Chapter 4

Later that night, Heggen's Trucking experienced its two newest employees taking an inventory of just what the business had in its warehouse. Their boss probably wouldn't have appreciated the fact it was done after hours, with everyone gone except a guard who spent most of his time watching a large television filled with the latest broadcast entertainments. The fact that the monitor behind him might have caught the occasional fleeting glimpse of two unauthorized visitors was missed entirely as cops, doctors and investigators kept his attention elsewhere.

Systematically they moved through the front warehouse, making sure they hadn't missed anything from their first day at work. Everything seemed to be legitimate. They moved to a second warehouse that fronted the loading dock. Although this seemed to be furniture rather than children's toys, the items still seemed to be what they claimed.

"Maybe I should take a look inside some of the cushions" Jack said, pulling his knife.

"Jack, no! What is Mr. Chung going to think if he comes in here and sees stuffing all over the warehouse? Maybe the employees having an after-hour pillow fight?"

"Don't worry Wang, I don't mean every cushion. Find one that is particularly lumpy and I'll just slit the seam; they can blame one on bad workmanship. Find one that's lumpy." Jack started sitting on anything that was soft, and Wang followed. Finally Jack said "Here's one. Feel this."

Wang sat on the offending chair cushion. "It does feel a bit lumpy. Okay, just the one." Jack flashed his knife and the seam opened up. He moved his hand around inside. "Just a bad job of padding, there's nothing else in there. It looks like this place is clean too. The back door leads to the next warehouse."

They made their way to the door and found it unlocked. Opening it, they peered inside the brightly lit room. It was entirely empty, with only traces of a white substance on the floor. Jack took a taste.

"Cocaine?" Wang asked.

"How would I know what cocaine tastes like? But I do know salt when I stick it in my mouth. Maybe this one held food, but it's all gone now." Jack looked around again. "One last door, that one looks pretty heavy duty." He strode over to the door, Wang in tow. Trying it, they found it locked. Jack examined the lock. "Time to try being flexible I guess."

He reached into his wallet and pulled out a plastic library card. "They won't let me have anything after I tried to return a book three states away. I knew it would be good for something eventually." He then started running the card into the gap between the door and the jamb, while wiggling the door knob. After about a minute there was a 'click' and the door pulled open slightly. "If we find anything, it'll be in here." He opened the door enough to stick his head in, then quickly withdrew it. "Wang, do I seem like a sane man to you?"

"Sure Jack. A little impulsive sometimes, maybe, but yeah."

"Looking at things the way they are, not what they seem?"

"Yeah."

"Straight forward approach to life and all that it holds?"

"Yeah..."

"Not given to hallucinations?"

"How many times do you want me to say yes?"

"Just asking, sometimes a man wants to know. But let me ask you one more question: Why is Gracie in there wearing a wedding gown and beckoning me to come in?"

Wang grabbed the door and pulled it completely open before stepping through. Recorded organ music welled up as lights played around a makeshift chapel. Sure enough, Gracie Law stood in a wedding dress at the altar with some type of clergyman. When Jack failed to appear, still frozen in bewilderment against the wall on the other side of the doorway, Gracie motioned the music to stop. "Come on Jack! Dad's paying the preacher by the hour!"

"I'm not moving until I wake up from this dream I'm having!" he managed to shout. He tried slapping his face, but the pain didn't change anything. "What the hell is going on?" An older man appeared through the doorway with a jacket, which he held open.

"A dress jacket?"

"Yes Jack" the man replied.

"Thought so. And I'm supposed to get married in it?"

"Yes Jack" he answered again.

"Thought so." In a haze he accepted the jacket.

The man took the library card still in his hand. "Ah, you even brought proof of ID. It wasn't necessary, but thanks for the thought just the same. Now if you would just go in the ceremony can commence" he said as Jack walked through the door.

"Just a…" Jack held the expletive at the sight of Gracie "…minute. What's going on?"

An older man who was also dressed in a nice jacket, who had been standing off to the side of Gracie, approached. "We've never met, Mr. Burton, but I am Howard Law. As you might have guessed, I am Gracie's father. This looks like exactly what it is; you and Gracie are getting married. No, I'm not forcing you but ask yourself this: In a life where you've always trusted your reflexes and your gut, what are they saying now?"

"My reflexes are saying to get married…" Jack snapped, and then paused. "Wait; did I just say that?"

"What does your gut tell you?"

"My gut's telling me to throw up."

"Confront it man! You and Gracie are really two of a kind. It's just like the first time you ever jumped off a high dive into a pool" Howard cajoled.

"I got pushed the first time, for your information. It's not that, but sooner or later…"

"…you rub everybody the wrong way" Gracie continued as she came forward. She stepped up to Jack and looked him in the eye. "Don't you think that's true of everyone? Wang, don't you and Maio Yin get on each other's nerves every once in a while?"

"Never" Wang said proudly.

"You will, count on it. But Jack, maybe we are supposed to rub each other the wrong way. But as long as we rub together…"

Jack looked in horror at Mr. Law.

"…I didn't mean it to sound that way" Gracie corrected while blushing slightly. "We may not always agree, but we've never stopped picking up where we left off. That shows something I'm sure."

"Maybe it does at that, something that the poets and the writers and the singers talk about for their whole lives but seldom achieve" Jack mused. "But what it doesn't show is why you disappeared and got me to come sneaking down here behind Mr. Chung's back looking for you or some clue about what happened to you. You're telling me you've been waiting for me?"

"Hoping is more like it, I wasn't sure if you'd get the message or not."

"Good thing I saw that article on the back page of the newspaper" Jack said, relieved.

"That was actually an ad I placed; they don't put news on the back page. I made it look like news so you'd hopefully pay attention. I had a sinister letter mailed just in case you missed that or the billboard" Gracie explained.

"Missed the billboard completely and haven't been home in a week to open the mailbox. But Gracie, what kind of home can I give you? I'm on the road most of time. Sure, I plan to retire in a few years but I can't do it yet until I make some more money."

"Dad?" Gracie asked.

Mr. Law presented Jack with a paper. It was a deed of trust for the Heggen's Trucking Company, to be fulfilled on the day that Jack and Gracie wed. "As you can see, things have been prepared. Mr. Chung" he said, nodding to the man sitting in a chair on the side "is well aware of how things are set up and knew who you were when you walked into the office."

"So you're the real owner" Jack surmised.

"Hardly. You were a hero in old Chinatown, Jack. Egg Shen knew that and wanted to reward you. I don't know all the details about what you did, but he contacted me a few years ago and said the fortunes pointed to you and Gracie getting married. He wanted to hand the company over when you were ready to settle down. This is about as settled as it gets" Mr. Law opined.

"Heggen's Trucking" Wang said. "Move the letters around and it's Egg Shen Trucking. I didn't get it before because I was thinking of the Chinese characters. He must have already had this company as part of his business interests."

"It's a small company, but it has potential" Mr. Chung added. "What it needs is someone who knows the business and the heart to grow it."

"And that's the heart I want too" said Gracie. "Come on Jack. Are you scared?"

"Jack Burton scared? Of a little piece of metal that wraps itself around a man's finger and cuts off his wandering days and tumultuous nights until all he can think about is the one woman in his life?" He took a long dramatic pause. "I suppose I am. But being scared never stopped me before."

The End

A/N: This movie was fun, both for the action and the dialogue. A hero that didn't do much of the fighting, and one that was constantly being outclassed by what was going on around him. Never having a full understanding of the forces at play, he still managed to save the day at the end.

For those who have seen the end of the movie and wonder what happened to that thing on the back his truck, Jack went over a railroad crossing too fast and it flew off, only to come to and stagger in front of a southbound Amtrak train. It was dismissed as another cow incident in the accident report.

We never did address what happened to Egg Shen. I can't imagine Jack letting that one go for too long.