Hainan Dao

Book I Chapter 09

HAINAN DAO BOOK I

CHAPTER 09

Where I had arrived in just the one car, it had taken four to bring in my brother. He was already out of his and staring at the gates, by the time the other vehicles in his convoy pulled up and screeched to a stop behind him. Within the clouds of roiling dust, doors burst open, and men began streaming out of their rides, like a fresh catch of fish from a trawler's net.

Dylan whipped around and hollered at his crew. He pointed to his left and right. He barked out orders at a hundred words a second. Nodding, his team responded. They raced off to their assignments and began jotting down notes and snapping pictures of all the buildings in the community.

Dylan. My brother.

The man was an icon misplaced, a lesson in disparity. He stood out from the rest of us like a crane among chickens, as he always did. His clothing, his accessories all screamed the West. The West of the West, actually. From his Playboy sunglasses and Coco Chanel sun visor to the Sony Walkman still clipped to his belt.

“Dylan! Hey Dylan!” I let Biai slide to the ground beside me. I jogged over to where he was standing.

He turned around and recognized me. “Hey! Jimmy!” Reaching out, he clasped me by the shoulder. I winced and he finally registered the sling around my arm. His eyes widened. “What the hell happened to your arm?”

I shrugged. “I fell.”

“Really?”

Wei coughed behind me. I turned around and introduced him. The two men shook hands.

Dylan turned his attention back to me. “So, what happened?”

“Well,” Wei said, cutting in, “I told him, Fuwei, I said…”

“Dylan.” My brother smiled at Wei, but with just one side of his mouth. “Call me Dylan.”

Wei’s eyebrows flicked upward for a second. “Oh.” He reached up and scratched the back of his head. “Okay.”

“Well then…” Dylan began, as he started to turn back toward me.

“Oh, yeah!” said Wei. “Well, you see, Dylan, I was just going to say…”

Dylan spun around. He peered into the other man’s eyes, like he had just caught sight of a spotted giraffe, fully grown, hiding there behind one of Wei’s irises. “Yes?”

Wei blinked a few times. “Well…he…um…” He dropped his gaze. “…he fell.”

Dylan turned back to me, shaking his head a little. He measured me up and down. “So, how did you manage to fall so hard you broke your arm?”

I sighed. I gave him the short version. The one without the reason why I was so interested in the well in the first place. I told him I was fine now.

“Well, that’s good.” He smiled, nodding.

“Yes…!” I nodded back. I glanced at the men that had come with him. “Well, what about you? What are you doing here?”

He frowned, and then started to laugh. “What do you mean? I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here?”

“Yes, but aren’t you supposed to be stuck in some high power business meeting back in Toronto?”

He shook his head. “No. Found out something more important.”

“Oh?”

He squinted his eyes in the brightening morning light. “I’ll tell you later.” His gaze wandered over the crowd that had gathered. “So, are you sure you’re all right? Do you need to get some rest or something?”