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I frowned. "Chief, last year your wife was gravely ill. I'm the one who warded off the calamity for her. Have you forgotten?"
The chief said coldly, "That was the doctor's skill. What did it have to do with you?"
"And two years ago your son was lured down South and vanished. I'm the one who worked out where he was, so the two of you could be reunited. Have you forgotten that too?"
The chief only grew more impatient. "That was the officer doing his job, tracking him down. Gail, quit gilding your own name."
He planted his hands on his hips. "Stalling with me is useless. Get out of our village, now."
"This is my home," I said. "Chief or not, you have no grounds to drive me out."
He was beside himself now. "Don't throw away the kindness we're offering you."
"Right now it's me telling you this, and me giving you time to pack up. If you don't know what's good for you, someone else comes, and they won't be so polite."
I said quietly, "You mean the Dickersons, don't you?"
Guilt flickered across his face, but he was quick to give a cold snort. "So you do know. You brought this on yourself, offending the Dickersons. Don't drag the rest of us down with you."
By then more and more villagers were crowding in.
Seeing the chief couldn't budge me, they started cursing me all at once.
"Gail, can't you take a hint? The Dickersons said if you're willing to leave, every family gets fifty thousand. Don't stand in the way of our money."
"The Dickersons already promised to get my son a spot in their company. If you don't leave, my family will never let this go."
"What's wrong with burying your mother somewhere else? She's just a dead woman. Why all the fuss?"
I looked at the villagers hurling curses at me, and something in me went cold.
These were people who had come to me for help more times than I could count.
And now, for a handful of scraps, every one of them turned on me as if they'd never known me.
After a moment, I let out a long sigh. "Fine. I'll move the grave."
My mentor once read our fortune. My mother and I were bound to this village for only thirteen years.
When the time came, my mother would be moved to the resting place fate had marked for her.
I once asked my mentor why we couldn't go straight to that burial ground, why we had to stay here thirteen years instead.
He said it was to settle a debt.
Now I understood. The debt to be settled was the one with the Dickersons.
If that was so, then let the grave be moved.
Under cover of night I went to my mother's grave and dug the earth alone with a spade.
A villager tried to come and help. I snapped at him in disgust. "Get away!"
They'd just driven me out of the village, and now they wanted to toss a couple of shovelfuls of dirt and play the good neighbor again. There was no bargain that cheap in this world.
Before long, my mother's ashes were out of the ground.
I gathered up the urn and turned to leave.
That was when I saw several luxury cars pulling up.
It was Antony Dickerson.
He looked at me with a sneer. "Gail, weren't you so full of yourself this afternoon? How come you're clearing out now?"
"Buying off your whole village didn't even cost a million. That's about what I spend on one meal."
"Poor people are so easy to get rid of. Hahaha."
Antony jeered at the top of his lungs, but the villagers acted like they hadn't heard a word, still thick-skinned enough to press in around him and heap on the flattery.
Antony lifted an urn down from the car and called out, "In a little while my ancestors go into the ground, and every one of you is going to wail for me. Anyone who cries out loud gets ten thousand."
The villagers' sobbing rose to the heavens in an instant.
The Dickerson ancestors' ashes were soon buried, and I counted under my breath. "One, two, three…"
And then every one of them froze in shock.
