Sisters in Taiwan
Pic fic number two involves photographs taken in the dark, with a very yellow light. I need to find out what kind of light will be white rather than yellow, as my camera isn’t able to compensate for this color, leaving me to modify every photo manually (auto levels in Gimp over-exposes the photos). Also, the girls in the last photo lack any shoes as I don’t yet have any other than their stock shoes. I know, I know, a writer/photographer shouldn’t settle for missing props for a scene.
This chapter of the story opens with Daniel receiving a letter in the mail. He reads it right away.
“Dear Mr. Dan,
“Related. Close in age. Not brothers. Seeing with the same difference. Our parents, always good and holy. Japanese plastic enters. Chinese plastic leaves. Buying new clothes on the hottest summer day. Postman knows nothing, tells all.”
Daniel looked at the letter a second time, then a third. “Close in age, but not brothers. A close relationship, but not boys. Sisters, no doubt. The sight part remains a mystery. Their parents have certainly passed on, for those in Heaven do no wrong. Goods from Japan are imported, and bootleg items go out. A shop to buy clothes while sweating from the heat of the sun? Referencing a sweatshop, no doubt. The postman would know nothing about this, but the address on envelope he delivered should give me all I need to know to begin my search.
“The country isn’t listed on the envelope, but a riddle instead. ‘Three outcomes, and nobody lost.’ Three outcomes, and one possible outcome is a loss? That would be a win, a loss, and a draw. Win, draw… Draw, win… A draw is a tie. Win tie, tie win, tie won…… That’s it! They are in a bootleg sweatshop in Taiwan!”
Daniel hurried to a friend who owned a plane and owed more than a few favors to an intrepid detective who’d helped him times innumerable. Within an hour, Daniel’s air travels to a location halfway across the globe took off. He arrived by morning, ready to sleep by his own timezone. The following days consisted of gathering information with the help of a trilingual Korean glad to finally repay the good detective for services rendered a year prior.
Sisters Jennifer and Clara Sheridan finished another day working at their step uncle’s plastic toy manufacturing shop. After 14 hours without meals or breaks, the two looked forward to finishing their day.
Returning to their small room, the sisters found two suitcases. Inside they found clothes, and a small two-way radio.
“You are no doubt wondering what two suitcases of clothes are doing in your room,” a voice spoke from the radio. “I have received your letter. Your uncle had done a lot of work to hide smuggling you two into the country, but he followed the same methods and cover ups as many others have before him. There are no new crimes, only history repeated time and again.”
“Is that really you, Detective Daniel?” the girl in the green dress asked.
“Aye, lass, and I’ll take you to the States, be it your desire. Wear outfits from those suit cases, so that I may recognize the two of you.”
“Wear these clothes?” the other girl asked. “Nothing in here looks like anything I’d want to wear, even if my life depended on it.”
“I’m a detective, not a fashion guru, and your very freedom is depending on it. Still, I anticipated this might happen. Look in the bottom of the suitcase. You’ll find a pink shirt and denim shorts. There were on display on one of the mannequins in the store I bought from. Surely it’s at least wearable.”
The younger sister took the outfit and changed. The older Sheridan looked longer, finding an outfit she liked, before changing as well.
Ready to go, the girls closed the suitcases, then followed Daniel’s instructions on where to go to meet with him. They hurried into the dark of the night, unaware the of the silhouette trailing after.
The two waited patiently for their hero to arrive.