Tomorrow Girl - A Short Story in Shanghai

Part 1

Shanghai, People's Republic of China

Kangqiao Industrial Park

The factory was a shiny black rectangle, one of thousands of buildings that sprouted up like bamboo shoots in the outer rings of the city. This was where they manufactured Tomorrow Girl, the latest doll craze sweeping the United States. Despite the $600 price tag, it was the toy every young American girl was begging her parents to buy for Christmas.

The boom meant plenty of work for Kang. He and his friend Shao were recently promoted from the assembly floor to the testing department. The $200 monthly salary was more than Kang could make in a year his native village in the north. Of course it was painful to be separated from his family, but this way he could send money home to them and plan a better future for his darling daughter Lilly.

“My little girl can’t imagine life in the city,” Kang said to Shao, as they waited in line to pass through the factory gates and start their shift. “She’s never seen a building taller than a tree. She asks ‘What do you do there, Baba?’ I tell her we are making toys for angels just like her, making their lives happy and safe.”

“I never thought of it that way. You make it sound like we are important,” Shao replied. “That’s what I like about you, Kang. You see the meaning in things.”

It was only then that they noticed the swarm of police cars pulling up in front of the factory.

**

American businessman murdered in China

International Herald Tribune

Shanghai - The head of a popular toy company was shot to death in his apartment last night. Kevin Reynolds was the Chief Executive Officer of Tomorrow Girl, known for its vivid, life-like dolls representing a wide range of ages and ethnicities.

The businessman’s body was discovered this morning by a maid in his executive penthouse in the fashionable French Concession district. Reynolds divided his time between the company’s Los Angeles headquarters and its Shanghai manufacturing base.

Sales of the high-priced Tomorrow Girl dolls have soared in recent years and Reynolds’ personal fortune was recently estimated at more than $500 million. The company had been criticized by labor groups for the working conditions and low wages in its Chinese factories.

Shanghai police authorities said the murder investigation was in its early stages and offered no information on possible motives or suspects. A spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate General mourned the tragic loss, citing Reynolds as a hero for his work strengthening economic ties between the two countries.  The spokesperson also said that American law enforcement officials would cooperate with their Chinese counterparts to find his killer.

**

The Bund

FBI Agent Sarah Warner ordered jasmine tea in a cafe by Shanghai’s famous waterfront. The eastern embankment was a scene from the past, housed full with historical buildings of classic European architecture. Across the river to the east, the shimmering, futuristic skyscrapers of Pudong soared into the clouds.

Sarah chatted with her waitress in fluent Mandarin. She had studied the language at Harvard. After that she spent two years at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing before entering the FBI Academy. She still radiated the beauty, confidence and powerful intellect that helped create many options at a young age. But there was also a fatigue and sadness about her. She’d chosen a career in international criminal justice and that entailed painful sacrifice.