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9

THE DRAGON, THE BEAR, AND THE FISH

In the hallway of the third floor of Charlie’s building, a reat powers of Asia: Mrs Ling and Mrs Korjev Mrs Ling, by holding Sophie, had the strategic advantage, while Mrs Korjev, as fully twice the size of Mrs Ling, possessed the threat of massive retaliatory force What they had in corants, was a deep love for little Sophie, a precarious grasp on the English language, and a passionate lack of confidence in Charlie Asher’s ability to raise his daughter alone

"He is angry when he leave today Like bear," said Mrs Korjev, as possessed of an atavistic compulsion toward ursine si, who lilish verbs in the present tense only, as a devotion to her Chan Buddhist beliefs, or so she claiood for child Make her grow strong," said Mrs Korjev, who then quickly added, "like bear"

"He say it turn her into shih tzu Shih tzu is dog What kind father think little girl turn into dog?" Mrs Ling was especially protective of little girls, as she had grown up in a province of China where eacha irls who had been born during the night and hurled into the street She was lucky that her own mother had spirited her away to the fields and refused to cohter was accepted as part of the family

"Not shih tzu," corrected Mrs Korjev "Shiksa"

"Okay, shiksa Dog is dog," said Mrs Ling "Is irresponsible" Not once was the letter r heard in Mrs Ling’s pronunciation of irresponsible

"Is Yiddish word for not a Jew girl Rachel is Jew, you know" Mrs Korjev, unlike hborhood, was not a Jew Her people had come from the steppes of Russia, and she was, in fact, descended froenerally considered a Hebrew-friendly race She atoned for the sins of her ancestors by being ferociously protective (not unlike a mother bear) of Rachel, and now Sophie

"The flowers need water today," said Mrs Korjev

At the end of the hallas a large baythat looked out on the building across the street and abox full of red geraniureat Asian poould stand in the hallway, ads, and co discomfort of their shoes Neither dared start her o box of geraniums, lest it appear that she had stolen the idea fro -box coreed, tacitly, to admire - but not covet - the red flowers

Mrs Korjev liked the very redness of thery that the Communists had co-opted that color, for otherwise it would have evoked an unbridled happiness in her Then again, the Russian soul, conditioned by a thousand years of angst, really wasn’t equipped for unbridled happiness, so it was probably for the best

Mrs Ling was also taken with the red of the geraniuood fortune, prosperity, and long life The very gates of the temples were painted that same color red, and so the red flowers represented one of the htenht that they would taste pretty good in soup

Sophie had only recently discovered color, and the red splashes against the gray shiplap was enough to put a toothless s into the joy of red flohen the black bird hit the , throwing a great spiderweb crack around it But rather than fall away, the bird seemed to leak into the very crack, and spread, like black ink, across theand in, onto the walls of the hallway

And the great powers of Asia fled to the stairway

Charlie was rubbing his left wrist where the plastic bag had been tied around it "What, did yoursomewhat vulnerable for a man of his size, said, "Toothpaste, actually"

"Really?"

"Yeah"

"Sorry, I didn’t know," Charlie said "You could have changed it, right?"

"Mr Asher, you can resist who you are for only so long Finally you decide to just go with fate Forseven feet tall - yet not in the NBA - being na recruited as a Death Merchant" He raised an eyebrow as if accusing Charlie "I have learned to accept and e to say gay," Charlie said

"What? A reen"

Charlie considered Mr Fresh’s ht for the season - and felt a strange affinity for the refreshingly-nah he didn’t know it, Charlie was recognizing the signs of another Beta Male (Of course there are gay Betas: the Beta Male boyfriend is highly prized in the gay community because you can teach him how to dress yet you can remain relatively certain that he will never develop a fashion sense or be more fabulous than you) Charlie said, "I suppose you’re right, Mr Fresh I’ies"

"That’s okay," said Mr Fresh "But you really should go"

"No, I still don’t understand, how do I knoho the souls go to? I mean, after this happened, there were all kinds of soul vessels in my store I hadn’t even known about How do I know I didn’t sell them to someone who already had one? What if someone has a set?"

"That can’t happen At least as far as we know Look, you’ll just know Take my word for it When people are ready to receive the soul, they get it Have you ever studied any of the Eastern religions?"

"I live in Chinatown," said Charlie, and although that was technically kinda-sorta true, he kne to say exactly three things in Mandarin: Good day; light starch, please; and I a He believed the last to translate to "top of theto you"

"Let me rephrase that, then," said Mr Fresh "Have you ever studied any of the Eastern religions?"

"Oh, Eastern religions," Charlie said, pretending he had just misinterpreted the question before "Just Discovery Channel stuff - you know, Buddha, Shiva, Gandalf - the biggies"

"You understand the concept of karma? How unresolved lessons are re-presented to you in another life"

"Yes, of course Duh" Charlie rolled his eyes

"Well, think of yourself as a soul reassignents," Charlie said wistfully

"Well, I hope it goes without saying," said Mr Fresh, "that you can’t tell anyone what you are, so yes, I suppose we are secret agents of karma We hold a soul until a person is ready to receive it"

Charlie shook his head as if trying to clear water from his ears "So if someone walks into oing through life without a soul? That’s awful"

"Really?" said Minty Fresh "Do you know if you have a soul?"

"Of course I do"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I’m me" Charlie tapped his chest "Here I am"

"That’s just a personality," said Minty, "and barely one You could be an empty vessel, and you’d never know the difference You may not have reached a point in life where you are ready to receive your soul"

"Huh?"

"Your soul ht now If a kid fails tenth grade, do you uess not"

"No, you just rade Well, it’s the saets a soul when they can carry it to the next level, when they are ready to learn the next lesson"

"So if I sell one of those glowing objects to soh life without a soul?"

"That’s my theory," said Minty Fresh "I’ve read a lot on this subject over the years Texts froion, and this explains it better than anything else I can come up with"

"Then it’s not all in the book you sent"

"That’s just the practical instructions There’s no explanations It’s Dick-and-Jane siet a calendar and put it next to your bed and the names will come to you It doesn’t tell you how you will find them, or what the object is, just that you have to find them Get a day planner That’s what I use"

"But what about the number? When I would find a name written next to the bed, there was always a nurinned a little sheepishly "That’s how many days you’ll have to retrieve the soul vessel"

"Youbefore the person dies? I don’t want to know that"

"No, not how long before the person dies, how long you have to retrieve the vessel, howtiht thatfor it in literature about death and dying Forty-nine days just happens to be the number of days of bardo, the term used in the Tibetan Book of the Dead for the transition between life and death So these souls, but we have to get there within the forty-nine days, that’s my theory, anyway Don’t be surprised soet his naet the soul vessel"

"And if I don’t make it in time?" Charlie asked

Minty Fresh shook his head dolefully "Shades, ravens, dark shit rising fro is, you have to find it in time And you will"

"How, if there’s no address or instructions, like ’it’s under the mat’"

"Sometimes - most of the time, in fact - they coht about the stunning redhead bringing hiarette case "You said soed "Soo to their house - once I even hired a detective to helpthe voices You can tell if you’re getting close by checking to see if people notice you"

"But I have toI have a kid - "

"You’ll do that, too, Charlie The money comes as part of the job You’ll see"

Charlie did see He had seen already: the Mainheart estate clothing - he’d ot it

"Now you have to go," said Minty Fresh He held out his hand to shake and a grin cut his face like a crescent ht sky Charlie took the tallinto the Death Merchant’s grip

"I’m still sure I have questions Can I call you?"