Rockwell Sands

All day Chae was excited about her eighth birthday, but she couldn’t figure out why her mother wouldn’t look at her. She thought it might have been the rain. The autumn had brought sheets of it to Shanghai, and from the moment she woke, her mother had instructed her to stay inside so she wouldn’t track water onto the floor. It was dark now. For hours, the door to their apartment had remained locked, keeping the quiet in, and keeping the quiet out. Chae played with a doll as she sat across the table from her mother. A ribbon held her inky hair in place, save for a few strands that tickled her forehead, which had started losing its summer bronze. The doll was dirtied and ragged, but in her mind, it danced through kingdoms worlds away from the room that held her, lit by a single bulb that flickered with the thunder. In the corner, Leung Yu—the latest in a long line of strange men whom her mother had latched onto—sat shrouded in smoke from his cigarette. He was the shape of a globe, with a toad-like face and bulging eyes that were magnified behind a pair of thick glasses. “Li Xing,” he said to Chae’s mother, his foot tapping on the floor. “Where is he? I thought he would be here by now.” Her mother lifted her head to look at him. She looked just like Chae, only twenty years older, with golden skin and eyes so brown that others mistook them for black. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can do it,” Li Xing said. She slumped forward, and her face grew half-covered in shadow. “I just don’t.” “But it’s already done! We’ll get our fresh start. It will be better this way.” The doll stopped dancing in its tracks. “What will be better, Mommy?” Chae asked. Leung Yu struck a match and lit a fresh cigarette. For a moment, his face glowed orange before the flame fell to a dull burn. “Stupid girl,” he muttered. Chae made no effort to conceal her scowl. Her mother’s habit of falling into different sets of arms had swept her up in a whirlwind that carried them from village to village, district to district, city to city. Like searching for clothes that never seemed to fit, Li Xing latched onto them with haste and discarded them twice as fast. Leung Yu would be no different. Still, he had taken them in, providing lodging in exchange for Chae’s mother’s heart. He never hid that Chae had been an unwanted part of the deal, and since they came to stay in his apartment in Shanghai, the mere sight of him was enough to make her blood boil. Her mother slid a chair beside her. “Come, Chae,” she said. “Sit with me.” Still carrying the doll, Chae circled the table. She crinkled her nose from the staleness of the incense burning at the center. Finally, her mother looked at her. She parted her lips as though she were about to say something, but didn’t. A glaze appeared in her eyes, holding a sheen like the slick surface of stones in a shallow pool. Knock. Knock. Knock. The thumps rattled the door. All the color drained from her mother’s face. Leung Yu’s foot stopped tapping. With his cigarette burning between two fingers, he pointed and said, “Open it.” A wave of cold air rushed into the room. The stranger in the doorway made Chae’s stomach flip. He was more a mountain than a man, with hands twice the size of her head, and shoulders that spanned the entire doorframe. From them, the rain ran down like rivers. Everything about him was dark. His eyes. His clothes. The stubble lining his jaw. Most of all, though, he felt dark. The man surveyed the room and let out a grunt. “Is this her?” His booming voice left a wake of gooseflesh on Chae’s skin. She turned. Her mother hugged herself and nodded, staring at the stranger as though she were gazing at the ghost of someone who had died long ago. Leung Yu took measured steps as he approached her mother’s side. More rainwater made its way through the spaces between the stranger’s body and the doorframe. Behind him, the lanterns left over from the fall festivities were cocoons that swayed in the wind. The man tapped Chae’s shoulder and fumbled through his coat pocket. “Here. Take these to your mother.” He counted eight coins and dropped them into her hand. The metal was slippery. Cool to the touch. They were all polished and new, with the year 1934 carved into their silver faces. Li Xing shuddered and kept her arms crossed as Chae approached. “Drop them on the table,” the man said. The coins made hollow clanks on the table when they cascaded from her palm. Her mother stifled a whimper as the last one rolled away from the rest and clattered to its side. Leung Yu waved the man in. His footsteps thudded on the floor and left behind a trail of wetness. “There are eight pieces,” he said, pointing to the coins. “One for every year.” Chae exchanged glances with her mother, Leung Yu, and the stranger. Her voice was caught in her throat. Only thunder broke the silence. Each second that passed seemed an eternity. A shiver crawled down her spine, and the knot in her stomach tightened. Still pale as fresh snow, Li Xing shook her head and stammered, “I c—I can’t. I thought I could go through with it, but I can’t!” The man scowled. He cracked his knuckles and drew back his sleeve to check his watch. “I have other commitments. We need to go.” Like a leaping beast, he lurched forward and grabbed Chae. His hand closed around her arm and clamped tight. Before she knew it, he had begun dragging her away. “No!” Chae shrieked. What are you doing?!” Her pulse doubled. Stomach acid shot into her mouth. Her heels slipped and skidded on the floor. She yelped as the stranger tugged, her arm on fire beneath his grip. Her shrieks sounded muffled in her ears, as though they were coming from a far-off place. The doll in her hand tumbled to the floor, landing on one of his wet footprints. “Mommy!” “Wait!” Li Xing scooped up the coins and darted over to cut the man off. Her eyes were puffy and her whole body shook as she thrust the silver into his chest. “I don’t want to do this! The deal is off!” “Li Xing! Stop!” Leung Yu rushed up behind her mother and tried pulling her away. He gritted his teeth as she fought back, his hungry gaze fixed on the money in her hand the whole time. “Mommy, help me!” Chae’s breath was shallow. The salt from her tears tasted bitter, and she gagged on the runoff seeping from her nose. “Take the money back!” Li Xing demanded, writhing in Leung Yu’s arms. “I made a mistake. Don’t do this. Please. I’m begging you!” “The price is paid,” the man said. “The deal is done.” With a guttural shriek, Li Xing wrestled her way out of Leung Yu’s grasp. She clawed at the man’s face with one hand and reached for Chae with the other. Just as her mother was about to touch her, Leung Yu hooked his arms around her and yanked her back again. “I’m sorry, Chae!” she said, sobbing. “I’m so sorry!” The overhead bulb flickered again, making quick shadows of all their bodies. Chae screamed and kicked and held her arms out towards her mother, but it was no use. The man had her.

Hello everyone, and thanks for allowing me to be a part of this! STORY STATEMENT The protagonist’s mission is to overcome the trappings of being sold as a servant at eight years old and persevere through the unimaginable hardships fate throws at her. ANTAGONIST There two antagonists in this story. The first antagonist is Zi Yang, the main character’s “sister” and the daughter of the woman who buys Chae (the main character) as a servant. Zi Yang is a jealous and spiteful woman who takes every opportunity to make Chae’s life miserable, including stealing letters that Chae’s future husband sends to her while he is away fighting for the U.S. Army during World War II…leading her to believe he is dead. The second antagonist is fate itself. Chae’s life is constantly buffeted by events out of her control, such as being sold as a servant to another family on her eighth birthday, the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937, the eruption of World War II, and the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and Communists. The Communists’ victory institutes a closed-door policy and causes Chae’s husband Ching, a merchant sailor, to become stranded outside of China while she and her daughter are stuck in Shanghai without a way to reunite with him. BREAKOUT TITLE GIRL OF GOLDEN DREAMS CHAE AND CHING THE RED THREAD OF FATE GENRE & COMPARABLE TITLES The genre of my novel is historical fiction. Comparable titles are: PEACH BLOSSOM SPRING by Melissa Fu (Little, Brown and Company, 2022) THE MOUNTAINS SING by Nguyen Pham Que Mai (Algonquin Books, 2020) HOOK LINE & CONFLICT This historical novel is based on my grandmother’s life story which she shared with me on her deathbed. Sold into servitude as a child in Shanghai, my grandmother Chae survived the Japanese occupation, was stranded across oceans from my grandfather after they married, and escaped Communist China in the bottom of a boat with their infant daughter in hopes of reuniting her family in America. She revealed it all when I stayed with her at her San Francisco assisted living facility. Like THE NOTEBOOK set in World War II’s Shanghai, GIRL OF GOLDEN DREAMS weaves a love story marred by endless obstacles into coming-of-age-during wartime experiences found in Nguyen Pham Que Mai’s THE MOUNTAINS SING. OTHER MATTERS OF CONFLICT Inner Conflict: Chae’s inner conflict is the struggle to imagine a better life for herself and accept that she deserves the happiness she has longed for ever since she was a child. At eight years old, she is sold by her birth mother to a family that purchases her as a “servant girl,” which they constantly remind her of. On top of performing endless chores, Chae is forced to roll cigarettes alongside Jia Shen at the Shanghai Tobacco Factory to help pay off the family’s debts. For years Chae is constantly made to feel worthless, and her spirit is tested as her environment grows more perilous due to World War II and the Chinese Civil War raging simultaneously. As a young woman, Chae meets a merchant sailor named Ching, and love blossoms almost instantly. There is finally hope for a way out, for a better life…but Ching is stranded in a U.S. port when Pearl Harbor is attacked, dashing any hopes she has of escaping servitude through a marriage to the man she loves. Secondary Conflict: A secondary conflict in Chae’s environment is the constant turmoil and fear she lives in due to the presence of Japanese soldiers who invade the city after she is sold. The family’s youngest son is killed when Imperial forces bomb their neighborhood, commencing the Battle of Shanghai. Once the city falls, Chae struggles to survive as she witnesses the Japanese soldiers forcing locals to abandon their homes, raping girls her age, and shooting starving people in the streets in cold blood. On top of the Japanese soldiers, the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and Communists creates further strains in Chae’s environment. This is seen when the Communists win the war and close China off to the rest of the world in 1949. Her husband Ching is away at sea at the time. The victory leaves him unable to get back into the country…and renders Chae and her daughter unable to leave. SETTING The bulk of the novel takes place in World War II’s Shanghai, which brings to life an underrepresented point of view during one of history’s most fraught periods. With golden rain trees lining the streets, the Bund’s European stone edifices that preside over the Huangpu River, and secret lakeside pagodas, Shanghai is a bustling metropolitan city known as “The Pearl of China.” Readers are immersed in the city amid the Japanese occupation of 1937, which saw Imperial soldiers ruling over every corner with bloodlust. The setting of Shanghai during the 1930s-1940s also shines a light on fascinating real-life places such as Seward Avenue, where Jewish refugees settled in droves to escape pogroms in Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe. Other sub-settings include British-occupied Hong Kong, where Chae and her daughter escape to once they flee mainland China and where they are stranded for several months on their journey to America. The story concludes in Ellis Island, where Chae and her daughter remain in the detention center while they wait for Ching—their sponsor—to come and collect them. If he doesn’t arrive in time, they will be sent back to China and all will be lost.