Free A Superior Man by Paul Yee Page A

pointing to his arthritis and reminding him that no profit was guaranteed. And, the rains were coming. On the day he set out, he gruffly reminded his critics that this was a very taxing trip. They had laughed in his face. “If it was easy, why, then everyone would do it!”
    I asked Soohoo who might help me.
    â€œLew Bing Sam, the mix-blood, he tracks down lost kin for people. He speaks all dialects, knows how to lead the way. People from China come to us first. But when a man truly goes missing, he’s a runaway monkey that can’t be found.”
    â€œPeople trust Sam?”
    â€œHe drinks a bit, but what can you do?”
    The brat was feeding the dog. I rapped his skull. “I’m still eating!”
    Soohoo later insisted on carrying my bag to Clouds Clear Tower.
    â€œNo need,” I said. “Your place is thriving.”
    â€œPeople are leaving Gold Mountain.”
    â€œYou’ll go home a rich man. No dogs will bully you.”
    â€œI sweep floors and empty shit buckets, same as my workers.”
    The door of his shop swung open and out stepped the mix-blood.
    â€œSam!” cried the boy.
    I jerked him back. A father spawned him but no mother taught him .
    â€œSam, your name just arose,” said Soohoo.
    â€œI told Goddess to keep quiet!” He grinned. “That woman, she pants and scratches like an animal. She says there’s no other man as straight and strong as me.”
    â€œThis man needs a guide.” The brothel keeper pushed me forward.
    Sam frowned, as if recalling our scuffle on the beach and my insult.
    â€œI look for this boy’s mother,” I said. “She lives near Lytton.”
    â€œWhy not take him to China?”
    â€œHe belongs with his mother.”
    â€œWho’s that?”
    â€œMary.”
    â€œMary who?”
    â€œDon’t know.”
    â€œThat’s how you treat the mother?”
    Soohoo steered us inside, away from another fight. “Sam, your woman is about to give birth. Save some money here; use this one to porter.”
    â€œWhat? Did I ask you for advice?” he demanded.
    Meanwhile, the door guard led a dazed, dreamy-eyed client to the exit and greeted his boss. The lamps threw round shadows and yellow light onto wall scrolls containing single words, seven-term quatrains, and long couplets. I hadn’t noticed them the first time I was here.
    â€œPretty, eh?” Soohoo strutted before them. “My handwork! I’m a read-books man!”
    â€œI sell goods along the railway,” Sam said to me. “You carry my goods; I’ll find your woman. We don’t pay each other.”
    â€œGo hire a hungry China man,” I replied.
    â€œChina men don’t want the job,” said Soohoo. “They fear graveyards.”
    â€œMe too.”
    â€œNot so!” exclaimed Soohoo. “We saw you bury that thing. Our Council pays Sam to stop at those places and pay respect.”
    â€œHe shouldn’t take the job if he’s scared.”
    â€œHe needs a helper.”
    â€œLet him hire one of his own.”
    â€œThey’re busy fishing. He needs a man to talk pretty with customers. Isn’t that so, Sam?”
    â€œAll China men call us stupid pigs,” he said. “You say we mix-bloods have no brains. The railway snot worms are beggars yet they look down on me. ‘Those aren’t clear beans,’ they say, ‘those are green beans. That’s not pickled turnip, that’s cabbage.’ They sneer and call me a dirty mongrel, half a loaf of bread. But if a China man brings them supplies, they smile and buy large amounts.”
    â€œA man with self-respect doesn’t porter for a mix-blood,” I told Soohoo.
    â€œYou want to find the mother? Then you need Sam.”
    â€œI have money; I know how to do things.”
    â€œI’m a superior man too,” Soohoo said. “So I help you.”
    The guard opened the door too quickly,