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My Enemy
My Enemy
- by Ron D. Voigts
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Chi-Kuan cradled the cup of Oolong tea in his knotty hands, letting the steam roll to his
nostrils and soothe their dryness. Soon, he would travel to the market and deliver food
for the grocer, Tao. If he came late, his enemy, Guan-Hua, would get the best jobs of the
day. Chi-Kuan knew he was better, because he had a bike, while Guan-Hua had only a
cart. As Tao would say, "The first suckling to the sow is more satisfied."
A final swallow downed the hot liquid. Chi-Kuan wiped the inside of the cup clean with
his sleeve and stored it in a wood box. For a moment, he held his hands near the small
stove and warmed them with the last heat of the dying wood embers. He ducked low
through the door of their home, a hovel of planks and boards fastened together with nails
and twine, all materials appropriated from various construction sites around the city of
Shenzhen. Outside, his wife, Hui, hung wet shirts across bushes that grew by the ditch in
front of their house.
Behind the shack, a pile of loose shrubs and tree limbs hid Chi-Kuan's dismal green bike
with chrome fenders and wide tires. The leather seat had cracked and crumbled, but he
had found some heavy cloth and string to repair it. The bike served him well for the
work. When he pulled back the brush, it was gone!
"Hui! Hui! Someone has stolen my bike."
She dropped a bundle of cloth to the mud and ran. "But how? You hid it there last
night."
Chi-Kuan's mouth pulled into a tight circle as he groaned. "It is my enemy, Guan-Hua.
He has taken it." Chi-Kuan kicked the ground, scattering twigs and grass.
"Guan-Hau, you dog," Chi-Kuan called to the second floor of the apartment building. A
round-shouldered man with a squashed face poked through laundry hanging across the
balcony. He waved both fists overhead and shouted and spit down at Chi-Kuan.
A crowd gathered around Chi-Kuan. What has happened? Why are you angry? What
has this man done to you?
"My enemy, Guan-Hua, has stolen my bike and now I can not work. My wife and I will
starve." He covered his face and wept.
"You fool," Guan-Hua shouted down. "I did not take your bike. I have my cart for
delivering. It carries more than you can hold while on your bike." He hissed at Chi-
Kuan. "I'm coming down."
The crowd pressed around Chi-Kuan. See! He did not steal it. You have him wrong. He
is an honest man.
Guan-Hua marched toward Chi-Kuan. "What do you think?" He planted his fists on his
hips and flared his elbows out. "Do you think me a thief?"
"I think you try to ruin my business so you will do better."
Guan-Hua grunted. "You think that? You and I deliver side by side for twenty years."
He paced. "I'll show you."
He stormed off, back into the apartment building. A moment later he returned and
screamed, "Chi-Kuan, you fox! You've stolen my cart, while making everyone think I
was a thief. It's gone from under the stairs where I secretly kept it."
"I did no such a thing." Chi-Kuan's nostrils flared. "How can you think me a thief? We
have worked together for twenty years."
The crowd moaned with the men. You both are victims. You must go and tell the grocer,
Tao. Maybe he can help.
The two adversaries stood in front of Tao. They stared down at the floor, pushing the
grime around with their toes. Tao's fat cheeks pushed against his eyes as he peered at the
two foes. He hummed and shook his head. "You two, old fools! For decades, you
compete for my business. You delivered more." He aimed his chubby finger at Guan-
Hua's chest. Guan-Hua grinned. "But your legs limit your industry. And you, Chi-
Kuan, have a bike that reaches further than Guan-Hau." Chi-Kuan beamed. "But your
arms limit the amount you can deliver." Both men resumed kicking up the dust.
"Now," said Tao, "I have a proposition." He gestured with a sweeping arm to the back
of the store. "Come with me."
The two rivals followed the grocer past the sacks of rice, past the baskets of lychees and
longans, past the tanks of eels, fish and snakes. In the backroom, in a dark corner, he
stopped. He stripped back a canvas cover, sending clouds of dust into the air.
In front of them was the strangest invention either had ever seen. It was a large cart
fastened to a bicycle with two seats and two sets of pedals. "My two old friends, I made
this a long time ago, but knowing how you hated each other, I kept it my secret. Now
that your cart and your bike are gone, you two have no choice. But I leave the decision to
you both. You can deliver my wares with this machine as a team, or leave and go
hungry."
After much muttering to himself, Chi-Kuan mumbled, "I guess I can work with this old
dog."
Guan-Hau sniffed and rubbed his palms against his shirt "I suppose if I had to work with
a fox, better it be Chi-Kuan than anyone else."
Tao smiled and nodded. The crowd also smiled as the two pedaled by them. See they are
working. The grocer has solved the problem. They work well together.
Now two things of this story must be told.
A decade has passed and the team of Chi-Kuan and Guan-Hau still continues to deliver
for the grocer. The only problem ever is who will steer the two-man-bike-cart. Always a
word from Tao solves the dilemma. All in Shenzhen say that Chi-Kuan and Guan-Hua's
delivery service is the best.
What else must be told is who stole the bike and the cart. That has never been solved.
But as Tao says, "The taste of the food is more important than the cook's method."
Tao, the grocer, the philosopher and the inventor, also says, "A common goal will unite
most enemy."
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