CHAPTER 4: THE JADE SHAMBHALA

                  

This episode is part 4 of the Short story series titled The Jade Shambhala. 

7 days, 7 stories 7 different exotic blends of brew from the Far East and unique tea leaves reading for each. Welcome to The Jade Shambhala Tea House!

                     CHAPTER 4 

MEKCHA ( PEAR-BARLEY TISANE)

Stretching out regally on the cat bed, Moon Glow let out a content moan as she yawned herself awake. There was no raindrop pattern on the window pane beside her, but the glass shone a mellow honeyed hue.

The sun was out! She couldn't wait to romp outside in the backyard which smelled heavenly with the herbs Xiu had home grown for her blended teas. Xiu even had a small patch of Catnip for her to romp in.

The front yard was a better temptation today though. The squirrels were chittering playfully on the magnolia branch that nearly brushed the window. Moon Glow loved waking up next to the pink furling blooms. She lazily looked on at the frisky squirrel family racing back and forth on the frail twig as a few flowers rained down below. She wanted to join in the fun.

The sun does wonders to the garden life outside.

Oh finally! Xiu has opened the screen door leading to the front. She has gone out with her mat. I think her Tai Chi session will be under the Magnolias today. What fun!

Moon Glow zoomed outside like a racing F1 car. Undecided where to go first she was a sight to see with her mad dash first up the tree scaring the life out of the squirrels and then leaping down near a group of mynahs and sparrows splashing in a stone tub. They yelped and scattered in different directions. Moon Glow was a white fireball after being cooped inside.

The squirrels complained incessantly among themselves about the interference. Although they knew that this Moon Glow was a harmless goof their instincts taught them to stay away. They clambered to the highest branch and leaping from tree to tree, in a flash were nowhere to be seen!

Xiu continued her graceful movements under the warmth of the first full bright sun of the season and sat in a lotus pose inhaling the fresh mountain breeze and the fragrance of her garden. Moon Glow plonked herself at her feet dejected with this exclusion. She whimpered and rubbed her head against Xiu's knees. 

Xiu wouldn't move for quite some time if she sat like this so Moon Glow sulked visibly.

Twitching her ears in irritation, she pulled those back like an airplane wing. She would show everyone that she was the Queen of this garden. How dare they exclude and ignore her! She would have a serious talk with the Wood Thrush today. He would drill sense into the Mynahs. The Owl though called the wise one was an oaf who only came out at night when all the other birds were asleep. 

As for the squirrels, she would ignore them back and growl if they came near her food bowl. No more sharing of goodies. Moon Glow felt like a used toy. They only wanted her company for the food…!

Swishing her tail, she padded back to the pool of sunshine and groomed herself to calm down her nerves. 

I wonder what surprise Xiu has for my breakfast today. Ever since getting those grimy books in the mail, the food has been surprisingly otherworldly. 

She smacked her lips remembering the Trout Broth from last night's dinner. She mewed vulnerably to catch Xiu's attention. 

Time for breakfast, Xiu. Let's go. Your Moonie Boo is starving!

Xiu gathered herself from her seated pose and stood stoic in a mountain pose looking skywards saluting the sun. After a final bow she made her way in. The spotless kitchen gleamed golden reflecting the early morning light off the brass pots and pans she hung directly opposite the eastern window. 

Rifling through the recently delivered British recipe books, she found the page marked for today's breakfast. 

A cucumber cheese sandwich with poached eggs. Eggy milk broth with shredded Sardines for Moon Glow. As she set the table, Moon Glow who is always a food grub was nowhere to be seen. Heavens! this critter! I could sense she is in one of her tantrum moods. Pampered paopei! 

"Moonie Boo", she called out in a sing song voice a couple of times but not a whisper of a response. She walked back to the front of the house and there in front of the stone bird bath, her Ragdoll was in a deep animated back and forth mew and chirp, meowrr-- growrr and tweet--twitter---squawk with a Wood Thrush. 

Thrush looked very important as he flailed one wing at the Magnolia tree and the other at Moon Glow's snack bowl. 

Amused, Xiu watched this hilarious scene unfold when the Thrush concluded it with flailing both his wings over his head exasperatedly and took off splattering a few drops of water on the cat's head...like a sacred blessing ? It seemed exactly that when Moon Glow stretched his torso back and front paws forward like it was prostrating to the vanishing Thrush high up in the clouds. 

What! What was this comic secret right in the middle of a Mid-Summer morning!

Moon Glow looked smug and hoity toity as she huffed at the Magnolia tree top and tail held high swaggered inside to the call for breakfast. The Wood Thrush had given her words of wisdom. 

The squirrels would no longer be welcome to free food from my snack bowl. I will nip their tails and dunk them right in this bird bath. Would love to see them scamper away like water logged rats in their heavy fur. Entitled rodents!

 *****

By the time the calendar turned its heavy pages into the deep months of summer, the gentle silver mists of spring had completely vanished from the valley. In their place had arrived the fierce, unyielding spirit of the Year of the Tiger, rolling across the landscape like a golden predator.

The Alishan peaks no longer looked like a soft painting; they stood sharp and jagged against a brilliant, blinding blue sky. The persistent, heavy heat had settled over the ridge, thick and muggy, baking the emerald green tea terraces until the air itself seemed to shimmer. 

Down in the lower valley, the slate-paved lanes of the village radiated heat like the floor of a brick kiln, and even the mountain streams slowed to a lazy, quiet trickle over the scorching river stones.

Inside the secure timber walls of The Jade Shambhala, the thick gnarled Magnolia wood offered a cool, shaded refuge from the roaring tiger sun outside. 

On the wide wooden window seat, Moon Glow had abandoned her plush quilted rug completely. Seeking the coolest spot in the house, the thick-furred white Ragdoll lay fully stretched out on the bare, polished cedar boards, her chest rising and falling in slow, heavy breaths.

Lin Xiu-Ying stood behind the dark wooden counter, wiping down the polished surface with a damp cloth. The soft robes of spring had been replaced by sleeveless, cotton tops for the summer glare. Her jet-black hair was pinned tighter than usual, bound in a high, immaculate knot at the crown of her head

As she looked out through the open windows at the glaring bamboo groves in the distance, she knew this fierce Tiger season would demand a completely different kind of medicine. Something cooling to tame the blazing heat.

She turned to the heavy terracotta jars, selecting a handful of toasted, nut-brown barley grains and a perfectly ripe, sun-speckled Asian pear hand-picked from the tree in the backyard. 

With deliberate, practiced cuts, she sliced the crisp, pale flesh into translucent rounds, dropping them into a deep earthenware pot alongside the parched barley. As the boiling mountain water hit the ingredients, it released a comforting fragrance. It was a rustic, age old tonic designed to cool the blood and clear the heavy summer glare.

*****

The air tastes like the bright, warm yellow lemon tart. The wind makes a low whistling noise through the pine needles... 

The noisy black Mynah birds are flocked again on the stone path, screaming at a leaf and poking through the cracked tiles. One of them has a yucky, gluey earthworm in its beak. 

Eeww !Gross! 

Another bugger too lazy to go foraging is trying to snatch the writhing worm from its mouth. Birdy brawl has broken out! Pesks ! They're always screaming at something or the other.

But today, high up on the very top branch of the Persimmon tree, there is a different bird. It is tiny and blue, with a belly the color of a Koi fish. It only comes when the air gets warm like this and the trees are full of flowers.

I remember its song from a very long time ago, when I was much younger. This one doesn't screech like the Mynah. It only stays for a little while singing melodiously before  flying away through the clouds again.

I tried to creep up the trunk to say “hello there, do you remember me?” but my paws are feeling heavy and lazy. 

Xiu has built a very big fire in a round iron pot. There is a new, sweet smell in the room—like squished beans and hot sugar bubbling in the big pans for her nom nom. It 

It's full of hot, crunchy sand and dry garden leaves... maybe some herbs too that she dries in the sun when it is big and yellow all day.

The trickling rain is starting to poke at the glass window, but I'm not going outside today. I'm staying right here with and watching it slide on the pane while I gaze at it sleepily.

The soft trickle sounds like a bedtime song when Xiu is busy. But at night she sings me to sleep while stroking my head and covering me with a hand knitted tiger quilt. Oh! She played the soft music which puts me to sleep. 

Lovely day. 

Looks like no one is going to walk up the garden on this day. 

*****

The gentle, woody plucking of a Guzheng melody floated softly from the small cassette player in the corner, blending with the steady, quiet hiss of the iron kettle on the stove. 

Lin Xiu-Ying stood at the camphor wood counter, fastening the peony-closures of her thick, quilted indigo cotton. She looked over at the wicker basket by the hearth, where her three-year-old Moon Glow was already curled into a deep, purring circle, her chin pressed firmly against the striped, herb-scented Tiger poultice bag.

"Enjoy your cozy comfort, Moonie Boo" Xiu-Ying said softly, smoothing down a stray tuft of fur on the cat's head. "The village path is wet today, but the pantry must be refilled."

Before heading out to the village for her groceries, Xiu-Ying checked her morning ledger one last time. Arranged neatly along the wooden counter were three parcels wrapped in heavy, oil-brushed brown paper, tied securely with hemp twine—mail-order shipments of an assortment of tea leaves delivered from rare Alishan high-mountain. 

Next to them lay a fresh bundle of hand-rolled jasmine, green tea and agarwood incense sticks, their fragrance lingering subtly in the air, and a small wooden crate containing a brand-new set of dark, unpolished clay tea bowls newly delivered from the valley kilns. She checked her inventory and was content that all the tea accessories had arrived in good shape.

Xiu-Ying pulled on a wide-brimmed rain hat and a heavy oilcloth cape. She slipped her feet into her sturdy wooden clogs and stepped across the stone threshold.

The descent down the Yun Shan Ridge was a quiet journey through walls of shifting green and grey. The stone steps, worn smooth by generations of travelers and coated in slick, dark mountain moss, wound down through the dense pine stands. The soft summer drizzle was a welcome respite.

As the trail flattened out, the deep, solitary silence of the high pines began to dissolve, replaced by the rising, familiar hum of Sian-Phô village.

The village square was alive with a hurried, energy. The narrow alleyways smelled of rich aroma of charcoal-toasted chestnuts from street braziers, boiling peanut oil from the dumpling stalls, and the sharp, vinegar tang of the pickling vats. 

Bicycles clinked over the wet cobblestones, their bells ringing out as vendors swerved  the puddles with wooden carts loaded high with red lanterns and bundles of pampas grass for the upcoming Autumn Harvest Moon night.

Xiu-Ying made her way past the crowded post office counter, dropping off her next mail orders for the festive season before steering toward the open-air produce stalls at the northern edge of the market square. 

She needed fresh ginger, cabbages, yams,  taros, eggs and roasted water chestnuts for the evening meal. Also some minced meat for Moon Glow. 

But as she approached the heavy timber crates, slumped over a pile of watermelons and muddy lotus roots was the village greengrocer Bo-Bûn, his eyes wide and clouded with weariness. 

Xiu-Ying stopped to inspect his produce, but noticed his hands were raw from sorting roots and his face was completely pale. 

Placing her copper coins directly on the damp wooden barrel, gave the elderly man a slow, respectful bow of acknowledgment, and quietly moved down the lane.

Her next stop was the village butcher's stall at the back of the market to stock up on Moon Glow’s dinner. She selected a fresh, lean cut of jungle poultry trimmed neatly into thick cubes and had it wrapped in a fresh lotus leaf tied with hemp string. 

Her bamboo basket was fully loaded with the ingredients for her warm cabbage--egg congee and Moon Glow’s evening meal.

****

To Be Continued...

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