March 22

Hmm first day of spring, its overcast temp is 5 C - well I guess no one ever said that spring was necessarily warm.
By the way, anyone following or just picking up the stories I put in here remember the continued ones are in a "reverse" order so to read the whole thing sequentially you have to scroll to where it started and work your way back.
Next part of the 'Pearce" story.

CHAPTER 5

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hey loaded the boat the next morning, then as part of cost of passage, Hoy Chang proudly pulled the rickshaw to his house and parked it. Then he and Lui said good by to Mrs., Chang who showed no sign of being disturbed by their probable lengthy absence.

  By mid morning everything and everybody was on board and they poled the boat out into the river, turned and headed downstream. As a precaution their meager belongings were covered with a net which in turn was covered with straw and a few baskets of vegetables. From the air they would look no different than the many other sampans that went up and down the river.

  Hoy Chang’s best estimate of when they would arrive at the river’s mouth was somewhere between forty and fifty days providing they traveled for twelve hours each day. He had added that with favorable winds it could be a little less.

  At one point Doctor Pearce was going to suggest that they set sixteen hours a day as their goal but after a few hours he recognized that in spite of Hoy’s skill as well as his grandson, that it wasn’t an easy task reading the river to find the best current and avoid shoals. The long tiller oar was heavy and required constant manipulation. He did get his wife to reluctantly agree that rather than stop for a full day on Sundays they would only pause for an extra hour in the morning and stop an hour early in the evening.

The days rolled up behind them, sticking to her theme on the day they had abandoned their home, Mrs. Pearce constantly reminded the children to look ahead, to anticipate what may be around the next bend.

  Several times in the first week, airplanes could be seen in the sky above them and twice they were buzzed by planes just above the river. As they had all taken to wearing the coolie style hats as protection from both sun and showers they surmised they looked just like any ordinary Chinese family going between villages.

  The tedium was hard on the children; the two older ones asked for and were given chores to do and to help with the steering of the boat. John when he was working with Lui gave simple English lessons and soon the two were talking easily together in a mix of English and Lui’s dialect.

  Day after day, mile after mile, sometimes tying up for the night at villages and towns, sometimes they simply put into the bank or to an island; the excitement of the beginning soon settled into monotony and they all looked forward to the occasional expedition to buy supplies.

  Hoy Chang’s estimate of how many days was quite accurate and under sail they pulled into the port of Guangzhou on the afternoon of the forty-fifth day. As they maneuvered through the busy waters Hoy Chang said.  “I have a cousin who lives over on the far side of the city, I think we should go there with the boat, he will be able to help you find a way to get to Hong Kong.”

  Two days later after saying good bye the family boarded a large junk that was transporting rice to the outer coast. It was almost a week before they docked in Hong Kong harbor.

  After finding accommodation in a hotel, Doctor Pearce proceeded to the British embassy to register their arrival and need for assistance.  A few daylight raids by Japanese aircraft had taken place just before their arrival and with the fear of more, they were found passage on a freighter bound for India.  Within two more days they were on the water once again. 

Author’s comments

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he preceding chapters are what I have imagined might have happened and how the Pearce family may have escaped from China.  John and Jean both remembered the doors of the hospital being blown in and the impression it has left on me all these years is as vivid as if I had been there.

  How they actually got back to England I was either never told or have long forgotten. But logically, because of their non military status and the size of the family, it should be assumed that they found their way back by at least two or three ships. But they did find their way back and were promptly sent out on another mission but this time to the “wilds” of Canada, Province of British Columbia.

  I first met the family in 1942 in the very tiny community of Garden Bay a sub community of the Pender Harbour area which is situated on the lower British Columbia coast. In those days it wasn’t considered wild by most of us but due to its relative remoteness was considered by city dwellers as being on the edge of civilization.

  My family and I had just moved to Garden Bay and the Pearce’s and I were the only children of our age for a few miles around. (John, Jean and I were all born on exactly the same day).

  Doctor Pearce was now the resident doctor of St. Mary’s Hospital and the Pastor for the church on the same property. Mrs. Pearce was once again nursing and taught Sunday school. The hospital and church were both run by the Columbia Coast Mission, a unique branch of the Anglican Church.

  I don’t think I had ever gone to church before we arrived at Garden Bay, but due to its proximity, my mother had me in it before we hardly got settled and of course the Sunday school was well attended by the four Pearce children.  John and I became fast friends as only eight year olds can. Looking back we were when we were together a bit of a handful, and I remember well the time when after we did our usual hour in Sunday School and then changed pews as the adults arrived for church. We ended up in the front row together and somehow we got the idea of checking each other’s head and ears for fleas. We went to elaborate lengths to find imaginary ones and then pop them first with our fingers and then between our teeth. I remember Doctor Pearce making a choking sound, then a moment later Mrs. Pearce descended on us – John was sent home and knowing she could do no less my mother came up and sent me home as well. I got off easy, I had to go apologize to Doctor and Mrs. Pearce but the following Sunday John had to apologize to the congregation.

  My guess would be that those few years were the most relaxed years that the Pearce family ever enjoyed. Positively I am sure that for the children it had to be their happiest years.

  Our school was about three miles away through a trail through the bush, so Doctor Pearce decided that he would purchase a boat and take the children of all interested families to Irvine’s Landing so that we just had a relatively short walk up a road to school. The boat I remember well, perhaps fourteen or sixteen feet long, a small in board gas motor and a large tiller at the stern. Rain or shine a small group of us were transported five days a week to school and then followed the trail home in the afternoon.

  One memory that is imprinted indelibly in my mind is Doctor Pearce in rain slicks, peering ahead into the rain his mustached mouth curled up in a grin and his round glasses beaded with rain drops.  I think he must have been pretty happy too.

  In summer the Garden Bay lagoon was our private swimming hole, and it wasn’t until many years later that I came to realize how fortunate for us and our parents that we had such a wonderful place to swim and frolic. I am sure that that too is a memory the four children carried with them. 

More tomorrow!