~~~
There were only four streetlights still spreading light when Zade and Cha Cha came out of the Bambamboo Park DTR exit, all of them focused on the row of fighting schools stretched out ahead on the main road. The actual park [opposite the fighting schools] was covered mostly in shadow, probably all the way to the harbourside, a place where dead bodies were sometimes pulled out of the water or, if the killers got lazy, left half buried on the beach. I really hope Luco didn’t go that way, thought Zade, but didn’t say it out loud. Instead, he put paws inside his hoodie, kept his head pointing left and followed the pavement down towards the lights.
‘Wow, I never knew there were so many fighting schools here,’ said Cha Cha, reading each sign they passed.
‘You haven’t been here before?’
‘Nuut.’
‘Never?’
‘Ah, when I was a kid, one time. Can’t remember anything about it though…just Sala Chat, the four and a half gang war, Dog Lee’s school, the old cat…Lo something…’
Zade pointed down the line of buildings. ‘This is the main street, for the tourists. It goes down about a kilometre.’
An old dog in a tattered SPITA[1] tracksuit standing nearby came to life and reached out for Zade’s paw, holding it tight.
‘Waaa…’ said Cha Cha, freezing on the spot.
‘Fifty dollars and I’ll show you how to win any fight anywhere,’ grunted the old dog, trying to mask a follow-up cough.
‘Nuut, thank you,’ answered Zade, letting the old dog keep his paw.
‘I’m a master, got a school down there, that alley…’
‘Thank you, but nuut,’ repeated Zade, a little more firmly.
The old dog looked at Zade’s fur, then his paw. ‘I’ll suck your claws for ten dollars.’
Zade put his other paw on the old dog’s arm and lifted it off.
‘Five dollars?’
Zade patted the old dog on the shoulder then took Cha Cha’s paw and guided her back down the street. He continued where he’d left off. ‘See this street…the one we’re walking on…’
‘Ka…’ said Cha Cha, reactivating.
‘All the most famous, commercial schools are set up here, mainly cos they can afford the rent. There are smaller schools down some of the side streets and alleys, that’s where Dog Lee started out. Lo Cat Gah too...the old master from Yit Sing. Dog Hood’s school is farther down this road, almost at the end. Unless he’s moved, I’m not sure. Just before that, you’ve got the street that leads to the Quarter Heart Fountain and…there’s more, other types…let me think a second.’
‘You’re like a talking map. Have you been here before?’
‘Ka, a long time ago.’
‘You never told me that.’
‘Didn’t I?’
‘Nuut.’
‘I thought I told you…’
‘Nuut.’
‘Oh.’
‘Details please.’
Zade looked across at the park, scanning the railings set up around the perimeter. ‘It was a long time ago. I don’t like to talk about it.’
‘You mean you had fights here? Dogs paid you to fight other tigers when you first came to Dogholm and didn’t have any money in your pocket?’
‘What?’
‘Wah, I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘Nuut.’
‘Eh? Then what did you come here for?’
Zade mumbled an answer, but it was too soft and garbled for Cha Cha to catch so she asked him to repeat it.
‘I said…I was a mascot at the Sha Lau.’
‘What?’
‘A mascot. At the Sha Lau, the big tea house.’
‘You? A mascot?’ Cha Cha looked at a toy weapons shop nearby, confused. ‘Wouldn’t that scare customers away?’
‘Forget it.’
‘Or did they make you wear something cute?’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Like the Coconut Tiger costume?’
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‘Nuut.’
Cha Cha giggled to herself.
‘Don’t giggle.’
‘Sorry.’
‘You’re still giggling.’
Cha Cha sucked in her lips and tried to stop giggling, but then she thought of Zade dressed up in the Coconut Tiger costume from the old tiger cartoon and started laughing again.
‘There’s Dog Lee’s school,’ said Zade, holding out a paw.
‘Huh, where?’
‘Down there. The one with the old-fashioned sign, and the green lanterns hanging up.’
‘Wow, that’s like a hundred metres away. Are you trying to change the topic?’
Zade looked left, at the shop next to them. ‘Ah look, the axe school, it’s still here.’
‘Get off the cannon[2]. They train dogs to use axes?’ asked Cha Cha, gawping at the posters in the window showing dogs posing with two, three, even four axes in their paws.
‘At this school, ka. I think there’s another axe school down the side street, but it might be closed down now.’
‘I had no idea.’
‘They have everything around here, pretty much. Axes, ninja stars, boxing, Polo Surv, Grip Fu, Cat Flex, Coo-jitsu, Dog Chi, Raaaa-ta, Hissssshta, Leopard Swish-tik, archery, shell tossing, slap, pinch, Judu for the elderly, Judu for people with no legs…’
‘Which one is the alley where Sala Chat was killed?’ interrupted Cha Cha, scanning the other side of the street..
‘Murdered,’ corrected Zade. ‘The next alley along…should be.’
‘Her real murder site?’
‘Ka.’
‘Hmm, I never got to see it before, teachers wouldn’t let us, said it was too violent.’
‘It’s just an alley.’
‘That’s what I thought.’ Cha Cha bit her top lip. ‘Is it true you can still see some of her dried blood on the ground?’
‘Nuut. Or not that I know of. But if you look at some of the building pillars down the alley…or the long bits of wood, I don’t know what they’re called…you can see the sword marks from some of the strikes.’
‘The ones that missed her?’
‘Ka.’
Cha Cha walked ahead a little bit and stopped by a sign at the start of the next alley. ‘In 1826, the martyr Sala Chat was attacked and murdered at this very spot. It took eighteen assassins to finally bring her down, though their victory was shortlived. A year after her death, the gangs were driven out of Bambamboo Park and the Code of Sala was established. In blood we write, in blood we fight.’ Cha Cha rubbed her head, scutinising the surprisingly well-lit alley. There were several dogs taking photos, some cooks from the local noodle bars smoking cigarettes, and one dog lying on the ground, pretending to crawl while his friend pointed a camera at him. Cha Cha watched them play out their little scene, biting her top lip again. ‘Looks like a tourist trap.’
Zade nodded. ‘There’s another sign at the end of the alley, the place where she died.’
‘You mean she didn’t die here?’
‘Nuut. According to real historical sources, she fought halfway down the alley then crawled another 100 metres after being cut down.’
‘Wow. That’s heroic.’
‘Ka.’
‘Don’t know if I could do that.’
Zade looked at Cha Cha, waiting for the smile or the laughter. None came. Instead, she stared solemnly at the alley for a few seconds then continued down the main street.
‘How come you know that whole story and I don’t?’ Cha Cha asked without looking back.
‘Nuut kaata.’
‘Cos you used to work here?’
‘I’m interested in ancient heroes, I guess.’
‘You don’t know?’
‘What?’
‘You said I guess…’
Zade looked at the wall, not sure what to say.
‘Actually,’ continued Cha Cha, ‘I knew about her general story, her name and that she died in an alley, but…who killed her? Was she betrayed by anyone? Did she really crawl 100 metres after being stabbed or is that just a…what do you call it…exaggeration? Ka, exaggeration. I hate that word. How can anyone do that though, crawl so far with stab wounds? Wouldn’t it hurt every time you moved?’
‘Probably. A lot. Nuut kaata.’
‘That’s three different answers.’
‘Ka.’ Zade looked back at the alley entrance, trying to think of something more definitive. ‘Maybe adrenaline kicked in and she couldn’t really feel it that much…or maybe she interned[3] it, the pain. Some tiger heroes could do that, block out the pain, so they were able to…’
‘Hey, this is it.’
‘…keep fighting even…huh, what?’
‘Dog Lee’s place. We’re here.’
‘Didn’t I say that already?’ asked Zade, confused.
‘Nuut,’ said Cha Cha, jabbing her paw forward in the air, ‘that was a hundred metres back. We’re really here now. And look, the light’s still on in the window.’
‘He’s still open at this hour?’
As soon as Zade finished speaking, the door opened and a tall female dog with a long ponytail walked out, followed by an equally tall, muscular dog in a very tight vest and green pyjama pants. Well, they were tall for dogs, but quite short when put next to Zade.
Zade and Cha Cha quickly stepped backwards into the doorway of the next shop along, which, luckily, was already closed for the night, and listened in.
‘It’s so kind of you to teach me this late,’ said the female dog who, now that she was standing beneath the glow of the streetlight, was revealed to be none other than Wu Dog Yan, the star of many Dog TV dramas as well as the owner of her late mother’s mega factory.
‘My students are my life, I will do anything to help them fight better,’ replied Dog Lee, before looking at the nearest streetlight and adding, ‘though it is quite late.’
‘Hey, isn’t that the woman from the dog drama we just watched?’ asked Zade in a low voice [that wasn’t actually that low cos he was a tiger].
Cha Cha stared dead ahead, hypnotised.
‘Ka, the one on our living room wall…and in the factory canteen. Wu something…’
‘Wu Dog Yan,’ whispered Cha Cha, her eyes finally blinking.
‘It is her then?’
‘Here…’
Zade frowned, looking at the top of Wu Dog Yan’s head. ‘She looks taller in real life.’
‘So tall…’
‘And quite pretty too.’
‘So pretty…’
‘Would you like a lift back home?’ asked Wu Dog Yan, opening the door to a very sleek and low-roofed car.
‘Ka…’ said Cha Cha, way too loud.
Both Wu Dog Yan and Dog Lee pivoted fast, half raising their arms in instinctive defence as they glared at the dog and tiger standing in the shadows. Zade quickly moved a giant paw over Cha Cha’s mouth. ‘Sorry, we were just waiting for our-…’
Before Zade could finish, Dog Lee had leapt across the pavement and gripped him on the armpit. ‘Let go of the girl, beast…’
‘Hey…’
Dog Lee tightened his grip on Zade then, after failing to have any effect, tried to sweep his left leg off the concrete. It didn’t work. The kung fu master tried again, harder, but this time managed to injure his own ankle. Sucking in emergency breath, he stepped back and performed an elaborate Dog Chi pose, as if he had planned all along to do everything he’d just done.
‘I said, let go of the girl, tiger,’ Dog Lee repeated.
‘You pinched me in the armpit,’ mumbled Zade, trying to rotate his shoulder.
‘Let. Go. Of. The. Girl.’
‘Nuut, you don’t underst-…’
‘Now!’
‘Okay, okay…I’m letting go.’ Zade pulled his paw away from Cha Cha’s mouth, not that Cha Cha noticed; she was still too busy gawping at Wu Dog Yan.
‘Smart move,’ said Dog Lee, returning to a normal standing pose. ‘Now wait here while I call the police.’
~~~
----------------------------------------
[1] A sports company run by cats from Yek Da Sing, strangely popular all over Kāatlandō.
[2] An old dog idiom – similar to ‘get out of town/you can’t be serious’
[3] He means ‘internalised’ [as you may have noticed, neither Zade nor Luco are native level speakers of dog language].