new ones I’d seen in flower shop windows. His orchids were in various stages of flowering, with long and branching spikes: some bore tight purplish buds, some were barren. They’d been cared for and survived, veterans that had bloomed time and time again.

  I gestured at the orchids and raised my eyebrows.

  He shrugged. “They’re my favorite flowers. You guys want a drink?”

  “Just some water, please,” I said as Zan shook her head.

  While Ryan was busy in the kitchen area, I kept pulling my eyes away from that bed, lying in the middle of his room like an open heart. I glanced at Zan, who was fidgeting with her fingers. I was pretty sure she hadn’t been in a strange man’s bedroom like this before.

  A long-haired orange cat with a white ruff wandered out from behind a pot of ferns. I bent down and extended my hand. It waddled over and sniffed.

  “That’s Sushi.” Ryan handed me my glass. “I’ve been telling him he needs to get into shape but he doesn’t listen.”

  Sushi rubbed himself against my legs as I sipped the water. “So why do you like orchids so much?”

  “They’re so strong and resilient if you treat them right. They’ll bloom repeatedly for you.”

  “I always thought they were too exotic to be good houseplants. Too difficult.”

  “In the wrong environment, the most beautiful orchid is like a weed. A weed’s nothing more than an unwanted plant.”

  —

  We piled into Ryan’s car, which he’d parked on the street, and he drove us to the middle of a fairly empty parking lot. I noticed a van with the words “Patrick’s Landscaping” on it. “Is that yours?”

  “Belongs to the boss. I didn’t have time to get it back to the company lot last night. He doesn’t mind, though.”

  Zan was staring at the van with longing. “Can we drive that one?”

  Ryan chuckled. “Why don’t we start with something a bit smaller?”

  His dark green car was fairly new. He let Zan sit in the driver’s seat while I stayed in the backseat. She glanced at me and I could tell she was about to burst. She bounced up and down a few times.

  Ryan slid into the passenger seat next to Zan, then turned to say to me, “You can get out now if you want. You sure you want to risk your life?”

  “That’s what friends are for.” I rolled down the window and felt the sunshine on my face.

  He asked Zan, “So what do you know about driving a car?”

  “Everything,” she said.

  “Good. Ever driven one before?”

  “No. But I read about it.”

  “Right. So first you have to—”

  Zan reached out and adjusted the mirrors.

  Ryan blinked. “Good. Do you know where the controls are?”

  She pointed. “Steering wheel, controls for the lights. Brake. Accelerator pedal. Gear selector lever. Has park, drive, neutral and reverse settings.”

  “You sure you’ve never driven before? What do you do for a living?”

  “I run an egg cakes cart. Can’t drive it. No motor.”

  Ryan and I both laughed. Then Zan revved up the engine and we were off with a jerk.

  —

  Zan made a few rounds of the parking lot, then took off for the streets. She was a natural. There were a few close calls because she tended to drive too fast, but Ryan had his hand on the steering wheel and managed to bring us back on track. By the time we got out of the car, she and Ryan were chatting like old friends.

  I gave her a big hug. “You were amazing!”

  She tipped her head back and turned her face to the sky. “I drove!” Then she remembered Ryan. “Thank you. If you ever want any free egg cakes, just come to Canal Street.”

  Ryan grinned. “I’ll remember that. I taught my sister and a couple of friends to drive but I’ve never seen anyone learn that fast.”

  “It’s because I want it more,” Zan said.

  We said good-bye to Ryan and headed toward the subway station.

  “I like your guy,” she said, slinging her arm around my shoulder.

  I shook my head and sighed. “He’s not mine.”

  —

  I needed a dance costume and competition shoes since my Latin shoes were riddled with holes. I didn’t mind wearing them at the studio but I couldn’t use them while performing so I had to order a new pair, which I would save for competitions. I was sitting in the teachers’ room with N
ina and Katerina, trying to figure out what I should do.

  “How much does a ballroom costume cost?” I asked Nina.

  “Roughly between five hundred and five thousand dollars. Some can be even more, cheap ones cost less, but the wrong dress can hurt you on the floor.”

  I drew in my breath sharply. “Maybe I should just go buy a bikini somewhere. How do you manage it?”

  Katerina answered, “It’s really hard. You’re lucky you’re doing Latin.”

  “Why?”

  She looked at me like it was obvious. “No feathers, of course. The smooth dresses cost a fortune because of all the stones, sequins and ostrich feathers lining the hem of the dress. Latin is less material.”

  I was going through some of the costumes hanging from the rack in the teachers’ room. “Much less. There’s almost no material at all.” I studied one red-and-black number. It was so brief that I couldn’t figure out which part of the body it could possibly cover. “I’m not sure I can wear something like this.”

  Nina said, “Why not? You got it, flaunt it. At least you don’t have my saggy boobs.”

  “Stop it with your boobs. I can’t wear this because it’ll slip off and I’ll be naked in front of a thousand people.”

  Katerina said, “That happened to a friend of mine. No problem, you just keep on dancing. They’ve seen it before.”

  “No, thanks.”

  Nina said, “She must have put it on wrong. The costumes are made to stay put. Even if they look like they’re barely hanging on to your skin, they shouldn’t budge.”

  “What I do,” said Katerina, “is I make them myself. The most work is the stones.”

  “Can you design dresses?” Maybe there was hope for me.

  “She made this one,” said Nina, pulling out a large sleeveless jade green dress. It was much more modest than the others, looking more like a cocktail dress than swimwear. It shone with rhinestones around the neckline and had a ruffled hem.

  I took it and held it up in front of me. It was too big but I enjoyed the way the fabric felt against my legs. “I like that. Whose is it?”

  “Designed it for a student. She is probably seventy years old. She’s picking it up tomorrow,” Katerina said.

  “Could you make one like it for me?”

  Katerina evaluated me. “Sure, but you could wear something much sexier. It’ll also be cheaper if you apply the stones yourself.”

  “This style is good for me.”

  “You’d need another color,” Nina said. “You can’t wear green. You’ll look like a frog.”

  “How about a bright robin’s-egg blue?” Katerina said. “It would look great with her skin and hair.”

  “Yes, that would do,” said Nina. “I’ll show you where you can buy the fabric and get the best stones on the Lower East Side.”

  —

  I had trained my body, but it seemed my hands were still as clumsy as ever. I worked on my dress in the teachers’ room when I could.

  “Isn’t glue faster?” I was so tired and my fingers bled from all of the times I pricked myself. I could hardly hold the needle anymore. I had completed so little of the dress after hours of work. Often I placed the stones in the wrong place and had to tear them out and sew them in again.

  “Yes,” said Katerina, “but I have been watching you. You are not a person who should use glue. Trust me. Needle and thread, when you make a mistake, you can undo it. If you do something wrong with glue, you will smear the fabric and it will look horrible. You’ll ruin your dress.”

  I shut up and went back to sewing. It was painstaking work, finishing the dress stone by stone, but when I was finally done, it glittered and shone. I’d panicked at home one day when I saw one of my rhinestones glittering on our vinyl floor and quickly stepped on it before Pa could notice.

  —

  Uncle Henry had come up with a treatment plan for Lisa and today was the first session. She begged me to accompany her to the procedure. I canceled all of my evening students and left the studio at the dinner break to meet her at Uncle’s office, where she was waiting for me downstairs.

  “It’ll be all right,” I said. “You’ll see.”

  Lisa’s face was drawn. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the older sister. No matter how hard you try to be tough enough for this world, you’re a romantic at heart, Charlie.”

  “And what are you?”

  “A realist.”

  I stroked her arm. “It’s not going to be that bad. Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

  Her legs seemed worse and I let her lean on me until we got to Uncle’s office. In addition to Uncle Henry and Dennis, both the Vision of the Left Eye and Todd were in the waiting room; so they were pulling out the big guns. The Vision saw us and sniffed. I guessed she still wasn’t happy with me. Todd gave me his easy smile and I noticed a number of paper shopping bags at his feet.

  As we greeted each other, I heard the Vision say to Lisa, “It was your birthday recently. Did you wash your hair on that day?”

  I knew what was coming. Pa didn’t want us to wash our hair on birthdays or holidays because it was supposed to bring bad luck.

  “No, I didn’t.” Lisa was telling the truth. She tried to please Pa when she could.

  “That is correct.” The witch turned to me. “But you did.”

  How had she known? “I can’t remember,” I lied. With my job, I had to shower every day. Dancing was physical and I was constantly close to the students, but in my defense, I washed my hair on my own birthday too.

  “You must be more careful of your sister.” Then the Vision addressed Uncle Henry. “We may proceed.”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked. Lisa’s hand was trembling and I clasped mine around it.

  “A moxibustion procedure,” said Uncle. I knew what that was. Acupuncture needles were inserted into the skin. Then the herb mugwort was burned near the needles to enhance their effect. “The Vision will pray for her at the same time, also exorcising any spirits.”

  I shuddered at the thought of a malignant soul preying upon Lisa.

  “Which type of moxibustion shall we perform?” Dennis asked. There were several levels of intensity, which ranged from uncomfortable to severely painful.

  Uncle smiled at Dennis. “What would you do?”

  Dennis didn’t hesitate. “Given the severity of the situation, the best would be direct scarring moxibustion.”

  I heard Lisa’s gasp of fear as I pulled her behind me. “Absolutely not.” With this type of moxibustion, a small cone of mugwort was placed on the skin at an acupuncture point and burned until the skin blistered. The skin scarred after it healed.

  Uncle Henry was shaking his head as well, looking a bit surprised.

  Dennis said, “Of course, that may not be necessary. A less invasive procedure might be adequate as well. We wouldn’t want Lisa to be uncomfortable.”

  The Vision said, “Her father has given permission to do whatever we need. We mustn’t hold back just because of a young girl’s squeamishness.”

  I said, “But no one knows if this will work or not. You say I’m hurting my sister because I wash my hair on her birthday and then you want to scar her?”

  Uncle Henry said, “Don’t worry, Dennis was just making a suggestion. I don’t think there’s any need to go so far. We can do repeated treatments of the milder sort instead. But she will need to return more often.”

  I took a deep breath and turned to Lisa. “What do you say?”

  “I want you to come in with me.” She darted a glance at Uncle and the Vision, avoiding Dennis’s eyes.

  “Not possible,” said the Vision. “The room is too small. Dennis is needed to assist the doctor with the burning of the mugwort, I’ll be there to drive the evil spirits away, and there is no space for anyone else.”

  “It would be a dange
r to Lisa,” Uncle Henry said. “You know that, Charlie. We are only trying to help her. We will do acupuncture with nonscarring moxibustion. I am also her family. I would never hurt her.”

  Lisa was looking at me pleadingly.

  “The door stays open,” I said. “I’ll be in the hallway.”

  Uncle Henry sighed. “We’ll do it your way this time, Charlie, but you cannot be so difficult or we will never get your sister healed.”

  —

  Todd followed me out to the hallway and we leaned against the wall. Through the open door, I could see the Vision undressing Lisa down to her underwear, then having her lie face down on the examination table. While Dennis held her steady, Uncle Henry took a thin acupuncture needle and attached a ball of spongy mugwort to the top of it. Slowly, he inserted the needle into Lisa’s calf. I saw her tense. I clenched my fists as well.

  The Vision closed her eyes, starting to invoke the gods and spirits. “Come cleanse this girl. Purify her and remove all that is tainted.”

  To my surprise, I felt Todd wrap his hand around my left fist. “Gentle. You’re going to need that hand.”

  I looked at him with some irritation. He was jittering his leg up and down, and it was distracting. “What?”

  “Forgive yourself, forgive the hand.”

  “All right, Todd.” Sometimes I thought Todd wasn’t completely right in the head. No one normal would work for the witch anyway. I turned my attention back to Lisa and winced to see Uncle inserting needles all along her legs and spine. I didn’t have a view of Lisa’s face from where I was but her body was rigid. Then I smelled the sweet smoke as Uncle and Dennis started to light the mugwort. If any of it fell onto Lisa’s skin, it would burn her and be almost impossible to remove because of the density of the needles. After allowing the mugwort to burn for some time, Uncle and Dennis blew out the fire. They removed the needles and Lisa was allowed to get dressed again.