Jackal by Jeff Stone Page B

is going to accept Mr. Chang’s offer to try riding in China for a week!” Hú Dié said without missing a beat. “Is that not exciting?” She wiped more tears from her face.
    Phoenix eyed her suspiciously. “Then why are you crying?”
    “Because I am
happy
,” Hú Dié said. “It does not erase all of my sadness, of course, but it makes me feel better. Are you not excited?”
    “No. I’m leery.” Phoenix turned to me. “Is it true?”
    “You bet, bro!” I said, trying my best to sound stoked. “I want us to keep hanging out together. Hú Dié has to go back home, so, you know, the only way for us to chill is for all of us to go there.”
    Phoenix still didn’t look convinced. “Hú Dié is going to race?”
    “Yes,” she answered. “I will talk with Ling and Mr. Chang about me spending a few days with my mother, then joining you in Shanghai. If I need to hurry back home forsome reason, Shanghai is only a few hours away from Kaifeng by bullet train.”
    “Bullet train?” Phoenix said, smiling a little. “I’ve always wanted to ride on one of those.”
    “There is a bullet train that runs from Shanghai airport to downtown Shanghai,” Hú Dié said. “You will probably ride it after you land.”
    Phoenix’s smile grew. “This sounds legit.”
    “It is,” I said. “We’re going to China.”
    “Rock and roll!” Phoenix said. “Have you told Ryan yet?”
    “Nope.”
    Phoenix spun his bike around, aiming it up the narrow game trail. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s get back to my house and call him!”

We made it back to Phoenix’s house even faster than Hú Dié and I had ridden to the river, which was a good thing. She and I had spent too much time talking, and she still needed to shower and pack.
    Hú Dié kicked off her shoes and raced into the house, while Phoenix and I remained outside on the back porch. It wasn’t that I was afraid to go inside; it’s just that I was filthy. His house may have been small, but it looked neat as a pin.
    Phoenix’s grandfather and Uncle Tí came out to greet me, and I tried to not react to what I saw. Phoenix’s grandfather had gone through some rough times over the past few months, and it showed. His tall, slender body was now hunched and kind of shaky; and his previously long, thick hair had become wispy and thin. Phoenix’s uncle Tí looked the same way he’d always looked, like a healthy, middle-aged Chinese physician with a receding hairline.
    I took off my helmet and shook my hair out.
    “Wow,” Uncle Tí said. “I wish I had hair like that.”
    I laughed. “Hi,” I said.
    “Hello, Jake.”
    Phoenix’s grandfather nodded his hello. He wasn’t much of a talker. I nodded back.
    Uncle Tí looked at the soil and leaves stuck to my legs, and he grinned. “It was kind of you to take Hú Dié for a quick ride. It clearly improved her mood.”
    “No big deal. It helps me all the time, but I didn’t plan it. I actually came here to talk to Phoenix.”
    “Yeah,” Phoenix said. “Guess what?”
    “Jake has decided to conquer China, after all?” Uncle Tí asked.
    “Yes!” Phoenix said.
    “Congratulations to both of you,” Uncle Tí said. “Ryan, too.”
    “Thanks,” I said. “I wouldn’t have won that race in California if it wasn’t for them pulling me.”
    “Does Ryan know about your decision?”
    “Not yet. I’m about to call him. I actually need to call my folks first, though. I haven’t even told them my decision yet.”
    “Don’t let us get in your way,” Uncle Tí said. “We just came out to say hello.”
    “Thanks,” I said.
    Phoenix’s grandfather and Uncle Tí headed back into the house.
    I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and saw that it wasn’t quite noon. Perfect. Lunchtime was about the only time you could catch my mother on a workday. I called her cell.
    She picked right up.
    “Jake?” my mother said.
    “Hi, Mom,” I said. “I know you’re busy, so I won’t keep you. I just need to