Part 10 (2/2)
”Don't we all?” Ernst studied the cigarette he now held between his fingers. ”My last smoke until G.o.d knows when I find some more. I hear they last longer when you don't light them.”
Franz cleared his throat. ”Charlie, are you still keen to leave Shanghai?”
Ernst shook his head in dismay. ”What nonsense is this? He is in no shape to leave the hospital. You were clear about that yesterday.”
”That was yesterday,” Franz mumbled weakly.
Charlie studied the ceiling for a pained moment, then nodded. ”I think it would be for the best, yes.”
”Look at you!” Ernst cried. ”You're the colour of a storm cloud. We will never get you home.”
”We can try,” Charlie said.
Ernst turned angrily to Franz, shaking a finger at him. ”Was ist pa.s.siert? Why the change of heart?”
”People recognize Charlie.”
Ernst's eyebrows rose in surprise. ”Which people?”
”Joey.”
”Can you not trust the boy?”
”Of course we can trust him. But he recognized Charlie straight away. Others will too. He is too well known to keep hidden here.”
”Ah.” Ernst nodded bitterly. ”So you are no longer willing to risk the exposure.”
”This is not only about me,” Franz said evenly.
Ernst was about to respond when Charlie propped himself up. He gasped from the effort and swayed from side to side but held himself upright. As soon as he caught his breath, he turned to Ernst. ”The doctor would be a fool not to send me away,” he snapped with sudden authority. ”And I would be an even bigger fool to stay. I would never risk a whole company for the sake of one fallen man. It is no different for Dr. Adler and this hospital.”
”You are not just any man,” Ernst pointed out.
”They have removed the bullet,” Charlie said firmly. ”It was the only reason you persuaded me to come, Ernst. It is time to go.”
Franz reached into the pocket of his lab coat, dug out a bottle of antibiotic pills and pa.s.sed it over to Charlie. ”Sulpha medicine. To help keep the infection in check. You will need to take one tablet three times a day until they are gone.”
Charlie accepted the bottle with a shaky hand. It contained the last of the hospital's antibiotic supply, but to Franz this was little more than a token gesture. ”Thank you, Doctor,” Charlie said.
”This is b.l.o.o.d.y lunacy,” Ernst muttered. ”Can you not see it?”
”I am leaving, Ernst,” Charlie said. ”It is decided.”
”What is decided?” Sunny asked from behind the curtains. She pushed them apart and stepped inside. Jia-Li followed her in before the drapes fell closed behind them both.
Exasperated, Ernst looked from Franz to Charlie and back. ”These two agree that Charlie is far too hale and hearty to waste any more time in hospital.”
”No one said that,” Franz said quietly.
”There are risks either way,” Sunny said, giving Franz a supportive look that did little to alleviate his conscience.
”A pleasure to see you again, Ernst,” Jia-Li said.
Ernst extended his hand to her. ”Ah, well, if it isn't my saviour herself.”
Charlie viewed him quizzically. ”Your saviour?”
Ernst nodded. ”Last year, when the Kempeitai were scouring Shanghai for Shan and me, this . . . this vision arranged for two rather shady-or perhaps 'colourful' is the word-characters to whisk us out of the city in the dead of night.”
”Lum and Vu colourful? Never.” Jia-Li laughed. ”Shady, yes, but not colourful.”
”Oh, Jia-Li, how I wish I had my brushes.” Ernst sighed. ”I've painted you in my head a thousand times since I last laid eyes on you.”
”I am not sure whether or not to take that as a compliment.”
”Why not?”
”The only subjects of yours that I am aware of are the wild pheasants,” Jia-Li said, referring to the lowest cla.s.s of dockside prost.i.tutes. Ernst's portraits of the wretched young women had made his reputation in the pre-war Shanghai art scene. ”And the victims of the Nanking ma.s.sacre, of course.”
Ernst brushed her comment away with a flip of his wrist. ”I'm done with all that. I've seen more than enough ugliness for a lifetime. Next time I paint-if there is a next time-I will capture only beauty and light on the canvas.”
Jia-Li glanced over at Charlie. ”Ernst, will you not introduce me to your friend?”
”How rude!” Ernst gasped. ”A year away from civilization and I've lost all my manners. As though raised by wolves. Jia-Li, allow me to introduce Charlie.”
Jia-Li approached the bed. Her huge brown eyes lit up. ”Ko Jia-Li.” She added several words in Chinese.
Charlie wiped his brow with his sleeve and chuckled. ”So you are responsible for sending Ernst to our village,” he replied in English.
Jia-Li nodded to Franz and Sunny. ”I only arranged the truck. The rest is their doing.”
”Then I hold you all equally responsible,” Charlie said as he lowered himself back onto the mattress, exhausted.
Sunny laid a hand on his elbow. ”Charlie, we thought Jia-Li might help arrange your transport out of Shanghai.”
”That would be most helpful,” Charlie said. ”My men can meet me outside the city, but for them to travel inside is somewhat of a challenge.”
”A challenge?” Ernst groaned. ”Suicide, more like it. Only blind luck got us through the j.a.panese soldiers on the way in.”
As he studied Charlie's wan complexion, Franz doubted that anything could be more of a threat to the man's well-being than his near-gangrenous leg. He felt small for keeping the thought to himself.
”I would be honoured to a.s.sist you.” Jia-Li bit her lip, appearing uncharacteristically bashful. ”You do so much for China.”
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