Chapter 15
After lunch, Mrs. Tsui sat around the dinner table together with Jin and Yi showing them a book with pictures of her life before her husband had passed away.
"Were all these images taken by a polaroid?" Jin asked earning a nod from the woman.
"Chen loved it to take pictures when we were out together going on holidays to different places" The senior explained. "We kept them inside this book so we could always remember, where we were together"
"My father had bought at one point an empty photo album, so we could take pictures on all the places he wanted us to see with him," Yi told the woman. "We could never add any pictures to it, besides a few we took later with my family at the Leshan Buddha"
"Ah, the Leshan Buddha….." The senior recalled surprising the two teens, then watched the woman pass a few pages forward stopping at one page with a few pictures taken by the late husband of Mrs. Tsui and one of them was from the couple, when they were younger standing in front of the tall statue smiling at the camera.
"I liked being there" Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi.
"Some people say, that when they were looking for their inner peace, that's the right place to find it. I had been tensed for a long while after finding out I couldn't have children. I went there and I can't explain it, I…..just felt better about it, I've found out life still goes on, you just need to focus on what you want to do with it" Mrs. Tsui explained the teens.
"Yeah. I still realized it a little later though, but I'm still happy I did it" Yi pointed out, then kept watching the book along with the woman.
"How far is it actually to the next hospital or clinic?" Jin questioned watching Yi facepalm.
"Right, sorry Jin. Your check-up" Yi apologized, then the senior pushed the book further and got up from the seat.
"I think it is about twenty minutes, by car" Mrs. Tsui answered.
"Could you drive us there?" Yi asked watching the senior shake her head.
"I'm sorry girl, but I don't have a driving license. Chen was the one, who used to drive us"
"I don't have it either, but I've passed the street code two years ago" Jin added.
"So you can drive?" The Chinese girl asked watching Jin roll his eyes up thinking about the question.
"I can drive a motorcycle, but I can't promise I know how to drive a car, but it might not be a problem"
"Okay, I've seen my parents doing that a lot. It doesn't seem that hard" Yi said earning a simper smile from the boy at her confidence on him.
"If you two are sure about it, follow me to the back and I hand you out the key to the car," The woman said walking out of the cottage followed by the two friends and the dog to encounter on the back of the house an old white pickup truck with a short load area on the back.
"That truck must be valuable" Jin mentioned. "How old is it?"
"Maybe 60 or 70?" The woman estimated it, watching Jin gaze into the inside of the car.
"Doesn't have a lot of features like the newer cars" Jin mentioned followed by Yi lean beside him to check the vehicle out.
"Well it doesn't have navigation," Yi mentioned. "We still can use our smartphone,"
"It doesn't have parking sensors or automated lights. Our car has a lot of options thought" Jin explained looking back at Mrs. Tsui, which handed the boy out a simple key with a black plastic cap, then Jin stuck it on the lock to unlock the car. "Funny we're so used on unlocking the car by just pressing the button on the car key. It's a type of control, but around this size" Jin explained holding his thumb and index finger a little away from each other that it had space enough to put an AAA battery between it.
Jin opened the door and stepped aside, so Yi could climb up in it then.
"Before we go, I want to thank you for the hospitality and for helping us out of the water this morning" Yi declared giving the woman her hand, which the woman gently held.
"It was my pleasure. I have never been able to talk to somebody in the last few months. Just once in a while, when I was out of here to get to the village to buy ingredients or anything else"
"Maybe you could...go out more often and I don't know... join a chess club with other women or men around your age. Or a Mahjong club or anything else?" Jin suggested earning a nod from the woman.
"Maybe I should one day" The woman mentioned, then watched Kai sniff on her hand, making the senior smile and caress the dog on his head making him wag his tail with joy. "I will miss you too, little guy"
"He sure will miss you too ma'am" Yi added watching the woman lean her head on the dog's, making Yi smile warmth about the scene. Yi looked at Jin, which stood beside the door, who had noted Yi's face expression, that seemed to have anything in mind, which needed to be cleared.
"You're okay, Yi?" Jin asked and Yi spoke at him.
"Wouldn't it mind you, if we would let Kai stay here with her?" Yi asked. "I'm not sure if Nai Nai would like to keep him in our apartment. After all, bigger dogs are meant to have larger places to run around like here"
"You want him to be here with her?" Jin asked earning a nod from the girl.
"Both wouldn't be alone and they would always have each other. Unlike us she has a lot of time to take care of Kai" Yi said earning a nod from the boy.
"I think Mr. Burnish wouldn't mind it" Jin answered and the senior got up looking at the two teens.
"Mrs. Tsui, what would you say, if we would let Kai stay here by your side?" Yi asked surprising the woman at the question.
"You want to give me your dog?" The senior asked widening her eyes curiously.
"Well I and Jin are only during the vacation home with our parents, otherwise we're all in Beijing at school for the rest of the semesters and our parents wouldn't really have time to take care of Kai and I don't think you will have any problems with him, he's has shown to be very adaptable"
"This is strange, but I'm gonna miss him" Jin mentioned bending down on his knees to pet the dog. "After seeing him I actually was against him coming home, but I didn't think we would bound that quick" Jin mentioned getting a lick on his face.
"Take good care of Mrs. Tsui little boy. You're a great boy, we know that" Yi said fondling the dog on his head along with Jin seeing the mixed breed enjoying it a lot.
Yi climbed into the pickup truck, while Jin walked around the truck to enter into the driver seat and he put on his seatbelt and stuck the key in the ignition, then noted, that the car had three pedals under the steering wheel.
"Uh for what's the third pedal?" Jin asked looking at Yi, which looked down.
"I think it's for the gear shifting. I sometimes saw my dad using it to switch them"
"Okay," Jin said turning the engine on, causing the motor to start making a noise, but then the car moved a little forwards turning the engine off, making Jin raise his eyebrows in confusion. "Huh?" Jin asked, then tried again causing the motor making the startup sound, but it turned off again.
"I think you need to hold your feet on the first pedal when you do that" Yi mentioned and Jin pressed the pedal down and moved the key again, soon he managed it and cried in success.
"Yeah baby!" Jin shouted taking the foot off the pedal, causing the car to turn off again. "Damn it!"
"You gotta hold it down" Yi mentioned, then took out her smartphone to look for a manual on how to put a car to work. "Then I think you somehow have to use the gas pedal, but I need to check it out, how"
"I've played all various car racing games apps, but the shifting looked very easy unlike here"
"Don't worry, I've found a site with the instructions" Yi mentioned, then looked down at Jin's legs. "Press with your left foot the clutch down, keep it like that and turn the engine on by rotating the key to start the engine"
"So just like before" Jin mentioned performing the task.
"Additionally you have to keep your foot down on the clutch," Yi told earning a nod from Jin, which managed to turn the engine on, now it kept working, but now because Jin held it according to Yi the clutch down.
"When you're ready to drive, release the handbrake" Yi instructed watching Jin look to the side at the lateral lever and Jin placed his hand in there.
"I know in the movies, they use this" Jin told the girl pressing on the button in front of it and shoving it down making a crack from having it unlocked. "Next step?" Jin asked, then adjusted the inside mirror while Yi read the next part.
"I wonder actually, most of the cars have these leather bag….ugh things around the gear lever and I wonder how they can see if they shift to the right number. Here we don't have that, we can clearly see where we have to move the lever" Jin told the girl looking at the shift gear in front of the handbrake, which only was the iron with the traces of the numbers of shifts.
"You get used to it, maybe?" Yi mentioned "Press the clutch down and put the lever to the first shift, which already is. Okay, lift your foot from the clutch slowly and while you're on it you press the gas pedal down slowly until you feel the….friction point of it. When you feel the car about to move, slowly remove your foot from the clutch and you should be moving on the first gear,"
The car started to drive forwards and at the dashboard, Jin could see he was passing over the ten kilometers and quickly reaching 2000rmp.
"Depending on the car, you gotta switch to the next gear between the 2300 and 3000. You put down fully the clutch until you feel the car disengage after you felt it you shift to the second shirt and slowly go off the clutch and normally press the gas pedal," Yi explained watching Jin performing the next step carefully, afterward he made a loud engine noise as if it was going to race up, shrieking him.
"Whoa!" Jin cried, then he calmed down again, seeing the car was driving alright. "Hey, it went good" Jin mentioned observing the road, where the two were driving.
"Now you can shift to the next shift just as you did before to the third," The girl told watching Jin gaze down at the gear shift and moved to the third gear, then heard Yi cry. "Look out!" Jin wide his eyes in shock as they had got out off the road nearly hitting a try, but Jin moved the steering wheel in time to avoid a crash.
"Sorry!" Jin apologized a little frightened about the situation, then kept his eyes in front at the road. Yi looked behind at the senior, which waved at her for a goodbye while Kai sat there panting. The girl waved back at them, then turned around back to Jin, which had his hands on the steering wheel holding it steady.
"You can for now on stay on this number, like this we won't have to deal with any mishaps, but just in case I keep reading this cause I believe you need the clutch too when braking"
"Of course, Miss Yi" Jin said making Yi roll her eyes in amusement.
"You're not doing it that bad, Doctor Jin" Yi joked. "Is this your first time?"
"Nah I secretly practiced it at home, hoping it would get better" The boy added making Yi laugh.
"Shall we turn on the radio?" Jin asked the girl, which nodded and turned the radio on by herself and it played a song from a famous Newarker rock band. The two started to chant together along with the refrain of the unknown song, which was easily learnable for the two due to consisting of uttered Na Na's.