Down to a Soundless Sea (26 page)

The apothecary said that he had welcomed several hopeful youths into the mysteries of his profession over the years, but in general they had shown themselves helplessly thin-witted and exhibited only a shallow inclination to improve their lot. They had all eventually returned to their nets or their beet fields.

It had saddened the old man, of course, but he ascribed their reasoning to an exile’s mentality. It was as though life among the unsympathetic barbarians had weathered all the intellectual vigor and spiritual resolution from their souls. He did not fault them, however. He well knew what anguish and suffering his race had endured in the West. He understood that rudimentary survival was challenge enough for such creatures.

Perhaps in a future age they would find themselves and return to the path, but for the present, the apothecary was still in need of a suitable young man to bring into the profession. There was more work than time, and eligible candidates were
as rare as flying teapots. The elder Fat began to shred dried gotakola leaves into a brass bowl as though he had said nothing of any real consequence.

Sing Fat was taken aback by the apothecary’s informal proposition. While working the mines, he had hardly hoped to dream beyond the proprietorship of a laundry or a small-town market. Honest endeavors to be sure, but hardly the kind of occupation to animate the intellect or establish a venerable social standing to pass on to his children. To be of real service to his own people also suggested intrinsic rewards not found in lesser occupations.

If the apothecary’s suggestion were to be credited, and Sing Fat saw no reason why it should not, there might also be a likelihood that he would see the comely and enigmatic young woman once again. That prospect alone ameliorated any lingering reservations he might have entertained. Though he would openly express concerns about his faculty to undertake such a singular enterprise, the prospect enticed him to savor the possibilities.

Returning from fanciful sparks of supposition, Sing Fat assumed a solemn expression and inquired if his host was seriously suggesting that a refugee and fugitive miner would make a suitable apprentice for such a lofty calling as medicine. Aside from his earlier education and an innate affection for mathematics, he had little to recommend him for such a scrupulous calling. Of course, Sing Fat was always willing to study and apply himself diligently to every task set before him. Such conduct was second nature to one raised a patrician, but that time was long ago and counted for little.

Sing Fat was polite but candid in asserting that if their positions were reversed, he would be far more circumspect about
such an important decision. He said that his father and numerous uncles had been meticulous about social, political, and professional credentials.

Perhaps he must fault his own strict upbringing, but Sing Fat conceded that he was baffled by his host’s brisk appraisal of a newcomer’s aptitude for such a position. Especially an outsider whose only noteworthy qualification seemed to be that he had collapsed unconscious at his benefactor’s doorstep. Sing Fat smiled and said he had never heard of a doctor asking a patient to assume the mantle of the arts by which he was cured.

This seemed to amuse the elder Fat. He said the question was worth scrutiny, but that necessity was the author of spontaneous decisions and he preferred to trust his own intuition in such matters.

Their congenial and tactful banter continued in this manner for some time, with tea offered as a pleasant intermission, but at the conclusion, Sing Fat found himself engaged as fulltime apprentice and chartered student of the most estimable of professions. Sing Fat became slightly giddy with the realization and momentarily thought perhaps he was still hallucinating from weariness. The singular sequence of events, beginning with his escape from the mines, appeared to have been determined by the gods with some considered purpose. He would be worse than a fool to set himself against the rationale of
heaven
. As far as he was concerned, the seal was set. He was gratified and honored by the arrangement.

Months of complex and arduous work followed Sing Fat’s decision to take up medicine as a trade. The apothecary insisted that the young man keep detailed journals on every
item and subject discussed. He said the annotations would serve his protégé admirably in the years to come. It always helped the visual memory to write things down in their minutest particulars.

The elder Fat found a modest accommodation for his new apprentice with a boardinghouse owner named Yee Get who operated an establishment near the corner of East Lake and Soledad Streets. It was a neighborhood known as new Chinatown, the older enclave having burned down in 1893. He also saw to it that Sing Fat banked his gold wisely with a venerated elder of the Quang Sang Company. That company’s association with the prestigious Ning Yeung Association of San Francisco guaranteed the security of his funds and also allowed him the convenience of drawing against his deposit in American greenbacks.

The elder Fat also arranged for the barber Fong Kee to look after his apprentice’s appearance, and the merchant Sam Wah supplied Sing Fat with new clothes at reasonable prices. Within a few months, Sing Fat had become a noted fixture in the neighborhood and was known for his cheerful, thoughtful, and modest demeanor.

When he judged his apprentice competent enough to understand such things, the apothecary began to take Sing Fat on his collecting rounds. Many medicinal ingredients could be acquired locally or from Monterey, but others could be had only from Chinese brokers like the ancient Ham Git or Ham Tung of the Wing Sing Company in Santa Cruz.

Myriad exotic herbs, pickled sea snakes and salt-cured turtle eggs, six varieties of dried sea horses, Asian blood toad skins, powdered Persian deer horn, tiger bones, tinctures of medicinal opium, and hundreds of other necessary ingredients
could be obtained exclusively from licensed importers who shipped them in from Asia.

Since the elder Fat treated mostly the working poor, he could not, by any stretch, be confused with a wealthy man. He regularly found it necessary to barter with the venerable Ham Git in order to replenish his modest inventory of medicines. This was not as difficult as it might seem as Sing Fat’s teacher had local access to any number of medicinal compounds that were difficult to come by, even in China, and trades were often arranged.

The apothecary knew where to unearth all manner of valuable substances locally, but the concentrated effort required to select and grade these items with assurance was by no means a task for the uninitiated. Sometimes it took days to gather, sort, grade, and value just a few bushels of tiny rock mushrooms, dried blue barnacles, or black mustard seed. The quality and potency of such goods were very much a condition of trade, and men like Ham Yin or Ham Git knew their business every bit as well as the elder Fat.

With his apprentice to help with these labors, the apothecary now toured the Salinas and Monterey countryside in his cart to gather, purchase, or barter for trade items. He had also contracted several Chinese farmers to cultivate specialty items like purple-foot sorrel, licorice root, black tiger weed, lemongrass, and leopard snails. In Point Alones or Pescadero Village he would sometimes barter his skills for deepwater shark livers and dried fins. The apothecary was always in the market for various marine specimens necessary to his practice. Other singular ingredients could be gathered only among the hills and along the rocky shores of the Big Sur. These goods therefore carried greater market value because of their rarity.

Sing Fat totally enjoyed these working adventures. He was learning wonderful things at an amazing rate. Every day brought forth new mysteries and amazing secrets. Because the apothecary was known and respected for his arts, Sing Fat also found many opportunities to meet influential people in the Chinese enclaves of Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Castroville, and Monterey.

The elder Fat always encouraged his pupil to write down the names of these men and their professions. Many times he would ask Sing Fat, strictly as an exercise, to record observations he might have about their general health.

He was required, of course, to base his amateur diagnosis on the Twelve Heavenly Principles of Balanced Health. These ancient canons were repeatedly rehearsed and discussed. The fact that Sing Fat was wrong two-thirds of the time did not particularly upset his teacher. He knew that practiced examination and study would eventually sharpen the young man’s assessments.

With a twinkle in his eye, the elder Fat asserted that with study and hard work, his apprentice might bring up his average to something like three in five in twenty years. This joke always amused the elder Fat no matter how many times he trotted it out.

Sing Fat never dared argue a medical point with his kindly master, though ignorance and superstition sometimes lured him to consider it. Any reservations he might have entertained were consigned to private deliberations or his journal. For the most part, however, Sing Fat was profoundly content with his work and strived to grasp as much of the formal study as possible.

He was becoming aware that what he had often assumed
was simple common sense resounded like a slack drum when it lacked the authority of long experience. He took mental note and endeavored to restrain his native credulity. No easy task for a young, provincially pious landlord’s son.

It was after one of their more successful foraging expeditions into the Big Sur that Sing Fat found himself in the apothecary’s back room sorting dried willow bark and bee venom sacks for a special preparation. He heard the front door of the shop open with a chime of little bells and, a few moments later, the voice of the elder Fat called out to his apprentice.

Sing Fat set down his work, wiped his hands on a damp cloth, and moved through the curtains to the front of the shop. The bright afternoon sunlight streaming through the dusty windows made him look down and squint for a moment. When he looked up, he froze and melted in rapid succession, for there
she
stood.

The tender vision he had nurtured for months was again in the same room. Her white cat peeked out of a basket that she carried over one arm. She appeared even more fair than he had remembered or imagined, if that were possible.

For a brief moment, Sing Fat thought he might swoon with amazement. As soon as their eyes met the young woman smiled, bowed, and modestly cast her gaze to the floor.

The elder Fat cleared his throat to gain his pupil’s attention. Sing Fat went crimson with embarrassment and stuttered a haphazard greeting, but he could not for the life of him take his eyes off the sublime object of his dreams.

The elder Fat proceeded to formally introduce the young
woman as Sue May Yee, the widowed daughter of a distant cousin who had lived and died in San Francisco. Sue May Yee now cared for her aging father-in-law at Point Alones Village on the shores of the bay in Pacific Grove. Her dead husband’s family had been in the squid fishing and drying trade. Sadly, her husband, his three brothers, and one hired man had been lost during a gale that had scourged the waters white and sank many boats two years past.

As the apothecary explained, Sing Fat bowed to the young woman and offered his formal condolences while secretly rejoicing at her unmarried status. This conflict in his own sentiments did nothing to lessen his embarrassment. His crimson hue only deepened and prevented him from saying more.

The elder Fat, noting his pupil’s predicament, smiled and continued the introduction. He said that Sue May Yee sometimes visited Salinas to obtain special medicines for her father-in-law and neighbors. She was also quite expert at gathering rare sea anemones whose stinging tendrils were sometimes used to help alleviate the symptoms of acute arthritis. Chow Yong Fat declared the young woman well versed in the uses of other natural medicines and said she often gathered specimens for him when she could take the time from other obligations. Now it was the young woman’s turn to blush. Such high praise from one so esteemed and respected was not usual in her life.

The apothecary went on to say that Sue May Yee had been visiting when Sing Fat had made his unusual appearance. She had kindly stayed on to assist in his recovery. He maintained that in many ways she possessed as much intuition and native skill as any medical man he had ever known. Unfortunately, the profession was customarily closed to women, which the
elder Fat decried as a great loss for all concerned. Sue May Yee bowed to acknowledge the commendation, but said nothing.

The elder Fat interrupted the rampant blushing all around with a request that his apprentice take himself off to Ah Kit’s restaurant and see what his kitchens might provide in the way of a humble supper to celebrate Sue May Yee’s safe arrival. He handed his pupil a few coins and sent him on his way with a pantomime kick. Sing Fat smiled and then was gone upon the errand.

In later years, Sing Fat would remember that in those early days he moved about as though walking upon magic sandals, his feet scarcely touching the earth. Rest from his labors appeared unnecessary, and his nights were visited with the most harmonious and auspicious of dreams.

The only occasions on which the elder Fat took meals with his apprentice were while working in the back room of the shop or when they were on the road together. On most other occasions he preferred to dine alone or with old friends. Thus Sing Fat naturally assumed that his master would take his meal in his rooms above the shop. Sue May Yee would share the meal in the traditional manner, but Sing Fat was on his own.

So while Ah Kit’s cooks prepared his master’s favorite dishes, the apprentice enjoyed a wonderful fish stew fortified with whipped egg and rich crab dumplings.

It proved a timely decision, for when he returned to the shop, Sing Fat discovered his teacher in a very animated frame of mind and full of instructions to be carried out at once.

While Sue May Yee served out spiced fish and steamed boa, the apothecary instructed his protégé in his immediate duties. He was to run to Ah Sing’s livery stable and prepare the
cart and mule for a long excursion. Sing Fat was to see that the canvas awning and side curtains were fixed to the bent-wood frame that covered the cart bed. The elder Fat chuckled an aside to Sue May Yee lamenting the eccentric weather of past months. He wished to evade its extremities while on the road.