Part Four
At the last bushiban Tuane had taught at, he
had met his future wife. She was his student there, improving her business
English. She fell into Tuane’s tractor-beam. It wasn’t long before she was
inviting him to meet her parents who were in the business of paper supply for
stationary store. And trying to crack open the market in America. Tuane saw the
potential of a family connection. He married Linda in a court ceremony, just in
case her family wouldn't approve. After she was pregnant, they saw thing her
way and offered an elaborate wedding party to save their faces. Tuane, despite
being asked, couldn't afford to have his mom or sisters come from Tetonia and
Idaho Falls but he promised them in letters that he would bring Linda and their
first child, Sasha, to Idaho to meet them one day as soon as he could.
Neither Tuane nor Linda spent any money on
anything unnecessary. Their apartment, a four floor walk up with one fan moved
from room to room where needed. Any money Linda received from her parents,
Tuane took it away to save. Any money Tuane got from being at a workplace,
whether working or not, he squirreled away. The only luxury he afforded them
was a small used color TV and a daily USA Today newspaper; he needed the
newspaper to keep up with the world. The USA Today was his bible; every word in
every article was precious and a chapter that must be read to get the whole picture
least any money be wasted. Their meals were simple and home-cooked by Linda;
that’s what wives are supposed to do. Baby Sasha ate ground-up leftover vegetables
and meat, hand turned by Linda to save money on electric bills. They never ate
out. Every New Taiwan Dollar was needed for airfare back to Idaho. Like a
vacuum, every speck of gold dust was sucked up, never to see the light of day
again until the time came to send Linda to Idaho, alone, to meet and take care
of Tuane’s mom.
Tuane Gorgonsen took Linda to a baseball
game. It was part of the 'world familiarization' program that he was embarking
her on. It was the same program he had put himself on that fateful night near
Craters of the Moon on State Route 20. Surely, every citizen of the world must
know about the game of baseball.
"How many spikes are there?" Linda said as she
looked out over the green lawn from her concrete bench up the third base line.
"That word is 'strikes', Linda. There are three.
Every batter gets three," said Tuane raising his hand to show three well
chewed off finger nails. "And the batter gets four balls."
"Four balls. Four balls," said Linda
re-memorizing what she had been drilled on the night before.
"Shen(Shen) tsai(tsai) tou(tou) shou(shou) Lin(Lin)
Xu(Xu) Ming- (Ming,” the PA announcer said, the sound echoing off the walls
between two ten-story office buildings the stadium was sandwiched by.
"What did he say?" asked Tuane, not because he
couldn't hear but because he didn't understand a word of Mandarin.
"He said the next hit-man was the thrower."
"You mean the next batter is the ‘pitcher’? Linda,
pay attention to what I told you!" Tuane shook his head and wrote down
“pitcher” on his make-shift score card; he really didn't care what the players
names were, anyway but he feigned interest.
"Who's on second?" Tuane asked testing her
baseball knowledge.
"No, Hu's on first!" said Linda and pointed to
number 44 taking a lead off first. “His number is bad luck; means ‘die twice.’
Where's his glove?" she wanted to know.
"He doesn't need a glove; he's a runner," said
Tuane a little annoyed.
There was a PA announcement.
“He said there’s no Wei,” Linda said. “Wei is not playing
today,” she translated from the announcement.
“Who?” Tuane urgently asked again.
“No, Wei,” Linda corrected Tuane.
"What do you mean, ‘No way today!’” asked Tuane.
“Who?” asked Linda.
"The batter," said Tuane.
"I thought Hu was the first base man," stressed
Linda, totally confused. No, Wei Jose.” Just then, the batter, who was the
pitcher, hit the ball thrown by the thrower. It was coming backwards towards
Tuane who yelled "watch out" and pushed Linda out of the balls path
just in time before it hit her. The ball was caught cleanly by Tuane who, proud
of his foul ball catch held it high above his head for the crowd and cameras to
see. For some reason, no one was whooping and applauding. The ball girl, a
pretty young Taiwanese woman in pin-striped shorts and cap, ran up the third
base line near the stands waving to the crowd near Tuane.
"Give her the ball."
"What's that?"
"She wants the ball."
"She wants what?"
"The ball! Throw it to her!"
"I most certainly will not. I caught it fair and
square!"
Just then the third base umpire walked up the field to
near the ball girl. He too started waving to Tuane. "Huan gai wo-men,
hao-ma!?" he shouted.
"He said to give him ball to him," Linda said,
nervously.
"This
is my souvenir, Linda. That's what we do in America."
"But here isn't Merica," said Linda, mortified as the crowd around
her started smirking and shaking their heads. "They can't play no
ball."
"Then
let them get another ball. This ball is mine, dear," and he put the ball
between his legs on the seat smiling broadly, waving, and daring anyone to
reach down between his legs to get it. Linda held her head down and squeezed
her eyes tightly to shut out the world. Tuane was ‘familiarizing’ her, again.
Tuane cried out, “Come on Linda, they're playing
again," as the game resumed, the umpire begrudgingly used a new ball
carried from the dugout. They just couldn't afford to give them away like they
did in the Major Leagues.
Just then, two police officers approached Tuane and Linda
from behind. One was pointing and waving his finger at them. Linda took her
hands off her eyes and looked up at them as they spoke to her in Mandarin.
"Tuane, they want us to leave," said Linda as
she stood to leave. Tuane remained seated. "My my, never gonna let you
go," he said to the ball as he grabbed it between his legs, lifted it and
kissed it before standing up. For them, the game was over. They were escorted
to the exit, Tuane smiling all the way, Linda almost in tears. Her 'world
familiarization' was over for the day, or was it?
They walked to the bus stop and waited for the bus back
home so Linda could make dinner. When the bus came, it pulled up ten feet from
the curb. Two dozen people rushed to the front and rear doors as another dozen
passengers tried to make their way off. Tuane grabbed Linda's hand and shoved
through them all pushing an old man almost on to the street. "Out of our
way, we're getting on," he said and squeezed into the crowded bus as high
school students stared at him, his wavy reddish blond hair almost touching the
ceiling of the bus. He had to stand in a recessed air-duct not to hit his head.
"These people don't know how to wait on a line, do they?"
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