The Brave New World 58 A Friend In Need

It was all the more unfair because it was him, Li Yang, that had the implant kits and hiber beds and doc.u.mentation scrolls. He was the one who made starting a colony in the New World possible! But all the gold he had consisted of his mother's wedding ring. It was the most precious thing he had, its value greatly exceeded the value of the gold. He'd never give it up.

The items he'd taken from the cube were the only wealth he had. They determined how important he was to the others. They were the only reason why he counted. And with the addition of Bobby and Olga to the group, the count stood at four to one. They could take the items and dump him, any time.

Lies and betrayal were a theme that had ran through his life. Even his mother had betrayed him, in a sense. She had promised him so many times that he would always have her by his side. And hadn't she left him? He had believed her, he had been counting on her to stay in his life for a long, long time. And then she was gone, and his little sister was gone too. They all abandoned him. They left him alone and afraid and so sad that he cried himself to sleep every night for over a year.

Yes, Rose Fogerty had also shown him some affection, and had helped him. Without that help, he probably would have died. But now Rose Fogerty was gone as well. And neither Harper nor Charlene had ever cared much about him. They changed their att.i.tude only because he was the one that had food, initially. And he continued to be important to them only because he was the one with the means to get a colony started.

He had to find an ally. He had to find someone he could trust, and who would join the group. If Harper could ask his friends to join, then so could he! But he'd had no friends in his life for quite a while, except for Rose Fogerty. Come to think of it, he had never really had any friends apart his mother, his little sister, and Rose. And Jake Donato.

Jake Donato had lived in the same apartment building, two floors above Li Yang's. When the top two floors were declared off limits by the city inspector, Jake had moved away and they'd lost contact. They hadn't spoken or seen each other for more than three years. But they'd been friends prior to that, yes, Li Yang could call Jake a friend. They attended the same school, and spent a lot of time together after cla.s.ses. Most importantly, they'd gotten in trouble together many times, and Jake had always held up his end when that happened.

Where was he now? All Li Yang knew was that Jake had moved to somewhere in Greenpoint. That was across the river, and a long way from where Li Yang lived. Li Yang hadn't had a phone when Jake had moved, and hadn't taken Jake's phone number. He was sure Rose would have had Jake's new address, but it was much too late to ask her about that.

And so, at seven sharp the next morning, Li Yang set out to find Jake Donato.

He began by looking through the phone directory in Rose Fogerty's old room. It was quite recent, but it only listed stationary phones. All the same, it contained a whole bunch of Donatos. Li Yang patiently checked the addresses against his old map of New York City. There was a single Donato living on Huron Street in Greenpoint. What was more, he was a J. Donato.

Li Yang carefully wrote down the address and marked Huron Street on his map. He'd had it for a while, and it was literally coming apart at the folds. So he carefully folded it up with the section showing Huron Street on top, and put it in a thin, transparent plastic bag.

He knew that it was a very long shot he'd found who he was looking for. The initial in front of Donato fit, but Jake wasn't the kind of person to have a stationary phone. But Li Yang hoped that maybe he would get lucky, and find a relative of Jake's. Didn't certain names run in families? Jacopo wasn't a popular first name.

If he was wrong, he would have to go the hard route and go to city hall, and he was sure things were really messed up there. It would take a lot of effort to find someone who would help him. He had to give J. Donato in Greenpoint a try.

It was at least an hour's walk to Huron Street, so Li Yang prepared himself by eating a beef stew MRE and drinking a coffee with plenty of sugar. He dressed in his best clothes, all stolen back in January when the forces of law and order were absent from the city. He hesitated for a long time over the gun. In the end he decided against taking it. It was more likely to get him into trouble than keep him out of it, and it had only three cartridges anyway.

Charlene and Harper had slept in late, and Li Yang was pretty happy about that. He didn't want to talk to them that morning, didn't want to tell them where he was going and what he intended. He tiptoed out of his room and down the hallway and shut the front door very, very softly. There was a loud snap when he locked it and he ran down the stairs all the way to the ground floor. He checked the time on his watch when he stepped out into the street: it was a few minutes past nine.

He was wearing the most elegant of the three watches he had stolen from the p.a.w.nshop: it had a wind up mechanism, and ran late by as much as a couple of minutes a day. But that didn't matter much in a world that had reverted to the ancient rhythm of night and day.

He set a fast pace, and just twenty minutes later he was walking across the Williamsburg Bridge. He estimated that he'd hit Huron Street within half an hour. But halfway across the bridge he stopped and stared open-mouthed at the spectacle that presented itself.

A big paddle-wheel steamer was slowly making its way up the East River. Columns of smoke rose from the twin stacks mounted amids.h.i.+ps. It was too far away for the sound of its engine to carry to Li Yang. It glided through the water in ghostly silence, like an apparition from another world.

The sight put Li Yang in a trance-like state, and he had to pinch his thigh hard to snap out of it. He kept looking at the s.h.i.+p over his shoulder as he resumed his journey, and almost fell flat on his face when the tip of his shoe dipped into a wide crack in the pavement.

He forced himself to focus on where he was going, and it brought good results. Within half an hour, he was standing in front of a fairly dilapidated house on Huron Street. According to the number he had written down, this was where someone called J. Donato lived.

The gate was half-open, and as he walked up to the front door he prayed to Fate to give him a helping hand. She had given Jimmy the cat one h.e.l.l of a break. Could she please show just a little consideration for him, her humble subject?

There was a doorbell push beside the door, but Li Yang chose to knock: he had gotten used to door bells not working over the past few weeks. He knocked softly the first couple of times, then louder. At long last, he heard someone cough inside and then the sound of slow, shuffling footsteps. It didn't sound as if it was Jake coming to answer the door.

"Who is it?" asked an old, trembling female voice.

Li Yang felt a wave of despair. This wasn't Jake's mother or his sister. He would have to start his search at city hall, as he had feared. But since he had come a long way, he said:

"My name is Li Yang. I am looking for Jake Donato? He's an old friend of mine. Do you know where I can find him?"

He heard the lock being opened and the chain being slipped into its latch, and the door opened a crack. A single dark eye surrounded by deep wrinkles appeared over the stretched chain links, and regarded him suspiciously.

"What's your name again?"

"Li Yang. I've walked all the way from Mott Street. That's where Jake used to live, a few years back. We went to the same school."

"Don't you joke with me, young man. Do you think I'm a fool?"

"I'm not joking. I swear it's true. He was my best friend."

The door slammed shut, and Li Yang heard the lock being turned.

"No!" he shouted, and banged on the door with his fist.

"Jake!" screeched the old woman inside the house.

She sounded as if she was mocking him, and Li Yang bit his lip to stop himself from shouting again. He balled his hands into fists and stuck them in his pockets and was about to walk away when he heard another voice, a man's voice call out:

"What is it?"

"There's some fool here that claims he went to school with you."

Li Yang waited. There were more shuffling footsteps, and some grumbling too quiet to understand, which was probably just as well. Once again, the lock snapped open, but this time the chain was left unfastened. The door swung and Li Yang saw an old but healthy-looking man with a mop of thick white hair falling over his forehead. The old man grinned, showing teeth so white they had to be false. He said:

"You're saying we went to school together?"

"No," said Li Yang. "I meant another Jake. My age. He is a good friend of mine. I came all the way from Mott Street. Can you help me find him?"

"Sure I can," said the old man, and grinned again.

"Don't mind my wife," he said. "You know, age... You must be looking for my grandson. He used to live on Mott Street. But he's out. Can you come back in a couple of hours? He'll be coming back for lunch."

To his great embarra.s.sment, Li Yang felt tears of relief and grat.i.tude p.r.i.c.kling his eyes.

"Thank you," he said. "Thank you so much. Yes, I'll be here. Thank you."

The old man stopped grinning and gave Li Yang an appraising look. Then he said:

"You know what, just come on in. You can wait inside."

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