A Boy.
His Pendant.
A Magical Tree.
In rural China during the New Year celebrations, Kai receives devastating news. A poor harvest spells disaster unless his mother accepts a job in the city caring for a wealthy family.
Abandoned in his mountainous village, Kai is desperate to bring his mother home. He gives in to superstition and unlocks the secrets of the Great Fire Tree. The Great Fire Tree will grant Kai's wish--for a terrible price. With the help of his new friend Xinying and his trusted piglet, Kai will make a sacrifice to make his family whole.
Justine Laismith weaves together Chinese mystique and rural charm in an enchanting tale of an antidote that kills and an amulet that curses.
A Boy.
His Pendant.
A Magical Tree.
In rural China during the New Year celebrations, Kai receives devastating news. A poor harvest spells disaster unless his mother accepts a job in the city caring for a wealthy family.
Abandoned in his mountainous village, Kai is desperate to bring his mother home. He gives in to superstition and unlocks the secrets of the Great Fire Tree. The Great Fire Tree will grant Kai's wish--for a terrible price. With the help of his new friend Xinying and his trusted piglet, Kai will make a sacrifice to make his family whole.
Justine Laismith weaves together Chinese mystique and rural charm in an enchanting tale of an antidote that kills and an amulet that curses.
Secrets of the Great Fire Tree
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Secrets of the Great Fire Tree
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Overview
A Boy.
His Pendant.
A Magical Tree.
In rural China during the New Year celebrations, Kai receives devastating news. A poor harvest spells disaster unless his mother accepts a job in the city caring for a wealthy family.
Abandoned in his mountainous village, Kai is desperate to bring his mother home. He gives in to superstition and unlocks the secrets of the Great Fire Tree. The Great Fire Tree will grant Kai's wish--for a terrible price. With the help of his new friend Xinying and his trusted piglet, Kai will make a sacrifice to make his family whole.
Justine Laismith weaves together Chinese mystique and rural charm in an enchanting tale of an antidote that kills and an amulet that curses.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781946024312 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Aurelia Leo |
| Publication date: | 05/28/2019 |
| Pages: | 234 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.53(d) |
| Age Range: | 10 - 12 Years |
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Kai was in the pig enclosure, which was directly under his home — a square house on stilts that was the only hut on the steep hills.
His father, Lee, jumped down from the roof. The soil crunched. Lee went round the enclosure, shaking every stilt and panel. The ground would move if he shook any harder. "Come out of the pen, Kai. Yee Por's here. Go and greet her," Lee said.
Yee Por was the oldest person Kai knew. She lived on her own in the nearby hamlet. Reluctantly he rose to his feet and lifted the latch. A short way away from their hut underneath the plum tree, Yee Por was sitting on a coarse bench. Next to her, his mother, Mei, had her back to them, stuffing something into Lee's suitcase. Yee Por raised her hand to greet Kai, which made Mei look round. When she spotted him, she picked up something from the bench. Kai came closer, with Lee following behind. Close up he could see she was holding the necklace she always wore. The noon rays reflected its deep green, like the forest after the rain.
"This is for you." Mei closed the clasp round his neck. "This has looked after all of us. Now it will look after you."
Kai froze. Ma was giving him the heirloom? It was her grandmother's, who had declared that the magical charm had kept her alive despite being hunted by persecutors. It had protected Great-grandmother and it would protect her descendants. Ma loved that pendant.
"Mei! You don't have to give it to him!" Yee Por spoke in her usual raspy voice.
Mei knelt down in front of her. "Yee Por, I need to know that you'll both be safe. This looked after Grandmother. Now it will look after you."
"You're a big boy now, Kai," Lee said. "Ten years old already. You can take care of yourself now."
Yee Por waved her wrinkled hands as if a pesky fly was annoying her.
"Of course we'll be fine! Besides, we have the rest of the folks." Yee Por's bony arm outlined a circle in the air. "We look after one another, like we always do. You don't have to worry a thing." She turned to Kai. "You're a good boy. You'll come and stay with Yee Por and look after Yee Por, won't you?"
All at once, Kai grasped the finality of it. He grabbed Mei's blue sleeves. "Let me come with you!" Mei got up. "Kai, be good."
"But why can't I come with you? WHY?" He knew he was being childish, but he did not want to be left behind.
"Because it's not allowed!" Lee raised his voice. He always managed to get cross with Kai even though he came home only once a year.
"WHY?"
"You know why!" Lee took a deep breath. "Ma's already explained to you. It's the law."
* * *
The reunion dinner on New Year's Eve was supposed to be a merry time. Everyone in China expected it. But it had to be his worst festive dinner ever. Pa had returned with the black piglet in his arms. Wearing a sick grin on his face, he had told Kai to take the piglet to the enclosure. At that moment, Kai realized he was responsible for Pink Belly's fate. Ma would not, could not, have done it otherwise, sneaking off with her at dawn. He even believed her when she suggested Pink had escaped. Ma would never betray him or her like that. Pink was his friend, not just a pig reared for slaughter.
Kai remembered when he first got her a year ago, the little piglet curled up in a brown box. Her head was black — so was the other end — but the middle was the color of plum blossoms.
"She's got a pink belly!" he had squealed.
Even though he was not supposed to name his piglets, the name stuck, like her marks on the ground when she pottered between the fence and her water trough. That was when the ground was soft and wet. But the rain stopped and the ground turned hard. Things changed after that.
This New Year's Eve, only a week ago, he had taken the black piglet into its new home. Ma had told him to be quick. He was supposed to put the new piglet in the pen and come up immediately. But the lumpy ground in the pig enclosure couldn't convince him to leave. He wanted to sit in the enclosure and soak in every memory of Pink Belly, even that familiar piggy scent that could only come from his friend. He remembered how this time last year when everything was dull, Pink Belly brightened up the place. This was her space, had been all year and would always be. In fact, he still half expected to see her scratching her back against the faded bamboo fencing.
The new piglet, Pink Belly's replacement, remained still in his box. He was black all over, like how Kai was feeling. What was Pa thinking? The new millennium might only be two years away, cities might be expanding, but black was still an unlucky color. How could he buy a black piglet, especially at this festive time of year?
Lee worked in the city and only came home on New Year's Eve. This year was no different. He had never missed the reunion feast, which, judging from the smell of fried garlic in soya sauce, was about to start. Kai sucked the air until his lungs could not take any more. The sweet aroma teased his tongue. His stomach groaned.
He climbed up to his hut. It was a single room with a sunken hearth in the middle — sunken because you had to take a step down to be level with the fire. All the huts in the area were built like this — the fireplace a step down and surrounded by columns of wooden struts all the same height, like table legs. When a plank covered it, the fireplace doubled as a table.Today, there were so many dishes of meat and vegetables you could not even see the wooden top. Such a contrast to the year they had just endured.
Mei and Lee were putting the last dishes on the table. Instead of chairs, they simply stepped down toward the hearth and sat on the step.
"Ah, you're here! Good," Lee's bright voice made Kai cringe. How could he be so cheerful?
Mei was now piling Kai's bowl of rice with mushrooms and green stalks. At reunion dinner, to have a feast was a sign of prosperity.
Kai sat down, carefully tucking his feet in the gap between the struts but not so far in as to burn his toes against the heat of the burning coal.
"Ma, eat. Pa, eat." Kai addressed them as he had always been taught.
"Eat, eat! Here's to a happy and prosperous New Year!" Lee said.
"And a plentiful one!" Mei said.
"Yes, plentiful!" Lee singled out a slice of fish with his wooden chopsticks. It fell onto Kai's overflowing bowl just as he reached over. "Have some yu. Yes, it'll be a plentiful year."
Kai took up the fish immediately. Anything would be delicious, except the pork. Pink Belly's image flashed before him. Kai took a deep breath and forced himself to focus on eating. The braised fish slid down his throat; its saltiness enticing his taste buds. He shoved some rice in his mouth.
Lee selected a prawn swathed with sauce. "I'm going to have this ha." Noises of Lee sucking on the juices from the prawn shell followed. "Laughing hahaha," Lee said when he stopped for a moment. "That's why we eat ha during the New Year, so we'll be happy, like we are now. We are so happy now, Kai!" Kai continued eating.
"Just tell him," Mei said.
"I know already." Some grains of rice fell out of Kai's mouth. He kept his head low to show them how he felt.
"You know why we'll have a plentiful year?" Lee glanced at Mei with a frown.
Because you made Ma sacrifice Pink Belly for the sake of this meal, Kai wanted to say. But even saying it was too hard, so he picked up a green stalk and put it in his mouth, followed by some rice, then another stalk, as if he were too busy eating to talk.
"Kai, let me ask you," Lee pointed to the enormous dish covered with black vegetables, "do you know why we have pigs' trotters?" Pigs' trotters?
"Just tell him, Lee. Don't beat around the bush."
Kai slammed his chopsticks on the table. "They were Pink Belly's trotters!" Clumps of chewed rice flew out of his mouth.
"Kai!" Lee and Mei spoke together, the same threatening tone in their voices.
"What?" Of course he knew what. Slamming chopsticks on the table was rude. Angry shouting was bad luck. Pursing his lips, he chewed what food was left in his mouth.
"What's the matter with you?" Lee said. "I was just going to say, like this pig's trotter with the fortune vegetable, our hands have grabbed some luck too! Ma's got a job, and she starts straightaway."
Kai froze.
"If Ma doesn't take it, they'll give it to someone else."
They weren't talking about his old pig or her trotters. In fact, Pink Belly didn't even feature in their minds at all. Kai reached out for his cup and gulped some water.
"We don't have a choice. You know how bad it's been this last year." Mei put a mushroom on top of Lee's bowl. "And there might not be a job next year."
For a pulse beat, Kai was angry at the way they weren't even sorry about Pink Belly, but it was quashed by a burning question. He forced it out. "What will Ma be doing?"
Lee spat out the prawn shell, except it was now a dried-out mesh. "Ma's going to be a nanny."
Kai ignore his ominous feeling. "So there'll be more food for us? And someone for me to play with?"
Mei usually answered his questions straightaway, but this time she paused. Kai shivered, even though they were sitting round the cozy hearth.
"Not exactly," Mei said. "He is not as lucky as you."
The room got colder.
"Who is he?" Kai asked.
"The young grandson of our Big Boss Da Laopan. He's about your age," Lee said.
"So we'll be moving to the city?" Kai looked at Lee, who looked at Mei. It was as if someone had died. Awkwardly, Kai stuffed some greens into his mouth.
"Ma will be," Lee finally said.
"You'll be staying with Yee Por," Mei said.
"At her house," Lee said.
The soft green stalks became corn cob hairs. Ma's leaving him for another boy his age? With the food still in his mouth, he put his chopsticks down. "I'm full now." He managed to mumble. Without waiting for their response, he got up and stumbled outside. The yellow light was fading. He wished he could disappear with it.
Things did not improve the next day. The New Year celebrations consisted of being around many grown-ups Kai did not know. People came to their place and they went to others' homes, like Yee Por's. Kai could tell some had been away working, like Pa. Getting festive red envelopes from these strangers was little comfort, even though they contained money. He would much rather be at home playing with his new piglet, particularly after what happened the previous night. He was in no mood for celebration.
He stayed close to Mei. "Ma, was Pa joking last night?" he whispered. Lee was within earshot from them, paying his respects to Yee Por.
Mei shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Kai. I didn't know anything about it either. Pa only told me when he came home yesterday." She leaned closer to him. "I know it's a big shock, but it's only for a year. Yee Por will be glad to have you. She's getting very old. It'll be good to have someone living with her."
"You'll be back after that?"
"No, you'll come to us then. You can't come now because there isn't a school yet. But they're building it, and it'll be ready for next year."
"Why don't they have schools in the city? I thought cities had everything."
"It's not that they don't, but you can't go to those schools because you were born here, not in the city."
* * *
The law that did not allow him to stay with his ma.
"I know." Mei pulled him toward her midriff and stroked his stubby hair. He buried his face into her tunic. "But it's like this everywhere. Parents go to work and leave their children behind."
"Can't you do something about it?" Kai said through the blue fabric.
"Like what? Change the law?" Lee scoffed.
Kai pushed away from Mei and glared at Lee. Mei pulled him back toward her.
"But Laopan understands our problem," Mei said. "Remember what I told you? He's building a school for his employees' children."
"And it'll be ready next year," Lee said.
"Yes, so you can come with us then," Mei said. "We'll have saved up enough money to pay for your school fees."
"It's only for a year," Yee Por said.
"And we'll call you at Uncle Liang's," Mei said. Uncle Liang was Yee Por's neighbor, and the only household in the area with a telephone.
Kai lifted his head. The mournful wind wiped the wetness in his eyes. "Why can't you not work for a year then? Why can't you wait till next year to start?" "We've already told you," Lee said.
Mei's body moved and Kai found his face being held by her hands, one on each cheek. Her eyes bore into his. "Do you remember what it was like last year? Every mushroom you picked that we could not eat?"
He nodded, but he avoided her eyes.
"And when we even tried to see if we could eat the pearl fruit?"
He and Mei called it the pearl fruit, the fruit from a big tree near the river. They left dents on the ground when they dropped, which reminded them of the heavy pearls on a dragon's head that were put there to stop it from flying away. So they had named it the Dragon's Pearl Tree. This tree kept dropping its 'pearls' on the ground, which the birds never ate.
He nodded again.
"And only one cup of millet a day, remember? Even the piglet had not grown as much as he should have."
Kai winced. He had really thought they would keep Pink Belly alive for longer. He would have happily forgone the celebratory food and treats.
"We had to share so little food. Remember how you had no strength to fetch water? Without me, you'll have more to eat from our dried millet." Mei's pitch became higher; her voice uneven.
"Ma!"
"Listen, I'm going to need you to help me look after Little Piglet and feed it like you've always done." Her voice was a tone he recognized; a "that is that" tone, a "no more arguments" tone. He expected it from Lee, but not Mei. She was not usually like that. "I need you to do that for me, for us."
"This is your duty. Do your part for your family," Lee said.
Kai flared his nostrils and flashed his eyes, but Mei held his face firm.
"We'll come back and see you at our reunion dinner next year."
The reunion dinner next year. His eyes dampened. Quickly, he looked down and squeezed them shut.
"Come on, be strong," Lee said, putting one hand on each of Kai's shoulders. "We're doing this for you."
How can abandoning him for a whole year be for his sake? Kai broke free and dashed to the only place he knew he had a friend who understood. He slammed the gate.
CHAPTER 2The breeze, reflecting his own approaching calm, had died down and the leaves had stopped swishing. Above him, he heard low voices and, yes, his mother sniffling.
"Mei, he's only a boy. He doesn't understand," Yee Por was saying.
"Even you agreed that a job like this was hard to come by." Kai recognized Lee's heartless voice. "An opening like this might never come again. Kai will be fine with Yee Por. And I've checked the house. It will withstand any wind and rain. It shouldn't give any trouble while we're away."
For the first time since it was uttered, Kai heard the words clearly. He had tuned out every time his parents said "while we're away."
"And I've ... given him ... the ... jade pendant." Mei's halting voice. Kai looked at the pendant on his chest. He traced his finger over the character on the smooth stone.
"Yes, your sacred heirloom will protect him."
A plastic rustling sound, like a packet of something opening.
"Here, come on, you need this." Yee Por again. "And Liang has told Xinying to keep an eye out for him at school. She's head girl. He'll be fine."
"I know." There was a pause. "But awhole year!"
"It might not be a whole year, remember? Laopan has an old country cottage in Qiang. They sometimes go there in the summer. If they do, you can come back and visit."
"So you see, only till the summer, Mei. That's no time at all. You'll be back here before you know it."
"I know, but I can't help it. I'm going to miss him so much —"
"It's getting late. We've got to say goodbye to him or we'll miss the bus."
Footsteps. He saw the two shadows approaching. He snuggled up to the piglet.
"Kai?" Lee's voice.
"We're going now." Mei's voice came. "Please help Yee Por with the farm and the pig ... and do your homework ... we are relying on you, son."
"Study hard. We'll call you at Uncle Liang's." Lee's voice again.
Kai kept very still.
"Let's go. Let's not make this anymore painful," Lee finally said.
A deep sigh and footsteps moving away. Kai did not move. He could not move. Soon the silence became unbearable. Kai scrambled out of the pen and peered over the fence. Lee and Mei were making their way downhill. Every step they took he hoped they would stop and turn back again. Once or twice his mother glanced in his direction. He quickly ducked down. Even at that distance, through the gaps in the fencing he could see her face was unusually red.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Secrets of the Great Fire Tree"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Justine Laismith.
Excerpted by permission of Aurelia Leo.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Half Title Page
Glossary
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Acknowledgments
About the Author — Justine Laismith