Searching for Truth - E. D. James

A quiet house greeted Sai when she opened the door. Her heart had hammered in her chest at that quiet and she rushed to the back room, steeling herself for a scene she had often imagined. Bob Barker was irritating but reassuring. Without him Sai could only imagine death.

“Ma?” her query seemed to echo. She turned the corner and her fears went away, replaced by curiousity. Her mother sat hunched over the table in pool of light from the lamp.
The picture album was dusty. Black and white photos with scalloped edges clung to the pages on yellowing triangles of tape that had become brittle. Her mother’s index finger trembled slightly as she stroked the faces and mumbled to herself.

Sai gently put her hand on her mothers shoulder and leaned in to share her view, “Who are they ma?”

“This is your great, great grandfather,” pointing to a man in silk sitting in front of a large house.

“Where was this album? I’ve never seen it before.”

“This is your uncle when he was a baby.”

“What made you think of this Ma?


It took her a long time to settle her mother down to bed. The old woman alternated between grabbing Sai’s arm and pointing at a picture and telling her who it was and sitting shakily stroking faces with tears gentling rolling down her face. Sai sat beside her and spooned some rice into her mouth as best she could, wiping the grains that stuck to the sides of her lips away with a napkin. Finally her mother laid her arm down on her arm and began to drift off. Sai led her down the hallway, sat her in the chair next to her bed and helped her out of her clothes and into her nightgown. When Sai lifted the sheets, her mother slid into the bed, quickly rolled onto her side and curled into a little ball.

The trunk at the end of the bed was open, the blankets and sweaters that occupied the top spread on the floor around it. Sai peered in and saw that there was a false bottom that now lay open. She had never known it was there.

“Ms. Liu?”

“Yes?” the phone felt like it was giving Sai’s hand a jolt of electricity. Markus Wicks voice sounded so loud that she was sure her secretary could hear it outside her door.

“I believe I have some very good news for you.”

“Yes,” the world narrowed down to a point focused on the pound sign of her phone pad.

“We not only have been able to trace your daughter from the orphanage, but we have discovered that she is here in the Toronto area.”

Sai felt as if the inside of her head had expanded to the size of her office. Her face felt flushed and she wasn’t sure she would be able to take her next breath.

“Did you hear me?”

“What do you mean she is here?”

“The family that adopted her is here in Toronto.”

“I can’t believe that.”

“This has never happened to us before. Everyone is really excited.”

“What do we do now?”

“With your permission we will contact the girls family and see if they would allow you to meet her.”

“How long will that take?”

“We are going to need another ten thousand to continue the process. Once we have your check, it will only take a week or two to contact the family and arrange the paperwork that will be necessary.”

Sai could feel only the plastic of the phone in her hand. She wanted to say thanks for what he had done but she didn’t need their help anymore. She wanted to tell him to tell the girl that she loved her and was very sorry for what had happened. She said, “I will get you the check tonight.”