Old Town

by Lin Zhe

  She was going to halt the chair carriers while she seriously considered abandoning the thing halfway there. Before she could open her mouth though, the second inspection post came into view. Suddenly from the side of the road burst forth a group of policemen just as ready to open fire as the earlier one. And with precision and accuracy they pounced on that scholarly looking fellow and, pulling a great hempen sack down over him, threw him into a black automobile. The porters hadn’t even had time to set down their shoulder poles before that car just left them in a cloud of dust. The whole group of them stopped right in the middle of the little road for who knows how long a time. Only when a file of people passed by and yelled at them to get out of the way did Second Sister realize she was still sitting in her chair on the carriers’ shoulders.

  “Let’s just go back.” she said. “We no sooner leave the city gate when something bad happens. Well, that’s as far as we’re going.”

  Not a single one among them seemed opposed to this and in one motion they all picked up their shoulder poles and headed back to the city. Second Sister carefully scanned the South Gate inspection post. The police that had been there earlier were all gone off now. The two policemen now on duty were just dozing there.

  Second Sister brought the frightened porters with her and knocked on the big gate of the Zhang residence. In spite of the magnitude of the incident that had just occurred, surprisingly not one of the Zhang brothers got out of bed. They seemed not to be concerned in the slightest about their possible involvement in the incident. Nor did they seem worried about the damage to their goods. Brother-In-Law sent Elder Sister out with the message that the loads were to be carried into the back courtyard and after New Year’s they would calculate what pay they owed her.

  On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Old Town celebrated “Little New Year,” and a human head was hung from the South Gate wall. Old Town’s newspapers carried photographs of the communist. He had been that porter taken off by the police. Rumor had it that this mysterious figure had been an important communist from the north and the person who betrayed him had received a big reward.

  Second Sister was just setting the table and getting ready to cook when the newspaper in Ninth Brother’s hands drew her attention as if it were a magnet. The solution to the puzzle was right there in the words, “big reward.” Correct, they definitely picked up a big reward. The Zhang brothers would do anything for money.

  Ninth Brother looked dejected and dazed as he propped the newspaper up in his hands. Second Sister didn’t dare to give voice to her own thoughts on this matter. She knew that her husband was mourning that communist who had been beheaded.

  When the children came to the table they saw that their daddy was feeling low, and so no one dared to say much. They hurried through their rice gruel and each went his or her own way. His book bag pressed under his arm, Baosheng said he was going to a classmate’s home for after-school lessons and homework assignments. Lately he had been finding this or that reason to go out and it would be late at night when he returned.

  What homework do you have that you can’t do at home?” Second Sister asked him. “Don’t go out today!”

  “Just let him go,” said Ninth Brother.

  After dinner, Ninth Brother again picked up the newspaper. So that he could be by himself quietly for a while, Second Sister collected a pile of dirty clothes and went to the side of the well to wash them. This evening had been one of those rare days of good weather. The glittering stars seemed to brighten the whole area. The street crossing was unusually quiet as Second Sister sat on a small bench scrubbing the clothes. A host of thoughts kept going back to the bloody scene at South Gate. Almighty Father, you know better than we do whether the Zhang brothers took the bounty. Please judge them yourself.

  …This is Baosheng’s blue school uniform. Ever since he was small he has been running around. I always have to pay extra attention to his clothing. Second Sister discovered an ink stain on his lapel. Where did this come from? It’s been a long time since he last used a brush pen to practice his calligraphy. Looking more closely, she also saw a few lumps of paste on his cuffs. What has Baosheng been up to? She couldn’t help thinking of the frequent appearances of antigovernment slogans on the street. Everyone said that the communists were making the students do this. Don’t tell me Baosheng is also involved with the communists! She hadn’t seen with her own eyes the head on the wall at South Gate, but at this very instant a crystal clear image leapt before her. O heaven! Might Baosheng get into trouble this evening? This child is such a bother and always has been ever since he was little. Raising him’s been no easy thing for us. I have to go find him, and right now! She knew that Baosheng was close to the boss of that bookstore. That fellow has led my son astray, I’m sure of it.

  She dropped the half-washed clothes, went into the house, took off her apron and oversleeves and put on a knitted wool jacket. Ninth Brother seemed transfixed, his eyes closed. Whenever he was feeling down, he would close his eyes, as if to escape reality this way. She didn’t want to alarm him and so she went out the door very softly. Suddenly he said to her, “Where are you going?”

  She hesitated about telling him her worries, but she felt she was losing control of herself, “I want to find Baosheng. This child is going to get into trouble. Starting tomorrow, the three children will not be allowed to take one step out of the house. The way things are nowadays, it’s no use being educated. The people getting executed and killed are all the educated ones.”

  Ninth Brother pointed to the chair beside him. “Sit down and calm yourself a bit.”

  “I can’t be calm. Do you know what Baosheng is doing every evening, coming and going like a shadow?”

  Ninth Brother’s tone of voice was very steady. He said, “Sit down. Let us just pray for him.”

  Second Sister lowered herself slowly into the chair. “It seems you already know. Why don’t you keep him in line? It’s been so hard for the five of us to get to where we are today.”

  “It’s not easy for anybody. Don’t all families have a father, a mother, sons and daughters? Our children have been given to our Heavenly Father. So don’t worry so much.”

  Second Sister stared at her husband, a furtive tear trickling down her cheek. “Oh, you! Normally you can’t bear to step on an ant. But where it concerns your son’s life, you aren’t worried. You’re too rigid in your feelings toward your own family.”

  Ninth Brother heaved a great sigh and, closing his eyes, said, “I’ve already known for more than a month now, and during that time every night Baosheng never came home. And I can’t sleep at all.”

  Second Sister wiped her tears and her heart ached as she looked at her husband. She knew that lately he hadn’t been sleeping very well and thought it was because his body had become overheated. Today she had boiled some cooling green bean soup for him.

  “Why don’t you stop him?”

  Ninth Brother still kept his eyes closed. “The child’s grown now. He’s beyond our control. Let’s just pray for him.”

  Second Sister couldn’t stop the terrified images from piling up in her mind. It was as if it all were actually happening in some corner of Old Town. She stood up. “I still want to go find Baosheng.”

  Ninth Brother took hold of her. “Let’s just pray.”

  The oil lamp burned dry and the flame was out. Their prayers still went on.

  3.

  THE MORE SHE thought about it the more uneasy she felt. But she felt it impossible to express her anxieties and hidden resentment to her husband. Ninth Brother was full of compassion for the world. His own family was only one part of the world and he didn’t see them in a different light just because they were his wife and children. As the head of a family he possessed absolute authority and could totally prevent tragedy from happening. But he seemed unmoved, as if he were indifferent to Baosheng being one of his children. The three young ones were all flesh of her flesh. She would not stand by and watch any one of these
being hurt in any way. She was going to launch a “protect the calves” campaign right under Ninth Brother’s own eyes.

  During that period, Second Sister became a bit neurotic. Every night when Ninth Brother had fallen asleep, she would softly get out of bed and make her way in the darkness as if sleepwalking to count her children. Baohua had the habit of grinding her teeth at night. Standing in front of the door she would listen to the little gnawing-rat sounds the child would make. She would then feel her way to her sons’ room. Every time he turned over in his sleep Baoqing muttered incomprehensible words. Baosheng was still falling asleep like that before taking off all his clothes. She pulled back the cotton cover and took off his dirty clothes and socks. As usual, as he shifted from place to place, he would snore like thunder.

  Turning over, Baoqing said, “Wait for me, bro.” These words were said very distinctly and Second Sister heard in them a danger signal. Who knows how many plots and deceptions these two little kittens were hatching in this small room behind their closed door?

  She climbed up into the little attic before dawn. That was where the owner of the house had piled up all kinds of things. Up and down she carried bucket after bucket of water until finally the place was clean.

  The first lunar month had not yet come to an end and Old Town folk held it taboo to do any major cleaning up during this month. Ninth Brother, seeing her busying away, covered with dust and dirt and the sweat soaking her back, asked, “What gave you the idea to do all this cleaning?”

  “Baoqing is big now. He should have his own room.”

  Ninth Brother had never paid much mind to folk customs and was not overly suspicious, so he didn’t see that Second Sister was just then doing things her own way, even if it meant deviating from accustomed thinking and practice.

  Who is more important, the husband or the children? Second Sister really couldn’t tell, but relying on her maternal instincts, she opened up mother-hen wings to shelter her chicks from the winds and the rain.

  When Baoqing came home from school his mother brought him up to the little attic. “Son, you know Ma loves you the best. You have to obey and from today on come back home right on the dot. And in the evening you’re not to take even one step away from home.”

  “Ma, this evening I want to go with Elder Brother to read books at the bookstore.”

  Second Sister secretly congratulated herself on taking this timely measure. “That’s just what I mean! You can’t go running around with Elder Brother. Now…Obey!”

  “He hasn’t done anything bad.”

  “I don’t care what he’s done. I’m not letting you hang around with him! Do you want Ma to go on her knees before you?”

  This frightened Baoqing and he quickly replied, “Ma, I’ll do as you say!”

  After eating dinner, Baosheng signaled to Baoqing that it was time to go out. Baoqing shook his head in refusal.

  Second Sister picked up the laundry bucket and followed Baosheng out. She walked past the street crossing and stopped him. “I’m not asking you where you are going, but I want to tell you, you are making Daddy and me lose our sleep every night.”

  Baosheng lowered his head and, looking at the tips of his toes, said haltingly, “I’ll come home a little earlier.”

  “Your Dad doesn’t control you. I don’t control you either. Don’t involve your sister and brother in this. Son, the trials and tribulations this family has gone through, you yourself ought to remember. Something unexpected and unpleasant can happen in the family to no matter whom.”

  Sobbing, Second Sister was unable to go on.

  Baosheng came forward to support his mother. He put down the little bench for doing the laundry and sat her down on it. “Ma, you’ve forgotten. I can use my slingshot,” he said with a laugh. And with that he drew from his pocket the little catapult and several glossy little stones. “This is my rifle. Whatever flies in the air or runs on the ground with two legs or four, one shot will lay it low for three days.”

  “Oh, you! So big now, and still this naughty.” Second Sister laughed, bitterly shaking her head. “Legs grow out of your body and you just go wherever you please!”

  Baosheng came close to his mother’s ear and said, “Ma, the daylight is coming. And when the day breaks everything is going to get better.”

  Second Sister raised her eyes heavenward. The sky was just getting pitch black. What kind of craziness is this child talking?

  “You’re not to stay out until daybreak!”

  Baosheng left. Second Sister was standing there blankly when she saw Elder Sister, a bundle coiled in her hand, approaching West Gate from the southern part of Old Town. I’m sure she’s running from his temper once again. Second Sister straightened up and was about to rise and greet her but then sat back down again. Elder Sister loved to talk and always wanted to get to the bottom of things. She also loved to make things up out of thin air. If she discovered any “spider threads and horse hoofmarks”—clues, in other words—about Baosheng, and after a few days made peace again with her husband and went meekly back to the Zhang household, there’s no telling what she would then say. No! I can’t let her go back home.

  Elder Sister bent over the Eight Immortals table, tears pouring out of her. Her scoundrel of a husband had again beaten her over the usual petty matter. Off to the side, Second Sister listened to the end of the story and then gave her a hot towel.

  “You came at just the right time. Fourth Sister has taken ill. It’s still not too late in the day for us to go see her, and it would be even better if you could stay a few days with her.”

  When Elder Sister heard that her fourth sister was sick, she forgot all about her own heartbreak, and, giving her face a good wipe, picked up her bundle and was ready to set off.

  Two days before, Second Sister had gone to see her mother. There she found out that Fourth Sister had miscarried and was in an extremely weak condition. Fourth Sister’s husband never lifted one finger to help her, so the sick woman still had to wash the clothes and cook the meals. That family really did need someone to help out.

  So I really haven’t told a lie, Second Sister thought.

  Two hours later Second Sister returned home. Ninth Brother was sitting by the lamp reading the Bible. He asked her, “Why hasn’t Elder Sister come back with you?”

  “I had her stay to take care of Fourth Sister for a few days so she wouldn’t have to sit around here doing nothing and feeling worse.”

  “That makes good sense.”

  The way Ninth Brother looked when he praised her made Second Sister feel a bit guilty. Have I gotten used to telling lies now? She took up her sewing and as she squeezed in front of the lamp, silently said to the Angel, “O Angel, forgive me. Actually, I was only hiding some ideas from Ninth Brother. If that offended you, please go easy with me.”

  4.

  BAOHUA STEPPED INTO the classroom just as the bell for classes rang. She had been like this ever since she was little, always arriving late at a languorous pace, and rushing off in a hurry. When she reached the third year of lower-middle school, she wouldn’t have been able to call most of her classmates by name. Everyone, including the teachers, called her Little Miss Dainty. In fact, she had an inferiority complex and took on an unsociable and eccentric air to cover up her feelings of unworthiness. Because she was exceedingly petite and delicately built and because she couldn’t get the hang of mathematics, she refused to make friends in school.

  The atmosphere in the class that day felt somehow different. More than half the desks were standing empty. When the bell rang, the students were still chirping and twittering among themselves—the place sounded like a vegetable market that had just opened. The Chinese language teacher stood by his lectern, at a total loss.

  Baohua went to sit in her usual place. Beside her a girl student was saying to a friend, “Are you going to the general student demonstration today?”

  They whispered together for a while, then stood up and left. The teacher pretended not to noti
ce, and this in turn encouraged a great crowd of those restless and undecided students to leave the classroom with a noise like the rustling wind.

  The teacher said, “I don’t know how to teach you remaining four or five kittens. Just study by yourselves and if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can come and ask.”

  Several girl students gathered together and boldly expressed their views. Some said that there was going to be big trouble today, while others said, no, nothing big was going to happen. That long-haired student, the daughter of the boss of Old Town’s cigarette factory, said that the communists would be coming soon, and that they were especially against the people with money, so her family was moving its wealth to Hong Kong and she herself was about to go there to study.

  Baohua sat all by herself off to one side, listlessly turning the pages of her schoolbooks. Hearing of the imminent arrival of the communists she felt a bit of excitement. When the communists came Enchun could also return to Old Town and continue his studies. She felt confident about taking the exams for the teachers’ training college. The gates of the Teachers’ Training College and the commercial college where Enchun studied faced each other across the way. They could go to school together again every day, just like they used to. Enchun would ride his bicycle, and as she fantasized riding on its top bar, her back glued to Enchun’s chest as they raced forward into the wind, Baohua felt all beautiful inside.

  The bell sounded. The Chinese language teacher at his lectern pretentiously cleared his throat and announced the end of his class. Next was math class. Baohua dreaded math and the math teacher. Since the teachers weren’t bothering about those skipping classes today, why don’t I just skip out too? She collected all her schoolbooks and followed the Chinese language teacher out of the classroom.