Donovans 02 - Jade Island

in anticipation of once again feeling the hidden, almost secret nubs of the toes, Lianne ran her fingertip across the bottoms of the camel’s feet.
    Nothing greeted her touch but a smooth, gently concave surface.
    Frowning, she turned the camel over. All four feet were smooth rather than slightly nubby where toes would be. She peered into the shadowed back of the drawer, looking for another pale, brown-veined camel sculpture.
    Daniel’s hands gripped the reinforced side of a cardboard carton with enough force to leave wrinkles. Eyes narrowed until only glittering black slits remained, he watched her bending down to get her face even closer to the drawer.
    “Girl,” Wen said curtly. “You may have time in front of you, but nearly all my time is behind me. Bring the camel to me without delay. I will hold it while you remind me of the glory I no longer can see.”
    Or feel. But Wen was too proud to admit that aloud.
    With a reluctance that only Daniel saw, Lianne climbed down the ladder, holding the sculpture that Wen demanded. Yet it wasn’t the sculpture. Not quite. The difference was as subtle as the bottoms of the camel’s feet. She doubted that it was a difference Wen could still appreciate.
    As soon as Lianne took her hand out of the drawer, Daniel went back to unpacking jade, examining each piece with great care. She had no doubt that he was looking for signs of careless handling. She also knew he wouldn’t find any.
    “Here, Uncle Wen,” Lianne said.
    She set the lustrous brown-and-pale-green sculpture in his lap and put his contorted fingers around the camel’s unchanging, timelessly graceful curves. Gently guiding his hands, she described the jade aloud, but she didn’t mention its most distinctive feature, the bare suggestion of toes, adetail that set it apart from the vast majority of camel sculptures.
    “The stone is of the highest quality. Its luster is gentle and unclouded, as smooth as a lotus petal. The humps are yellow and the rest is the color of rich, wet earth. The carving is intact, completely. There is a fine Cloud Spot on the left rear foot. The carving itself has the quality of elegance so often sought in jade sculpture and much less often found.”
    While Lianne’s soft voice continued to describe the jade, using the traditional Chinese evaluation method called the Six Observations, Wen sat motionless except for an occasional nod when he particularly approved a point she made.
    Daniel was listening, too. His hands moved more and more slowly as he unwrapped jade treasures and lined them up on the worktable. From time to time he stole quick glances at the small jade cradled between Wen’s bony thighs, as though Daniel was comparing Lianne’s words with the reality of the camel sculpture. While he moved around the vault, replacing the jades that had been in the Seattle exhibition, he wished bitterly that he had enjoyed the benefit of Wen’s wisdom before his eyes and touch were clouded by age. Instead, that priceless learning had been lavished on a bastard granddaughter.
    “Ah, that is just so,” Wen said to Lianne in his whispery voice, nodding. “You make my eyes live again.”
    “It is a small thing for all that you have given to me.”
    Wen grinned, revealing yellowed teeth that were still strong despite their ragged spacing. “Replace the camel and bring me something truly archaic, something as old as Chinese memories, older, something…”
    “Buried jade?” Lianne suggested.
    “Yes. Bigger than the palm, but not too big for my old hands.”
    “A blade, then,” she said quickly. “I know just the one. It is magnificent.”
    “Ah, the emperor’s blade.” Wen nodded. “Bring it to me, that I may know again its excellence.”
    Hurriedly Lianne put away the camel with the mysteriously smooth feet and went to the north wall of shelves, the ones reserved for Neolithic jade. Even before she pulled out the fifth drawer from the top, Daniel was all but standing on top of her, watching her.
    “Get out of my way,” she said in curt English, pushing past him.
    “I have more right to be here than you do.”
    “Take it up with your grandfather. He’s the one who gives orders around here, not you.”
    Daniel’s full lips curled in a smile that was more insulting than a raised middle finger. “You think you’re invulnerable. But I know just how vulnerable you are, and why.” He gestured to the drawer with the back of his hand. “Go ahead, you silly bitch. Play out