At the River’s Edge

By Toby Lewis

Sometimes magic and spiritism can be one in the same. Luci Lin, an unwanted child discarded at the river’s edge by an uncaring father and a mother too filled with fear to object finds life despite the callous heart that conceived her.
The magic is the childless couple out for a morning stroll along the river’s edge being led by a butterfly to a newborn baby rolled up in rags laid in a bush near the river’s edge as an offering to a voracious reptile.
The spiritism is the belief in the one true God and that the butterfly was one of his angels sent to watch over that child.
From that day forward the insect would watch over and protect the child it rescued at the river’s edge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669812623

Toby Lewis

Toby Lewis, a born and bred true Texan is a former journalism student who loves the telling of a good story, be it written or spoken. A lifelong weight-lifter who spent the majority of his adult life working in the night club industry working as a bouncer, bartender, and manager. That career has fortunately allowed him the privilege to live and work all over the country as well as to spend a couple of summers as a roadie for a not so famous rock and roll band. I don’t fancy myself as the most polished of writers, but I think I’m a damn good storyteller, I’ve been told that I write like I talk. I’ll take that.

Book preview

AT THE RIVER’S

EDGE

Toby Lewis

Copyright © 2022 by Toby Lewis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/14/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

838808

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty Three

Chapter Fifty Four

Chapter Fifty Five

Chapter Fifty Six

Chapter Fifty Seven

Chapter Fifty Eight

Chapter Fifty Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy-One

Chapter Seventy-Two

Chapter Seventy-Three

INTRODUCTION

The leader of the Han dynasty Shang Yung, who was also one of the country’s most gregarious poets, had grown weary of the travel on the rough roads used to connect the villages in the east to the country’s capitol in the west. Shang Yung stringently voiced his displeasure over the travel routes to his ministers throughout the region. In the process tasking each and every one to devise an amenable solution to his current displeasure, with the promise of great wealth to the subordinate who alleviated his travel discomfort.

The year was 825 B.C., a place in time where only the wealthy and privileged were allowed the luxury of comfortable travel, either by horse and buggy or human powered rickshaw.

The Seven Mile River in the age before Christ was nothing more than a twenty foot wide shallow creek serving as a conduit for the melting snowcapped mountains to supply water to the inhabitants living adjacent to its banks. The people of the Wu Tong clan, the original citizens and founders of the village named Shantang chose to relate the villages title to the name of its current glorious Emperor, Shang Yung. He was lorded as the wisest of his people and recognized by the citizens as the spokesperson for every clan of the eastern nation. Emperor Shang Yung, who’d grown weary of the rough overland travel required of him to pay weekly visits to the sister villages of Suzhou seven miles down the waterway, saw a remedy to his dilemma in a dream. He’d envisioned the now slow flowing Seven-Mile tributary as a massive powerful fast flowing river crashing down from the snow covered mountain peaks.

The day after having the dream, Shang Yang sternly issued an edict instructing every able body from the Changmen province in the east to the Tiger Hill province in the west to begin the physical widening of the Seven Mile River. Every citizen, man, woman, and child, on both sides of the tributary toiled away, using archaic tools and horse drawn wagons to move the water’s edge back one-hundred yards from its present distance. Within three years the dams at the foot of the mountains were demolished, releasing the roaring torrent of water that through erosion extended the rivers depth by twenty feet, allowing the birth of an entirely new world along the river’s edge. Commerce between the sister villages boomed over the next two millennia but the people held steadfast to maintaining the authenticity of the age old view and practicality of life along the Seven Mile River.

The river was life for the inhabitants living adjacent it’s banks, the fisherman thrived, the farmer’s brought in enormous bounty at every harvest and families who raised chickens and farm animals saw no end to the fortunate prosperity brought on by the river’s expansion.

The country over the next two millennia expanded into a world power economically, along with its grandeur of wealth came a massive burgeoning of its human population. By the start of the twentieth century, the nation’s larger urban cities were bursting at the seams population wise. This immense growth additionally required more educated young people to fuel the work force needed to operate the burgeoning leaps in technology. Technology that demanded all the more advanced students reside in the larger cities. This to mirror hugely expanding prosperity of growth in the west. Education became imperative in the eyes of the ruling class and as with any society, historically the needs of the wealthy far outweighed those of the poor.

The ruling clan, the Ethnic Han were granted exception over the lower cast of the country, which meant the majority of the educated citizenry populated the urban venues. All others were relegated to positions of servitude or would migrate to the western province, in the hope of making a better life for their young people.

Even with thousands of its people yearly absconding to the west, the growth of humanity never ceased, causing governmental officials to tragically contemplate what could be done to halt its enormous expansion of humanity.

Communist leader of the republic, Deng Xiaoping, after extensive inquiry from his governmental council, chose to adapt an edict permitting only one child per married couple. Birth of female children in leu of the one child, one family edict was frowned upon in the hearts of the people. Traditionally only a male child could continue the family bloodline and care for aging parents. The supposed rule of law within its own complexity would become a double edged sword, effectively crippling beyond regard the citizens social and moral reasoning.

CHAPTER ONE

The year was nineteen seventy-nine and in a very modern society, a law of such draconian fervor was instituted, throwing the entire populace into a state of mass confusion.

Local and national governmental agencies were established to assure compliance, with heavy fines and punishments administered to those who refused to comply with such an intrusive law.

All married people were ordered to register on the day of marriage and given strict warning by regulators to adhere to the rule of the one child policy.

To maintain control of population growth, what was in the past spoken only in silence, were now rule of law, contraception, abortion, abandonment and the greatest abomination of all, infanticide. There can be no forgiveness for a person who senselessly erases the life of a newborn child, be it female or not. To avoid reprisal from the government, many couples would choose the worst of all options in a society that permitted such a heinous rule of law.

Strange, that one could dare to determine which was more barbaric, to abort an unborn child, abandon it in the forest to the mercy of wild beast, or to smother the child to death, only minutes after the miracle of birth. The premise of placing so much value on the desire for a male child created an acceptable form of lunacy among the citizens.

There were, however, those who felt some remorse for what was being secretly encouraged by their leaders, chose an alternative thought to assuage their own moral conscience. These citizens chose to leave the newborn girl children at the water’s edge of `the Seven Mile River. They psychologically convinced themselves that there was something mythical about the child being sacrificed to the `Muddy Dragon` that was in reality the dreaded River Crocodile of the Asian nation. In most cases, the infant at the water’s edge would be devoured by the `Muddy Dragon`, which was by no realistic means some mystical creature of long repeated and revered lore.

The country’s more realistic thinking dissidents, at the risk of imprisonment, refusing to obey the edict would either take great measure to conceal the female child from authority’s or relocate to a rural region, where the laws were not so stringently enforced. This action though, deprived the child of a normal existence in such things as being denied education and no record of being a person or legitimate citizen of the people’s republic.

One has to wonder, how many remarkable minds have been tossed away in the midst of such an arcane law. What worthy contributions to mankind will never see the sunshine of what life may have offered them, if they were given the chance to live beyond the short life stolen from them. Fate, however, would at times intervene to rescue a child thrown away for such an uncaring, emotionless act of barbarism.

Chu and Wai Lin, out for their customary post meal stroll along the river’s edge both saw the beautiful black butterfly fluttering before them at the same time and like the mice to the minstrel, the old couple followed the winged entity closer to the quietly flowing river. Like a fairy the black butterfly landed on the tiny bundle laying in a bush seemingly stirring to life what was wrapped inside. Chu Lin caught a sudden movement out the corner of his eye, something was moving through the brush in the direction of the same bundle the butterfly came to rest on. Chu motioned for his wife to stand back as he hurriedly ran over to swoop up the tiny bundle upon which the butterfly had come to rest. Immediately he was aware of what was inside and just as the black slithering reptile lunged to acquire the easy meal it was being cheated of, Chu wrapped his arms tightly around the bundle and raced back to where his wife stood frozen in fear.

Chu used his free arm to encourage his wife in his retreat beyond the reach of the menacing River Dragon that lumbered after them through the brush displaying it’s sinister teeth and growl. All the time the black butterfly never leaving its perch on the back of the dark scale hardness of the river dragon. Slowly fluttering it’s wings as if to slow the pursuit of the monster below it.

The aged couple did not slow in their retreat until Chu no longer heard the crushing of the brush emanating from the rivers direction. The Lin’s slowly unwrapped the tiny bundle rescued from the dragon and slowly moving in wide eyed amazement was a tiny girl child that seemed to smile up at the old couple as if thanking them for the heroic effort in rescuing her from the jaws of a certain horrible fate.

What a beautiful child Chu, Wai lamented to her husband, how could someone condemn such a treasure to an unspeakable fate as being devoured by the River Dragon?

Though you and I my darling wife were never given the blessing of having children of our own, the desire to have only one child as decreed by the emperor himself and that one child be a boy child is the driving force behind such a tragic decision. This little girl has been granted grace by the great creator to not be a victim to such a horrible fate, she will live my wife and we shall care for her as if she were our very own.

CHAPTER TWO

The little girl was given the name Luci, in honor or Chu’s own mother. They’d known for many years of couples wanting their one child to be male, heartlessly discarding first born female children in the forest or at the river’s edge. Luci by the grace of God was found by the Lin’s only minutes after being placed in the bush by her uncaring father. The man once informed of the child’s gender by the midwife never allowed himself to look into the brown eyes of the newborn. Inwardly knowing what he would do in protest of his woman not rewarding him with a male child. Only minutes after the birth he took the baby from the arms of the midwife while his wife mournfully cried in silent protest, well aware of her daughters fate.

The act was not considered a heinous occurrence due to the emperors dark edict of one child, per family.

The Chu’s when questioned by neighbors of the new child in their household bracketed the new baby being with them in the story of a young family member dying during the birthing process.

Through criminal elements in their village Chu was able to acquire the proper documents to assure little Luci’s inclusion in the rights of a child to be educated in the state run school system. In the remote villages there was no manner of determining the validity of the forged papers that on the surface were identical to those issued by government regulators.

Wai Lin was greeted by the oddest surprise when she walked into the child’s nursery one morning to give the baby her first meal of the day. A beautiful black butterfly rested on the forehead of the sleeping child and to her amazement, the baby did not wake nor did the beautiful black insect flutter away as Wai Lin approached the crib. She stood motionless and captivated by the image before her, finally deciding to quietly summon her husband to the nursery to have him also witness the miraculous event.

It was as though the butterfly were blessing the little girls existence and assuring her that she would always be watched over by this comforting black angel. As if sensing her surrogate mother standing near, the baby blinked her bright brown eyes open just as Chu entered the nursery.

My husband, do you see how miraculous this child is? It’s as though this butterfly has been sent by the great creator to watch over and protect her, remember how it led us to the bush Luci was laying in just as the Dragon from the river was about to devour her? I watched as you took her and just as you had her in your embrace the butterfly landed on the Water Dragons back as if to prevent it from taking you both. This child is special Chu and this butterfly is Luci’s protector from the evils of this world.

My dear Wai, we have earned the right by our faith and belief in the most gracious creator to refer to Luci henceforth as our child. She is no more the innocence abandoned at the river’s edge, once the butterfly guided us to where she quietly waited for us to rescue her, this blessed child became our daughter.

"I agree with you my husband, we have a duty to see to it our Luci lives to fulfill her destiny, it is strange though, how was the butterfly able to enter this room while the windows and doors have all been shut?

She is a miraculously blessed gift to us by the great creator."

Little Luci excelled in every educational endeavor taught in the provincial schools, at the age of seven she was years ahead of students much older than she. The educators were all amazed by her superior intellect and her astute aptitude at mentally retaining everything she was taught, waited in bated anticipation for what was to come next. In addition to her superior intellect Lucy also possessed an enormous amount of athletic prowess in any and all physical games played on the playground by the children. She out jumped, outran, and out caught every student in the school, boys included. Her unique ability’s did not go un-noticed by government officials tasked to find athletically gifted children to attend the state run training academy’s that chose athletes for future international competitions.

At the age of nine Luci was informed by her educational councilor that she would be moving on to a place where her skills as an athlete could be nurtured along with those of her as a student under the pretense that having better educators in both would bring great honor to the nation as a whole.

Preparations were made to care for her aging parents for Chu and Wai Lin were far advanced in years before they ever discovered the tiny bundle at the river’s edge. Officials knew the age longstanding tradition of children growing up and caring for their elders would most certainly not apply to the Lin’s, if officials were correct in expectations of what Luci’s abilities could offer her people in future worldwide prestige.

On the day the black automobiles driven by government dignitary’s came to the tiny village to carry Luci away to the capitol, she gave and received warm loving embraces of the two people who’d given her life despite the cruelty exuded by her birth parents only minutes after her first breaths of life were taken. Luci turned once again before climbing into the automobile to bid farewell to those she loved so deeply. As she waved one last farewell to Chu and Wai a black butterfly lighted on her shoulder, the moist eyes of sadness draping the faces of the Lin’s suddenly turned to a smile and tears of joy. The presence of the black butterfly since the day it lead them to the discovery of their daughter had meant only good fortune to their little family, the sight of it instilled a new and invigorating joy in their beating hearts.

The disappointment and lingering sadness of never being blessed with the joy of having a child of their own was wiped away by the Lin’s finding of the tiny bundle at the river’s edge. There was no urgency in them to notify authorities of the infants discovery, only because the unceremonious act of discarding first born female babies had been a socially acceptable act of cruelty for several decades of the country’s long history. The way the Lin’s surmised their finding of their infant daughter was the great creators design for the life of Luci Lin was something greater than the heartless sins of the world. The advanced ages of the couple on that glorious day meant they could possibly not live to bask in the glowing pride of all their precious gift from the great creator would achieve in her lifetime.

The entire community knew of the Lin’s daughter and her exceptional aptitude for learning and athletic prowess. They all lined the road on the day officials arrived to carry her away to the countries institute of higher learning. They all waved as the dark limousine drove to the end of the dirt road, turned left, and took away the jewel of their tiny village. It would be a year before they or the Lin’s would see or hear from their little butterfly` again, other than through letters read aloud by Wai to friends of the couple.

Standing among the adulating throng were the birth parents of Luci Lin, unaware of the fact, the little girl they celebrated the villages joyous admiration of was the human being they’d cast off to the fate of the world. Little Luci, as it came to be in the life of the couple was not the first of three daughters they would cast off to an unknown fate, yet still the couple stood amongst their neighbors devoid a male child. Their ability to disregard all emotional attachment to the innocence of life given as a blessing was replaced by the curse of never having a male child or any child at all to call their own. As her childless years passed, the biological mother of Luci would within her own thoughts and contrition wish she had petitioned her belligerent husband to keep at least one of the girl babies. Her chastisement by the Great Creator for the entirety of her life would be to never know the comforting warmth and joy of a mothers love for her child or that of the reciprocation from a gift born of her own womb.

CHAPTER THREE

The automobile ride to the capitol was the first car ride ever for Luci, no one in her village other than a chosen few government officials was wealthy enough to own a car. Travel for the villagers was mostly done by horse and buggy or walking. She sat quietly starring through the window in infantile amazement at how fast the countryside passed before her. After an hour of silence the female matron asked if she would like something to eat, informing her that they would not be reaching their destination for another two hours.

Again, she was amazed when the woman opened a basket to offer her a small bottle with the words coca cola displayed on it, another container with dumplings was set on the seat beside her. Luci began to shift the bottle around in her hands as if she didn’t know what to make of it before the matron took it from her and used a tool from the basket to remove the top from the bottle.

She took a tiny sip of the brown liquid and a huge smile spread across her cherubic face, Luci looked up at the matron, who in response flashed her an approving smile. Luci’s thoughts were racing with wonderment, she’d only been away from her home for a brief time and her mind was overwhelmed by the newness of life outside what she’d up to a few hours ago known as a normal existence. The first ride in an automobile and the sweet liquid from the bottle already had her head spinning with amazement, little Luci was giddy with anticipation of what would come next on this new adventure.

Her thoughts at a point drifted to wonderment of what her parents, Chu and Wai Lin were going to do in her absence. Luci was always the center of their world and she tried to imagine what her parents were doing at this very moment, their eyes were filled with the tears of sadness as she stared through the cars window waving goodbye to them and the cluster of neighbors who’d gathered to see her off. No one from the community had ever been chosen by the government program for exceptional children before Luci, the entire village saw her as representing them all in the world outside their ancestral home.

She’d been given the pet name Little Butterfly by the wise elders of the village in honor of the beautiful black butterfly that seemed to always be at rest on the child’s shoulder or fluttering in her presence. The elders saw the insects constant presence as something of a blessed occurrence meant to protect the child from the dangers of an ever changing world.

The butterfly, symbolically to the culture of this Asian nation was always envisioned as a sign of a changing world, so the wise elders of Shantang saw Luci and the insects presence as a sign of future prosperity for the small community.

Wai Lin made no secret of how she and her husband were challenged by the River Dragon on the day they came upon the child in a bush at the river’s edge, only to have the creature’s ferocity rebuked by the mystic entity of the black butterfly’s presence. The Lin’s had been aware of the special aura surrounding the little girl that seemingly chose them as her benefactors, if not for the subtle movement and sound she made as they neared her along the path, the Lin’s may have bypassed the swaddled bundled joy all together.

`The Little Butterfly`, just as the way she’d amazingly entered their lives, was gone in a wisp, the elderly couple not knowing if they’d live long enough to ever see their blessed miracle child again.

I have a deep feeling of loss within me my husband, Wai Lin silently lamented.

As I also my dear wife, it seems like only yesterday that our little miracle was gifted to us by her guardian butterfly, responded Chu to his wife’s heartfelt declaration. Luci’s true destiny rest elsewhere in the great creators world, surely he will grace us with long life enough to see his blessed gift to us bloom into the perfection of his handiwork, my loving wife.

Referring to the menacing river Crocodile as the mythical Dragon was solely due to the fanged reptiles uncanny resemblance to the creature spoken of in tales of the country’s colorful history. The mystique surrounding the inclusion of the Dragon in all historical events had forever existed in the minds and hearts of the people, who excepted the sinister creature as the symbol of something magical.

Historically, in the nation’s long history, the Dragon was regaled as something of a symbol of greatness and prosperity, so any sacrificial offering to the beast was covered in a mythical facade of reverence and fear.

Those who chose to abandon the female babies at the river’s edge relegated themselves to considering the action a sacrifice to the mythical creature in the fallacy of the offering being a gesture to be rewarded by the blessing of a male child.

In the case of Luci’s birth parents, that liar of a myth had never come to fruition, Luci was the second of her siblings to be banished to the voracious appetite of the River Dragon. She lived because her true destiny was to do and be something much greater than the cruelty she’d been born into. The aura of Luci’s fluttering black companion was an assured sign of greater things to come in her life.

CHAPTER FOUR

The world of the Little Butterfly` was changing at such a frenetic pace, there was hardly time by days end for her to do anything but lay down to rest her mind and body. She dreamed of her parents every night and relived many of the joyous times they’d shared together as she grew up. At the forefront of the dreams Luci had were when and if she’d ever get to see her parents or the friends from the village she grew up in. again. Six months had passed since she came to the institute and all she’d been allowed was a weekly letter written to Chu and Wai Lin, and oh how she missed them.

Luci rapidly conquered every task presented to her seemingly opening a new adventure every day to her young life. Unlike the other students at the academy, Luci as well as one other girl student were assigned matrons who guarded and guided her movements from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning until she lay down to sleep at night.

Luci Lin was an exceptional child and the administrators never for a moment hesitated in making their superiors aware of how special this jewel of the nation was.

Luci’s primary matron, a woman in her early thirties named Li Na, stood before the chief councilors to the supreme leader himself conveying upon them the exceptional scholastic and athletic gifts of the state’s most recent child prodigy.

In this country whose citizens lives were sternly controlled and monitored by those in power, the offering of achievement on the world stage were imperative. Any eponymous offering related to standing out among those beyond the nation’s borders took precedent over any individual accomplishments or honors.

"The child possesses ability’s that far exceed those of all but one other student that have attended this institute since I myself came of service to our great nation. She and one other girl student stand alone among the throng of gifted minds, unfortunately the other student is of mixed blood and cannot be placed in such high regard as Luci Lin. Remarkably the two have become inseparable comrades and rightfully so, they both possess extraordinary abilities and the physical resemblances are astounding. It would be wise to expose them both to the most knowledgeable of educators.

What of the child’s parents? inquired the senior member of the council, do they possess any of the relative abilities of the daughter?

No, your eminence, answered Li Na, "they are far advanced in their years, the girl was obviously gifted to them by someone younger who repudiated the thought of excepting a female child. They live in one of the far rural provinces where the rules of one child per family are not so stringently adhered to.

There are dark stories of parents refusing to except a first child being a female abandoning the girl children in the forest or along the banks of the Seven Mile river. There are tales of the children left at the river’s edge being given as a sacrifice to the majestic River Dragon. Some say those left in the forest are devoured by wild beast, of course these are all stories whispered among the uneducated your eminence."

Those are preposterous tales Madam Na and should not be spoken of before this esteemed council, grumbled one of the aged members in disgust.

Either way as to how this remarkable girl child came to be, our great nation shall benefit enormously from the contributions she will assuredly bestow upon her people and our magnificent leader.

The members of the council, all elderly men displayed scant expressions of supposed disgust on their wrinkled faces. The mere mention of such barbaric actions being associated with edicts they themselves endorsed stirred the conscience of them all with feelings of concealed guilt.

Tell us Madam Na, what of the whispers we hear among your colleagues about a mysterious flying creature that serves as a constant companion to this gifted little one, are they true or just imagined myths?

The Black Butterfly is real your eminence, it’s unexplainable that no matter if Luci is in an enclosed area or out of doors, the beautiful black insect is either resting on her shoulder or fluttering softly somewhere near her. The educators and students have all grown accustomed to its presence anytime Luci is near, something that is truly remarkable, as is the child herself.

Where does the child show the most promise pertaining to her gifts, Madam Na.

As I said from the beginning your grace, Luci is exceptional at every endeavor, her abilities are endless. She however has a great love for physical activity, she outruns even the boys much older than she is, and the first time she saw the children playing tennis, she fell in love with the activity. Luci and Zheng SaiSai, the girl of mixed racial origin spend every minute away from the classroom with our tennis instructors, I foresee many competitive awards being showered on them both. They are twice the player than even I was at an older age, the Olympic games are on the horizon of them both, I am certain.

Li Na’s statement was true, she was the institutes most worthy authority on the topic of the sport of tennis, Li was the only recipient of the state run institute who’d ever gone on to compete as a player on the women’s professional tennis circuit. Li Na garnered much acclaim on the world stage and at a point in her career as a pro player ranked as high as number three in the world.

During her lifetime, Li Na won gold medals in the Olympic games in two sports, a gold in tennis and the silver in the eight-hundred meter run. For several years, she was her nations one premier athlete.

A glorious career cut short in her early twenty’s by a nagging stress fracture of the tibia that never seemed to heal. The government rewarded her with a prominent position at the institute as a matron and councilor for the young prodigy’s, along with an acceptable monetary stipend to sustain an above average lifestyle, in comparison to her fellow countrymen.

The bulk of her prize money from her tennis career had gone into the coffers of the country’s government controlled financial institute’s. If she’d made the choice to defect to the west at the height of her career, Li would have lived the life of a very wealthy woman. Love of family and the unrelenting repercussions they would suffer if she defected were the anchoring emotions that kept her under the oppressive thumb of her communist motherland.

It was clearly obvious, Li observed as she got older, the only citizens allowed to bask in the opulence of wealth were those of the ruling class of the supposed entitled.

CHAPTER FIVE

Luci had just one friend at the institute, of whom she loved dearly, another little girl who came from one of the far rural provinces the same as her own. Zheng SaiSai was a child of mixed race, an Asian father and a Caucasian mother from the United Kingdom who served as an ambassador at the British consulate. SaiSai bore the identical green eyes of her mother, with every other physical attribute being unmistakably Asian. Customarily a citizen of mixed racial lineage would be denied entry to the country’s most prestigious center of learning. In Sai Sai’s case, just like Luci, she bore a phenomenal aptitude for learning along with exceptional athletic prowess. At the same age both girls bore remarkable physical resemblance’s to each other. At the age of eight their bodies were firm and athletic and both little girls had long flowing midnight black hair that hung far past their waist, the only obvious difference being Sai Sai’s bright green pupils.

On many occasions strangers would ask them if they were twins when the two were out in public together. Over time they developed an inseparable bond as friends and were identical in personality, scholastic aptitude, and athletic endeavor. School administrators took strong notice of their two exceptional charges and took significant effort in seeing to the best of the countries scholars supervising the girls education.

Though there were no unrealistic indicators pointing to achievements to be attained by the two prodigy’s, those such as Li Na, who herself had once been graced with the identical aspirations knew there was lots more to come.

Alone in her thoughts Li Na craved the existence of a new life in a free society, she felt strongly those very desires would enter the thoughts of this most remarkable little girl.

The enormity of that specialness dwelling within this child was something far greater than the repressive government restraining the sense of individuality of each citizen.

An inner entity so strong, nurtured by the magical presence of the black creature much too powerful to be shackled by any amount of governmental control, and someday that force would freely rise to the surface.

Li had long ago grown weary of shooing the tiny black creature away, only to turn her back for the briefest of moments and find it again resting on Luci’s shoulder or perched on the top of her head. After a while Li made the choice to just except its presence for what it truly was, a sign of something much greater to come in the life of a remarkable child.

On the very day of her one year anniversary of Luci’s arrival to the institute she received notice that she would be taking an eight day visit back to her home. The administrator’s felt the time with her family was a just reward for the exceptional progress she was making as a student.

The news delivered by Li Na, so overwhelmed Luci she collapsed in tears into the loving arms of the woman who’d been her matron, counselor and one adult confidant from day one.

The phone calls and letters had served as a worthy conduit to maintaining a connection between Luci and her parents, but they by no means could supplant the intimacy of human contact the little girl craved from Chu and Wai Lin.

When do I leave for home Madam Na, I’ve waited so long to see my family and all my friends?

The driver will be here to carry you back to your village early tomorrow morning, so have your things packed for an eight day stay by seven in the morning.

Will you be coming too Madam Na, I’ve told them so much about how kind you’ve treated me since I came here?

No, but I will be with the driver when he returns for you in eight days, I’ll come early enough to spend some time with Mister and Misses Lin, answered Li Na.

Do they know I’m coming home tomorrow? Luci excitedly asked.

No they don’t little one, we felt it more special if you phoned them with the surprise of your visit, look even your butterfly friend is happy about the news, look how it excitedly flutters above you. It’s as if you and he share the same emotions, how remarkable.

"The entire staff at the institute had over the period of time since Luci’s arrival grown accustomed to the black insect being her constant companion. The magic surrounding the little girl with the big brown eyes who always had a beautiful butterfly resting on her shoulder was infectious and it emanated from the hearts of all who interacted with her.

"Luci was giddy with anticipation and joy as she stood in Li Na’s office waiting for her to get connected to the phone the government had installed in the Lin home. She hadn’t been made aware of all the changes, but her stellar performance at the institute as a prodigy had also elevated the social standing of the Lin’s as citizens. Chu and Wai Lin were recipients of concessions and choice material rewards based solely on the future contributions that would stream from the talents of their only child. All at the courtesy of a most grateful and appreciative emperor based on an overwhelming presumption of future contributions to be granted the country by their daughter.

The Lin’s over the past year had become somewhat prominent members of the tiny village nestled along the banks