the Fraser Canyon, some 8000 Chinese were employed. During the five year period, an estimated 1500 died.
Throughout those years and well into the next century, Legislation against the Chinese persisted, as did anti-Chinese feeling on the part of many citizens. In spite of such discrimination, the Chinese presence continued to grow, becoming an integral and enriching thread in the fabric of Canadian society.
Chapter 1
Jasmine, run! Cords of panic tightened around her chest. Her heart raced with fear.
Run! Don’t look back! The warning came too late. Piercing yellow lights sprang out of the blackness. A white shape leaped towards her. She tried to scream but the sound strangled in her throat. Then, total darkness. Pressure. Rising terror. As if she were buried alive.
Run! She struggled to break the paralyzing hold gripping her body. If only she could move, if...
“Aieee!” The scream jolted her awake. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was or even who she was. And who had screamed? Surely that hadn’t been her voice.
For a long time she lay awake, trying to make sense of the recurring nightmare. The voice was becoming clearer. Someone was reaching out to her, and getting closer all the time.
“Two for me, one for the bowl.” Jasmine Steele knelt on the damp ground, happily picking her first crop of strawberries.
The strawberries had been her project right from the start. “You won’t have to do anything,” she promised, knowing how her parents hated gardening. “I’ll do everything myself.” And she had, from buying the plants to keeping out the deer. All her digging, planting, weeding and watering had resulted in perfect strawberries, plump, juicy and sweet. Perfect tens, she thought, treating herself to another one. Just like today.
So what if she’d had the nightmare again. By morning there was never anything left of it, nothing she could remember. And so what if it was raining. The rain brought out the smells of summer—wild roses, freshly-cut grass, and the best-ever strawberries. She popped another one into her mouth. Only three weeks until summer holidays, her last summer as a regular kid. In seven months she’d be a teenager. And today, this perfect ten day, was Thursday. She brushed off her jeans, picked up the bowl and hummed her way into the house.
“Ta da!” She placed the strawberries on the table, bowed, and with a “Hold the applause!” raced off to the phone.
“Who are you phoning?” her mother asked. “Can’t it wait till after breakfast?”
“Krista and Becky. I’ve got to remind them about something.”
“You’ll be seeing them in ten minutes.” With an exasperated sigh, Heather Steele poured herself another cup of coffee. “Just wait,” she said to her husband. “As soon as she gets off the phone she’ll remind me about tai chi and tell me she’ll be late for supper. Every Tuesday and Thursday, for the last six months, she’s said the same thing.”
Martin Steele laughed. “I’m not going to bet against that one.” He bit into a strawberry. “Mmmm. These ripened beautifully.”
“They wouldn’t dare not to,” Heather said. “Not with Jasmine growing them.”
“What else can we get her to plant this summer? Corn? Peas?” His mouth watered at the thought. “She’d grow a terrific garden.”
Heather agreed. “She’ll do anything, once she sets her mind to it.”
Jasmine bounded back and slid into her chair. “Don’t forget, Mom, I’ve got tai chi after school so I’ll be late for supper.” She poured herself a heaping bowl of corn flakes and buried them in strawberries.
“How’s Krista? And Becky? Have you got their day organized?”
“Uh-huh. We’re practicing our play at recess and lunch. And I reminded them about the hot dog notice. Have you filled mine out?”
“It’s in your pack.”
“If you’re going shopping we’re out of chocolate chip cookies and there’s only two apples left.” She spread peanut butter on a piece of toast, covered it with slices of apple, then added a layer of strawberries. “Yurn! Do you want a bite, Dad?”
“Heavens no,” he said. “It looks disgusting.”
“You have no taste,” she teased. “And don’t turn up your nose at something till you’ve tried it. Ever heard that before?”
“Isn’t it time you left for school?”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s under control.” She bolted down the rest of her toast and shoved her lunch and homework inside her pack. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, gave her mother and father a peck on the cheek and raced to the door. “Bye! And don’t eat all the strawberries.”
“Be careful,” her mother called after her. “The roads are slippery.”
No problem, Jasmine thought as she tore down the road. Nothing can go wrong today, not on tai chi Thursday. But what about next month, when the classes were finished?
Well, she’d just have to practice on her own. And there were so many other things she planned to do: swim in the river, camp on the beach, have sleep-overs at least once a week, help her mom work on the quilt so it would be finished for her birthday. And this summer, since she was almost thirteen, she was allowed to take the bus into Victoria. She and her friends could go to movies and malls and do all the city things they couldn’t do in Sooke. And maybe she’d plant a vegetable garden, since the strawberries were such a success.
“Hey, Krista! Becky!” She spun around the corner where her friends were waiting. “Is it too late to plant seeds for corn and stuff like that?”
“I don’t think so,” Krista said. “Why?”
“I’ve got this great idea for a garden. Do you want to help? We could grow pumpkins too and make a scarecrow....”
All the way to school they tossed out ideas, too excited to mind the drizzly rain. By the time they wheeled into the bike-racks they had a garden of huge proportions, complete with a goldfish pond and frogs that croaked all night.
“Do you want to come over?” Becky asked, when 3:00 finally came.
“Can’t. It’s—”
“Tai chi!” Krista looked at Becky and laughed. “You should know by now.”
“You should join,” Jasmine said. “It’s great.” “
You should take karate with us.”
“No way.” Jasmine grinned.
“If we all started like, tai chi, you’d switch to karate,” Becky said. “You’re such a non-conformist. Right?”
