Bride of the Moso Prince (21 page)

    
     
Dr. Lewis smiled, “Good point. However, examples in books and TV are taken from real life.”

        “
Before the twentieth century, most of the book authors were men, and so were creators of so called
norm
s
.
Besides, I’ve heard plenty examples of young men marrying older women lately
, on TV or over the internet
. They’re not even celebrities. It has a lot to do with emancipation of woman, which happened not so long ago.
Nowadays, f
inancially independent women have the freedom to choose poor handsome men for a partner. Gradually, what you called
abnormal
behavior will become the norm. My point is, social institution, not biological evolution, is the main reason behind human mate preferences.”

          
Dr. Lewis
looked astonished
, “
W
ow, you are
a
feminist
!”
T
hen he
shut up
.
             

             
 
After about an hour’s walk the trail ended at the neck of the Goddess.
             

From there they would have to climb the rocky surface of lioness’ head. It was extremely slippery due to the moss.

Charlene was going
to
lead the climb, but Sharon stopped her.

“Are you sure? What about your dizziness?”

“I’m ok.”

“But it looks dangerous. I thought the path would lead us straight to the cave.” Sharon looked at the rocks worriedly.

Charlene assured her sister, “Don’t worry. I’ve been here once.”

“Do we have to go up?” Sharon hesitated.

“Of course! We’re almost there!” Charlene was going to climb again.

Sharon held her
sister’s
arm, “No. Let me go first.”

As they were debating, Dr. Lewis said, “Well, I’m not much of a hiking person, so I really can’t…”

“I’ll go first,” Dr. Yang said
unexpectedly
and agilely went up to the irregular stairs of rocks and helped the rest to come up.

Charlene exclaimed, “Dr. Yang, you’re amazing! A professor, a poet, and a mountaineer!”

Dr. Yang smiled humbly, “I’m not a mountaineer. I do Taiji ever day, that’s why I have strong legs.”

“Oh!” Sharon looked at the professor with grey hair and small statue and thought one really couldn’t judge a person by his look.

Dr. Lewis, on the other hand, was indeed unskillful as he had claimed and had to rely on the help of Dr. Yang.

Seeing how clumsy he was, Sharon
teased
, “I thought every anthropologist must have some sort of field experience. Apparently I was wrong!”

Dr. Lewis
shrugged
.
“I’m more or less what they call an Armchair Anthropologist. Most of my researches were done from books, except my undergraduate thesis
, which was done in guess where?
The campus of
UC San Diego.”

“Really, what is it about?” Charlene asked him.

“It’s on the dating behavior of college students.”

Oh no. Sharon regretted bringing up that subject, but Charlene was excited, “Oh I know what it is. T
he one that says an ugly A male student is more successful in getting a girlfriend than a handsome C male student. While a reversed pattern holds in females.”

“Exactly. It was really a shocking revelation to me. I was hoping to see that a handsome C guy student like me would have more girls after him.”

Sharon said when he barely finished, “Let me guess, after that you began to study hard.”

Dr. Lewis chucked, “Right on! And then I decided to get a Ph.D. You see, that thesis changed my life!”

While Charlene and Dr. Yang smiled at Dr. Lewis’ frankness, Sharon couldn’t stand him.

“In other words,” She said sarcastically, “You went to graduate school for women?”

Charlene mumbled to her in Chinese, “Sister, that’s too much.”
             

But Dr. Lewis didn’t mind at all. Instead he gave Sharon another speech, “That’s right and
there is nothing wrong with it
. Everything a man does in his life is
ultimately
for women
: making money, competing for a rank, fighting for a territory… On the other hand, the sacrifices a woman makes are also for men: diet, skin care, shopping for clothes…Again, these are results of natural selection. There isn’t much difference between humans and other animals, there is only one true purpose of our lives: pass down our genes.”

After he said that, he looked at Sharon and waited for her to respond.

Sharon wanted to argue. The reason she worked hard was not for men! But she knew it would be
futile
to argue with Dr. Lewis, who could be rightly called an evolutionary
fanatic
.

Dr. Lewis, on the other hand, misinterpreted her silence as consent, got hold of her hand at the entrance of the cave.

The cave was spacious. It was faintly illuminated by the light entered from outside. Rocks hung from the ceilings or thrust from the ground, making an architectural design that was entirely natural.

Sharon was in awe with what she was seeing. The interior was so quiet that she could hear her own breathing. Occasionally there was the sound of water dripping. She couldn’t help but imagine that there were spirits floating above them. As they went in further she was reminded of the day of her arrival and the thought of Nobul disturbed her. She wished he were here with her. He would be telling her legends and stories. In darkness she imagined the hand she was holding was his. But then she heard the voice of Dr. Lewis. “Be careful. The floor is wet.”

Annoyed, Sharon broke free from that hand, “Don’t worry about me.”

             
That
night there was a brief performance to welcome the two professors. Sharon, still traumatized by the previous dance, did not attend.

Sharon wanted to skip the next day’s agenda as well, which consisted of a tour on a wooden boat rowed by Urcher and visits to various villages and towns on the shore. Then they would leave the two professors in Water Town, where they would converge with other scholars. But Charlene pleaded, saying that Dr. Lewis was an important figure in her field and his reference would be valuable after she graduated.

“Please, Sharon, just one more day.”

“I don’t know whether I can stand him for an hour, that unscrupulous professor of yours.”

“Unscrupulous? That’s too strong a word. He’s a bit eccentric, that’s all.” Charlene argued.

“He’s lustful.”

“Lustful?
I don’t think so
!” Charlene
said
, “
He is only attentive to
young and beautiful women.
He won’t cross the line. Besides, you have his attention because you are attractive, sister!”

“
Oh please, I’m sooo flattered!”
Sharon grimaced as she remembered the unwanted ‘protection’ from Dr. Lewis she had gotten the day bef
ore and added, “I
f he dared to put a finger on me I would scream.”

“Oh come on, Sharon, don’t be such a prude. Those were common gestures. Americans do that all the time.”

“I’m an American, and I don’t do
that
and I’m not a prude!” Sharon raised her voice. No one had ever called her that.

“OK, I’m sorry, sister. You’re not a prude. You’re just a conservative woman who refuses to be touched by any guy, be it a rich handsome Moso prince or an attractive American professor.”

“That’s not true either…” Sharon stopped what she was about to say, as she remembered how she had almost compromised herself to that Moso prince.

It would be a hot day. The sun was already glaring on the eastern sky in mid morning. Sharon stood in the balcony for a moment before leaving her room.

Charlene opened the door as soon as she heard her knock. She had finished a shower and was drying her hair.

“For god’s sake forget about jeans for a day!” Charlene said to her when she closed the door behind them.

“I don’t have anything else.” Sharon shrugged.

“Yes you do.” Charlene pulled out a suitcase from the closet and threw it on her bed.

“You sent me this along that swimsuit,” she said as she flung open one dress after another. “Some are your dresses. I don’t get it. Don’t you know that I’m not as slim as you are?”

Sharon was pleased to see her old dresses. She had decided that she would never have the occasions to wear any of those pretty dresses when she sent them to Charlene, thinking that Charlene would probably lose a few pounds in that “poor” mountain village in China. She picked out a knee-long cream linen dress with elegant embroidery along the scoop neck. She had loved it. Without a second thought she took off her T-shirt and jeans and put the dress on. It still fit her perfectly. The loosely fitted belt emphasized the slimness of her waist.

“Simply elegant,” Charlene said while throwing her a pair of matching sandals, “now all you need is a hat.”

She again dug in the closet and found a straw hat with color slightly darker than the dress.

“Rustic elegant now,” Sharon said while looking at herself at the mirror.

Charlene put on a fluttering skirt under a cotton shirt with ruffles along the upper buttons.

“You look so cute, my little sister.” Sharon kissed her on the cheek and Charlene protested.

They went out to the lakeshore chatting and laughing, and then Sharon frowned when she saw the solar boat. Dr. Lewis was sitting on the bench gazing at the scenery. Dr. Yang was standing in it talking with…not Urcher, but Nobul! Sharon froze. He had come back just as sudden as he had left. One hand in his jean pocket the other gesticulating towards the lake and its islands. Sharon’s heartbeat went out of contro
l as she watched his silhouette
in the morning sun. He was a beautiful sight no matter what angle she viewed him. Unconsciously she stopped moving.

“What’s wrong?” Charlene looked at her sister.

“You told me Urcher was going with us.”

“That’s what I thought. I guess they switched duties again.”

“I’m sorry Charlene but I can’t go.”

“Why?”

“I...my tummy hurts. It might be the buttered tea I had earlier…” Sharon tried to come up with a good excuse but that was the best she got.

“Oh really?” Charlene looked at her sister and then looked at the man they were referring to, “It isn’t the buttered tea, I’m sure. Sometimes the sight of a man can give you stomach cramps, and that indicates the special place he holds in your heart.”

“Stop teasing me, Charlene, I just, I can’t go.”

She was about to turn when Dr. Lewis spotted them. “Ladies, ready to go?”

Now all eyes were on them. Sharon hesitated.

“Yes we are!” Charlene shouted and took her sister’s hand as she whispered, “Come on sister, they’re waiting! And no one would believe that you had a stomach ache.” 

Sharon followed her sister to the boat, while carefully avoiding looking at Nobul. Dr. Lewis got up and helped first Charlene, then Sharon. It seemed to Sharon that he had deliberately pulled her too hard so that she felt into his arms with a jerk.

While apologizing for her clumsiness resentfully, she looked up and saw Nobul’s smoldering eyes. She fancied that she read a mixture of expressions in it, including longing, jealousy, and mocking. Her cheeks went aflame.

“You look absolutely charming, Sharon!” Still holding her hands, Dr. Lewis complimented her, and his eyes accessing her figure boldly.

“Thank you.” Under his gaze Sharon realized that the
neckline of the
dress was perhaps too
low
and regretted for a moment to wear it.

Nobul went into the cabin and turned on the engine. “Sit tight,” he shouted, “and here we go!” The boat left the shore.

After a moment’s admiration on the solar boat,
conversation
of the passengers turned to
anthropological
topics.
The three scholars
discussed the origin of the Moso, comparing their customs with that of the Nakhi, the Yi, and the Tibetans in the same region. The discussion heated at why the Moso had started and kept their walking marriage system.
Dr. Lewis insisted that the custom was a phenomenon that was against evolution.  A man’s tendency to raise his own children was a naturally selected trait, for a child who was cared by both parents had a better chance to survive and carry out the father’s child-caring genes.
Therefore a walk-marry society was abnormal and why it formed was a mystery to him.