Ghosts of Chinatown

by Wesley Robert Lowe

  Angela, caught in her own lies, cries out the truth—finally after all these years. She twists quickly to Jasmine. “You were so patronizing, saying it was a foolish girl’s crush. That I was too young. Well, look at me now. You can’t deny, Todd, that you want me. Admit it. I’m more woman than Jasmine ever was.”

  Angela accosts Todd and releases a rush of tears. “You never even knew my name! To you I was a silly fat nobody. And you rejected my rose, not only in China, but last night as well.”

  “That… that…” Todd collapses to the floor.

  “No!” Jasmine rushes to the sink and reaches in through the drain. “Todd, I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  Todd doesn’t respond. Jasmine pulls out two nitroglycerine pills and pushes them under Todd’s tongue but there is no response. She gets him a glass of water and assists him in swallowing the pills. “You can’t go now, Todd.”

  Angela yanks on the cupboard door below the sink. She kicks out the U-shaped drainpipe. A slew of nitro pills gushes out.

  Susan yells, “What are you doing?”

  “Go to hell.”

  Angela grabs a fistful of pills and rushes to the living room and locks the door.

  Todd’s eyes open groggily and he pushes Jasmine away. He turns to Liang and Susan.

  “Save her! She’s your daughter.”

  Susan shakes her head. “I want to but I can’t. We can’t kill nor can we save.” Liang and Susan stand grim-faced.

  Todd turns to Jasmine. “She’s still your sister, Jasmine. You’ve got to try.”

  Jasmine looks painfully at Todd, then passes through the wall as if it didn’t exist at all.

  Todd lurches to the door and hammers on it. “Open up!”

  ***

  Inside the living room, Angela flails at Jasmine but all the blows pass right through Jasmine’s body.

  Todd’s yells through the pounding door. “Open up. Open the door.”

  An exhausted Angela pants as Jasmine just stares at her. “You kept hitting me again and again. That’s why I have bruises and wounds. It wasn’t Todd at all.”

  “So what?”

  Angela runs to answer Todd’s pounding at the kitchen door and flings it open.

  Todd falls in and she quickly shuts it and locks it tight.

  “Angela, it’s okay.”

  “Shut up.” Angela wraps her body around Todd and begins squeezing the life out of him.

  Todd fights back but in his weakened condition is no match for the superbly conditioned Angela.

  “No! Stop, Angela.”

  “Can’t do anything, can you, sis?”

  Angela starts wrenching Todd’s neck.

  “NO!” Jasmine picks up the metronome.

  Jasmine flies to the entwined couple, raising the metronome over her head. She reaches back as far as she can and with a huge final thrust in slow motion, the metronome swings down toward Angela’s head.

  Angela sees the metronome coming at her face.

  “Jasmine!” Gathering all his strength, Todd pushes Angela’s head out of the way and the metronome knocks his head, causing a huge gash.

  Bleeding profusely, he crumples. Jasmine drops to her knees and applies pressure to the wound. “No, Todd. Please, don’t go.”

  Todd smiles weakly. “I can join you then.”

  “That’s not funny.”

  “I’m serious.”

  As Todd bleeds, Angela pulls a handful of nitro pills from her pocket and swallows them.

  She sees a bottle of Fen Jiu and grabs it and downs the illicit Chinese inebriant.

  Angela begins to foam at the mouth.

  She falls to the floor in the midst of a seizure. Violent spasms wreak Angela’s body... then stillness.

  Jasmine steps over and closes Angela’s eyes. She bows her head in distress.

  Todd opens his eyes. “Jasmine. Why did you do that?”

  “It’s not your time yet, Todd. And you still have a life of your own to live.”

  “But not with you.”

  “No, not with me.”

  He embraces Jasmine as the door from the kitchen swings open.

  Liang, Vicky, Mei-Mei and Susan make their way in. Liang carries Angela’s rose.

  Susan embraces Todd. “I’m sorry, Todd. We were all wrong about you.”

  “Don’t blame yourselves. I had doubts for the last five years.”

  Liang places the rose on Angela’s body. “Even the dead make mistakes.”

  Todd picks up Mei-Mei. “I would have done exactly the same thing for you, my darling little girl.”

  He holds Mei-Mei with one hand and with the other, Todd strokes Jasmine’s hair, paying particular attention to the faint but distinct line around her neck.

  Jasmine takes Mei-Mei. “Shouldn’t you be saying something to Vicky, Todd?”

  “Yeah, I should.” A smiling Todd turns to Vicky. “I’m sorry I accused you. I understand why you didn’t want to see me anymore.”

  Vicky looks at Jasmine with an unspoken question in her eyes. Jasmine nods in approval at her and at Todd.

  “That was then… I’m no longer married.”

  “Is that an invitation?” Todd touches Vicky’s hair, then her cheeks. “I like San Francisco better than I like Vancouver.”

  “Either of them is better than Beijing but I still want to go to Los Angeles.”

  “Are we going to spend a lifetime arguing about that?”

  “If you want to.”

  Todd lifts Vicky’s head up to his and the motion causes the locket on her neck to slip out onto her blouse. A sudden realization makes alarm spread over his face. “Omigod.”

  “What?” asks Jasmine.

  “Don’t touch me.” Vicky backs away.

  “What are you talking about?” Jasmine’s totally baffled.

  “I have something I’ve got to see,” says Todd as he takes the locket from Vicky’s neck.

  He opens it and on one heart is Todd’s picture and on the other heart is Vicky’s.

  He compares the locket with his own and the one on Liang’s neck—they are identical.

  Todd takes the chain from the locket and holds it against Jasmine’s neck.

  “I knew every inch of Jasmine’s body and there was no bruising around her neck when I left the stage.”

  Vicky objects. “Your memory can’t be that good.”

  “I have played it out ten thousand times in my mind. I remember everything.” He touches the line around Jasmine’s neck.

  “Jasmine, one more time. For the truth.”

  “Must I?”

  “Yes.”

  Jasmine looks at Todd sadly, then spasms on the floor.

  Catherine and Vicky lean over the still Jasmine. Vicky turns to Catherine. “Hurry, Catherine. Get help quickly.”

  Catherine runs off, shouting, “I’ll be back soon.”

  Vicky puts her hands on Jasmine’s bleeding face, sliding them down to her neck, fondling her locket.

  She looks toward the door to make sure that Catherine is gone, then leans over Jasmine. “Jasmine, can you hear me? Do you know what I’m saying?”

  Jasmine stirs ever so slightly and her lips open just the tiniest amount. “Jaw… stuck.”

  “Oh.” Vicky coldly takes the locket and twists the chain hard around Jasmine’s neck. “Sorry, Jasmine.”

  Jasmine’s body shivers slightly, then stills, this time for good. Vicky releases her grip and removes the chain from Jasmine.

  In the living room, all see that the thin bruising around Jasmine’s neck matches the width of the chain.

  Jasmine touches the bruised line on her neck. “I was alive.”

  Todd nods. “Yes, you were.”

  Vicky looks at Jasmine, then races out of the room.

  Todd begins to chase after her but Jasmine stops him. “Don’t you want me to chase her?”

  “I’ll find her.” Totally forlorn, Jasmine looks to where Vicky ran off. “I’ve had practice… The wrong person was punished.�
�

  Liang grimaces. “No, Catherine’s blow was enough to cause Jasmine’s death. Vicky just wanted to make sure.”

  Todd looks around the room in deep thought. Something is troubling him and suddenly his face lights up.

  “You’re all wrong.” Inquisitive eyes turn to Todd.

  “Why do you say that?” asks Liang.

  “Jasmine, you were going to die, no matter what. Remember your hands were quivering and you were short of breath?”

  “Yes.”

  “At first, I thought that was just part of the act, of you getting into the part. But you just told Vicky that your jaw was stuck, that it was numb.”

  “Okay, yes.”

  Todd takes a deep breath and declares, “You had a massive heart attack. Hands tingling, shortness of breath, extremely tired, and then your jaw went numb. I’ll bet you had jolts of pain in your left arm too.”

  Jasmine nods. “How did you know?”

  “Those are classic symptoms of an acute myocardial infarction. I know because I have to be careful myself. You were dying, Jasmine. That’s why it seemed so real… It was because it was real.”

  Jasmine’s eyes and Todd’s lock. Love that transcends the space time continuum, that crosses the boundary from Hades to Heaven, prevails.

  At the piano, Mei-Mei begins to play with single notes Liang’s mournful erhu tune. Jasmine kisses Todd, then releases him. “And now we know.”

  “What a tangled web we weave.”

  Jasmine’s face scrunches. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. Just something silly,” laughs Todd.

  He steps to the piano and kisses Mei-Mei.

  The little girl beams. “That’s what daddies do.”

  “Yes, that’s what we do. Right, Liang?”

  “Right.”

  “Goodbye, my little Mei-Mei.”

  “Goodbye, Daddy.”

  Mei-Mei tilts her head up to Jasmine. “Are we going to heaven now, Mommy?”

  “Yes, we are going home.”

  Liang nods. “We are all going home.”

  Todd and Jasmine embrace each other one final time as Liang and Susan take Mei-Mei’s hands.

  Grandfather, grandmother, mother and daughter then pass through the door as if it didn’t exist.

  Through the window Todd watches his family wafting skyward, disappearing like a rising kite to the stratosphere.

  Chapter 27

  Many cheap drinks are needed in order to deal with all the shit that’s happened. Thank God for the Ho Inn where Cam, Harlan and Todd sit at a table, nursing drinks.

  “So how did you two become part of Liang’s posse?”

  “Harlan and I were renting your apartment from Liang and Susan.”

  Harlan takes a gulp. “We helped with the reno. Liang gave us a break but it still wasn’t free.”

  Cam lights a cigarette. “And then our dough ran out because our book deal went south. Publisher went broke.”

  “What do you mean by ‘our dough’?”

  “Harlan and I are writing partners. Been doing it ever since that crazy Chinaman moved here.”

  “Liang and Susan had their own money problems trying to pay for Catherine’s music lessons and a place in China for Jasmine. They kept hassling us so we had to do a bit of business.”

  “You killed them?”

  Cam shrugs. “Yeah, and that’s when our problems really started. Their ghosts kept showing up and never said a damn thing. Totally weirded us out. Silence isn’t golden, it’s scary.”

  “The first time they opened their mouths is when they thought you took out Jasmine. That’s when they became palsy walsy with us.”

  “Said they’d let Harlan and me off if we helped them go after you. They needed help from someone who knows the real, the surreal and the unreal. And because they couldn’t do it themselves, we became the de facto weapons of choice.”

  “So you guys killed them over a few bucks of rent?”

  “Not the main reason, Piano Man. We got a new publisher and he said our ghosts and gore were superficial.”

  Cam takes out the same knife that he killed Liang and Susan with. It’s the Tibetan dagger that almost killed Todd.

  “He said the writing didn’t make him feel like we were really in the room. That we needed to go deeper...”

  Cam rises as Harlan grabs hold of Todd. “And we need to go deeper still.”

  Todd struggles but can’t break Harlan’s hold. Cam lunges with the knife toward Todd.

  However, Liang suddenly appears. “No!”

  Liang kicks Cam’s hand and Cam’s momentum drives the knife into Harlan’s chest. Damn!”

  Harlan releases Todd and, bleeding profusely, Harlan pulls the knife out.

  Cam grabs Todd. Harlan lunges at him but Liang rips Todd away from Cam. Harlan can’t change direction and his momentum drives the knife into Cam’s heart. “Aaah!”

  As Cam and Harlan lay dying, Todd turns to Liang. “Nothing has happened to me even though I should have been killed several times over. Why?”

  Liang studies Todd with questioning eyes, then a hint of a smile curls on his face. “Maybe the dead aren’t dead.”

  “You mean you’re an…” Todd’s words hang in the air.

  “Maybe.” Liang steps out of the bar.

  Excerpts from Demons of Chinatown

  …Not far away in a dilapidated Taoist temple that takes up the entire third floor of a small abandoned building in a quiet area of Chinatown, are three people performing a centuries old ritual of a tea séance, sitting cross-legged around the table.

  They are led by an ageless, elderly Chinese who with his wispy beard and priestly garb, looks very much like the Chinese shaman he is. This is Wutong.

  While he had adopted the name, “Wutong,” in China, the term “Wutong” refers to a general group of ancient diabolical changelings that came from the south. Over the centuries, this particular one had changed himself so many times and lied even more, he couldn’t remember what he really was originally – or if he even ever had an origin.

  Also present is Liang, Jasmine’s superbly conditioned, fifty-five-year-old father.

  The last of the trio is twenty-five-year-old Vicky, the bewitching best friend of Jasmine. Wearing a tight-fitting silk blouse, and jeans that show off her goddess-like figure, her hazel eyes and long sensuous hair make her a candidate for every man’s private dreams.

  Surrounded by burning incense and fierce-looking Chinese porcelain idols and costumed warriors, they have been sitting here with eyes closed for hours drenched in sweat with Wutong chanting in an unknown tongue.

  This centuries old divination process for communication with the dead ends when Wutong stops reciting his ritual chorus. All meditate silently for a minute.

  Wutong gets up with Liang and Vicky following suit. With folded hands, they bow deeply three times, in front of a shrine of a faded multi-colored ceramic god with multiple arms that is flanked by celestial figurines and bronze ritual vessels. After the bows, they turn and sit cross-legged on the floor in front of a low-stooped mahogany table.

  It is surprising that Liang and Vicky could sit together. After all, Vicky was the one who ended Jasmine’s life by strangling her with the locket that Todd fondled in front of the bank. Liang, though, still primarily blames Todd. Todd was the one who had beaten Jasmine mercilessly with a metronome during a rehearsal for an audition where Jasmine was portraying a battered woman. Liang never truly believed that Todd’s motives were entirely pure, believing that Todd did not want to be a father and used the rehearsal as an excuse for his daughter’s homicide.

  Wutong has been here for a century, coming with some of the earliest peasants from China. The owner of this building, he acts to help every Chinese that comes to him, but the clever, ageless inscrutable always has a personal agenda that benefits him.

  Liang was already a well-established theater set designer in China but when he immigrated to Canada, his lack of English speaking ability
hindered him from working towards his dream of becoming a director. He found in Wutong, not only someone who could soothe these professional wounds, the slit-eyed Wutong was someone who could take him to advanced levels of spiritism and necromancy. Liang learned early on not to call this “magic,” because Wutong considered magic as cheap parlor tricks. No, Wutong taught Liang to straddle and utilize multiple realities to achieve what earthly beings called the “supernatural.”

  Liang opens the conversation. “I didn’t hear anything.”

  Wutong pours tea from a simple earthenware pot into three tiny clay cups. “That’s because there is no one to hear from.”

  “What does that mean?” queries Liang solemnly.

  Wutong’s eyes gaze upon Liang’s face. “That means, my esteemed disciple, that we can proceed. Jasmine is in a place where she can no longer be reached and she can no longer reach us. If she were, we would have contacted her during our session.”

  “Perfect.”

  Vicky speaks. “Liang, why do you want to do this? I don’t get where you’re coming from. You saved him, yet now you want to take his life. There is a logic I don’t understand.”

  “I saved Todd from the hands of those idiot former tenants, Harlan and Cam, because the timing was wrong. Of course he deserves death.” Liang gulps down the tea in a single slurp. “But if he died when those misfits wanted to kill him, he would have joined Jasmine and granddaughter Mei-mei in the journey to the divine realm. My daughter would never have left if she thought Todd was in danger. I needed to wait until they had arrived.”

  Wutong gives a knowing look at Liang. “Now that we are assured that Jasmine arrived at the celestial home, she can never return back to earth, back to the here and now.”

  “Exactly. And now I will have my revenge. That is why we are here. That is why she is here.” He points to Vicky and quotes a line that Cam had said. “The dead can’t eat, can’t drink, can’t take a crap…”

  Vicky finishes the sentence with a smile. “‘… but most importantly, they cannot destroy the living.’ Which is why I have some usefulness in this enterprise.” Vicky is referring to the fact that out of the three, she is the only one who is not a spirit.