Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4567 | Page 22

“You know, things aren’t looking too great for China, the Japanese have invaded Nanking.” Qing Ling said in a solemn
tone.
“I know, my husband told me last night. That’s tragic! We loved that old house back in Nanking didn’t we?” Said Mei
Ling, “The gardens are filled with our childhood memories, now they’re filled with Japs, in fact our whole country is filled
with those little turnip heads. It’s a little annoying don’t you think?”
“Yes, I agree, it’s more than annoying, it’s despicable!” Replied Qing Ling impatiently. “What about putting the country
first before the party, wouldn’t a truce between our two sides be the right thing to do now?”
“No! My husband would never agree to that, not even if you kidnapped him and pointed a gun to his head!” Mei Ling
answered. (*context: Kei Shek got captured and had a gun pointed to his head and he agreed to joining forces in 1936)
“If we don’t even have the str ength to fight each other, we would never stand a chance against them. I think we should
not only enter a truce, we should join our armies together! I think the Communist Party army would be a great addition to
the KuoMinTang forces, imagine the all the foot soldiers of the Red Army combining with the technological advantage of
your planes and artillery, we will be a force the Japanese have to reckon with!” Qing Ling stated emphatically.
“Very well Jie Jie, if you insist. I will try and speak with Kai Shek...but not before I’ve filled his stomach with a warm
meal!” “Hah! Hah! Hah!” The sisters laughed liked little girls planning some mischief. Mei Ling could see the sense in
what her sister proposed and was now thinking of ways to persuade the President of the country.
* * * * *
“John! Get up! Time to go!” Chin Rui Dian (A.k.a Arthur Chin) boomed. “KuoMinTang just gave us the coordinates to
Japanese base! 1, 2, 1, 2, fast, fast, get up!”
“Coming…” I answered eventually. We hopped into the plane, throttled the engine and soared into the sky. Arthur was
my co-pilot from Guangdong, “So, Pilot John, why we flying so high?” he asked. “So we wouldn’t bang into trees?” I
replied jokingly. “But Pilot John, we be out in the open, they so easy see us. We should fly low.” “But what if they find
us, chase us and shoot us down?” I asked in bewilderment. “Then they bang into tree. We good, we no bang tree.” Arthur
quibbed.
It made sense, one of the best pilots from the Chinese Resistance should know better than a random pilot from Kentucky,
so I dived the plane down and flew low. Suddenly, I heard over the din of the propellers, “Tree! Tree! Fast! Straight
Ahead! Straight Ahead!” I looked straight ahead but there were no trees. Arthur must be seeing something I couldn’t see,
but trusting my navigator, I veered left to avoid this tree he was speaking of. Then there it was, a tree! Right in front of
me, maybe 200 yards. I was flying at 100 per second, there was no time to think, my reflexes kicked in. I grabbed the
throttle, jerked it upwards, moved my flaps up so that air would stream off my wing creating extra lift. Like on a roller
coaster, I did a 360º loop, and returned to my flight path 500 yards behind the tree. This time I veered right avoiding the
tree. It felt like I had just pressed the ‘Respawn’ button! It felt great!
“Are you trying to kill me?” I turned around and screamed behind. “No. Tree was on the left. I said “Go straight ahead!”,
but who know you don’t go straight but turn left into tree. You dumb.” Arthur defended himself. I chuckled, “We need
some agreements on terms, see you at 8 at my tent, okay?” “Ok. But can we come up with something now?” He asked.
Our 30 minute conversation went on and on and we talked about flight terms, war tactics, grammar, and our families.