What Was Left Behind

“Jia Li Bella Marino, enough! Go watch your brother!”

In the attic, Hui freezes. Those two were at it again. He tries not to look as Jia Li stomps up the ladder.

“Shoulda stayed in New York!”

They had a choice? Mom hadn’t given him one. It’d been years since their last trip out here. Hui holds up a wooden boat.

“Want to play?”

“No. William left his family. Like Dad did. I don’t want to play with his toys.”

“Grandma says her dad died at sea. In a storm.”

“And our Dad is on a business trip?”

Hui scowls.

“I’m fifteen, Hui. That’s far too old for make-believe.”

Jia Li grabs her phone, screen glowing bright with digital fantasies. Hui rolls his eyes and reaches out to touch the items before him. Carved boats, bits of metal, an old coat. Their great grandfather William had left behind a seaman’s trunk filled with treasure. Jia Li been fascinated by it, once. Now she prefers the glowing square. Jia Li growls, then twists to face the ladder.

“Mom!!”

“Quiet! Grandma’s sleeping!”

Mom was louder than Jia Li. Not that it mattered. Grandma was practically deaf. Mom must have shut off the wifi once again. Jia Li squints at the screen and pounds it with a finger. She couldn’t use 4G out here. Crossing her arms, Jia Li’s back thumps into the wall. That was trouble. If Hui doesn’t distract her, she’d take it out on him. He points at a shelf.

“Look! Books!”

She’d read a lot before she got her phone. Jia Li doesn’t look up.

“They’re in Italian.”

“Not all of them.”

With a glower, Jia Li stomps over to the shelf. Books slide about and a cascade of dust causes Hui to sneeze.

“Hey!”

Jia li ignores him and pulls down a book to drop it atop the old jacket. Others quickly follow. Hui pulls the carved wooden boats close to his chest.

“They’re all in Italian!”

“Not all!”

At least one had to be in English. Great Grandpapa William had been English. Jia Li drops a particularly large book atop the others. More dust.

“You want me to read a freak’n encyclopedia a hundred years out of date?”

“Is it in English?”

That was pushing it. She growls and rummages around. Hui cautiously returns to his boats. In his mind, the small toys and bits of metal inspire thoughts of the distant lands and long journeys. He looks up as Jia Li makes a surprised sound. Had she found something?

“What is it?”

Jia Li holds a small black book. Dirty and torn, she opens the yellowed pages his way. Neat writing surrounds sketches of buildings.

“Is that the store?”

“Look at the date. It’s eighty years old.”

Hui’s eyes grow large.

“Wow. Who drew it?”

“William, I think.”

She turns the page.

“Is that the Eifel tower?”

“It says he went to Paris to buy a gift for Grandmama. A dress.”

Jia Li leans over the book, pages rustling. It takes a few more pages before they find another place in town. Hui squints at the picture. The interior is exquisitely detailed. He could even count the floor boards.

“He likes drawing buildings, like you.”

Jia Li growls. She’d given drawing up when Dad left. Hui quickly points back at the picture.

“Let’s check it out!”

Jia Li’s frown wavers. She was considering it. She just needed another push.

“Or you can watch me play?”

The book snaps shut and she moves downstairs.

“Mom! We’re going out!”

“Take Hui with you!”

Jia Li let’s out furious snort. Hui hurries to keep up, but doesn’t say anything until they’re out of the house.

“Wait! I can’t walk so fast!”

For the span of a heartbeat, Jia Li looks guilty.

“Walk faster.”

Though she does slow down.

Grandma lives fifteen minutes from the heart of the town. In New York, that’d still put them in downtown. Out here, fifteen minutes is outside town. Grandma’s neighbor greets them in Italian. Jia Li doesn’t respond. Hui does so, earning a friendly wave. They walk on.

“I think this is it.”

They over the notebook. The outside is almost the same. The inside is different. They didn’t have freezers eight years ago.

“Let’s keep going.”

She was getting into it. They quickly find three more more buildings from the book. Jia Li stares at the drawing before placing the notebook against the wall to take a picture with her phone. Hui pats the stone.

“It looks the same.”

A few houses down they stare in consternation at the notebook. The building is different.

“The first floor is the same?”

A young man in a grocer’s apron saunters over. His accent is thick, but understandable. The town knows their Italian is limited. He smiles at Jia Li.

“Need something for Grandma Mia?”

She turns the notebook around.

“Is this the same house?”

The youth smiles.

“Ah, yes. From before the war. It was damaged and had to be rebuilt. The top was blown up.”

The youth makes an upward motion with both hands, miming an explosion. A voice in rapid Italian explodes from the grocery store.

“Thanks.”

They leave the youth behind. Over the next hour, they manage to track most of the drawings down. Accosted by old man Giovanni, they listen as he regals them in mixed English and Italian about the history of the town. His spotted head bobs as he talks, white wispy hair flying about. They leave with a pair of toffies in hand. Hui chews his while Jia Li leads the way.

“Jia Li, I’m tired.”

“One more. It’s behind the village. I know where it is.”

The ruins? Those are abandoned. Off limits. They’d been there a few times. Then Mom had caught them. Jia Li had been mad at Hui. Mom had been mad at Jia Li. Dad had been mad at everyone. He always was. Had been. Now Jia Li was the angry one.

“Here.”

Hui tromps through the crumbling doorway. It was the largest structure in the ruined area. A square building. Faint paint makes up pictures on the walls.

“Look.”

She brings down the book so he can see. In the drawing, seats and benches fill the space, a large roof soaring overhead. Hui looks up. There’s no roof. Hui sits on the raised stone. He’s hungry and it’s time for dinner. He didn’t get snacks in New York, but Grandma would have let him eat something. She always did.

“Hui, look! There’s an alcove in the drawing. Now there’s a wall.”

Hui stares at the crumbling masonry. Patches of plaster are missing. He can see brick beneath.

“So?”

“Something might be hidden here!”

Jia Li pushes on the wall. Plaster flakes fall from above, bouncing off her hair. Hui jumps back.

“I don’t think we should do that.”

“You shouldn’t. Stay back, Hui.”

He scurries away as she hauls back a foot and kicks forward. Another two kicks and a brick pops loose. Plaster crashes to the earth.

“Jia Li!”

His sister lowers her foot, dust filling the air.

“It’s all right. Look. We can move the brick. Like Jenga.”

But Jenga couldn’t burry you alive. Hui hesitates. Undaunted, Jia Li wiggles the brick free and peers inside.

“Something’s here!”

Hui runs forward to look inside. He can just see strange objects wrapped in blue cloth.

“We should tell Mom!”

“You want another beating? I’m too old for that, too. We’ll tell someone from town.”

That could work.

“Hui, Jia Li! You two in here?”

A large man shambles into the ruin. Hui spins about.

“Constable Alessandro!”

The olive-skinned man smiles.

“You mother asked me to find you. Giovanni saw you head this way. Come along and I won’t tell her where I found you. You shouldn’t play here. It’s dangerous.”

“Sir.”

Jia Li waves at the wall.

“We found something.”

“Oh really?”

With laughter in his eyes, the old constable walks over to bend down by the missing stone. After a long moment, he straightens, expression serious.

“You didn’t take anything?”

“No sir. We just found it. With this.”

She holds up the notebook. The constable takes it, giving the drawing a long look.

“In the picture, there is an alcove. Now there’s a wall. It gave way when I pushed it.”

Hui rolls his eyes. Push! Sure.

“I need to contact my superior. Go home for now.”

“Yes sir. Can I have my notebook?”

“In a few days.”

Jia Li’s cheek twitches. Hui grabs her hand, thanking the man in Italian and pulling her away.

When they return their mother immediately sent them off to the grocer. At dinner, they didn’t mention the ruins. They couldn’t be punished if no one said anything. Could they?

Two days later Giovanni shows up with a group of strangers. Their mother invites the group inside and sends them out to play. An hour later, they are invited back in. Their mother was smiling. A woman with a camera snaps their picture before she leans forward with her hand out.

“You are the ones who made the discovery?”

They nod.

“Wonderful! They’re going now to retrieve what was left behind. Would you like to watch?”

They glance at their mother. Surprisingly, she nods.

“I would.”

“Me too!”

Hui wouldn’t be left behind.

They take a car through the village. They drive slowly, those inside saying little. At the ruin, locals have already removed the wall. They step back as the group removes the items. Hui peeks around the man beside them. Glints of silver come from under the blue cloth. Men and women chat excitedly in a language he doesn’t know.

The items look strange. Suddenly, the old man with a long beard steps forward. The group falls quiet as he lifts a large cloth bundle from the back of the alcove. Curiosity bubbles up within Jia Li, but she says nothing. Hui isn’t so controlled.

“What is it?”

The one beside them smiles.

“A book. An old book.”

The old man carries the book away like a treasured child.

“My father’s father, many times removed, is in that book. It is a book of stories.”

Jia Li’s nose wrinkles.

“It’s just a book.”

“You found it because of a book. Because of a story. A book can be a powerful thing. A story can change everything.”

Bits of plaster fall from the wall as a bird takes flight above. The woman with the camera takes more pictures.

“It looks like that’s everything.”

They move back to the cars. As the doors slam closed, the man holds out two black books. The first is William’s journal. The other is a brand-new notebook. He holds out both to Jia Li.

“We gave a monetary reward to your mother, but I wanted to do something personal for you. My grandmother came from this town. Please accept this.”

Jia Li does so, her eyes fixing on the oblong pen clipped to the newer notebook.

“A pen used for drafting. Your great grandfather would have used something similar.”

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. There were speeches. More pictures. They’d had to tell their story several times over. Their mother had been interviewed. Hui hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time. When all’s said and done, he’s truly tired of the attention. Back at home, he gives grandma a kiss before scurrying back to the attic. Jia Li is already there, notebook open, pen in hand. Hui peeks over her shoulder.

She might not have drawn much in the last few years, but she’s not lost her touch.

“Can you stay back? I want to finish this.”

Her phone lays face down beside her. She doesn’t look angry. She looks determined. Hui nods and drops down beside her.

“Okay.”

With short careful strokes, Jia Li draws the story she’ll leave behind.