Place Your Bets
"Mistah Wink-o?," prepared Opie for his next statement.
"Yes Opie."
"Mawbow go bye-bye. What for de mawbows? Why so impo-tant? Mawbows fo Wed Dragon?"
"No, mawbow, er marbles are for me. Well. I really don't know. But strangely, I feel very empty now without them." Derby's skin felt as if his pores were opening and instead of sweat coming out, it felt as if energy was leaking. "Opie. I've got to sit down. I'm getting light headed."
Opie led Derby to a bench near the side of a building. "Heah Mistah Wink-o. Yo take ee easy now, OK Mistah Wink-o. Yo not wook so good Mistah Wink-o."
The fireworks were more prominent as dusk progressed. The exploding lights, the people in large costume heads and shoppers speaking their rapid fire Chinese to vendors seemed to accentuate Derby's feeling of weakness. "Opie. Maybe we better hurry to Umpa. How far is it? I'm feeling very tired from my trip."
"Mistah Wink-o. Doan wook now bu-wee hab bizituhs," said Opie in his best English.
"Biziters? Have biziters?" Derby felt as if the Festival was circling him like a big merry-go-round. "What are biziters?"
It didn't matter that he failed to understand the word "visitor" because the mystery was solved when he looked down to see what was tugging on his pants cuff. Two little rodents were standing at his feet, wiggling their little mouse whiskers. A larger black one and a cute little white one. They were distinctly trying to get Derby's attention. A jet black mouse and a shining white one were actually standing up and moving their little arms as if they were practicing their balance, like trained puppies.
Both Opie and Derby stared down at the pair of mice in disbelief.
"Opie," Derby started to explain, wondering if Opie would understand. The white marble was swallowed by the black mouse before he jumped into the drain. Do you think the white mouse here swallowed the black marble?"
Such a preposterous notion would have quickly been rejected by most people, though children usually have a more active imagination. Still Opie seemed very thoughtful. He bent down to offer his palm to the white mouse which readily climbed on board and easily accepted the offer of being raised to eye level of Derby and Opie.
"Missie Mouse," Opie addressed the rodent in his hand. "Ah yo magi-co? Do yo swawwo bwack mawbow?"
Now whether Chinese mice can understand English is one thing but understanding Opie requires quite another level of education. But to their amazement, the mouse stood up on his hand on back feet and seemed to bat the air with its front legs.
When our adventurous duo was about to continue the probing with the mystery mouse, their attention was diverted to the larger black mouse, which seemed to be indicating that they follow it. Opie and Derby looked at each other and shrugged a "why not" motion. Just as the pair was standing up, ready to be led by the piperless mammal, the pretty little white mouse leaped with tantalizing agility into Derby's breast pocket. From there she arranged herself so that her paws were attached to the top of the pocket and her head was peering out, as if she was on an amusement park ride. She actually appeared to be smiling.
The black mouse was now fifty meters down the street so Opie, Derby and passenger had to hurry to catch up.
"He taking us to waundwee house!," exclaimed Opie in surprise. And so it was they were soon traversing the outside stairs of the laundry house.
Derby noticed that, oddly, his strength returned once he found himself on this new escapade. As crazy as it seemed, he noticed he was feeling quite happy about being accompanied by the congenial mice.
As the four approached the door to the upstairs office, Opie continued, " Mistuh Wink-o. I wike deez mouses. Yo wike?"
Derby didn't have a chance to answer because the door was opened for them and the ensemble of mice and men was led into the dark chamber of the musty building on the third level of the laundry house.
In perfect English, a sweet Chinese young lady greeted the group. "Ah, Mr. Ripley, you've brought an entourage! Welcome. My name is Bai Ling. Umpa will be right with you. Can we get you anything? Coffee, tea, cheese?"
Opie and Derby were cautiously reserved but still offered smiles for Bai Ling.
"No thank you Miss Ling," said Derby. "But you'll have to ask our guests directly. I think they may be full at the moment. You don't happen to have any marble remover do you?"
Before Bai Ling could answer, a deep and loud voice, also in perfect English resounded, "Jeninqua, Trevor--Come!"
Derby and Opie turned to hear from where the voice had announced itself and as they did so the two mice leaped up to the table where the man was seated. Derby really couldn't contain himself,
"Did you call that mouse Jeninqua? And the other one Trevor? You know these mice? Also, Jeninqua seems to be a very rare name but now I know a mouse and also knew a beautiful woman with that name?"
"Hahaha," echoed the robust man. "This is that woman! And Trevor is also an accomplished talent!"
The man sat on the edge of his seat. He seemed to be about forty years old with a stubbly chin and matching black stubble on his head. His shirt was open revealing a round belly. He had a broad smile and his dark eyes could drill a hole in steel with their piercing energy.
The mice were chasing around the room, or appeared to be until they jumped up on a large device. It was a roulette wheel or something similar, except the landing compartments were all either red or blue. But on closer examination two of the landing spots were brightly marked and different than the rest. One which was at the "12 o'clock" position was black and on the opposite end at the "6 o'clock" position was white.
"Spin the wheel!," shouted the man who could have passed for a laughing Buddha.
To Opie's and Derby's amazement, the mice obliged and chased each other on the outer rim of the wheel. Soon they appeared to be a streak of white and black lines of energy until they had reached a speed which eliminated a distinction between black and white. Only a gray light revolved around the turning wheel.
Back and forth Opie and Derby looked to each other and then back to the spinning wheel, which started to slow and instead of mice, what was now circling the rim were two marbles, black and white. Into the white hole fell the black marble and into the white--the black.
"Bravo," exclaimed the large seated gentleman. And Bai Ling joined with a hardy applause. As the wheel came to a rest with the marbles snuggly in their compartments, Opie sat with his mouth and eyes in wide amazement.
"Act like a cat. Act like a cat," Derby sat thinking to himself. No longer sure if he was dreaming or hallucinating.
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