eyes that allies and neighbors could turn into deadly foes without warning. She had a long dagger of her own now, and Yoriaki had given her further lessons, just in case. When Hana was a bit older she too would learn to carry a knife, Yoriaki had on occasion witnessed the awful fates of children around Phnom Penh captured by bandits and sold into bondage. Either his daughter would kill any who laid a hand on her or kill herself, Christ have mercy on her soul.
One bleary morning as Yoriaki began his day of paddling his little boat up and down the docks of the filthy Mekong he came around the bend to find a surprise. There, tied to one of the piers, were two very familiar looking Dutch merchant ships. Yoriaki blinked his eyes and shook his head to clear his vision. There could be no doubt. Letting out an exceptionally rare whoop of pleasure he began paddling as fast as he could, coming up astern of the big ships, wondering how they had even made it so far upriver; obviously the work of master pilots. A young Dutch boy who stood watch on the back deck of the vessel to the left turned and made a loud whistle. Thankful to the Jesuits for teaching him his letters, he was soon close enough to read the names, rejoicing to see that this was indeed Groenevisch and her partner Vlissengen Tuin, the Vlissengen Garden. These were really the ships belonging to Blom’s uncles, here in Phnom Penh after five long years!
“You are late! I haven’t had any breakfast yet and am holding out for one of those bentos!” the familiar voice came down from the deck. Yoriaki looked up to see Blom, a little thinner, a little darker and more wrinkled of skin, but still with his great, cheerful grin.
“I have just what you need, sir, see me on the dock!” Yoriaki secured his boat tightly, loaded ten of the banana leaf wrapped lunches into a hemp sack, then clambered up the pier’s rather dodgy ladder as ably a boy of twelve climbing a garden willow. Seeing his friend after so long filled Yoriaki with so much joy he found himself embracing the man as if he were a long lost brother, to hell with samurai discipline! The larger man embraced him back, squeezing him in a suffocating bear hug until Yoriaki flailed feebly for release.
“You missed me then, Yo-san. I am so glad! I thought maybe you had forgotten your old friend. I am sorry it has taken me so long to come back.”
“Never mind!” Yoriaki reassured him. “I am so happy to see you, Blom-san, truly I am. Here, your lunch,” he said thrusting the sack into Blom’s meaty hands. “Don’t even think about trying to pay me for it, I owe you far more than a meal, or even two! I know your enormous appetite, I’ve put in a few extra, some for later or to share with your mates. Thank the Lord you are still alive and standing before me, it’s a blessing!”
“I feel the same way, my friend, besides, it’s been far too long since I’ve had any food as good as your little peach’s cooking. Is she well?”
“Yes, she is, well enough. The climate doesn’t agree with her and truth to tell I don’t care much for it either. Oh, we have a daughter now, Hana, which means ‘flower’! You must meet her, she will sit on your big tummy and pull that mustache of yours until you cry for mercy!”
Blom laughed heartily and gave Yoriaki one of his jovial yet gentle claps on the back. “That’s wonderful, a little girl. I’ll bet she’s as pretty as her mother! Why, does she even know she has a fat old white-faced uncle? Won’t she be surprised. I’ll bet I have something pretty for her from my travels. Here, let’s get out of this blasted heat and have a good talk. We need to catch up. I have much to tell you, Yo-san, much to tell.”
The two of them repaired to Groenevisch where they found some shade beneath the reefed sails and sat on a couple of handy barrels. Between bites of grilled fish and rice, Blom told him of the many journeys he had made with his uncles and polished off one bento and then a second faster than Yoriaki had ever seen anyone else manage to.
“The reason I took so long to get back to you, Yo-san, is that we sailed all the way to Europe. Once there I had quite a bit of business to attend to, family matters and such, and my uncles needed time to straighten out their own affairs and find new cargoes to bring back here to Asia. But all that’s neither here nor there, what was interesting was the special expedition we took to the Germanies, the lands that run east and south of my own Netherlands. Something happened there and it’s rather odd.” Blom paused, his jovial face having taken on a very thoughtful expression. “You probably won’t believe me, a good Christian like yourself, but I swear it all to be true.”
He paused again, finally prompting Yoriaki to ask, “What, what did you see there? I’ll believe anything you say now that I’ve seen you eat two bentos in the time it takes most men to have one bite!” This made the two of them laugh, and Blom seemed to relax.
“All right, then. My uncles and I visited a town, a very strange town like no other in any corner of the wide Earth, and I’ve been to most of the corners. This was a town…from the future!” Blom’s eyes were sparkling with wonderment, like a child’s on his first visit to the pageantry of a Christmas mass. Yoriaki studied him for a moment and knew that whatever Blom said it would be true.
“I believe you. Tell me more,” Yoriaki said, moving his barrel closer in anticipation.
When Blom was done it was nearly noon. Yoriaki tried to imagine the ground vehichles that moved without horses, not to mention those that flew with men inside them through the very heavens! But more than wonders such as those he pondered a society in which men were free to choose their own religion and to live as they pleased without caste and station, so like the Ayutthaya that had been lost to them.
“It sounds like a kind of paradise on Earth,” he murmured to Blom, who having finished his tale was fortifying himself with two more bentos.
“Well, wouldn’t call it paradise. It’s still in the Germanies, you know,” he said between bites. “But it is a good place, a place where people have freedom and rights. Plus, it’s a boom town; it has riches and opportunities that make Ayutthaya look like poor Phnom Penh here.” He looked around at the depressed city. “What a shit-hole! Anyway, I wanted to tell you about Grantville for a good reason, not just to entertain and amaze you, which it appears I succeeded at doing, by the starry-eyed look on your face.”
Yoriaki gave his friend a confused look. “Yes, it was a wonderful tale, I am very enthralled. But what is this ‘good reason’?” Yoriaki asked him with great curiosity.
“Simple! I think you should move there.”
“Move there.” Yoriaki blinked at his friend in the light of the merciless midday sun that had shifted in the sky to catch them out in its blaze as they were engrossed by Grantville’s tale.
“Yes, move there. To live. All of you.”
“All of us?”
“By my uncles’ beards, is there an echo here? Yes, Yo-san, all of you who fled Ayutthaya to this sweltering outpost of Hell! This place stinks!” With that he got up and slid his stool back into the dwindling shade beneath the mast, Yoriaki doing the same.
“Look, I talked to some people there, including some Catholics. I didn’t tell them exactly who you were and where you were from, but I said you were Catholic refugees who had been persecuted, numbering a few hundred looking for a safe home. They just about tripped all over themselves to tell me you would be welcome there, you poor darlings, and if you came they would do whatever it takes to find you homes and get you started. I must say, these Americans are nice to the point of almost seeming ridiculous, but I can also say they really mean it, I saw their charity with my own eyes. Come, Yo-san, think on this. Surely you aren’t happy here. I’ll wager none of you are.”
Yoriaki shook his head solemnly in agreement. “Yes, Blom-san, you are right. We all despise this place, but there has been nowhere else for us to go. The Khmer, although not kind by any means, at least leave us alone and so far no one has tried to burn down our houses. Please, give me some time to think on this and discuss it with the others. I will call a meeting of our men this very night. May we hold it here on your ship? It would be best if the women didn’t hear of this yet.”
“Absolutely, you are all welcome!” The big Dutchman grinned widely, very pleased with himself.
“Blom, if we should decide to do as you suggest, how will we get there? We are so poor.”
“Not to worry. My uncles are big-hearted fools just like me. It’s already been decided. You will ride on these two ships. It will be tight but we can fit you all, plus we are a bit short on crew anyway, so you can help sail. We are bound back to Europe next, with only a few stops along the way. In any case, we shall consider your future success in Europe as an investment, and in my uncles’ case, a little Christian charity might be just what it takes to keep them from ending up in a place like this when they die.” The two of them laughed long and hard. Yoriaki grinned like a fool all the way back to their settlement, dreaming of a new faraway land full of freedom.
