"East Meets West -- Miriam E. Waters"

East Meets West

by Miriam E. Waters

Rachael was powerless to resist the laughing man with the infectious smile. She’d spotted him across the room as she made a slow circuit around shelves filled with antiques and curiosities.  She’d been searching for him for years.  Finally, in a quaint shop wedged between two Chinatown storefronts, she’d found him.

She wound her way through the tightly packed aisles until she stood before him.  Rachael lifted the smiling brass Buddha, leaving an empty footprint on the dust-covered shelf. She turned him over to inspect his base and discovered a core sealed with wax.

Upon closer examination, she realized the Buddha was frozen mid-stride and centered on the stump of a tree.  As a student of Asian artifacts, she knew the several growth rings beneath his pudgy feet suggested long life.  She also recognized the symbols for wealth and prosperity in the yoke across his shoulders which balanced a large coin on the left with money pots on the right. A beaded necklace and medallion adorned his chest.  He wore an elaborate robe and appeared quite pleased with the world.

Rachael didn’t fully understand the rich symbolism embodied in the Buddha. She knew, however, she was smitten and was determined to have him cheer her luckless apartment. She hadn’t made the month’s rent nor filled her pantry from her lean student’s stipend, but knew he was coming home with her no matter the cost.  

Armed with pluck and determination, Rachael approached a wizened shopkeeper to negotiate for the Buddha.

The smile on the shopkeeper’s face mirrored the Buddha’s.  He gently lifted the artifact from Rachael’s hands and set it on the counter between them.

“Ah, you’ve found Budai!  Happy East meets Happy West.  You may take him home if you can cross my palm with the correct coins.”

Rachael made her bid. “I can offer you twenty-five dollars, not the fifty you’re asking.”

“Budai has been waiting a long time for someone to take him to a new home. The dust covering his feet shows this.”

The shopkeeper clapped his hands together and pronounced, “Sold.”

Rachael soon left the shop with the Buddha tucked safely within a padded box lined in red velvet.  She made the long trek back to her modest apartment with the box cradled in her arms.

Once home, she lifted the Buddha from his luxurious nest and set him on the shelf above an old radiator.  Stepping back, she once again admired him and wondered what secrets he was keeping to produce such a smile.

After a time she went into the kitchen to begin preparing a “Welcome Home” dinner of stir fry and jasmine rice.  The steaming fragrant rice, however, couldn’t mask the scent of melting wax.  Alarmed, Rachael rushed to find the Buddha in a puddle dripping onto the radiator.

She plucked the Buddha from his new spot and examined the piece for damage.  The wax seal covering the core of the statue had melted and she could see something tucked inside him.  Curious, she cleared away the remaining wax and eased a vial from its hiding place.  Rachael tipped its contents into the palm of her hand and revealed the smiling Buddha’s secret … a handful of polished diamonds.

The treasure mirrored the lustrous sparkle in her eyes. Rachael’s smile grew as wide as the Buddha’s as she thought East meets West, indeed.