Chapter 10
Tim had known since shortly after the first letter that he would have a lot of explaining to do once he finally located Laura. He didn’t know how much, if anything, the kidnappers had told her about his money, but it was pretty evident that he would have to explain why they had let her go and how they knew about her in the first place. Or perhaps not this last fact, as Tim could only guess himself.
Laura asked many questions and provided few answers at first. Tim tried to recount his entire story from Paris onwards which invariably led to further questions as to why he hadn’t told her about it. Luckily, the train ride provided a perfect venue for extended conversation. Every few hours they would take a break and get some food or walk down the corridor, but shortly after they would return to their conversation.
After countless hours and follow up questions, Tim had explained the situation to Laura’s satisfaction. Only then was he able to start asking a few of the burning questions he had amassed himself. She tried to answer as best she could, but the information was rather vague. It appeared that the kidnappers had planned everything out well in advance and were likely professionals.
After she had left the bar two nights previous, she had apparently intended to head directly back to the room to sleep as she wasn’t feeling well but was intercepted on the staircase. All she remembered was a hand covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream and then darkness. She didn’t know how long she had been out or where she had been taken, but she woke up in a dark room somewhere. She was tied up, but not blindfolded, and could see a small, unfurnished room.
It was very difficult to know where she was, as there were no windows in the room and no sound could be heard. She was alone for a long while after waking up, but she couldn’t be sure of how long as she had no means of checking the time. She wasn’t even sure what time of day it was, but gathered she was probably out for a while. The chair she was tied to was not uncomfortable by itself, but sitting there for hours grew increasingly painful.
After a while longer, an old woman came in with a tray of food and tea and allowed Laura to eat. One hand was untied, though the rest of her was still very much secured making it difficult, if not impossible to escape. She appreciated the food which was quite good, but could not get any answers out of the woman. If she spoke any English, she did a good job of not showing it. She would speak soothingly in Russian, though Laura had no idea what was being said.
After she had finished eating the old woman took the tray and left, locking the door behind her once more and Laura was left alone. She spent a long while thinking about her situation and trying to figure out what had happened. Why had they kidnapped her? What were they going to do? Was it better to try to escape and risk getting caught, or to bide her time and wait?
She figured that Tim must have realized she was missing by now, but whether he would have any idea what had happened, she didn’t know. And besides that, being in a foreign country with different rules and a less than perfect track record on law enforcement, she wasn’t sure the police would be of any help.
She concluded that she must have just been targeted as a foreigner with the kidnappers figuring they could likely get a ransom from her family. But if that was the case, why hadn’t they asked her any questions yet, or even taken her ID which was still secure in her pocket? The situation didn’t make sense, but try as she might, she had no way of getting answers.
The old woman returned several hours later and brought more food and tea with her. By this time Laura needed to use the bathroom and tried to indicate it by repeating the word several times as she couldn’t very well use any gestures with her hands tied up. At first the woman didn’t seem to understand what she was asking, but eventually she said something in Russian and untied Laura from the chair, though still leaving her hands tied to one another, and led her into a small bathroom next door. It was simple, but clean and while it was difficult to manoeuvre with her hands tied, she managed it.
When she was finished the old woman led her back to the first room and allowed her to eat before tying her back to the chair and departing. Even the meals didn’t give a proper indication of the time as they all seemed quite similar and tea was served with everything. In her boredom, Laura began counting specks on the ceiling, cracks in the floor tiles, and anything else she could think of, those even these were exhausted rather quickly.
Despite trying to conceive of an escape plan, she was unable to decide on anything that she was convinced would work. She could try to overpower the old woman when she asked to use the bathroom next, but even then she had no idea where she was, spoke no Russian, and might very well find that she was unable to get out of the building. Restless as she was, she decided to try to wait a while longer. Surely someone would find her or she would at least find out why she was there.
Much more time passed and she grew tired, but it was extremely difficult to sleep while sitting on a chair, much less when one is tied to one. Even still, she did doze briefly in increments of fifteen minutes or so before waking up again. She couldn’t be sure how long this went on for either, but eventually she was awoken by the old woman with another meal.
This time however, rather than leave after the meal and lock the door again, she untied Laura from the chair and led her out into the hallway. She allowed her to use the bathroom once more and then led her up a staircase, but not before blindfolding her. The stairs felt narrow, steep and wooden and there were probably about thirty of them, though it was difficult to count. The old woman went in front and led her up to the top of the staircase in a surprisingly sprightly manner.
When they reached the top a door was opened and Laura could hear men’s voices speaking in hushed Russian. The floor was carpeted and she could hear the sounds of cars driving by outside. She judged that they must still be in the city somewhere, though she had no sense of anything beyond that. They eventually led her across the room and opened a second door, this one apparently leading outside as the ground became a hard concrete-like material.
She heard the sound of car doors being opened and was eventually led into a car and strapped in there. A few other men got in as well before the doors were closed and the car started. Initially the car seemed to stop a lot, presumably at traffic lights, but eventually they seemed to get onto a highway or something where they didn’t have to stop frequently. The men talked amongst themselves and she was able to distinguish at least three different voices. The conversation was quite rapid, but eventually she began to pick up some of the same words reoccurring including ‘dengi’ and ‘loterja’.
She still had no idea what any of it meant, and was increasingly concerned about where she was being taken. How would anyone ever find her once she had left the city? What could she do about it? After several hours in the car, they came to a stop and then men got out, leaving her in the car alone. Though she was still tied up, she managed to get her hand on the door handle and pull, but she found it would not open. They must have turned on the child-proof locks.
The men were only gone for about five minutes before getting back in the car at which point they continued driving a long while. Laura grew hungry again, but there were no offers of food or drink of any kind. The men seemed to ignore her almost entirely and talk among themselves except for when they had to move her somewhere.
After many more hours the car stopped a second time and they got out, this time bringing her out with them. They walked quite a ways, perhaps a mile or so, before climbing steps up to a building and entering it. They went a ways into the building before turning a corner and entering a room. The voices died off and she gather that most of the men had left. One who remained now removed her blindfold and she found herself in what looked to be a motel room, though again without any windows or means of discerning where she was. This time it was a bit more furnished and she was delighted to see a bed and ensuite bathroom. The man remarkably untied her before leaving the room and locking it from the outside. At this point she was too tired to do much except collapse on the bed and sleep.
When she awoke she was already blindfolded again and being carried somewhere. She was taken into another car and the familiar routine began as they drove somewhere. This time there was no talking amongst her co-passengers, so she could not be sure how many others were with her. They drove for several hours and then abruptly stopped. She was untied, faced towards the door and then pushed out of the car only to hear it slam behind her and drive away. When she removed the blindfold she found herself at the train station and almost immediately saw Tim running towards her.
By the time Laura had finished speaking several hours had elapsed. Of course the story was a good deal more disjointed and interrupted by a peppering of questions from Tim, but eventually she managed to piece it together somewhat coherently. Tim, having the information that he did, was able to guess a few more things that she couldn’t have known at the time. Whoever had kidnapped her must have been acting on instructions from someone intimately familiar with Tim’s lottery win and travel plans, likely someone from back home, but who exactly he could not guess. James still seemed the most likely, but there was no real evidence to support that except for opportunity and a reputation for sidestepping the law.
The train had entered Mongolia by now and was nearing Ulan-Bataar Having spent the last several hours straight talking, they were eager to get outside and grab some food. Laura was still a bit shaky from her experience, but was getting better all the time. They arrived to find a beautiful city full of rather different people and foods. While there is a lot of commonality and mixing between Siberian and Mongolian ethnicities, they did notice rather different food and language. Where there had previously been mostly meat dishes, there were now also an assortment of other options, many of which were very tasty. While they were interested in exploring the city, they knew that the train was only stopped briefly, so they bought as much food as they could carry along with some small souvenirs, including one of Attila the Hun as an action figure, and headed back to the train.
As it left the city and headed out they settled into eating and drinking. Due to their extended conversation, they hadn’t yet spent much time exploring the train or visiting with other passengers which they now took the time to do. They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with other travelers about their experiences, Laura in part catching up on the earlier portion of the route that she had missed, and exchanging stories and advice.
The sun went down in the early evening and before long they joined a large group of young people playing some kind of Russian board game. The rules were never made entirely clear, but it seemed to be some combination of Risk and Monopoly where you bought countries rather than properties and then started wars with other countries or charged protection fees for not doing so. Though they couldn’t be entirely sure, Laura seemed to be winning for a good portion of the game until someone bought Germany and started sending a barrage of tanks against her main fortress in the Ukraine.
They were directed to look out the window at various times and were surprised to see Mongolian nomad camps near the train route, complete with tents and camels. There was truly no comparable area that either of them had traveled before. The grassy landscape melted away and was replaced with the vast expanse of the Gobi dessert, a totally different landscape from the rest of the trip. The Mongolian dinning car seemed to provide pretty well exclusively lamb and rice, but it was well cooked and quite tasty.
They began drinking in the early evening and by ten or so everyone was singing drinking songs and those who had still been playing the board game more or less gave up. They had a strong sense of camaraderie with their new friends and continued until about midnight when martial music could be heard as they reached the Chinese border and the train gauges had to be changed from Russian to Chinese. This allowed them the opportunity to explore briefly, though for longer than most stops. They weren’t able to leave the station, but even that was rather different than the Russian ones they had grown used to. Apart from the obvious changes of language and signs, the general look and feel of the stations seemed highly efficient and modern, in contrast to the much older and haphazard ones they had seen previously in some of the smaller towns.
After walking around the station for a while they concluded there wasn’t really much to be done and headed back to the train along with their new friends and found that the changeover process was almost complete, providing the train with a new Chinese dining car, complete with different liquor. Despite being tired, they all felt compelled to take advantage of the variety and sample some of their new options. Almost all of the new liquors were served hot, from the rice wine to the Baijiu, a clear liquor akin to vodka. They quickly grew even more tired from the added alcohol, retiring to bed after drinking lots of water.
Both Laura and Tim slept in the next morning, feeling no need to get up at a particular time. The alcohol and lack of comfortable beds the previous night had led to an increased appreciation of their current accommodations. Laura finally awoke first, having drank considerably less than Tim the night before, and went in search of tea. While the samovars had left with the Russian dining car, she was able to get green tea in the Chinese one and brought back two cups to the cabin.
Tim was starting to wake up by the time she returned and so they both sat on the bottom bunks of their compartment and tried to start planning out their day. The train wasn’t due to arrive in Beijing until late afternoon at which point they would go out and try to find a hostel, but in the mean time they tried to practice some basic Chinese phrases to get by. Once they had woken up a little more they went to the dining car for breakfast, enjoying a wonderful selection of dim sum.
The Chinese countryside was not altogether different from the areas they had already passed, but what struck Tim was how little of it there was. Of course there were still many rural areas, but it seemed every ten minutes or so an enormous city loomed on one side of the train or the other. The sheer number of them was quite astounding and more so how new everything looked. It seemed as if at least half of them had been built the previous day, expanding for miles in all directions.
The stops that the train made prior to Beijing were largely not in these new cities, but rather smaller towns that looked to have been around for a good while. The merchants that awaited the train at each station were more diverse and more resourceful than the ones they had previously seen. In addition to an almost infinite variety of food choices they had essentially made an impromptu bazaar of all kinds of souvenirs and electronic goods.
There was a substantial collection of pirated dvds along with knock-offs of all kinds from Iqods to Rolixes. It truly was a shame that they did not have more time to spend because the stalls were infinitely fascinating. By the time they had gotten back on the train they had found a few items to add to their lunch and Laura had located ‘Baby’s first Little Red Book’, which apparently was written in all seriousness to teach children about Chairman Mao. There were even pictures of him expounding wisdom to the masses.
The rest of the journey to Beijing was relatively uneventful, following the same pattern as earlier in the day, and when they finally approached the city they could start to see signs of the suburbs long before the city center came into view. The city itself was one of extremes, blending breathtaking beauty with abject poverty and pollution. The area the train passed through was largely well maintained, though the poorer areas were visible nearby.
The train finally arrived, about an hour late, just before 5:00pm local time. The time zones had been slightly confusing as all of China is on the same time while many of the surrounding countries no farther East or West could be as much as 2 hours different. When the train had stopped, it took a while to exit as everyone else was getting off at the same time. The station was immense and rather easy to get lost in, so after retrieving their bags Tim and Laura made a point of staying together and making their way to the closest exit. They were relived to find relatively clear English signage in this area of the city, perhaps leftover from the recent Olympic Games, but whatever the reason appreciated.
Tim had found several nearby hostels in his guide book so they made their way to the closest one and found a friendly English speaking proprietor who confirmed that there were rooms available. They carried their bags up to the room and got settled in before venturing out into the city for the evening. While they were tired, knowing they only had one more day in the city meant they had to make the most of the time they had.
They ventured out first to find some food before exploring and passed a surprising number of western fast food places along the way, before settling on a noodle place a few blocks away. While the menu was entirely in Chinese, there were some pictures as well which helped them in the ordering process. They ordered by pointing at the pictures they wanted and were soon enjoying a tasty noodle dish with chicken, vegetables, and a few ingredients they were unable to identify.
Tim had brought some local currency with him, but made a not much, and made a note to find an ATM at some point. They ordered one of the beers on the menu to complement the meal and were happy to discover it was served cold. Having finished their meal, they glanced at the desert menu, but as it didn’t have any pictures, decided not to order anything in case they wound up with a local delicacy that might be unfavourable to their western palates.
After leaving the restaurant, they walked towards the center of the city, trying to avoid being hit by the various vehicles and pedestrians rushing through. They made their way to the outer walls of the forbidden city, but it was closed for the day so they could only look at the outside of the impressive temple structures within. They walked along the side of it, beside the water and eventually found themselves on the edge of Tiananmen Square which was far bigger than either of them had imagined. It extended out in all directions from the gate to the Forbidden City in the North to the Qianmen gate in the South, and bordered on both sides by immense buildings.
Both the Monument to the People’s Heroes, a 125 foot monolith, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong dominated the square itself. It was strange to see people walking so casually across such a historic place, but most of them would hardly have been old enough to remember the events in June of 1989. Tim only barely remembered people making a big deal of it at the time, but not understanding its significance till much later.
Though they were eager to see more, the long train travel had tired them out so they walked back to the hostel, following Beichang street to the bridge and then back over. When they arrived at the hostel they went directly to their rooms and fell asleep quickly.
The next day they woke up early, grabbed some breakfast to carry with them and headed out. Their morning and afternoon were a whirlwind of monuments, museums and other cultural attractions, not to mention a good number of shopping excursions in the various markets that dotted the city. While they hardly had enough time to enjoy any of the sights in their entirety, the Temple of Heaven being a particular favourite. Unfortunately, due to Laura’s limited time off from work, they had to catch a flight back to Vancouver late that evening.
In addition to observing the sights and sounds of the city, they attempted to be a little more adventurous with some of their food choices leading to happy discoveries and the occasional regret. All in all they were unable to see nearly enough of the city in the very short time they were there, except to realize that they would have to return to it another time to give it full justice.
The day passed by very quickly and in the blink of an eye it was already late afternoon and time to retrieve their belongings from the hostel before heading to the airport. Ordinarily this would be a simple task, but due to Beijing’s traffic congestion they had to allow a long time to get there by taxi. When they finally did arrive the taxi driver asked for an exorbitant sum, but rather than argue Tim just gave him the money so they didn’t miss their flight. The airport rivalled Heathrow in traffic and far surpassed it in complexity. It took them a good while just to locate the proper check in counter, much less actually wind their way through security and get to their gate.
Remarkably, they traversed the gauntlet more or less in tact and emerged at their gate with time to spare. Tim got a coffee to stay awake and Laura put in her headphones and took a short nap until it was time to board. Thankfully, Tim had had the good sense to book a non-stop flight to Vancouver which would minimize the unpleasantness of flying such a long distance.
By a stroke of luck this plane was overbooked in the economy section and they were able to move up to first class, an experience entirely new to both of them. It really was a different world, full of adequate leg room, comfortable seats and relative quiet. They relaxed as the rest of the passengers boarded and were brought glasses of Champaign and hot towels before they even had the chance to ask.
The seats were equipped with personal TVs with extensive options of the latest movies and television shows as well as a selection of video games. Despite the luxury, both of them spent a good deal of the flight sleeping comfortably, only waking on occasion to eat or go to the bathroom. The flight arrived in Vancouver in what seemed like only moments from when they took off and both Tim and Laura found themselves almost sad to leave the comfort of the plane, though they were now well rested, if a little unused to the time change.
They disembarked from the plane and headed through the familiar hallways of YVR to await their bags at the carousel. Neither Tim nor Laura felt the need to converse as they went through the familiar process and went through the motions in an almost mechanical manner. The familiarity of the city and of the travel process had made it second nature to both by now and there were no irregularities to jolt them out of their complacency.
The taxi ride back was just like the previous taxi rides, only on different roads and through the familiar light rain that had once more blanketed the city. When they arrived at Laura’s place, they exchanged a quick hug and said their goodbyes, both a little preoccupied with other matters: Laura still processing the events of her kidnapping and Tim pondering his return home in many ways.
The ride to his place was only a few more minutes and he hardly noticed the time. After paying the driver and getting his things from the trunk, he walked slowing to the familiar door, feeling as if he had been away far more than 2 weeks. His apartment was just as he had left it, absent the ferrets that he needed to pick up from his neighbour who had been looking after them. He began unpacking his things and putting them away in their proper places, routine act allowing him to delay processing everything that had happened.
He felt the kind of sadness that one feels upon finishing a particularly memorable vacation and knowing that one can never quite recall those memories as vividly as when they first happened. He was returning not only to his familiar city and apartment, but to his familiar life, devoid of the excitement, challenges and worry of being a secret millionaire. He felt that he should be angry about having all his money taken, angry that his friend had been targeted, angry at how unfair it all was. Except that it wasn’t really.
Try as he might to make an argument for having suffered grave injustice, he found it falling short. He had done nothing to earn the money; it had only ever been his due to some infinitesimal chance paying off. And in the time he did have it, he was hard pressed to say that he was truly happier. Not in a delusional, ‘money doesn’t matter’ sort of way popularized by those inclined to romanticise poverty, but rather in a more pragmatic sense. When he truly could have bought almost anything in the world, his only major acquisition was an old car he probably could have bought anyway and travel with family and friends.
Perhaps he wasn’t cut out for being super rich; he just couldn’t muster up the kind of materialism it would take to spend that kind of money. He had returned more or less to where things had been a couple months back and couldn’t say he was entirely disappointed by it.
He went about settling back in, checking his email and sifting through the pile of newspapers and bills that had arrived in his absence. He half expected some new letter from James to launch him off on another trip, but the most interesting thing in the whole pile was an offer to save on long distance calling. He pulled down the pizza flyer from its place on top of the fridge and called up for delivery. He tried calling Nick but he was busy for the evening.
Tim sat down on the couch and turned on the TV and found that the old Indiana Jones movies were playing as part of a movie marathon. He smiled as he watched the opening credits come on, complete with the unforgettable theme music. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and cracked it open as he waited for the pizza to arrive.
Tomorrow, he thought to himself, he would go to the gym. For real this time, he would stop all this unhealthy eating and get himself into shape as he certainly wasn’t getting any younger. As he cleared the mail and newspapers off the couch he noticed a farewell column from Tabitha Trembley. Apparently she was retiring from journalism to move to the French Mediterranean where she had purchased a small vineyard. Tim was happy to see that she would no longer be meddling in the private affairs of his fellow Vancouverites.
Everything finally seemed to be settling back to normal. Now that he was no longer a multi-millionaire he would have to see about a job again, either returning to his previous one or else looking elsewhere. If nothing else, the last couple months had satiated his desire to travel for the moment and he was quite content to stay in the city, at least for the next little while.
Just then the doorbell rang for the pizza so Tim’s thoughts were interrupted and he went to get it. The pizzas were wonderfully warm and smelled fantastic. Before he had settled back into watching the movie, pizza in hand, he remembered that he was supposed to pick up the ferrets from his neighbour who was watching them.
He went over to his neighbour’s place and retrieved Bartleby and Iago. He couldn’t be entirely sure, but it looked like they had grown a little in his absence and when he looked at them from the right angle he could tell them apart. Bartleby had a slight patch of brown in the otherwise white fur on his throat, whereas Iago didn’t. They seemed almost happy to see him, in their own lazy sort of way. He brought their cage and various trapping back to the apartment and set them in the corner; opening it up to let them run loose for a little while.
No sooner had he opened the cage then they had scampered into the bathroom and were contently tearing up toilet paper and rags. He went in and considered stopping them, but decided against it as he didn’t really mind. In a strange way, it was kind of nice.
1 comment:
Congratulations on completing this Mt. Everest challenge!
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