At last Dan regained his speech. “Guys, why do this to me? Give me a reason at least.”
The tall, thin-waisted man stepped over, wagging his forefinger, and said with a lopsided smile, “You wanna know why? ’Cause you’re too nosy.”
“What are you talking about? This is a new car. Hey, please, no more!”
“You really didn’t get it? Let me tell you, quit using a private dick. No cop’s gonna save your ass.”
“You got the wrong man. You can’t destroy my property like this.”
“Oh yeah? Damn you, this will give you a better idea.” The Latino rushed up and hit Dan on the forehead with his steel bar.
Dan fell to the ground and blacked out. They each gave him a few kicks before bolting away.
When Dan came to, he found himself lying on a gurney moving down a hallway in Flushing Hospital. Two paramedics, a man and a woman, were pushing him to the ER. They walked unhurriedly, as if strolling. Dan touched his forehead, which was bandaged; he twisted his head; his neck was stiff, but his mind was clear. He realized that someone must have dialed 911, which dispatched the ambulance. Gina was walking beside him with her narrow hand on the side of the gurney. Her eyes were puffy, still tearful. “How do you feel, sweetie?” she asked.
“I’m okay.” Dan sat up and huffed out a breath.
“No, lie down.”
“I’m really okay.”
In the ER a young woman doctor examined him briefly and found no serious injury — he didn’t need stitches — so she discharged him after giving him a CAT scan and telling Gina to keep applying ice to his bruise. If he felt dizzy, she said, he must come back without delay. He promised to do that. Gina supported him as they walked out of the hospital building and flagged down a cab. Amazingly, despite the injury, he was fully alert, as wired as if he had just downed a few espressos. How odd. He hoped he could sleep well that night.
After a wonton dinner, the couple remained sitting at the table. Gina, shamefaced, held Jasmine to her breast while she listened to Dan. Now and again she sucked in her breath, her nipple bitten by the baby. Having recalled as much as he could of the incident in the parking lot behind his office building, Dan concluded, “It was Fooming Yu who sent the thugs to smash our car and attack me. Thank God my bones are strong, or they could’ve kicked me to pieces.”
“Believe me, I had nothing to do with this. I knew he was mean, but I never thought he’d go that far. What are you going to do?”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Will you press charges?”
“With all the thugs at large, how can I prove that Fooming Yu was behind the attack? Actually, what troubles me most is not him but you.”
“Me? How do you mean?”
“What’s your true relationship with him?”
“He’s just a fellow townsman, no more than that.”
“Stop lying to me. I feel I don’t know you anymore. Tell me who you are. I can no longer live with a wife who’s like a stranger to me. This home is becoming a torture chamber, too much!”
A prolonged silence filled the room. Gina got up, handed him the baby, then went into her bedroom. Dan sighed and put his elbow on the table to rest his head on his hand, but the instant his forehead touched his palm, a jolt of pain forced him to sit up. Gina came back and put a small white envelope before him. She said, “Look at what’s inside; you’ll see the truth.”
Is it a passport or a love letter? Dan wondered. To his surprise, he took out a bunch of photos of an ugly woman with beady eyes, a bulbous nose, and a broad, thick-lipped mouth. Her face was roundish, though her eyebrows curved like a pair of crescents. “Who’s this?” he asked, a bit revolted.
“It was me. After I came to America I went through a series of plastic surgeries over the years. They changed me completely, into this woman.” She pointed her thumb at her chest. “They cost me every penny I made. I used to live in Chicago, and Fooming was there too and saw my gradual transformation.”
For a moment Dan was too flummoxed to speak. He handed her the baby, then asked, “Are you really from Jinhua?”
“Yes. I went to the same middle school as Fooming’s sister. That’s how he got to know me.”
“Is your family all dead?”
“Yes, except a half brother, but he lives in the countryside and we have no contact.”
“You gave me a raw deal, a raw deal! No wonder Jasmine is so homely. Tell me the truth — is she my child?”
“Yes. I’ve always been faithful to you.”
“Still, you tricked me into this marriage.”
“I don’t feel good about it. That’s why I won’t keep you in the dark anymore. Now you can do to me what you will, but please don’t tell anyone my secret. This is the only favor I ask of you.”
“You can’t go on deceiving others. In fact, you’ve deceived yourself.”
“No, I love my beauty. It’s the best thing America gave me. Finally I have a face that matches my figure and skin.”
A voice shouted in his mind, That’s not beauty, that’s fraudulence! — but he didn’t let that out. He asked instead, “Why can’t you disentangle yourself from Fooming Yu? Because he knows your past?”
“Yes. He often hints at my secret. In fact, he keeps asking me to find him a girlfriend and saying he’s miserable and lonely. Sometimes I feel sorry for him. I guess he’ll let me be once he has a woman. I did introduce him to Sally, but she didn’t like him. For some reason no woman’s interested in him. That’s why he’s still stuck on me.”
“But you’re not his girlfriend!” He got up and started pacing the floor. Now and again he giggled and sighed, shaking his head. Outside the window the sky was scattered with ragged clouds, one of which was drifting across the rusty face of the moon. Below the clouds four or five bats were doing acrobatic stunts.
Dan’s walking and laughter unsettled Gina. She begged, “Stop, please! If you want a divorce, I won’t be opposed to it as long as you let me keep Jasmine.”
“No way. She’s mine and I love her no matter how ugly she is!” He lowered his chin, his eyes flashing. He breathed, “I want to keep these photos.”
“Please don’t show them to others!”
“I’m not that low.”
At those words Gina broke into sobs. “Dan, I love you. I know you’re a true gentleman. I promise not to speak to Fooming again. I will be a good wife and make you proud.”
“No pride of that sort can swell my head again. Tell me, what’s your real name?”
“Lai Hsu.”
“What’s that? It doesn’t even sound like a woman’s name.”
“I was born overdue, so my parents named me Lai. Together with Hsu my name means ‘arrived slowly.’”
“Why did you change your name?”
“I felt I became a new person and wanted to start afresh.”
“So only Fooming Yu knew your past, huh? Does he have something else on you?”
“No. He’s a vampire I can’t shake off of me.”
Gina buried her face in her arms, weeping, while their daughter cried, “Mama, Mama.” The child kept pulling her mother’s ear.
• • •
The meeting between Dan and Fooming took place the next afternoon, in the bar of the Sheraton Hotel. After tea was served, Dan said to him calmly, “I want you to leave my wife alone.”
“What if I don’t comply?” Fooming arched an eyebrow as if in surprise.
Unhurriedly Dan took a photo of Gina out of his inside jacket pocket and put it before Fooming, who glanced at it but didn’t say a word. Dan went on, “You have nothing on her now. I know how ugly she was, but I’ve accepted her as my wife.”