“Did you get anything we can sell?” Dove asked as the cart they had hopped onto rocked back and forth.
“No,” Sparrow said, and she pulled out one of the silver coins. Dove’s eyes went wide and her mouth watered. Sparrow nodded and felt a sense of pride well up in her belly. What she had done was stupid and dangerous. She could have been killed. She shuddered at the memory of being beaten by the man in the dream and coughed as she could practically smell the smoke filling the room. But she had only imagined all that. She had been caught, yes, but she got away. And had earned a little cash. She had no idea why the woman had been kind to her or gave her the money. But she would never understand the strange ways of foreigners.
When Sparrow and Dove arrived back home, she gave Mama all of the silver coins—save one. She would hide that along with her other coins when she had the chance. Mama nearly wept when she saw the money. It was enough to pay their landlord for their tiny room for the year. When her mother asked how she managed to steal so much money, Sparrow lied and told her that a stupid foreigner gave it to her when she was begging. Foreigners never understood how to use Chinese money. Market sellers were always excited when foreigners came through because they knew they could get as much as ten times the price for their goods from such stupid people.
That night, Sparrow’s mother used all their rice, pork, and cabbage to make a thick and satisfying congee for them. And tomorrow, she would be able to ask Old Lady Fan to stitch them a warm blanket. That night, they all slept together soundly, snuggled together for warmth. And even baby Pheasant had no hunger pains to keep her awake.
Four
In spite of the winter chill, the sun was shining, so Sparrow and all of the other street children were out enjoying a brief respite from the cold. They ran up and down the busy streets, looking for anything they could get their hands on. There were no large gatherings or special events, so there was always an element of danger to thieving, but nicking a steamed bun or bit of fruit was usually easy enough.
Sparrow felt a sense of pride that she had been able to take a couple of days off from stealing. She had slept late that morning, nestled under the warmth of the new blanket sewed together by Old Lady Fan. And when their landlord came to collect the rent, Mama did not send the girls away so she and the old man could conduct business in private. Mama handed the money for the rent over with her chin up; though, the man seemed disappointed for some reason Sparrow could not understand. She thought he would be pleased to have so much money at once. But Sparrow only shrugged as he left and then ate her morning meal with relish.
But most of the money was now gone—except for the coins that Sparrow had hidden. And she would never touch them until it was absolutely necessary. After paying the rent, having the blanket sewn, and eating to the full for three days, it was back to work for Sparrow. But she had to be careful. People were always protective of their belongings when kids like Sparrow were around.
Sparrow watched as a boy about a year or two younger than herself attempted to pick the pocket of a well-dressed man as he tried to get the attention of a passing rickshaw. But the boy was clumsy and the man easily felt the boy’s hand slip into his coat. He grabbed the boy by the arm and hit him over the head with the flat of his hand. The boy fell to the ground and the man huffed as he climbed into the rickshaw. Sparrow shook her head and walked away from the group, down an alley to another road. Unfortunately, it often took many smacks to the head for a kid to learn the stealth required to successfully pick a pocket.
Sparrow walked along the edge of the street, keeping her head down and her hands hidden so as not to draw attention to herself. She saw a well-dressed man walking toward her and she slowed her pace. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, but was reading a newspaper.
Sparrow picked up a broken brick from the side of the road and dropped it in the man’s path. As the man tripped on the brick, his body jerked, and he looked from the newspaper, to the brick, to the street—but never at Sparrow as she slipped her hand into his pocket.
It should have been a quick grab. Her hand in and out and she would be back on her way with the man never the wiser that he had been robbed until it was much too late for him to know who had stolen from him.
But the moment Sparrow felt the cold metal on her fingers, she fell. And she fell and fell until the world turned black once again.
When Sparrow awoke, once again with a deep gasp, she was surrounded by people.
“There she is!” someone said, and there were audible sighs of relief. The man she had tried to steal from looked the most relieved at all.
“You gave us a scare,” he said. “I tripped and then I saw you faint. What happened?”
Sparrow shook her head as she tried to remember. So, the man didn’t realize that she had tried to steal from him. That was good. But why did she pass out? What happened?
“Umm…” Sparrow cleared her throat and licked her lips. “You have a…a silver watch in your pocket.”
The man’s hand immediately went to his side, and he sighed when he felt the watch was still there. “Did you try to steal from me?” he asked, an anger in his voice that wasn’t there before.
“No!” Sparrow said, drawing back. “But the woman who gave it to you, she is a bad woman. She stole it.”
“What do you mean?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”
“The flower girl,” she said. “She gave it to you. But she stole it from another man. A man…a man named Lord Jun.”
Everyone began to murmur as Sparrow told them what she saw after she touched the watch.
“What are you?” the man asked, standing up. “A fortune teller? You think I will give you money for such lies?”
“No,” Sparrow said. “I just know what I saw.”
“Then what is the woman’s name?” he challenged. “What does she look like.”
“You called her Willow,” Sparrow said. “And she…” She didn’t know what Willow’s face looked like because in the dream she was Willow. But she knew what she had been wearing. “She wore a cream robe with blue flowers and butterflies.”
The man exhaled in annoyance, and Sparrow knew she was right. The man had been with the flower girl Willow, and she had given him a pocket watch. But how could Sparrow know that? Why had she seen it? And if it was true, did that mean that the dream she had about the yellow-haired man was true too? She suddenly felt nauseous at the thought. She swooned a bit and then threw up.
“There, there,” the man said, and he pulled a kerchief from his pocket to wipe the sick from her chin.
Sparrow felt scared and wanted to cry, but she wasn’t sure why. What was happening to her? She rubbed her eyes and tried to get to her feet, but she was dizzy.
“Let me help take you home,” the man said. Sparrow tried to resist, but the man insisted. He let her put her hand on his arm as she turned left and right through the hutong leading toward their little hovel.
When she pushed open their door, she found Mama sitting on a low stool, nursing Pheasant. Dove was nearby, using a stick to dig pictures into the dirt floor of the room.
“Why are you here so early?” Mama asked. “Did you have another good day?”