Old Town (63 page)

They say that God punished humanity for building the Tower of Babylon, but humans have never let go of their dream of building towers. Nowadays, the Internet, this present-day Tower, is going to break through the vault of heaven. How will God, if there really is a God who created and runs the universe, deal with rebellious humanity?

1.

S
UDDENLY, “GOING INTO
the mountains and down to the countryside”
⁵⁸
had everyone stirred up once again in sleepy Old Town. The West Gate moat area was no longer the spot forgotten by time. Here, every pigeon coop of a dwelling had one or two young people who were mostly idle. Day after day this little corner resounded with drums, gongs, and firecrackers enthusiastically sending them off to merge with the tide of the times.

This deafening noise roused Dr. Lin from his fortress of isolation, and he and Second Sister busied themselves in sending off the West Gate youngsters. They had seen these young people grow up, and more than a few umbilical cords among them had been cut by the doctor himself. These children had grown like weeds but were now just hanging around West Gate Street with nothing to do. Some of them had even gotten into bad ways, like fighting and stealing, and this had always filled the doctor with worry. He supported these rustication movements, just as years before he had supported his own family’s three children joining the army and the political side. Some of the neighbors couldn’t make up their minds about sending their children to join this movement and they would come running over to ask the doctor’s views. He always said firmly that the children should go.

He bought a lot of medicines for contingency needs, like
huangliansu
for diarrhea, Somidon, and mercurochrome, packed these in the local cowhide envelopes, and gave one to each young person about to leave West Gate. For several nights straight through to daylight, Second Sister rushed to sew together lined jackets for the children of poor families. Our old-style family sewing machine was bought at that time.

On this day, the front page of the provincial news displayed at the West Gate Street news board prominently featured the photograph of a female cadre wearing a big red flower. The article reporting her exemplary deeds was several thousand characters long and someone recognized her as the Lin family’s daughter-in-law. People crowded two and three deep, commenting on this. “Look how she gave up her chance to be deputy director of the commerce bureau revolutionary committee. She intends to take her husband and child into the mountains and down to the countryside. This woman has long-range dreams. She must be aiming to be mayor or governor. The Lin ancestors were virtuous and their descendents have blessings and happiness.”

Toward evening, the old codger in charge of the news board took down the newspaper and gave it to the Lins and, sticking up his thumb, said, “Dr. Lin, your family’s daughter-in-law is something special. We West Gate people are going to produce a big shot, hey!”

The doctor and his wife were busy just then and after glancing at Fangzi’s photograph, put the paper aside. A little while later, Baoqing came in and the doctor handed the newspaper to him. “Fangzi has gotten a lot fatter. Tell her to go the hospital for a checkup. She may be suffering from an endocrine imbalance.”

Baoqing stood blankly beside the sewing machine. Tomorrow he would be leaving Old Town and had come back here to say good-bye to his father and mother. He thought of the destitution and homelessness his mother had experienced in her lifetime. He looked at the wrinkles on her face and at her white hair. How could he bear to let her go through the pain of her family scattering in chaotic times again? For several days in a row now he had come back here, but he just couldn’t say what he wanted.

Baoqing had never expected Fangzi to do this astounding thing. She was willing to pay so big a price to separate him from his parents.

Her satisfaction at being a part of officialdom never in the slightest diverted Fangzi’s attention from her husband. When she discovered that Baoqing, under strict economic sanctions, had actually become an “inside” thief, lifting all the small change from the savings box, selling off old things, even a watch and heavy woolens, and bringing money to West Gate promptly every month, she gave up all hope. In her despair, her hatred of her mother-in-law was kindled to even greater heights and she thought of many ways to exact revenge. One of these was the frightening idea of sending Baoqing to jail. Just writing a big character poster exposing his reactionary comments would be enough to cause her mother-in-law to lose her son.
If I can’t have him, then you can’t either!
When she threatened Baoqing in this way, Baoqing showed no fear and only again calmly mentioned the word divorce. Just then, Fangzi, at her wits’ end, received the Central Committee’s internal document about cadre rustication. Right then and there, she decided leave Old Town and take Baoqing with her. In her application she signed for both husband and wife, and, fervid with revolutionary passion, requested a speedy departure to the toughest place possible.

Fangzi immediately became an important person in the Old Town news. “Learn from Fangzi and Baoqing” slogans were posted on the walls around the Commerce Bureau and colleagues trooped into Baoqing’s office to congratulate him. Baoqing, like the proverbial mute who had eaten bitter herbs (and was unable to express his discomfort), could only voice some high-sounding words and slogans. The place that Fangzi had chosen was where Baoqing had fled to when he was a little boy, Nanjing County, that very same “it’s a long story” place.

Baoqing pretended an interest on learning to pedal the sewing machine and help his mother do this work. He stalled to the last minute, and then he pulled from out of his shirt pocket a pile of banknotes, three months of support money that he had stolen from the drawer he had pried open.

“It’s still early yet. Where did this money come from?” Second Sister asked.

Baoqing lowered his head and with some hemming and hawing replied, “Ma, you and Dad take good care of yourselves. I’m going away.”

“Where are you going?”

Baoqing pointed his finger at the newspaper on the floor. Second Sister picked it up and brought it closer to the light to look at it. When she gathered what the article said, her anguished heart felt as if a piece had been cut out of it. She knew, of course, the real motive behind Fangzi’s revolutionary act.
Oh, Baoqing! How could you have such a bitter fate, son?
Second Sister said nothing, though, and gathering up the material she had been working on, found a piece of cloth and hurriedly set out to make a little lined jacket for Wei’er.

That night, Second Sister couldn’t sleep. The sky had not yet lightened as she stood at the gate of the commerce bureau, where small specks of lamplight shone in the bureau’s living quarters. She had no idea which unit belonged to Baoqing’s family. For many years now she had wanted to go see what building Baoqing lived in and how he passed his days, but she was afraid of causing trouble for him and so never went there. After she stood there in the cold wind for about an hour, Baoqing and his wife and child appeared amid drums and gongs.

Second Sister went forward and greeted Fangzi and covered Wei’er with the little lined jacket. Fangzi haughtily tilted her head to one side and didn’t for one instant look at Second Sister. If Fangzi hadn’t been surrounded by the crowd of people who were “learning from her,” she certainly would have poured out abuse at this woman with whom she was struggling over the same man.

Baoqing came over to her and, putting his arm around his mother’s shoulders, said, “Ma. Just go home. We’ll meet soon.”

He was thinking of divorce. He just had to leave this despotic woman who couldn’t tolerate his mother.

“Son, be good to Fangzi, and treat her a bit better. You have to let her know that you belong to her. That from the day you were both married, you were hers.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Fangzi caught sight of Baoqing’s tears as he spoke with his mother. The jealousy that she had done all she could to repress exploded. She ordered Baoqing to go move their baggage. Fiercely she pointed at Second Sister’s nose and said, “Do you know why your son has fallen this low? It was because of you! You’d better take a good look at him now, because you won’t be seeing him again in this lifetime!”

Baoqing couldn’t hear what Fangzi was saying, but he saw her expression and hand gestures. As he hastily and nervously turned back to take care of his mother, Second Sister said to him, “Fangzi wants Ma to make you a lined jacket. When you get there, write home as soon as possible and Ma will make you and Fangzi one each and send these to you.”

Second Sister tried hard to look calm as she watched the long-distance bus depart. As it disappeared at the end of the road, she thought she was going to burst out in bitter tears and she took out her handkerchief, but not a drop fell. A vague presentiment within her was now gradually becoming clearer:
This was only the beginning
.
A new cycle of upheaval was beginning for the Lin family.
When her thoughts reached this point, she unconsciously straightened up. This was a strong woman who did not shed tears easily. When real difficulty hit, she would just straighten up and bear the weight of the crossbeam of their home. Even though she was now already an old lady of sixty-five, there was still no difficulty that could crush her.

Grandma’s presentiment turned out to be true. Within six months, my Uncle Baosheng and his family, Enchun, and many relatives all left Old Town amid the drums and gongs. My mother was sent from the hospital in P Town and became a barefoot doctor in the rural areas. At that time, my stepfather was still in jail. Day after day, Grandma would stand under the oleander, looking out for the postman. Flowers blossom and fade in a very short season. Her hair was totally white now.

2.

T
HE REVERBERATIONS
and after-tones of the drums and gongs had not yet faded away when all of a sudden Old Town entered a Number One State of War Readiness. No one knew where the enemy was going to come from. The street idlers spoke to each other in low voices, just as if they were convening an emergency session of the Ministry of Defense, and each person was the most authoritative of military experts. Some said that the Soviet Union was going to drop an A-bomb on China. “Look, the newspapers are publishing popular science articles on how to defend against a nuclear war.” Others said that American aircraft carriers were headed for Taiwan and that Chiang Kai-shek was going to counterattack the mainland. There were also rumors that the Number One State of War Readiness was connected with Marshall Lin Biao.

Before such “military secrets” had the chance to reach our home, Great-Auntie suddenly arrived, wiping her tears. “It’s bad…this war business…We suffered through eight years of the War of Resistance, but this time for sure we’ll never get through it. Second Sister, Ninth Brother, we’ll only meet again in the next life in the next world.”

Grandpa and Grandma looked at each other in blank dismay, unable to guess what was wrong this time with Great-Auntie. She leaned over the table and, between bouts of crying, told us the reason for all this. She and Rotten Egg had received a notice for emergency evacuation. In three days they were going to be sent to a little county about one hundred miles from Old Town. She drew from her stomach bib a piece of paper and read, “Little Bog Village, Bog Hollow Production Brigade, Bog Hollow Commune.”

“Add Rotten Egg and me together and you get almost one hundred and fifty years. We’ll never live through this war. Today is the last day we’ll be meeting. Second Sister, Ninth Brother, I can’t bear to lose you, really I can’t. And then there’s Hong’er…”

She pulled me toward her as she said this and took off a silver bracelet and put it on my own wrist.

The school was not holding classes now. Every day we dug air raid tunnels into the hill behind the Martyrs’ Cemetery. This felt like a new kind of game. A bunch of us students of the same age would fill up a few baskets with earth, but most of the time we spent playing games and running around like crazy on the top of the hill. I thought Great-Auntie was teasing me, like that kid who played the joke of calling “Wolf!” She pulled my hand and was brokenhearted over our final parting. But I just laughed.

Grandma took the piece of paper and read over and over. “Is this true? With you two as old as you both are, too old for shoulder poles, and no strength in your hands, how can they order you to go out there?”

“It’s not the mountains-and-countryside movement, it’s an evacuation. There’s going to be a war. Nowadays the bombs are much worse than during the time of the Japs. There won’t be any more Old Town!”

My grandmother hovered between belief and denial. “You can’t get out of going?”

“I thought of not going. I was born in Old Town, and here I’ll die. But it’s no good. The city government has issued the notice. When the time comes, they’ll bring trucks and take us away. Second Sister, your older sister is going to become a lonely, wandering ghost. If you live through it, you’ve got to help me by looking after Ah Chang, shut up in the insane asylum. The Zhangs did evil things and are now receiving their retribution.”

Grandpa sank into his throne with a long sigh and resumed his human vegetable state.

Pussycat was already senile now. The times it had torn up the roof tiles with its lovemaking had long gone. It wanted only to burrow into its master’s chest and doze there. Even that height was more than it could manage, so it stuck by my grandfather’s foot, mewing feebly. It didn’t know its master had already shut his ears and closed his eyes.

My grandmother brought Great-Auntie to the No. 1 bus and when she got back home it was time to prepare dinner, but she just sat dully at the Eight Immortals table. The atmosphere at home made me uneasy and though my stomach was making hunger noises, I didn’t dare ask Grandma for anything to eat.

Ah Ming came by when it was dark outside. He stood by the side of the sky well smoking cigarette after cigarette, and no sooner had he opened his mouth to say something when Grandma suddenly interjected, “Ah Ming, where is our family being evacuated to? Will you give us a few days to get ready?”

Ah Ming flicked away the cigarette butt.” Uncle, Auntie, I really would like to go in your place.”

A military representative had come to West Gate. Ah Ming no longer had any real authority and couldn’t protect Dr. Lin.

“Ah Ming, don’t feel bad. No one can escape good fortune or bad. Just go ahead and tell us straight.”

“I’ve put Mrs. Chen and her grandson together with your family of three to Nanping County. It’s a commune not far from the train station. You have five day to get ready and I will help you by keeping watch over this house. With us in the house, not even one roof tile will go missing. Anyway, I really don’t feel that war will break out. You’re sure to come back soon.”

After Ah Ming left, Grandma turned on all the lights in the house and went from room to room, not knowing where to start. Suddenly, she thought before anything else she ought to send letters to her three children. In this home, correspondence was Grandpa’s responsibility. She bent over and spoke into his ear, “Ninth Brother, can you write letters to our children and tell them where we will be evacuated to?”

Grandpa waved his hand slightly. “I’m not going anywhere.” She could think of nothing else she could do, so she just stood there, perplexed. All these years while she was coping with so many difficulties by herself, my grandfather not only
didn’t
stand with her shoulder-to-shoulder through all this, but even baffled and frustrated her in every way. How did she provide the support to get through those years that were so beset with difficulties at home and outside?

Two days passed. Second Sister still couldn’t calm down enough to organize the things they were going to take with them. She would open clothes closets and trunks and her mind would just draw a blank. She didn’t know what to bring. When Baosheng and Baoqing left, not a tear had fallen from her eyes, for faith propped her up. She would hold the garrison at West Gate and wait for the children to come back. But the moment she received the evacuation notice, she really wanted to weep loudly and bitterly. To be suddenly uprooted at this age—would she still be able to return home alive? But she could not cry. A mansion was about to collapse. Her skinny shoulders, now enfeebled by age, were the final support columns. She had to hold everything up, right to the last minute.

The air at home thickened. The two old folks were preoccupied with their own separate matters as they numbly waited to be transported out. A scene hovered in front of Second Sister’s eyes: The military representative of the revolutionary committee sending people to escort Ninth Brother out of the house and shove him onto the train. He lacked the strength to deal with reality. He might just turn against himself, or run off along the way, or not eat or drink or say a word. He was already seventy years old. How long could such a skinny old fellow hang on in the guttering-candle years of his life?

When Mrs. Chen received the evacuation notice she came to the Lin home with an old faded map that she spread out on the table. She appeared to be in high spirits, as if being given the chance to go to a place she had always dreamed of.

“Here, this is where we’re going. Thirty years ago the pastor and I went there and preached the Good News. Back then, we set out from Old Town and walked seven days. Now by train it takes only a few hours. It’s really convenient. Our fellow believers there are bound to remember Pastor Chen.”

Second Sister looked at Mrs. Chen and smiled bitterly. She couldn’t imagine why she was in such a good mood.

“Dr. Lin, it’s a good place there, surrounded by mountains and water. The village people are extremely simple and unaffected. Take some medicines with you. They’ll think you’re Hua Tuo come back to the world.”
⁵⁹

Her exalted mood stirred something in Dr. Lin. He opened his eyes and, just like his wife, puzzled over what she had to be so happy about.

“Dr. Lin, let’s make a prayer to ask God to bless and protect us on the journey we are about to undergo. And let us also give thanks that we’re able to go to such a good place and that our two families can be together.”

The doctor shook his head. “It’s been a long time since I’ve known how to pray. I think God has forsaken me and Jesus doesn’t want me.”

“I completely understand how you feel. There was a time when I too asked the Lord Jesus, ‘O Jesus, are you still with me?’ Sometimes at night I would wake up in a sudden fright, thinking that there simply was no God in this world. That was really very, very frightening, for I had believed in God ever since I was little. I didn’t know if life would have any meaning if there were no Lord. One night I dreamed of the Lord Jesus and seeing the blood flowing endlessly from him on the cross, I knew I was wrong. Our Lord has never forsaken me. It is only that our own faith weakens and goes astray.”

“Lord Jesus,” the doctor prayed in a choking voice, “ever since I was a boy I accepted you as the savior of my life. For many years I was very close to you. I beg you not to forsake me. Without your love, I am all alone and lonely.”

“Amen!” The late pastor’s wife clapped her hands joyfully. “Such a good prayer! Jesus has surely heard it! Dr. Lin, our God didn’t promise that life on earth could be without difficulties, but He tells us that we will have happiness and peace by trusting in Him. Perhaps being evacuated to the mountain district is not just some chance matter. I myself don’t understand why I feel so excited. It’s like I’ve returned to my childhood years. When I was little and Mother would take me home to my grandmother’s, the first night I was there I would be so excited I couldn’t sleep. This is God working in me. As long as God is with us, the far corners of the earth are our garden.”

Tears flowed from the doctor’s eyes. “Yes, I was wrong.”

Yes, how many years has it been now? I can barely feel my guardian angel
, Second Sister thought.
What was it, after all? Did I leave my guardian angel, or did the angel leave me?
Forty years before, on the eve of her wedding to Ninth Brother, she was baptized in the West Gate church. From that time forward, she began to have a guardian angel by her side. Her guardian angel shared in her life’s happiness and troubles. During those years when Ninth Brother had abandoned hearth and home, she would pour out her sorrows and anxieties to the guardian angel. She asked the angel to protect her missing husband and her three children. She clearly recalled that time when they were refugees and Baohua had been kidnapped and sold, the guardian angel had spread its wings and lifted her up.
O Angel, forgive me, please come back into my life and once again spread your wings and lift me up…

That picture of them sending their son off to join the army was still hanging on the wall of the main hall. Starting then, she, an ordinary housewife, went into public life. She held the positions of committee head, women’s representative, juror…all the various titles deluged her with work, while honors and recognition made her intoxicated and confused, and she could never spare the time or the strength to make a real prayer.

O God, O Angel, are you angry at me? Life has been so difficult over these past few years. Is it because this home has been without you?

In her heart, Second Sister called out, “Lord Jesus,” and at that very instant, so many grievances welled up within her.
Lord Jesus, you surely have seen over these last years how perverse Ninth Brother’s temper has been. I have looked after and cared for him day and night but I have no idea what he is thinking. I can’t predict how he will behave. Day after day I am in a state of constant worry and alarm in case he might stir up some calamity. I often feel all alone and without strength, even more than during the War of Resistance when it felt like we were separated at different ends of the earth.