The Great Worm Lich

“It seems like calling to purchase poisonous animal is less convincing, than visiting the pet store myself,” Zhang Lisheng sighed and mumbled. He wanted to wind down the window a little for some fresh air and happened to see George returning happily. He brought two small, flat girls who both wore braces to the car.

Soon George opened the door and gotten into the backseat with the two girls. He smiled while introducing them, “Lisheng, this is Lina and Hannah. They’re our eighth-grade juniors. Lina, Hannah, this is Lisheng, he’s my best friend.”

“The car’s not too shabby but he’s too skinny. Hi senior, my name’s Lina,” Lina wore a red jacket, she had short hair and looked exuberant. She looked like a little boy.

“Hi senior, my name’s Hannah. It’s nice meeting you,” Hannah wore a white jacket with shoulder-length hair. Her features were a little close to each other. However, she was not considered ugly nor beautiful.

“Hi juniors,” Zhang Lisheng replied and smiled courteously.

“Okay, since we’ve known each other, now let’s go somewhere for lunch. How about the Giant Corbett Pizza near our school? There’s a secluded table by the window, we could eat and talk there…”

“Pizza again, Senior George, you’re as immature as those eighth-grade boys. Pizza’s not the only food in this world. Let’s go to Queens for some foreign cuisine like Turkey tacos and potato stew from Postroff. I read it on some travel guides online recently and surprised to find so many interesting things in Queens, New York. People from all over the world would visit there, but as a New Yorker who is born and bred here, I’ve never been there before.”

Hearing that Lina wanted to go to Queens all of the sudden, George turned gloomy and said awkwardly, “Actually, there’s nothing much in Queens. Turkey tacos taste very different from pizzas…”

“Senior George, don’t tell me that you’re afraid of going to Queens just like those little boys?”

“Of… Of course, I’m not afraid. Actually, I grew up there.”

“Really? Senior did you really grow up in Queens! Oh, I don’t know any boys from Queens, let alone dating one. If that’s the case, shouldn’t you bring me to Queens, even more, to fulfill your prom date’s curiosity?”

“Lina, so… so you agreed to be my prom date at the prom?” George was stunned for a moment and said in surprise, “Okay, drive, Lisheng. Let’s go to Queens now.”

Zhang Lisheng was stunned slightly and turned his head to smile at the girls. He then grabbed George’s collar and said into his ear after gotten close to his head, “Are you crazy, George? I can’t believe that you’re willing to go to Queens again just to get yourself a prom date for that stupid prom.”

George replied softly, “Calm down buddy. We went there to talk business with lions the last time, we’re going to watch a monkey show this time. There are communities in Queens that are not as bad as you think. We can visit the streets with more tourists and leave before the sky turns dark, nothing will happen.”

“That’s what you think. Listen to me, I’m not afraid of taking a risk. The key is whether this is worth taking a risk.”

“If you grew up in a trash community where there’s crime everywhere, the biggest dream of your life would be having a normal life like a normal American boy and you would know it’s worth taking the risk this time,” George said calmly in all seriousness.

Zhang Lisheng spoke after a moment of silence, “Alright then, as a Chinese, I might never understand an American’s mindset, but as a friend who owes you a favor, I’ll go to Queens with you this time and bring you back in one piece. But remember George, this is the last time,” He then sat up straight on the driver’s seat, started the engine and drove towards Queens after setting the navigation.

The traffic on the last rest day before Christmas in New York was chaotic. Due to Zhang Lisheng’s lousy driving skill, they took an hour and a half to get to Queens Flushing community. It was Tina who requested to come here. On the way to Queens, she was looking at travel guides on her phone with Hannah for a long time and eventually decided that Flushing, the community with most Asians lived would be their first stop.

Before getting off the car, George was blabbering to avoid an awkward situation, “My brother’s a super genius, he could guess a Powerball number. He could calculate the Powerball number by the ball’s weight, the shaker’s material, the wind resistance in the studio and some other nonsense. Unfortunately, he didn’t put his skill into good use. He went on making money by winning those guessing games and studying how to make some advanced bookmark. Damn, I told him it’s just too stupid to do that. Who still reads now? Isn’t bookmark rubbish no matter how advanced it is…”

Unfortunately, the girls ignored what George was talking about completely, “Ah huh, look, Hannah, it’s really like foreign country here with yellow-skinned Asians everywhere. There are many stalls selling weird stuff, this is so interesting. Senior George, your brother’s story’s great, but we’re getting off the car,” Lina then opened the door and hopped off with Hannah.

“Oh, Lisheng, what are you still thinking about? Let’s get off the car too,” George was stunned for a moment and said while patting Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder who remained high spirited. The streets in Flushing were considered wide with people walking in and out. This community considered the main shopping area in Queens. You could find any souvenirs here, weird ones too and the price was pretty cheap.

The four of them had their stomachs growling with hunger. After getting a couple of northern Chinese chicken wraps, the girls began chuckling as they ate while shopping happily. George would walk with Lina and Hannah occasionally while bargaining with many store owners who hardly spoke English using his hands. Meanwhile, Zhang Lisheng stood aside calmly with his backpack.

Seeing that he said nothing, Lina turned her head playfully and winked at him. She said in high spirit, “Senior Lisheng, girls don’t like boys who pretend to be cool now. We usually prefer guys who are funny and outgoing. You behaving like this is hard to get Hannah to be your prom date.”

“So what should I do?” Zhang Lisheng thought about it and asked directly. Lina was taken aback and looked at Hannah while flushing with embarrassment, “I’ve no idea. Maybe you could shop with us. I heard from George that you’re from China, you must be able to speak good Chinese. Help us… Oh, look at that Hannah, look how pretty that necklace is. Let’s go see…”

She grabbed her friend’s hand and ignored Zhang Lisheng. They traveled through the crowd and went into the store across the street, selling many sparkly little things at the display. The two years difference was nothing if it was 24 and 26. However, the difference between 14 and 16 was like a kid and a young man to some people.

Watching the two girls running away, Zhang Lisheng said to George, “George, they’re kids.”

“Lisheng, we’re kids too,” George showed his shiny teeth and smiled pretending to be innocent, “Alright my little adult friend, let’s go over there,” He grabbed Zhang Lisheng by force and walked to the souvenir store written ‘All Wishes Come True’ on the sign across the street. It was dimmed in the old house, there were stains on the paint coating of the wooden cabinets. There were weird items on sale, it was rather interesting. However, the items had no value if one was to calculate properly…

Looking around at the entrance, Zhang Lisheng walked behind George without saying a word. They were close to Lina and Hannah who were bargaining with the shop owner. The shop owner was a plump middle-aged man with beautiful side whiskers wearing a rather old white Arabian robe. He had Asian black hair, sharp features like Caucasians, long chin like brown people and black people skin.

He was speaking fluent English with an accent similar to George as he called out strictly, “Listen here two beautiful ladies, this is an authentic opal necklace. It came from middle-eastern country Kosovo which is far away, I excavated it from an ancient queen’s tomb at the desert when I was young. I won’t ever sell it if I didn’t run away from home due to war and having to survive in America by selling my precious treasures. 12 dollars, not even a cent less. That’s my last price.”

Naturally, nobody would believe his nonsense. However, the two young ladies had no idea what to say while looking at the granite-like serious face on the middle-aged man before them. All that they could do was to hold onto the necklace with green precious stone right in front of them while looking mystified.

George thought he finally had the opportunity to be a hero. He walked up immediately and stood between the girls and the shop owner. He shook his head as he spoke, “Wait, wait, wait. My friend from the middle east, no matter how I look at it, this green…”

Hearing George’s Queens accent, the store owner frowned in annoyance. However, his expression had a drastic change when he saw Zhang Lisheng who was carrying his backpack, standing among the pile of broken stuff as he looked further away from George. He exclaimed in excitement, “Oh look, who do I see? It’s the Asian-skinned, flat-nose backpacker who drove a luxurious car outside my store earlier. Ni hao friend, you come from the old and great Chinaland?” He spoke in broken Mandarin with a ridiculous accent when he said the last sentence.