The Hunt for the Tree of Life (Book One 1)

by Zulu, Arthur

  “There were none, Commodore.”

  “I am sorry for you. You have to pay up quick unless their lives aren’t important to you. We give you seven days. Convert the sum to yuan and know what I’m talking about. Then pay us in dollars. We talk dollars in the high seas.” He hanged up, not waiting for reply.

  Yong was shaking. How could that pirate talk of such an amount? What went wrong that all their efforts ended in the Pacific?

  Well, kidnappers were known for talking tough at the beginning. China would negotiate and reach a compromise. The captives were very important to the country. He will see the president.

  The United States team in Turkey was pleased to hear the news. They knew the Chinese would fail in their adventure. The show was in Turkey.

  They went to Erzincan and Erzurum, the fifth and sixth towns on their way. They did not find success in the former but they found a forbidden forest at the latter. It would be very well explored for the tree of life.

  Chapter 13

  Captain Fortune, a Marine in the U.S. naval station in Guam, found a floating flower in the ocean. He picked it up, examined it, and showed it to some of his colleagues. It looked unique. None of them had ever seen such a flower before.

  The Chinese inscription at the base suggested it might be a Chinese flower. The Chinese have many pagan ceremonies. It must have found its way into the ocean through the South China Sea in one of such rituals, they thought.

  In any case, Captain Fortune would be going on leave to his native state of New York. He knew a Chinese horticultural shop in Downtown Manhattan. He would sell it and make some dollars to enjoy his vacation.

  Over the Pacific, Chinese air force planes had been flying to and fro. They were searching for something in the ocean.

  The Chinese team had been released by the pirates and had returned back to Beijing. It was the toughest negotiation that the Chinese government ever had with kidnappers.

  The Chinese ambassador in Manila, the Philippines, personally negotiated with the pirates and secured their freedom. Nobody knew how much that was paid. What was paramount to China was the people on the special mission, not the yuan.

  Cheung and his team had been narrating their ordeal from Tahiti to the Philippines. They told how difficult it was to grow the plant, which was the first to be thrown into the ocean by the leader of the pirates. How they wished they had not poisoned those Adam trees. They would have headed back to Tahiti.

  The air force pilot and crew searching the sea returned and said they found no flower in the ocean.

  It was not really possible to find a seedling in the ocean even with a dozen flying planes. The plant was gone forever and the fruits would rot inside the sunken ship. What a wasted journey! What would they do next?

  Captain Fortune walked into Meiying Flower Shop in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, New York, flower in hand. He was talking to a female attendant in front of the counter.

  “How much will you pay me for this?” he asked.

  She looked at it. She had not seen this before.

  “Where did you get this?” she asked.

  “At sea. What’s your offer?”

  “Two thousand dollars,” she said.

  Captain Fortune’s eyes shone. Is the flower worth that much? He tried his bargaining skill.

  “No, give me six or nothing.”

  The girl glanced at the shop owner sitting behind who rose and walked over to meet them.

  She examined it, read the Chinese writing on it, and nodded.

  “It is a rare flower. I overhead you telling my girl you got it at sea,” said Meiying, whose name meant Beautiful flower. “You can see it has been tossed about by the waves. Its chance of survival is slim. We can’t pay you more than five thousand dollars for it.”

  Captain Fortune was too delighted to hear that but managed to contain himself. He was only playing a gamble when he mentioned six thousand dollars. True, the flower had been battered by the elements. It likely would not survive.

  How wonderful it was for him to have five thousand bucks in his pocket on his leave! He would crawl the bars in New York with his pals and paint the empire red!

  “What do you say? Will you accept five thousand dollars?” asked Meiying.

  “Yes, madam; thank you,” said Captain Fortune, smiling and rubbing his palms together. She counted him the money and he dashed off.

  “Did you notice that?” Meiying said, indicating the Chinese label on the flower to her girl.

  “Yes, madam, Adam’s flower.”

  “Good. There is no flower like it anywhere on earth. Now, put a price tag on it. Write ten thousand dollars.”

  Mr. Hunter and his team found the Erzurum forbidden forest very strange. The place was dense with trees, so thick that they could not see beyond a few meters. Movement too was arduous but the Americans persevered. They must find the tree of life!

  The specie of trees there, however, were all fairly known. Besides, a few unknown trees did not bear fruits. So they could not pass off for the tree of life – a fruit-bearing tree.

  Exactly why it was called a forbidden forest was not known. Could it be because of the ghostly-looking trees?

  This was the sixth town. They were getting closer to the eight—the last. The nearer they got to the end, the more apprehensive they became. They could not bear the fear of failure. The Chinese were done. The game now was theirs. Famished and exhausted, they sat down to eat and rest.

  The Chinese were watching the Americans via satellite. They did not understand why the Americans were wasting time and resources in East Turkey. Could they not see that it was a journey to nowhere? Their own professor and Nobel laureate had told them that Eden was not there. Yet, they lingered on!

  Perhaps, it was the American spirit—the spirit of hope—thought the Chinese. Now that their own journey had abruptly terminated at the Pacific, their pastime was to watch the wandering Americans.

  Shing was having an enjoyable vacation in America. The thought of returning to China scared him. He had not fulfilled Jia’s wish. Was it such a difficult thing for a man to convince a woman to marry him? He was the last man in the world to think that marriage was a long journey. Now, he knew.

  He would depart tomorrow through JFK, New York. He had heard of a Chinese flower shop in Chinatown in this city of New York. He would check the shop just in case.

  So Shing checked into Meiying Flower Shop. He stood before the counter gazing at the shelves, not knowing what he wanted.

  “May I help you, sir?” asked the salesgirl.

  “I don’t really know what I want,” was his reply.

  “Wait a moment! I can help you sort yourself out,” said Meiying, the shop owner, rising and walking up to the counter to meet him.

  “You look Chinese. What part of China do you come from?” Meiying asked Shing.

  “Sichuan province.”

  “Oh good. South-central. I come from Guangdong province in south-east.”

  “But why are women from your province hard to get?”

  “That is the nature of all women. Why do you ask?”

  “My fiancée is from your province. She won’t agree to marry me unless I buy her a rare gift,” replied Shing.

  Meiying laughed.

  “Then get her a glass of water from Mars,” she answered, still laughing.

  “Yes, if I had wings, I could. Or even fly to get her a piece of Jupiter’s many moons or a ring from Saturn. Or a truckload of space diamonds from the diamond planet.”

  “You are a lady’s dream. But a diamond planet?”

  “Yes, it is a new one—deep in space, outside our solar system.”

  “Fascinating. I will need that myself. Diamonds are for women. Sorry, you don’t have wings, my dear. So what have you already bought for her on earth?”

  “I have bought her valuable pearls, earthly diamonds, necklaces, and trinkets, but she has rejected them all. If I don’t find something unusual before I leave for home tomorrow, I plan to
visit Africa and buy her the hairs of a baboon from Guinea or the jaws of a Nile crocodile. Maybe that will serve.”

  They laughed.

  “I mean it, I really love Jia.”

  “Oh, Beautiful is her name? She needs no such gifts. You will go home happy. I will give you what really befits Beautiful, your fiancée, and she will say yes.”

  “True?”

  ”You wait!”

  She motioned her salesgirl to bring her the recently acquired flower from the self. The girl returned with it and gave it to her madam.

  “Now, guess what this is,” Meiying said to Shing, cupping her palm around the label. Shing looked on curiously.

  “Note, it isn’t your common daffodil, Pride of Barbados, or Queen of the Night flowers,” she warned him.

  “That will be a hard one. I will need a clue then. Help me with place of origin and I will give you the answer,” Shing said.

  “I don’t even know myself. Could have been Eden.”

  “Eden? Can’t figure out any flower in that garden.”

  “Okay. Now read!” Meiying told him, uncovering the label.

  “Adam’s flower!” shouted Shing in ecstasy.

  “Yes, that’s your out of this world gift for Beautiful.”

  Shing started dancing.

  “You see, invite me to your wedding.”

  “I will, how much is this?” He had not looked at the price tag out of excitement.

  “It’s written on it.”

  “Ten thousand dollars. That’s cheap! Sorry, I never looked.”

  That was when it occurred to Meiying that the flower was undervalued. She then started thinking of how to make a few extra dollars.

  “Of course that excludes service, packaging, and handling charges, plus Value Added Tax,” she said.

  “How much would the total be then?” asked Shing.

  Meiying glanced at her salesgirl.

  “Fifteen thousand dollars,” said the salesgirl.

  “All right. Fifteen thousand. It should have been more but we are all Chinese.”

  “Thank you very much,” said Shing, bringing out dollar bills to pay.

  Meiying wrote out the receipt while her salesgirl handled the packaging.

  “What’s your name?” Meiying asked, filling the receipt.

  “Shing.”

  “Victory, that’s a nice name. You have won Jia! We are happy for you!”

  Shing was returning to China in a grand style. He felt as if he was living in the clouds. So he was now going to marry Jia? He could not believe it. He won’t tell her of the gift until he got to China.

  The airport officials at JFK were busy checking the traveling passengers. Their boss had toughened the procedure ever since he won an award. Things must be done right. Woe betides the official who strays from established standards.

  Shing stood before the checking officials in the counter. They placed the flower on the desk while searching his luggage. He raised his head and saw a tall man with a staff and a dangling medal on his neck marching toward them and swearing, “Not a fly!” A girl bearing a tray was at his heels.

  Then Shing looked at the officials and noticed that they had stopped what they were doing. They seemed to be waiting for this man’s arrival.

  Maj. Eagle-Eye had been working round the clock since his award. He hadn’t sat in his office. He was in the Arrival Lounge this moment and the next minute he was in the Departure Lounge. His secretary brought him papers to sign outside, while a coffee girl with a tray of coffee and burger danced attendance.

  He reached the counter, registered his presence and strutted away, his medal swinging on his neck. At six meters, he turned and marched back to the counter.

  “First things first: introduction,” he told his officers.

  They were acquainted with the procedure.

  “Meet our boss, Maj. Eagle-Eye. Not a fly passes through him,” one of them was introducing him to Shing. “He is a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest in America!”

  “Not finished,” Eagle-Eye said, looking sternly at the erring officer.

  “Sorry, not more than 10 people in American history have the medal. He rounded the figure. You can see the prestigious medal dangling on his neck.”

  Eagle-Eye nodded repeatedly, making the gilded disc with the Seal of the President of the United States attached on a blue ribbon swing around his neck.

  “Stage two: your test question. How much do you know about this traveler?” he asked.

  The officials took turns to answer.

  “He is Chinese,” said one.

  “He is twenty-one years old,” another added.

  “He is single,” one said.

  “He has been in the United States for three months on a visiting visa,” added another.

  Eagle-Eye nodded again.

  “I am always proud of all my boys. Now next stage: caution notice.”

  One officer addressed Shing: “We are going to ask you some tough questions. You do not reply back immediately. You are given a minute to think before answering because whatever you say will be recorded and might lead to a tougher question. Do you understand?”

  He looked embarrassed.

  “Yes,” he finally said.

  “The traveler understands, sir,” the official said to the boss.

  “All right. Question stage. Your first question . . .” Eagle-Eye said leaning forward.

  “Why did you come to America to buy a flower?”

  “Good,” Maj. Eagle-Eye said, did an about turn, and strutted six meters away. Then he turned back, and inclined his head for an answer.

  “I bought it as a souvenir for my fiancée,” Shing replied.

  “That answer doesn’t explain the reason; off the mark! Put it down,” noted Eagle-Eye.

  An official wrote.

  “Next question?” Eagle-Eye prompted, bending forward.

  “Why do you want to marry early?” another official asked.

  “Very good!” Eagle-Eye said and marched six meters away. He returned for an answer, and leaned forward.

  Shing did not know what to say.

  “It is our custom,” was what he eventually said.

  “Note his answer. He didn’t say whether it is the Chinese or his family’s custom,” Eagle-Eye pointed to his juniors.

  Someone wrote.

  “Your next tough question,” Eagle-Eye told his officers.

  “How did you get fifteen thousand dollars to buy a flower?” asked one official.

  “Excellent!” Eagle-Eye said, turning and strutting away. He came back after six meters, waiting for a reply.

  Shing was thinking. What kind of question was that? Did they want him to declare his assets or was he being probed for money laundering?

  “Need an extra minute?” asked Eagle-Eye.

  “It is an inheritance,” Shing replied.

  “Notice that he didn’t mention the amount of money he inherited and who bequeathed it to him,” pointed out Eagle-Eye.

  An official wrote again.

  “Now check the data base and let’s see if Meiying Flower Shop is registered and how long she has been in business,” Eagle-Eye told his officials.

  One of them quickly checked the computer database.

  “It is registered, sir. Been in business for seven years,” the officer answered.

  “Okay, your final test question,” Eagle-Eye said to his officials.

  They looked at one another in apprehension. What would he ask them now?

  “Take a look at this flower,” Eagle-Eye said, raising it up. “It was recovered from water. What’s the evidence?” He kept it back on the desk and marched away.

  The security officials were flummoxed. They put heads together —trying to find an answer.

  Maj. Eagle- Eye was returning after walking six meters. He came to the counter and stood waiting.

  The officials were still consulting one another.

  “Need an extra minute?�
� he asked them.

  “The packaging, sir,” said one of the officials.

  “It was meant to float on water, sir,” one added.

  “Because of the plastic container sealing the roots, sir” another one supported.

  “And sir, we licked it and it tasted salt,” one other officer revealed.

  Maj. Eagle-Eye nodded and smiled.

  “My training has not been in vain. All of you should see me after work at the tarmac for your promotion papers,” he told them.

  They were happy.

  “Thank you, sir,” the officers said.

  Eagle-Eye now turned to Shing.

  “Did the shop owner tell you which sea she found the flower?”

  “No, sir,” he replied.

  “Never mind,” Eagle-Eye said to him. “She has questions to answer. I am calling her right now!”

  With that, he strode twelve meters away. The coffee girl held out the tray to him. He took a cup of coffee and dialed Meiying.

  “Hello, I’m Maj. Eagle-Eye. Are you the owner of Meiying Flower Shop?”

  “No, sir. I am the salesgirl.”

  “All right, give her the phone if she’s there. I don’t talk to assistants.”

  She hurried to hand over the phone to her madam.

  “Yes, sir. I am Meiying. May I help you?”

  “No, thanks, I don’t need your assistance. You would rather think of helping yourself after I’m done with you.”

  That was sharp, thought Meiying. Who might that be?

  “I’m Maj. Eagle-Eye, security director at JFK, holder of the Presidential Citizens Medal.”

  “Oh thanks, sir. I have heard the name,” she said.

  “Good. Then you had better be careful. I want straight answers to some tough questions.”

  “All right, sir,” she answered shivering. What is this troublesome man about?

  “I want to buy Adam’s flower,” said Eagle-Eye.

  But that’s a request, not a question, Meiying thought.

  “I’m sorry, sir. We’ve sold the last one.”

  “How many of the flowers have you sold since the seven years you’ve been in business?”

  So this man already knew she had been operating for seven years? She hoped he hadn’t discovered she hired an undocumented immigrant as a salesgirl.