Page 91 - Brokenclaw - John Gardner

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people, though a number of Chinese, most of them officers of the Red Army,

visited us.
‘When I was sixteen, I was told what had happened. During the fighting
between Mao’s Red Army and the Nationalist troops at the time of my birth,
James Bond OO7 - printing disabledRed Army officer. He had been badly
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my parents
wounded and my mother nursed him while my father lied to the Nationalist
soldiers who came looking for Communist stragglers.
‘When Peking was taken and the Revolution began in earnest, the young
officer told my father that he would see to it that we were not harmed. Later, he

returned and said it was impossible for him to get us out of the country, but if
we made no political trouble, he would ensure that we could live in peace.
The house was found for us and there we lived. Both my father and mother
embraced Mao’s brand of Communism and my father did some translation
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work for the new government. For this, we were left in peace.
‘I understood little of the political implications, though I know that in my
late teens I began to feel very uncomfortable about some of the things my father
had to do.’

She stopped, as though a host of memories had come drifting back to her,
and Bond was forced to prompt her to go on.
‘I was twenty-four when the officer who I had been told was the man my
parents had sheltered came late one night and spent hours alone with my father.

It appeared that he could do little to help us any more. I didn’t understand it all,
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but he seemed to have lost some of his previous power. For several weeks we
were confined to the house and there was an armed guard at the door. Then he
came again. Apparently there was one way he could save us from being tried

as spies and probably executed – we knew many had faced trials and summary
death for what was called spying. If my parents would consent to my being
taken to the United States, they would be safe. I was to find work in New York
and we would be allowed to exchange letters once a month. The officer told

me it was not likely that I would ever see my parents again, but at least I would
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be sure of their safety in their old age if I did as I was told.’
‘So you came to America?’
She gave a small nod, biting her lip. ‘I think I should have stayed. I was

ordered to do anything my parents instructed me to do. I don’t think they’re
alive any more, but I still get letters which appear to be from them.’
‘And you obey instructions?’

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