Distant Cousins
Please see the disclaimer on the Synopsis page.
Year 1997
Henry Rafael McLean-Caine the third walked across the street toward the location listed on the sheet of paper that Mr. Taggett had given him. Henry stared into the narrow alleyway that didn't seem to lead anywhere. He was beginning to have his doubts. He questioned his grandfather's state of mind before he died.
Henry recalled being at his grandfather's bedside. His grandfather kept muttering how he would never find him, and how he should have told, Junior. Henry assumed that "Junior" had been his father. Henry never did ask what his grandfather meant by those words. He just assumed they were the mutterings of an old man whose mind was slowly fading into Alzheimers disease.
Henry shook his head for the umpteenth time that day. The man just could not be alive after all this time. He would be over 150 years old if he still lived. Though there have been reports of people living at least 110 years, living to 150 seemed farfetched and an impossible feat. Still, this was the last place that Kwai Chang Caine was said to now be living. It had been his grandfather's quest to seek a man that seemed as illusive as a dream, now it was Henry's quest.
Henry entered the alleyway and walked down the path. He found himself at a warehouse loading dock. The doors were closed since no business was conducted on a Sunday. He spied a fire escape that led up to a door on the fourth floor. He stepped back away from the building and looked up to see what he could see. He spotted a large terrace and could see some greenery sticking up from behind the wall. Well at least there was some life in this old brownstone, unless that was someone's office. But this was the address that he had been given, so Henry R. McLean-Caine the third made his way up the steps of the fire escape to the fourth floor to see about a man, a legend really, and if that legend still lived.
Henry quietly entered the building, his nerves on edge. He saw shadows of a figure moving in one room and what sounded like chanting in another. For just an instant, he wished he had brought his gun. Even though the noises that were coming from the place sounded pleasant enough, you never knew if what you were walking into was really a trap.
Henry McLean had faced many dangers before where he had been fooled. He wasn't about to face another. His cop's mentality told him he should go back for his gun, and yet something inside told him he would be blowing an opportunity if he were to leave now. Mister Taggett had given him this address, and Mister Taggett had been his family's lawyer for many years. Henry was not about to loose faith in the man just because the address he had been given wasn't the Waldorf Astoria.
On silent footsteps he crept, pulling out the worn, yellowed paper that Mr. Taggett had given to him. He opened the paper and stared at the fading drawing of a man, who was a legend in his family, a man whom he was beginning to believe was no more substantial than a ghost. For years his grandfather had searched for this man and not a trace had been found. What made him think that he would have any success when his grandfather had none? What was so special about this man in the poster anyway? Why hadn't he been found by now?
Henry stopped the chattering in his head and took a deep breath. He needed to slow the pounding of his heart, certain that it was loud enough for the others to hear. This was his task and his alone. If he did not step forward to have his questions answered, he would never know what might have been. The words of an old Chinese man that Henry had never met came to him. It will change his future, and yet, Henry wasn't certain he really wanted to know how that future would change. Still, if he did not act now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Keeping the paper unfolded, Henry glanced into one of the open rooms and nearly dropped the sheet at what he saw. A figure appeared to be floating in mid air, much like when a magician would levitate a lovely volunteer, but this was no magician's trick. Still, it wasn't so much that the man was floating without any assistance, but whom. For Henry Rafael McLean-Caine was staring into the face of Kwai Chang Caine.
Continues with Part 3
Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2003.
This story cannot be reprinted or sold in any other form without strict permission from
the author. It is being distributed here solely for your enjoyment.
Synopsis / Previous Part / Next Part
Back to Temple Tales / Contact
Alisa