Jack, back home, the roots go deep

    Jack Chang opened his eyes, and for a minute he was back in time.  When he was a teenager, and dreaded having to go downstairs and face his father.

     His old man hated the fact Jack was not bound for the tradional role of oldest son taking over the family business.  The world may have changed radically the last hundred years, but not some traditions.

       Jack sighed, the old man had died when he and his little family moved to the desert, and he was wandering to scrap together enough money to get the supplies to get them to the winter.  Him and
Charlie. 

       Charlie was still snoring over in the other bed.  The kid Charles was up and out of the room.

       Jack supposed he should get up, and slowly rolled over to the edge.  The beds hadn't changed in all the years, older than he was.  Maybe new beds were hard to come by.  Or just his family still  being frugal, stretching what they had to take care of everyone in the large extended group.

        Well, didn't all of us.  I had to learn to stretch money, only a bottle of cheap whisky in the early days when no matter how hard I worked at my craft, I still couldn't pull a solid gold rabbit out of the hat.  Something to at least share with old rusty saw over there, and have a few laughs.

        He sat up, laughs now, may as well get up and go have some family time down stairs, with my pleasantly standoffish brother and his family. 

         Standing up and trying to not wake the other man was hard.  His joints all felt like they
 had rocks in them.  Not surprising after the long walk they had done. 

         And here he was hat in hand asking for help to find a boat.  Things were lacking a reality
and reason he was trying hard to find hope in.

      

Chinatown's finest

     Rosemma sat at the little table in the kitchen with her new friend sipping tea.  She yawned, and thought about how  much her life had turned upside down in the last week.

    Leslie was kind of shy, she decided.  But she felt comfortable with him.  She thought she ought to tell him that she was married.  Then decided against it.  Seemed something too personal to relate so soon.

      In the meantime, she looked out the back door to the courtyard and smiled at the dogs.

      Finally she looked back. "Do you do any magic at all Leslie?"  "My grandfather hardly does anymore"  thinking about the last time she could remember the fact.  Maybe one of her birthday parties when she was a little girl?

        Leslie smiled a little, "Only simple tricks, my Uncle doesn't approve too much, thinks it just causes trouble."  "When your great grandfather left, it caused a huge uproar.  He was supposed to take over the family business, all of it, and then he went off on the elders without a word, though he would send them money."  So my greatgrandfather, his younger brother had to take over, and he hadn't been properly trained, and there were hard feelings."  " Chinese are family first, and wives are from families you know, that tradition was renewed after the Invisable Death struck."

          " Jack came back with a foreign wife, and red haired to boot.You seem to have come by her
distinctive feature that I have heard talk of since I was a little kid."

            Rosemma blinked, "What was the talk?"

            Leslie cracked a grin, "I shouldn't say, and I admire your greatgrandfather very much for his
courage, and following his own heart."  "But, after he and your greatgrandmother left, they always called her that red haired demon, who had put a spell on Jack Chang"

          Rosemma thought to herself, oh no, please don't let greatgrandfather hear this.  She thought about it, then spoke"Leslie, can it be made so he never hears this?" "He loved her so much, she followed him to live in the desert, and her life was never easy, according to my grandmother. but my
greatgrandmother loved Jack Chang till the day she dies, and he was so broken up, my grandmother
thought he would follow soon after."

           The she wanted to make a point"Maybe everyone here thinks he has led a life of fame and glory, and he was the most amazing magician in his day, a real one too, no slight of hand, but he never had enough money to keep his family in comfortable living, they often didn't have enough for
anything like new shoes, they wore hand me downs, and had to work hard on their little homestead farm just to have food to eat.  Jack had to travel to bring home some extra cash."

       Leslie became blank.  "Wow, really, cause everyone in the family seems to think he was some
kind of rich famous traveler who never came home cause he got too snobby."

       At this Rosemma brindled, "I think it was more the way they treated my greatgrandmother, it hurt him, hurt her, and they just never came back."

       Leslie looked really sad, "Really sad all the way around, Rosemma, really sad.  Wish they all could have gotten over it, you know?  So much time missed and can't be made up again.  The
greatgreat grandparents are gone, some siblings are gone, he'll hear that today I'm sure. How really sad for all of us.  You and I, we could have been playmates growing up."

       Rosemma smiled, "But then my mother wouldn't have met my father, and most likely I wouldn't be here,  or even my grandmother, she may not have met my grandfather. Well, I never even met my
grandfather, so oh well, life is so complicated."  She said this with a fatal tone that Leslie changed
the subject.

      "Hey, hungry?,  Let's see what I can scrounge up here before everyone else gets up and puts me to work for real, I like cooking, but not pounds of it on a daily basis."