Garden of Empress Cassia Read online

  The procession wound its way through the narrow streets of Chinatown. Firecrackers danced around Mimi’s feet, exploding into tiny orange sparks. But she didn’t notice or hear a thing, she was still thinking about Old Ma.

  ‘You Mimi?’ came a muffled voice beside her.

  ‘What?’ she asked, taking a wad of cottonwool out of her ear.

  A person in a pig mask carrying a rake repeated, ‘You Mimi?’

  ‘Yes I am.’

  ‘Got a message for you then.’ The pig handed her a piece of paper then melted into the crowd. Mimi unfolded the note:

  URGENT.

  Meet Mr Ma

  12 Celestial Lane Chinatown.

  Tomorrow.

  How strange. What could he want? Mimi was both fearful and excited at the same time.

  The Dragon Parade entered the main street of Chinatown and stopped under the Facing Heaven Gate. Mimi didn’t even notice the two-storey string of firecrackers waiting to be lit for the grand finale. She was looking for Old Ma.

  All of a sudden, the silence was broken by the phut, phut sound of firecrackers, each cracker setting off another in a chain reaction. Then as suddenly as it began the noise stopped. The Dragon parade was over for another year. Next year would be the year of the Snake.

  Back at the warehouse, Mimi changed quickly and went to find Josh. She couldn’t wait to show him Old Ma’s strange note. She found him waiting by the door.

  ‘How much fun was that?’ he said. ‘I’m coming next year for sure. I’ll bring the whole gang from school.’

  ‘Yeah. I enjoyed it too, for the first time ever. Come on, let’s go get a pizza. I’ve got something to tell you.’

  As they sat in the restaurant eating pizza, Mimi told Josh about Old Ma and showed him the curious note. What she didn’t show him was how scared she felt. She wanted to ask him to go with her, but this was something she knew she had to do alone.

  Mimi walked into the shop at number 12 Celestial Lane, Chinatown. Pillars of gritty books and magazines towered on dusty shelves. One tap would have sent them flying.

  ‘Yes?’ came a rude voice from behind the counter.

  ‘I’m looking for Old Ma.’

  A red-nailed finger whipped out of the darkness and pointed to the steep wooden stairway at the back.

  Mimi made her way cautiously through the passage of books. The stairs reminded her of home. Steep and creaky. At the top was a long hall with doors off to both sides.

  She called out timidly, ‘Mr Ma, are you there?’

  ‘Eh!’ came a raspy voice from the room on the left.

  Old Ma sat in a leather armchair, horse hair bursting from its seams. His body was so small and the chair so big and clumsy, in the dim light he looked as though he were perched in the mouth of a giant hippopotamus. At that moment he didn’t look scary at all. Mimi caught a giggle in her throat and covered a smile with her hand.

  ‘Some cassia tea?’ Old Ma spoke in a voice like rusty old nails. He reached over to the small brass table where an earth-coloured teapot and two teacups as thin as eggshells stood. The sweet scent of the cassia flower filled the musty room as the pale yellow liquid slipped like silken honey into the tiny cups. With a knobbly stiff hand, he nudged one over towards Mimi then looked deep into her eyes.

  ‘Yesterday, I wake Dragon. He open eye and look at someone in crowd. I very surprise. I turn around, see face of girl. I see Garden of Empress Cassia. Is this true, Mimi? You have seen garden . . .?’

  ‘Yes it’s true, Mr Ma. The garden is on the footpath near my house. I drew it with the Empress Cassia Pastels.’

  Old Ma sank back into his hippopotamus armchair. ‘At last . . .’ he sighed. ‘I wait so long – so many hundred years.’

  Mimi was curious to know if it was just Old Ma’s poor English or had he really lived many hundred years?

  ‘Have you heard story of Empress Cassia?’ he asked before she had time to ask his age.

  ‘Was she a real empress?’

  ‘She live long time past in China.’

  ‘Was she beautiful?’

  Old Ma nodded. ‘Most beautiful in land. She have rosebud lips and wide eyes and hair black like night. She live in big palace with much servants and wear yellow gown of Empress. When she eleven year old, her father, big brave Emperor Wu, die in battle against barbarians. Very sad. But Cassia clever girl. She ride horse and shoot arrow straighter than best archer. Swim faster than great sea dragon in Western Cave – and paint like wind dancing on Lake Taihu. She have big heart. Every night, palace gates open wide for great feast. On twelfth birthday people give her present.’

  ‘What was it?’ Mimi sat on the edge of her chair.

  ‘Box of beautiful pastels.’

  ‘The Empress Cassia Pastels. . . of course!’ exclaimed Mimi. ‘Cool. But they couldn’t be the same ones I have.’

  ‘Only one box in whole of world.’

  ‘But they . . . they still look like new,’ Mimi said in disbelief.

  ‘They magic pastels, from ancient world. Empress Cassia draw on throne room wall,’ he continued. ‘She draw plan of beautiful garden. On sixteenth birthday, Garden of Empress Cassia built behind palace. It was garden of perfect balance with long Dragon Wall all around. Every day, Empress Cassia gallop to Pavilion of Mysterious Way. She feed and talk to fish that live in Lake of Secret Dreams.

  ‘One day, General Hu, head of army, rush into throne room. “Barbarians attack from north. Break through Great Wall!”

  ‘ “How close?” ask Empress Cassia.

  ‘ “Two day ride. Our army not strong enough.”

  ‘Empress Cassia slowly sip cassia tea. She do this to think. “Get all people from city and take to garden. We wait for barbarian there,” she ordered.

  ‘Two day pass, barbarian arrive at palace wall, smash down gate. But everywhere, empty. Not even crunchy cockroach left crawling on kitchen floor.

  ‘“Burn to ground!” Big Barbarian Chief cry. They burn down palace.’

  ‘Then what happened?’ asked Mimi, holding her breath.

  ‘Barbarian enter garden. Big Barbarian Chief raise sword over Empress Cassia.’

  ‘No!’ cried Mimi, her hand over her mouth.

  ‘But wait . . . very strange thing happen. No strength in arm. Sword heavy like five elephants. Big Barbarian Chief get sleepier and sleepier. Whole army fall to ground snoring like bear in winter cave.’

  ‘Coo-el,’ Mimi laughed. ‘What happened then?’

  ‘When they wake, they forget where they come from. They think they army for Empress Cassia. Big Barbarian Chief become most loyal general. Peace again all over China. Empress Cassia live very long life. Old as ninety-three. Day she die . . . garden vanish from earth.’

  ‘Wow. But how could it? Where did it go?’

  ‘There is space between Heaven and Earth where garden lie like sleeping dragon. Mimi use pastels, garden come back.’

  ‘But why me, Mr Ma?’

  ‘Because you have pure heart.’

  ‘But sometimes I’m really bad. Ask my dad.’

  ‘You just naughty girl sometime, not listen to Daddy, you not bad. Pastels are like mirror of heart. They not lie. If person is bad, pastels very dangerous so you must always keep them safe and hidden. In every time, pastels wait for just right person to bring Garden of Empress Cassia back. One person like you, Mimi.’

  ‘Is this true?’

  ‘Yes, it has been like this for thousand of years.’

  ‘Mr Ma.’ Mimi stood up, her eyes bright. ‘Come with me, I’ll take you into the garden right now’

  ‘No, Mimi . . . I cannot,’ Old Ma sighed. ‘Garden of Empress Cassia only for those who hurting inside. It is garden for healing.’

  Mimi sat back, disappointed.

  ‘No matter. In my lifetime I seen many beautiful gardens, Mimi.’ Old Ma raised his cup slowly and took a long noisy sip of cassia tea.

  The light suddenly dimmed as the sun sank behind the tall buildings of the city. />
  ‘It’s late. Mum will worry. Thank you, Mr Ma. I’ll come and visit you again.’

  ‘Goodbye, Mimi. And remember – guard pastels well.’

  ‘I will. . . oh I almost forgot. I made you a present.’ She handed Old Ma a small scroll.

  As Mimi left the shop, a soft drizzle began to fall. Old Ma slipped off the red ribbon and unrolled the painting. Mimi had drawn the Garden of Empress Cassia for him. A miniature version - but with every tiny perfect detail.

  The buzz of wings came to Old Ma’s ears. A peacock blue dragonfly dipped its nose into the Lake of Secret Dreams, then flew out of the painting and into the dusty room.

  ‘Ah . . . Empress Cassia . . .’ he whispered.

  Dr Lu walked home from the train station, a suitcase in one hand, a lidded cane basket in the other. Inside the basket sat Uncle Ting’s most loved possession – his gift to Mimi.

  The sight that met Dr Lu’s eyes as he walked down Rumba Street was so strange, he thought he might have taken the wrong turn from the station. Never had he seen so many people milling outside his shop before. Was there an accident? He started running, the basket bouncing against his leg. As he reached the crowd, the people stepped back to let him through as though he were a great emperor. Some smiled and congratulated him, others just shook their heads in admiration.

  ‘You’re back,’ said Mrs Lu. ‘You must be tired. Have some cassia tea.’

  Dr Lu looked around his clinic in surprise. People sat at mahjong tables eating and drinking. There was Mr Honeybun and Alma sitting together in the corner engrossed in conversation. There were others that Dr Lu didn’t recognise at all. And instead of the smell of herbs, the aroma of dumplings and cassia tea filled his nostrils.

  ‘What has happened since I’ve been away?’ he asked his wife in Chinese.

  ‘It’s Mimi’s wonderful garden,’ replied Mrs Lu, wiping her hands on her apron and taking his suitcase from his hand. ‘People come to Rumba Street just to see it. I set up a teahouse to make a bit of money while you were away.’

  ‘Business looks good,’ he said.

  ‘Mm . . . not bad. I’ll get you something to eat.’

  ‘Where’s Mimi?’

  ‘In the kitchen eating breakfast.’ Mrs Lu turned towards the kitchen and called, ‘Mimi, your daddy’s home.’

  Oh no. He’ll go ape when he finds out I’ve been drawing.

  The chair legs screeched angrily against the wooden floorboards as she pushed back her seat.

  ‘Hello, Mimi,’ said Dr Lu walking into the kitchen.

  ‘Hi, Dad.’

  ‘Mummy say you do much drawing.’

  ‘Only a little. But I got A for my English test and 47 out of 50 for maths,’ she said quickly.

  ‘Mm . . . well . . . no talk school now.’

  That’s a surprise.

  ‘I bring present from Uncle Ting.’

  ‘Is he still alive then?’ Mimi asked with a tinge of hope.

  Dr Lu spoke in Chinese, his voice sounded sad and tired. ‘No, Mimi, he died in his sleep. He was a good man.’ Tears came to Dr Lu’s eyes.

  He lifted the cane basket onto the kitchen table. ‘He wanted you to have this.’

  ‘What is it, Dad?’

  ‘Open and see.’

  Mimi lifted the latch and felt something alive pushing from the inside. Slowly she gave way to the pressure. A small grey-haired dog poked its head through the opening, grunting and whimpering with excitement at being let out at last. His little tail seemed spring-loaded, it wagged so fast. Two bright brown eyes looked up at her like the two bright stars through her bedroom window.

  ‘Uncle Ting?’ she whispered in its ear. ‘Is that you?’

  She lifted the little dog out and held him close. His tummy was soft and pink and covered in grey spots of different sizes. It looked as though his mum had put him out in a gentle rain, belly up, and the raindrops had never washed off. In fact this was the way he always liked to sleep – trusting the world. The little dog grunted like a piglet sucking sweet milk as Mimi cradled him in her arms and tickled his belly.

  ‘What’s his name, Dad?’

  ‘Uncle Ting call him Peppy.’

  At that moment Mimi had an urge to do something she had never done before. She hesitated a moment. Then she put Peppy down and walked up to her dad and put her arms around him. It was strange at first. They had never hugged – but when she felt him hug her back, it seemed as natural and easy as snuggling under her silk-filled doona on a cold, wintry night.

  Mimi lay in bed, Peppy by her side as though he had belonged to her all his life. From the room next door came the familiar sound of her parents’ voices speaking to one another in Chinese.

  ‘What did you talk about with Ting?’ asked Mrs Lu.

  ‘Our childhood, the fun we had. Then how different we were. Ting was such a dreamer. As a boy he would sit on the tiled roof of our house reading poetry all day long. I thought he was useless. At least in the end we had the chance to be brothers once more.’ Dr Lu paused. ‘I’m not going to make the same mistake with Mimi.’

  Mimi could feel a warmth slowly melting the icy spaces between father and daughter. A change, greater than her mum’s teahouse, greater than her drawings, perhaps even greater than the garden itself – had come over the smelly little two-storey shop at number 83 Rumba Street.

  Mrs Lu was busy in the kitchen singing Chinese opera and making juicy fat dumplings. After Dr Lu’s return, the clinic sprang back to normal except for one round table by the window with eight chairs. It was when Mrs Lu found herself making dumplings in her sleep, that she knew it was time to slow things down. One night she even dreamt that the dumplings sprouted legs and chased her around the kitchen.

  Behind the counter, Mimi helped her dad fill out prescriptions. Dr Lu’s first patient was Miss Sternhop. She came especially early this morning – because later on that day, she had the most important appointment of her life.

  Dr Lu finished feeling Miss Sternhop’s pulse and inspecting her tongue. He wrote on his pad and handed the prescription to Mimi.

  Mimi had first weighed out herbs when she was seven years old under the watchful eye of her mother. Then she had needed to stand on four telephone books to see over the counter.

  Mimi pulled out a drawer, grabbed a handful of herbs then placed them on a small brass tray the size of a saucer. This was suspended from a thin rod by three strings. The rod was made of bone and had tiny measurements along its surface. Mimi held a pink string attached to the top of the rod between her thumb and index finger. By moving a weight until the rod was perfectly balanced, Mimi could accurately weigh out the herbs.

  ‘Your health very very good today, Miss Sternhop,’ Dr Lu said. ‘Your skin so clear, your eyes so bright. You only need herbs to maintain health.’

  Miss Sternhop smiled with her tight thin lips. She glanced down at her watch. ‘Oh dear, ten o’clock already? My flying lesson’s at twelve!’

  ‘Flying?’ asked Dr Lu taking off his glasses to see if Miss Sternhop was joking.

  ‘Yes, I’ve been learning to fly a glider, a Blanik. I’ve wanted to all my life. No engine . . . just the sound of the wind. It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world, Dr Lu.’ She lifted her head and closed her eyes. ‘In the air I’m as free as an eagle. Today I am going for my licence.’

  Miss Sternhop hurried to the door. ‘Goodbye Dr Lu, goodbye Mimi, wish me luck,’ she called rushing up the street as though she had wings on the backs of her heels.

  Dr Lu turned to Mimi, ‘Very strange . . . Miss Stern-hop like young woman again. Herbs not that strong.’

  ‘She’s been in the garden, Dad.’

  ‘Garden?’

  ‘You know . . . the Garden of Empress Cassia.’ Mimi pointed to the street.

  ‘But it only drawing.’

  ‘That’s what it looks like but there are people walking around inside all the time.

  ‘Walk inside a drawing? I no can believe.’

  ‘The
garden can only be drawn with these special pastels that Miss O’Dell gave me. Only people who need to be healed in some way can enter the garden. It sounds weird, I know, but when they come out, they’re different. That’s why Miss Sternhop has changed. It’s been her dream to fly and now she’s doing it. After Mr Honeybun went in, he had the nerve to ask Alma out on a date.’

  ‘Why no people talk about inside of garden?’

  ‘That’s just it . . . nobody remembers being inside except me. That’s probably because I drew it in the first place.’

  Dr Lu shook his head in disbelief.

  ‘It’s true, Dad. Old Ma says the garden has been around for thousands of years. It’s always out there, in the space between Heaven and Earth, waiting for the right person to use the pastels, then the garden comes to life again. This time it was me.’

  Mrs Lu carried a tray of fried dumplings from the kitchen.

  ‘Come, try new recipe. Red bean paste inside,’ she said excitedly.

  Mimi grabbed a pair of chopsticks and skewered a dumpling. ‘Mmm . . . delicious Mum,’ she said as she bit deep into the dumpling’s crunchy skin. The smooth sweet red bean paste oozed into her mouth. It tasted good.

  ‘Have you been in Mimi’s garden?’ Dr Lu asked Mrs Lu.

  ‘I stood at the entrance and read the inscription but nothing happened.’

  ‘That’s because you don’t need the Garden, Mum.’

  Ding ding-a-ling. The shop door opened. Gemma followed her mother into the shop.

  ‘Mrs Johnson, please come in. Sit down,’ said Dr Lu.

  Oh no, what’s she doing here? The dumpling in Mimi’s mouth suddenly tasted claggy and dry.

  ‘Thank you, Dr Lu. Gemma tells me she’s in the same class at school as your daughter. She thought it would be nice if they got together while I have my consultation.’

  ‘Good idea. Mimi look after Gemma. Take her up to your room.’

  ‘But Dad, I’m busy. I need to clean up the clinic’

  Gemma walked confidently up to the counter smiling her big fake smile as though she was Mimi’s best friend.