“Practice?” Hok asked.
Bing nodded. “Yes. You are going to practice, too. Is your arm still sore?”
Hok felt her right arm through the sling. “Yes.”
“How are your legs?” Bing asked.
“Fine,” Hok replied. “Why?”
“Did Grandmaster ever teach you how to foot-juggle?” Bing asked.
“Yes,” Hok said. “It was part of my balance training. What is going on?”
“Let's see how well you've learned,” Bing said. “Lie down on your back.”
“What?” Hok said. “Here? Now?”
Bing nodded.
GongJee giggled, and Bing looked at the little girl. “Go inside and see if the innkeeper will let you borrow a stool.”
GongJee clapped her hands excitedly and ran inside.
Hok had no idea what was going on. She stared at Bing.
Bing stared back, unblinking. “Well?” Bing said. “Are you going to lie down or not?”
Hok looked at Charles, and Charles nodded back approvingly. Hok adjusted her turban and lay down on her back at the edge of the dirt trail.
GongJee came running out of the inn with a wooden stool in her arms and handed it to Bing. The three-legged stool was about knee-height, and Hok expected Bing to set it down and stand on it in order to reach something inside the cart. Instead, Bing hurled the stool at Hok.
Hok instinctively raised her legs and caught the stool with the soles of her feet. Bing had thrown it seat-first, providing Hok with a wide, flat platform. Hok bent her legs to absorb the impact, and she rotated her hips up and pressed her legs skyward, sending the chair spinning into the air.
From that point forward, everything was second nature to Hok. She had nearly forgotten about stool juggling. It was something she'd first learned when she was GongJee's age. More recently, she'd juggled much heavier items like blocks of stone to increase her leg strength as well as to improve her balance.
“Hey, you're good!” Charles said as Hok spun the stool end over end with her feet.
“Grandmaster taught you well,” Bing said. “Can you juggle any other common objects?”
“Yes,” Hok said. “Besides stone weights, I've practiced with balls, small tables, chairs, paper umbrellas—”
“Paper umbrellas!” GongJee said. “Those are difficult!”
Charles laughed. “Yeah, GongJee always breaks them. She's not the most delicate person, if you haven't noticed.”
“Hmpf!” GongJee said. “I'd like to see you do better.”
“Me?” Charles said. “Foot juggling is for girls. Watch this!”
Hok stopped spinning the stool and caught it with her free hand. She sat up and watched Charles bend over into a perfect handstand. He started walking around on his hands, never faltering. “Let's see you do this, GongJee!” Charles said.
GongJee pouted.
Hok looked at GongJee, then glanced at her arm in the sling. “Hey, GongJee. Once my arm heals, I can teach you how to do that. It's not as difficult as it looks.” She winked, and GongJee smiled back.
“That's enough for now, Charles,” Bing said. “Come over here and give me a hand with the jars.”
“Sure,” Charles replied. He lowered his feet and stood up, walking back over to Bing. “Are you going to do your standard routine with the acrobats?”
Bing nodded.
“Acrobats?” Hok said.
“I planned to tell you after we'd practiced today,” Bing said. “Sometimes I perform juggling tricks to earn money, especially during festivals. Charles and GongJee perform tricks, too. GongJee is already an accomplished foot juggler and Charles—well, you will have to wait until the Dragon Boat Festival begins to see his main skill.”
“What is your specialty?” Hok asked her mother.
“Watch,” Bing replied. She nodded to Charles and said, “The big one.”
Charles helped Bing pick up the largest jar in the cart. They turned it over, and various-sized packets of dried herbs and other medicines spilled into the cart. Charles let go of the wide-mouthed terra-cotta jar and took several steps back. Bing held the empty jar herself. It was so big, she could barely get her arms around it.
Bing tossed the heavy container into the air and positioned her body directly beneath it. Hok's eyes widened. She was certain the huge jar would crush her mother's head as it tumbled back to earth. At the last possible instant, though, Bing flattened her back and caught the jar between her shoulder blades.
Hok watched in awe as her mother executed a series of moves that seemed to defy gravity. Bing balanced the enormous jar on everything from her elbow to her chin to the top of her turbaned head— without ever touching it with her hands. She passed it from balance point to balance point by jerking her body powerfully in one direction or another, then gracefully catching and balancing the huge jar for whatever length of time she desired. Bing was in complete control. Hok had never seen anything like it.