Tibetan woman with prayer wheel, Lithang. (Photo: M. Griffiths)
Read Trial by Fire - (Part 1) Fire here
Read Trail by Fire - (Part 2) Air here
Read Trial by Fire - (Part 3) Earth here
Trial by Fire
by Matthew Griffiths
Part 4 - Water
Heart pounding,
he pulled his phone out of his pocket, thumbed through the contacts and pressed
‘dial’. A phone rang behind him. Out of the
corner of his eye he saw the Chinese man step away into the souvenier shop out
of sight. Greg started for the door and walked toward the nearest park exit as fast
as he could without panting.
“Hi Greg. What’s up?”
“Hey, Jimmy. What are you up to? How is
your sight-seeing going?”
“Good, too many people here though.”
“Ahh. It’s hard to beat
the crowds. Do you want to catch up tonight, maybe go for a drink?”
“Yeah sure. Where do you want to go?”
“Don’t know yet.
There are some good bars mentioned in my guide book. I’ll have a look
when I get back to the hotel this afternoon.”
“Sure. Ok.”
“Ok. See you later.” Greg walked quickly past the poet’s cottage and went out the gate nearby
into the street. He walked down the street a little way and then waved at
passing taxis. Eventually an empty one stopped and he climbed in.
He looked out
the back window trying to spot any other of Chengdu’s distinctive green painted
taxis following. The coast seemed clear. His pulsed rate slowly subsided. Where
should he go? The hotel was too obvious. They would find him and follow him
again. And how would he ditch his tail a second time?
After fifteen
minutes he directed the taxi into a side street and hopped out. He walked
slowly down the side street to the other end to hail another taxi. He realised
he still didn’t know where to go.
Out of the
corner of his eye he saw a dusty old Chinese made VW Santana sedan cruise
slowly up beside him.
Mark stared
straight ahead.
The car stopped
just in front of him.
His breath
caught in his throat.
Out of the
corner of his eye he saw the passenger wound the window down.
His legs
trembled with the repressed urge to flee.
“Tashi Deli.”
Greg turned and
looked into the car.
“Mr Greg?” the man said.
“Yes.”
The man with the
wide brimmed hat was in the passenger seat. “I am friend of
Dolma. Please come.”
Greg hopped into
the back seat of the car.
“You are hard to find. I have follow you.”
“I thought the police were tailing me.” said Greg.
“Yes,” the man said, “but you lost
them. I have informations.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his
jacket and handed them to Greg. He gave instructions to the driver and the car
moved off.
Greg opened the
paper. It contained half a page of type written text. He read it quickly. When
he finished he breathed out slowly. It had everything he needed. Except for the
reason she did it... “Is it ok for me to show this to people?”
The
man nodded. “Her family already taken by police.”
“Ok. I will do everything I can. If I am successful my friend from Sweden
will email the hotel asking about the best time to see flowers in Lithang. Ok?”
The man nodded
again. “Dolma says you very brave man.”
Greg shook his
head. “Not as brave as her, and you, and..” he looked down at the paper, “this person.” He shook his head again. Knowing the
woman’s name and details made her act all the
more real and horrifying.
“Thank you for your help. I will do my
best. Kale shu.” Goodbye.
“Kale shu.” The man shook his hand.
The car stropped
and Greg got out. He hailed another
taxi and returned to the hotel.
******** August 4th, pm ********
He raced back to
his room, grabbed some things and stuffed them into his bag. He kicked himself
for not bringing it all with him in the morning. How long would it take for them to realise he had left the park and
come here? He ran down the stairs and out the back door.
He panted as he
walked away down the alley. He willed himself not to look behind him. He bought
some food at the roadside stall and ate as he walked. He went into the small
shopping centre again. He changed clothes in the toilets and exited via
different door, flagged down a taxi and headed for the east train station. All
going well he could finish the job and be back in plenty of time for happy hour
drinks at one of the backpacker hangouts.
He wore a clean
white shirt, long pants and his leather hiking shoes, the closest thing he had
to formal footwear. He gave them a quick rub to shine them up a bit. On his
head he wore a wide brimmed sunhat with the name Ronaldinho printed on it,
pulled low to cover his face from cameras. What a Brazilian soccer star was
doing with his name on cheap sun hats in west China was anyone’s guess. Hopefully he was making a few dollars out of it.
When he reached
the station he eyed up the 35 teller windows and tried to read the Chinese
signs above each. He chose a busy teller with a long queue hoping the teller
would not ask to see his passport.
He went up a
window and asked for a first class ticket on the fast train to Chongqing.
“Passport?” the
ticket seller said.
“Ahh, sorry I
left it in the hotel.”
“No passport, no
ticket.”
He argued but
the ticket seller would not budge. The people in the queue pressed closer
behind him.
He swore under
his breath and turned to leave the ticket hall. He headed to the nearby east bus
station. It would take twice as long to get there but they were less likely to
require ID. Chongqing, once part of Sichuan, was now a province in its own
right, comprising the huge sprawling city and a stretch of the Yangtze River.
Hopefully getting out of Sichuan would make tracking him a bit harder.
Once he was
settled in his seat and the bus started moving he sent a message to Jimmy.
“Decided to head out of town
tomorrow.
Still want to meet for a drink?”
A few minutes
later Jimmy replied.
“Ok. Where are you going?”
Greg sent
another message.
“I’m thinking Guizhou and Guangxi.
Catch you later.”
Then he sent a
text to Liz.
“Off to see some flowers.”
She replied quickly.
“Take care.”
He switched off
the phone. Justin had done a volunteers stint on a rural development project in
Guizhou and raved about the landscapes and minority villages. Afterwards he
trekked into Guangxi to see the famous rice terraces of Longsheng.
The police could
follow him all the way if they liked as long as the video got out first. He
pulled out his tablet and started typing. He wished he had taken that
Journalism 101 class after all. How do
you write articles? Most important information first? Short sentences, active
voice, who, what, where, when, how…?
Tibetan Woman Self-immolates in Lithang,
China
4 August 2013.
By An Anonymous Eyewitness.
On 1 August
2013, in the town of Lithang (Chinese: Litang), in Sichuan province, China, a
woman by the name of Choden Lhamu set herself on fire. She was aged 29 from a
village near the town of Sertar. She left behind a husband and young son.
Local sources
indicate that she did not tell others of her plan or why she chose her action.
She was a frequent visitor to monasteries in the region. It is known that her
uncle was a monk at the Larung Gar Monastery near Sertar and was forced to
leave the monastery in 2002 along with thousands of others during a government
crackdown on the Tibetan Buddhist religion.
Over 130
Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 in protest at Chinese rule and
restrictions on religious activities.
The woman’s
action was seen by a large crowd and following the woman’s death a riot broke
out when police prevented two local men from removing the body....
He was proof
reading his efforts for the fourth time when the Bus arrived in Chongqing. He
found an expensive looking hotel close to the station with a business centre
and logged onto the internet. He registered on a ‘cloud storage’ site and paid with his home country credit card. This link better be
secure.
As soon as it
went through he began to upload the video, the copy of the information, and the
article. He looked around as he waited for it finish. He was alone in the
centre apart from a slightly bored hotel assistant. Once the upload was
complete he took a deep breath and emailed the link to his lawyer friend. Fingers
crossed. My part is done. Time to get back to my normal life. If I can.
He sent two more
emails, one with a photo of flowers attached, then cleared the browser history
on the computer, logged off and paid the internet fee and headed back to the bus
station, bought a ticket back to Chengdu on the next bus. The buses were almost
hourly so he didn’t have to wait long. He spent a lot of
time looking out the window trying to think of anything except police cells. Once
he was back in Chengdu he turned his phone back on. He sent a text to
Jimmy.
Meet you in Pauls’ Place bar near the Traffic hotel 7pm.
Back in Chengdu
he headed for the shopping centre, changed back into his normal clothes and
ditched the hat, shirt and carry bag in a rubbish skip. He caught the local bus
to the railway station, bought a ticket for the overnight train to Guiyang leaving
at 10am the next day and then headed to a restaurant for some food.
Then he planned
to have some fun with Jimmy.
******** December 24th, pm ********
“Your phone’s ringing.” called Justin, “Looks like an overseas number.”
Greg came out of
the kitchen and picked up the phone. The number was not familiar.
“Hello, Greg speaking.”
“Hi. This is Liz. How are you?”
“Hi! Great! How’s things?”
“Good, good. Thanks for your email and Christmas greetings. I thought I’d reply in person, or at least by phone. ‘Merry Christmas’ and all that.”
“Thanks. It’s great to hear from you.
“What’s it like over
there? Are the flowers blooming in Beijing?”
“Yeah, all good.
No problems to report. Created quite a stir in the press though.”
“I noticed. You
did good job.”
“And you. I guess
we just have to wait and see if it makes a difference.” He paused. “Ahh, how’s Toby?”
“He’s fine.” She was
silent for couple of seconds. “Actually, we broke up a while ago. He met some
tall, blond thing. Makes me look like a short pale lump.”
“Hey that’s not true. You’re intelligent, attractive.…and you have
really strong thighs.
Justin
looked up from his Chinese language text book and smirked.
“All the better for keeping charlatans
like you at bay!” she laughed down the line.
Greg blushed and
retreated to his room and shut the door behind him. “Seriously
though. I’m sorry for putting a spanner in the
works between you two. Not my finest moment.”
“It’s ok. I think it was going to happen
anyway. He’s not a bad guy, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Well my apology still applies. How’s your study
going? Are you on track?”
“Yes, it’s going really well. I should be
finished my thesis by May and be able to attend the early graduation at the end
of June.”
“That’s great. Well done.”
“After that I’m thinking of going to China again this
summer.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Are you still planning on going to that place in Qinghai?”
“Yes. That’s still the plan.”
She
paused. “How’d you like some
company?”
“Yes. I’d...” He blushed again. “It’ll be great to see you again, really great.”
“Yeah,
I’m looking forward to seeing you too, and, umm, seeing what transpires.”
“Me too.” He
smiled and looked out the window at the late afternoon gloom of Beijing. “Hey,
it looks like you were right.”
“About what?”
“When you’re on the side of right, good things do
happen.”
She
laughed again. “Don’t get ahead of
yourself Romeo. Time will tell.”
Read Trail by Fire - (Part 2) Air here
Read Trial by Fire - (Part 3) Earth here
A new story will be posted next Wednesday
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
PHOTOS
If you want to see some great photos of the Lithang horse festival see Charlie McRae's photo blog here. We met up at the horse festival in 2013 and he took some fantastic shots while he was there, plus other areas of Eastern Tibet. Ganzi! Ganzi!
********
MORE STORIES....
The Nature of Love - A couple in love enjoy a day out in nature but something is amiss...
The Nature of Love - A couple in love enjoy a day out in nature but something is amiss...
My Crazy China Trip - (Humour) A novice traveller gets more than he bargains for during 15 days in China. (10 Parts)
Love at First Flight - A foreign teacher arrives in China and falls in love with a local, but the path of true love is anything but smooth. (5 parts)
Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma. (4 parts)
Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control. [Rated R] SHORTLISTED for the Lord Grimdark Award. See the list here.
Beijing Private Eyes - Drama, Romance, Karaoke, Kidnap! A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an attractive stranger and offers to help, then things get complicated. (A long story in 8 parts)
Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned. GAINED 5th PLACE in the New Zealand Writers College Short Story competition. See the list of finalists here.
Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:
My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis". You can read the other entries here.
A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).
Stories set in China:
Winds of Change – In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.
Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.
Seeds of Time – (Sequel to Outside In). In 2055 rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object.
Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy
Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery. (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)
Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?
Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century.
Tell me what you think. Constructive comments welcome.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
If you like the story share with it with your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment