Chapter 10 Time Together

DG: "Are you ready for Canton, my dear?"

CM: "I am. Jane is a bit excited."

DG: "The harbor itself is carpeted by crafts, English, Dutch, French, American, any seagoing country along with Chinese lorchas, junks, flower boats, and sampans vending everything imaginable, threading their way through, offering their wares. Many natives live on the Sampans."

CM: "Jane and Elijah should go to a flower boat and . . . Captain? What's so funny? Daniel!"

DG: "Madam, there is nothing Jane COULD buy from a flower boat, although as a crusader for women she might convince the . . . ah . . . flowers to rise up against their . . . keepers? Employers?

CM: "A brothel?"

DG: "Exactly. The Williams family locks up the cats in the captain's stateroom. As the cats have become somewhat fierce hunters, they leave them in a separate cabin from the lizard."

CM: "The poor animals! The cats can't go ashore?"

DG: "Any creature that might be deemed edible will remain aboard. Elijah goes ashore with his two mates and hires stevedores to unload the cargo with much bargaining. That done, Elijah finds the perfect boarding house for their stay, one run by a mixed oriental and English family. He fetches Jane and the lads, and the threes' unsteady gait show they have yet to regain their land legs, so accustomed to the ship's rocking are they. They stroll through international crowds, the buildings a mix of English and Chinese with swooping roofs like birds' wings. The vendors ashore attempt to out shout each other in finding buyers- complete chaos! The boys are immediately drawn to the food vendors, and Elijah tells them how fresh and delicious the vegetable dishes are, but the boys crave some thick stew. Elijah pays for it; they have eaten weevils on board, after all."

CM: "That's terrible!"

DG: "The weevils or the possible horse or rat or who knows what meat? It's all protein, my dear."

CM: "I think I'm going to be ill."

DG: "Which is why he plans to bring Jane to the boarding house for their first meal ashore. Beware what food you buy from a street vendor unless you can ascertain the ingredients. Although I must say, the camel meat I once had at a souq was delicious."

CM: "Can we move on?"

DG: "As you wish. Their boarding house has an unusual benefit- a Japanese style bath. Elijah introduces her to washing with mere buckets of water and soap before sinking into an enormous communal tub with water so hot it nearly cooks one."

CM: "Communal?"

DG: "When in Rome, my dear. He warns her others might join them and to refrain from amorous displays. They soak away their cares without company."

CM: "I suppose they next retreat to their room where they indulge in amorous displays?"

DG: "The boys, Madam, don't let Jane forget the boys! Quite keen on amorous displays, aren't you? They all sup together, a marvelous meal of French and Chinese food- the boarding house is run by a connoisseur of cultures. After supper, the boys wild to explore the city, Elijah brings them to a Buddhist temple he remembers with a golden Buddha statue bigger than a house."

CM: "No one tries to steal the statue or chip away at it?"

DG: "The gold it's painted with had been mixed with poison, even the lightest of touches would burn the skin. Bald Chinese priests wear brilliant orange robes and chant while the believers light incense sticks and offer gifts of food. All manner of Chinese people are there, grim soldiers, high born ladies with elaborate hairstyles swaying on bound feet, farmers wearing what look like pajamas. The Williams family walk the gardens- peacocks abound. They watch an orange robed man whistle, and seemingly wild birds land on his outstretched arms."

CM: "Jane needs to paint all this!"

DG: "She does indeed. Perhaps she carries a sketch book to catch what she can? They take two rickshaws back in the evening, Jane noticing glassy eyed men smoking pipes, some drooling, and Elijah tells her how widespread opium addiction is because of the English. After tucking the lads in, they retreat to enjoy each other in a carved mahogany four poster on silk sheets."

CM: "Silk sheets?"

DG: "Silk sheets, my dear. No doubt Jane thoughts stray to her lonely lizard left on the Magdalena."

CM: "What lizard?"

DG: "The next day Elijah informs Jane they'll be going to a dinner party and Cal will watch the boys. He had run into a British merchant he knows."

CM: "A good friend of his?"

DG: "You don't want to know."

CM: "Yes I do! C'mon Captain, give."

DG: "They were acquaintences. They met in a bar and out of pity he gave him mercury for the cure."

CM: "Mercury? The pox? Who gave who the mercury?"

DG: "I see you've been reading my medical handbook. Naturally I gave him the mercury, but I did not administer it. If that particular cure is needed on board, Elijah will administer it, not Jane."

CM: "Good. Did it work? Wouldn't it poison them?"

DG: "It was the best we had."

CM: "Did you ever . . . um . . ."

DG: "I'm shocked! Of course not! I never needed to resort to brothels for feminine companionship! Your question reflects a rather low opinion of me in regard to the fairer sex!"

CM: "I was going to ask if you had administered the mercury cure onboard, but forget it! Who is interrupting who now?"

DG: "Right. I misunderstood. Jane spends the next day blissfully painting while Elijah takes the boys to purchase keepsakes. Elijah buys Jane a teak sewing kit with a carved ivory lid as well as a length of pink silk to do with as she pleases."

CM: "A sewing kit and silk?"

DG: "Her cooking may be abysmal, but her sewing is beautiful. That night at the dance Elijah proudly introduces her as his wife, aware how the men stand a little straighter and attempt to be at their most charming when near her."

CM: "Jane notices the women in their elegant gowns tracking the captain with their eyes. He's hard to miss, handsome, elegant, and more dashing than any other man there. They dance together, and sometimes apart, but even across the room from each other they dance only for each other."

DG: "They take a rickshaw back, and Jane doesn't care if Elijah kisses her on the street."

CM: "Or on her arms, or her neck."

DG: "Lying in bed, he lazily watches her undress, waiting for her."

CM: "She gives him a jade lizard she had gotten for him."

DG: "He's waiting for her, wondering what the significance of the lizard is this time, and how long he will have to wait for her."

CM: "She joins him, so happy to finally feel his kisses, his hands, his body . . . "

DG: "Carolyn? Don't cry; please don't cry. I didn't mean to upset you. I meant these stories as what I wanted for us, not as . . . "

CM: "I'm fine, really. I think I just need a break."

DG: "May I ask what the jade lizard symbolizes?"

CM: "Imagination, creativity, playfulness, all that."

DG: "We'll stop the story, my dear."

CM: "We won't! Or just for the moment."