Felix had disappeared; for days there were no visits after work. Ada looked up the police station telephone number and called.
“Rodionov is not here,” somebody said in a rude tone.
“When is he coming back?”
“Never.”
Daniel didn’t show up either. Ada would go home to her sweltering room, take her pillow with Carlos Gardel and sit in the darkness near an open window, thinking dark thoughts, each one scarier than the next. Something had happened to Felix. But what was it? Where should she look for him? Ada didn’t even know his address.
She went to the airfield to check on her plane. It was still there covered with a dusty canvas. A watchman reminded her she had to pay him for the next month. But with what? Would she have to use her savings again? Damn this stupid machine!
Lissie paced the room as ash from her cigarette fell onto the carpet.
“Did you hear the news? My sister’s husband has vanished. They’re looking for him everywhere, but he’s not in the office or at his club and no one knows where he is. I think it’s good, though. Daniel never loved Edna and she refused to accept it. Now she’ll be rich and free. If Daniel doesn’t appear again, I’ll ask her for a loan to start Flappers again.”
Ada felt a heavy sickness rise in her throat. Mr. Bernard went to Felix and they killed each other.
Lissie carefully looked at her. “What’s up? Are you ill?”
Ada nodded, struggling not to sob, “Yes, I am.”
“You having those…those days? Why didn’t you tell me straight away? Go home—Hobu will look after Brittany.”
Ada told the rickshaw boy to drive her to the Central Police Office on Foochow Road. Felix had told her that’s where his friend worked.
An on-duty officer asked Ada to wait on a visitor’s bench and busied himself with phone calls, writing something and chatting with couriers.
“Oh, sorry, I completely forgot about you,” he said when Ada stood by his window again. “So, who do you want to see? Collor? Go straight ahead, then turn right and you’ll see an embroidered screen.”
Ada walked through an open plan room. Smoke hung in the air above the many tables; the floor was covered in crumpled balls of paper.
“Who do you want?” A man holding a glass in his hand asked. “Collor? Okay, that’s me. Don’t you recognize me? We met in your mistress’s house.”
Ada’s eyes filled with tears. “Where’s Felix?”
Collor took her to his table behind a screen. He gave her a glass. “Drink.”
“Where’s Felix?” she repeated in a tense voice.
“Arrested! And like hell they won’t let him go,” Collor roared. “They caught him peddling opium.”
“What?”
“That’s what. And they grilled my ass too. ‘It’s you who got him his job in the police.’ I’m bloody relieved they didn’t fire me. But whatever, I don’t care if they did. I’ll start a detective agency; there are enough jealous men in Shanghai to keep me busy.”
Ada was fiddling with her neck scarf. So that’s where Felix’s money came from.
“I trusted that son of a bitch like I trust myself,” Collor muttered. “I thought I’d found a real man—”
“Can I see Felix?” Ada interrupted.
Collor looked at her with surprise. “But you’re no one to him.”
“I’m his fiancée.”
“Oh my God. … Your Felix is in solitary. We have a new Commissioner and he wants to make an example of his punishment to show everyone that he is not a man to be trifled with.”
“And there’s nothing that can be done?”
Collor frowned. “The most important thing is that Felix’s hearing happens before they return the Mixed Court to the Chinese authorities.”
“What do you mean?”
“Within the territory of the International Settlement, cases for people with no citizenship are decided by the Mixed Court. Even though Chinese judges reside there, it’s only for show: everything is decided by a foreign consultant and of course he’ll cut white people some slack. But the Mixed Court will soon be handed back to the Chinese: it was one of the conditions for ending the general strike.”
“And then what?” Ada gasped.
“The punishment for drug peddling is execution. And a Chinese judge will be sure to give it to a white man.”
2.
Klim was the only person who didn’t consider Tamara a poor thing. He never thought he had to do all the ritual actions people do around invalids. When he visited her there were no symbolic flowers, books or dull hospital presents; he just saturated the air with his talent and energy and that was worth a million times more than anything else.
Tamara found the radio studio filled with fantastic devices. Klim was king there, talking briskly to technicians in Shanghainese, sending security guards out to buy pastries, writing new sketches to use on air, nibbling on his pencil or aimlessly juggling apples brought in by his secretary. When he switched on the microphone, all the workers would gather in front of the broadcasting room glass, anticipating the great fun about to begin.
Even the owner of the studio, a plump man called Don Fernando, would be sucked into the carnival.
“He’s my hero!” he shouted, shaking another newspaper with another complimentary article. “They love you and I love you, too—just so you know!”
In the beginning, the broadcasting made Tamara freeze with horror. Klim would sit nearby wearing earphones and make encouraging signs to her.
It felt wild. All she had was a mike, cables and a reading easel with some text. Tamara had absolutely no idea how many thousands of ears were gathered around their radios. Or maybe there weren’t any listeners and she was wasting her time and nerves?
Her first time on-air, Tamara recounted a story Tony had told her. One of his friends at the Volunteer Corps fell asleep in the church during an evening service. Then when he woke up it was night and all the doors were locked. The man started to shout, “Hey! Open up!”
A watchman arrived, asking, “Who’s there?”
“It’s me, San Luke.” This was his surname.
The watchman thought that St. Lucas had appeared in the church and rushed down the street screaming, “Wake up! Wake up, people! It’s an epiphany!”
Broadcasting turned out to be just fine and Tamara triumphantly returned home. Her children congratulated her, growing louder and louder as they interrupted each other with enthusiastic shouts. Even skeptical Tony was touched. “You can’t imagine how proud I am!”
Tamara became a news anchor.
…In Berlin, they signed the German-Soviet Neutrality and Nonaggression Pact.
…In Paris, Coco Chanel introduced the world to her little black dress, a uniform for women with style. Black wasn’t a symbol of mourning anymore.
…In London, John Logie Baird showed journalists a system, which could transmit moving images. They called it “television”.
In Shanghai, Tamara Aulman found a new friend. She and Klim discussed news, radio and Ms. Kupina. Tamara was serious, Klim— sarcastic. It amazed her how Nina could not love her husband. How could she never have appreciated such a treasure?
“She tried but it didn’t work out,” Klim said, smiling bitterly. “She has a different idea of treasures.”
“Money?”
He shook his head. “Fireproofness. My wife is a fireproof woman. She plays with fire constantly, loses constantly, but never burns out. Unfortunately, I can’t be like her. I can’t put my hands in the oven after I’ve burned them once. If something doesn’t work out, I start to feel sorry for myself, thinking I have no talent or use. But Nina has the determination of a woodpecker and she’s not afraid of losses. She would want me to continue fighting for her even after everything that has happened between us. That’s her way. Daniel Bernard rejected her—Nina doesn’t give a damn. When a new opportunity presents itself, she’ll try to tackle him from a different angle. If I show my pride, she considers me wea
k, thinking my pride is a screen behind which I hide my inability to rise from the ashes. And she’s probably right.”
“Do you still love her?” Tamara asked.
Klim moved his shoulders. “Maybe.”
“And do you have hopes?”
“No.”
Tamara looked at her friend—ironic, buoyant, strong, kind-hearted and truthful. People like him shouldn’t be unhappy. And still she could see it: an inner fracture, a fading belief that everything could be different. Like millions of other unloved men who still had children, work and a cup of coffee in the morning, he’d accepted defeat and decided that all was not that bad in his life.
As for Nina Kupina, she didn’t come to Tamara’s anymore.
3.
Ada could only visit Felix after Collor pulled many strings for her. She took Mitya because of a dream she’d had about being arrested as an accomplice to Felix’s drug dealing. Even though Mitya was lousy protection, for some reason she felt calmer when he was around.
Her whole body jolted as the heavy prison gates slammed shut behind her back. The room for visits was blue, with a grate for a window. Depressed, Ada saw behind it a wretched queue and high prison fences.
“Sit here,” a short-nosed Irish guard growled and stomped out down the corridor. He gave Ada the feeling she annoyed him to death.
“He has a toothache,” Mitya said quietly.
Peeved, Ada turned to him. “How do you know?”
The guard returned with a barely recognizable Felix. He was emaciated, unshaven, with his ankles and wrists chained.
“Ada?”
She couldn’t stop herself and rushed to him. The guard grabbed her hand. “No, Miss! Sit at the table and talk. Let your servant wait on the bench.”
Ada started shaking.
“How are you?” Felix uttered in Russian, his chains clanked with each movement.
“No foreign languages here!” the Irishman roared. “You have one minute.”
But Felix didn’t pay any attention to him and continued in Russian, “What a bore! He has a toothache and this whole week he’s lashed out at everyone. Ada, don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay…”
“But they can kill you!”
“Then they have to shoot all the police plus the Municipal Council.”
Felix’s voice was calm, though his eyes were full of anguish. Ada looked at his wrists covered in black marks.
“Do they keep you in irons?”
“Sometimes.”
Everything was awful, but warriors don’t complain. Tears ran down Ada’s cheeks.
“I’ve done what I’ve done, and I will take responsibility for my actions,” Felix said in a determined voice. “They probably won’t let you visit me again. If you have any need, ask Collor or Umberto for help— he’s Italian, a good guy.”
“And you? What if—”
“I won’t let them kill me.” Felix wanted to wipe her tears, but the chain didn’t allow him. “Go home and don’t worry about a thing. And—” He went silent, as if trying to find the right words. “Thank you for coming to see me.”
“I’ll wait for you,” Ada said, her voice trembling.
She made the sign of the cross to him and hugged him, kissing his lips.
“Not allowed!” the guard yelled as if abruptly woken from his sleep. It seemed, all this time he was not there, dropped into some kind of oblivion. “You’ve had quite enough time. The arrested, back out!”
Ada stopped to catch her breath outside the awful prison fence. She could enjoy sun, clouds and sky, but Felix was in there, locked behind bars in a solitary cell.
“The guard won’t have a toothache anymore,” Mitya murmured.
“What?”
“I did something so that he won’t have a toothache ever again. He was in a lot of pain, but a human should not suffer that much.”
“But what about me? Us?” Ada cried drowning in her desperation. She didn’t realize she spoke in such an angry way to Mitya. “You take care of a guard, but have you thought of Felix? Didn’t he have a lot of pain, too?”
“No,” Mitya shook his head. “He was very happy to see you.”
“Really?” Ada muttered, perplexed.
“Really.”
4.
The book store on Foochow Road was the only thing left to cheer Ada up. She had learned to be cunning if she wanted to read new releases, pretending to choose what to buy, but in reality skim reading everything. It was a cheap happiness, truly third rate, but Ada read too fast and no amount of money could quench her thirst for books.
Mr. Douglas, the yellow-eyed storekeeper, repeated over and over again that his store was not a library. He watched his customers through the round mirrors attached to the ceiling. If some scoundrel was found reading illegally, he kicked the person out. To be caught by Mr. Douglas was a disastrous prospect and Ada made sure she was a clever book worm. She would take Gentlemen Prefer Blondes from a shelf and cover it with the Horse-Breeder’s Guide, then step by step, move sideways till she arrived in a corner where thick memoirs gathered dust. There, behind a little cabinet, she was out of range from Mr. Douglas’s mirrors.
Ada painfully hit against a ladder in the middle of her sideways shuffling routine. Looking up, she saw Nina Kupina on the highest step. She was wearing a white dress with a colorful scarf instead of a belt, and a carved Spanish hair comb nestled in her curly hair.
Ms. Kupina looked down. “Good evening.”
Ada greeted her nodding silently. She was overcome by embarrassment, not knowing whether to run away or talk about something. Then suddenly, she remembered the woman she’d seen at Ms. Kupina’s house, the wife of the famous lawyer. He could help Felix!
“It’s so lucky I’ve met you!” Ada exclaimed. “My boyfriend is in terrible trouble, he needs someone to plead for him. Could you please introduce me to Tamara Aulman’s husband? He is a good lawyer, isn’t he?”
“A good lawyer costs a lot,” Ms. Kupina replied coldly.
“I have money. Well, not money, but an airplane. I’ll give it to you if you help me save Felix.”
5.
Whatever Nina did, she always ended up being alone. Klim was busy working at the radio, getting close to Tamara and loving Kitty. Nina was no more than a harmless ghost, which he’d become accustomed to. He didn’t want to sort out their issues: probably because he was afraid to hear critical truths about his precious self.
“My dear, we’ve learned all we need to know,” he would cut her short, when she bashfully tried to explain herself.
He didn’t believe a single word she said.
After a visit to Lazarev’s office, Nina returned home angry and annoyed. All the people crowding the Colonel’s headquarters were her employees, but she knew they were ashamed to work for a woman. She was certain they laughed behind her back and even had some nasty nick-name for her. Nina wanted to complain, to hug somebody and to feel that she was valued.
In their bedroom, she could hear Klim and Kitty’s happy laughter. Pillows were strewn all over the floor and the bedcover was rumpled by a full-scale battle taking place.
“Kitty, come to Mommy,” Nina called.
The little girl didn’t even turn her head, red-faced and puffing. Her eyes were shining as she attacked Klim who roared with laughter defending himself.
Nina lifted Kitty into her arms, but the girl protested, wriggling and screaming, “Let me go, let me go!”
“Leave her alone,” Klim said.
Nina frowned. “What do you mean? Look, what you’ve done: feathers are flying everywhere!”
Klim and Kitty exchanged glances and laughed again.
“Let’s go,” Nina called again. “It’s time to eat.”
Suddenly, Kitty wriggled out and painfully bit Nina on her finger.
“Oh you little brat! I’ll slap your bottom!” she squealed, letting go of the girl.
Kitty was so terrified she ran sobbing to Klim and hid her face on his shoulder.
/> He hugged her. “That’s all right, sweetheart. That’s all right.”
That’s all right? Nina could not believe her ears. Is it Kitty who needs sympathy here?
“It’s your fault!” she lashed out at Klim. “Until your arrival, Kitty and I had a great relationship. You spoil everything you touch. You stole my friends—”
Klim measured her with his eyes. “No, my dear. It’s just nobody wants to be friends with a person who thinks only about money and her own greatness.”
“I’m feeding dozens of people. You ungrateful…I’ve…”
“…found me in a pit?” Klim prompted. “The problem is that you betray people too easily. To be honest, it’s a sorry sight watching you desperately demand admiration and gratitude in exchange for material favors. Didn’t you realize there is nothing else for you to be loved for?”
Nina tried to slap him, but he caught her hand.
“Mommy!” Kitty wailed. “Mommy, I won’t bite you again! I won’t! I won’t! Please don’t hurt Daddy!” She started to pummel herself on her cheeks.
Klim kissed her. “It’s okay, little one. She won’t.”
“I don’t like myself. I’m bad! Because of me, Mommy—”
Klim ferociously looked at Nina, lifted Kitty up and left the room.
Nina slammed the door after him and slumped into an armchair. For hours she cried, then walked to the bathroom, washed her face and cried again. Klim was right: she was a traitor.
She’d broken his life—even though he’d loved her so much.
She’d broken Daniel’s life and he’d left Shanghai forever.
She’d broken Ada’s life. Felix was definitely arrested from one of Daniel’s tip offs—it was too obvious to be coincidence.
I need to help them, Nina decided. I made this mess and I’ll clean it up.
6.
“Let’s marry your Felix to a Mexican?” Aulman said after hearing Nina explain the situation. “He’ll get extra-territoriality rights and I’ll make him carry out his sentence in Mexico. On the way there, he can bribe the captain of his ship or jump overboard and swim to the closest island. Do you know any unmarried Mexican women?”
White Shanghai Page 47
