by Zoë S. Roy
Yezi nodded emphatically. “Yes! I want to learn.”
The next morning after breakfast, Jian found Yezi sitting at the outside table and reading a book. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.
“Yes,” Yezi said as she got up. Turning toward the communal sinks, she raised her voice, “Popo Yao, I’m leaving.” Without waiting for Yao’s response, the two girls headed for the library hand in hand. The campus was empty. Most of the students had already gone home for the summer. They were accompanied only by the twittering of birds hopping along the side of the road looking for worms.
In the library, once they reached the double doors, Yezi was surprised to find a different doorkeeper. A middle-aged man was sitting in the chair in front of the doors. He put up his hands to stop Yezi and Jian from entering the room, stating in a firm voice, “Children are not allowed here.”
“We are students,” Jian protested.
“You aren’t university students yet,” the man said, waggling his fingers. “So, please go away now.”
Tugging at Jian’s hand, Yezi whispered, “Let’s come back another time.”
Disappointed, the girls left the library and decided to head toward the lakeshore and the mulberry bushes. As they walked along, Yezi looked up into the clear sky and thought, next time, we’ll be lucky. As they strolled past the gardens, a boy’s voice suddenly rang out from behind the hedges, making them both jump. “Stinking Ninth! Evil American!”
Yezi turned around and spotted a teenager from their courtyard. It was Tao, the neighbourhood bully. He squeezed himself out from behind a series of hedges, puffing angrily toward them.
Jian pulled Yezi back, wondering what to do next. Number Nine referred to intellectuals who were ranked below the eight undesirable categories of people that were regularly denounced during the Cultural Revolution. Jian whispered to Yezi, “Ninth refers to my father because he’s a doctor, and American to your mama.” Suddenly, she turned toward the boy and screamed, “Don’t call me Stinking Ninth. You are nothing but a big bully!”
Yezi stomped her feet and yelled: “And don’t call me Evil American, either!” Then she burst into laughter when she saw Tao bounce back and dash away. Relieved, she said, “Maybe we should go to the mulberry bushes another time.”
“I agree,” said Jian, letting out a big breath. “Let’s go home before he comes back. We can do our summer homework.”
Later that afternoon, fortified by a hearty lunch, they decided to walk over to Lake Dianchi where swimmers floated or splashed in the water. The air reeked of fish and waterweeds. The bushes swayed in the warm summer breeze, beckoning to them.
Jian stretched out her hand to touch the leaves on a nearby bush. “This is a mulberry bush!” she squealed.
Yezi plucked a leaf and sniffed at it. “Are you sure? I have no idea. I’ve never seen mulberry leaves before.”
“My bother calls this the oily mulberry.” Jian pulled a branch of the white mulberry bush and picked two leaves that were oval in shape. “I’ll ask my brother to take a look and tell us if they are okay for the silkworms.”
As the two continued their inspection of the lakeside bushes, they found another kind of mulberry bush that Jian called maple mulberry since its foliage looked like maple leaves.
They picked a couple more leaves to give to Jian’s brother for further verification. Suddenly, they heard, whoosh! Tao jumped at them from behind the bush, snapping a branch in the air as if it were a whip. “Stop it!” he yapped excitedly.
“Why? These are not your bushes!” cried Jian, raising her arm in front of her face to avoid Tao’s branch.
“I found them first,” the bully shouted lashing his branch again in the air.
“Let’s leave.” Yezi pulled Jian’s hand. “We’ll come back another time.”
The two girls darted away, leaving the boy’s laughter to resound in the bushes and dissolve into the whispers of the lakeshore waters.
12.
MULBERRY LEAVES
SEVERAL DAYS LATER, JIAN ARRIVED at Yezi’s home with a big infectious grin on her face. “Guess what I have?” she said, carefully pulling a lump of toilet paper out from her pocket.
Yezi blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Candy?”
Jian shook her head. “Try again,” she giggled.
Yezi paused. “Hmmm … silkworm eggs?”
“You got it!” Jian said, unfolding the toilet paper to reveal a cluster of tiny gossamer eggs. “I’ll give you this part,” she said, cautiously tearing the toilet paper in two. She handed one piece to Yezi. “Check it every day. When you see a tiny black dot in an egg, a worm is ready to bite its way out.”
“Wow!” Excited, Yezi carefully examined the eggs, imagining what she should do when all the eggs turned into black points. Her hand became sweaty and itchy as if the silkworms had already crept onto her palm. She could picture the worms spinning tiffany silk that would glint in the sunlight. “How long will it take them to hatch?”
“Maybe a week.”
“Where should we keep the worms?”
“I’ll find some empty needle boxes from my father’s clinic and give you one.”
“Great,” responded Yezi, folding the toilet paper into a careful square and pocketing it with caution.
“It’s Friday. Let’s try getting into the library’s reading room again,” Jian said, eagerly tugging on Yezi’s hand and pulling her out the door.
“Okay, okay,” said Yezi, grinning.
The woman doorkeeper was back. Lucky us, Yezi thought. “I’ll go first. When you pass by, make sure you smile at her,” she whispered to Jian. Yezi took a deep breath and headed toward the doors. Her heartbeat quickened as she muttered a breathless “hi” to the frowning woman. The doorkeeper looked at her, but did not stop her from entering the room. Yezi headed straight for the newspaper rack. Then she turned to look over at Jian, who was hurriedly following another student into the room.
Yezi gestured at her to come over to the newspaper rack. Together, they lifted the rod of The Times, and crept silently to a nearby table. Yezi pointed to the title of the paper and then searched for the word ‘time’ in another part of the dense text. It took some time, but she was proud to have found one that she could show her friend. Later, they managed to locate the copy of the magazine Yezi had looked at during her previous visit. They looked closely at the little girl in the photograph holding her violin, and Jian joked that the girl looked like Yezi. Then they pulled down a few issues of the People’s Pictorial and were flipping through the pages when they heard gruff whisper approaching from a distance, “Wheeree arrre youuuuu?”
Yezi recognized the voice. “Popo Yao is looking for me. I’ve got to leave now.” She sighed and hurried to the doors. She did not want Yao’s strident voice to spread throughout the reading room.
She stumbled downstairs and ran into Yao. “Please don’t yell,” she begged, pulling her arm.
Surprised to see Yezi, Yao swallowed the words, “You—” She began coughing as she rumbled, “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?”
“I’m sorry, Popo Yao,” she said, her tone pleading.
“I’m okay now,” Yao said, holding tightly onto Yezi’s hand. “I’m glad I found you. Let’s go home.”
On their way home, Yezi fished the wad of toilet paper out of her pocket and held it up for Yao’s inspection. “These eggs will be silkworms pretty soon. When they are ready, I’ll use their silk to make a handkerchief for you.”
“That’s so kind of you,” Yao said. “But it would be better if you didn’t run all over the world and worry me to death.”
As they walked, Yezi noticed that her head now reached the height of Yao’s ear. Her gaze fell on Yao’s long gray braids. She is old and tired. I should take care of myself, she thought. She withdrew her hand
from Yao’s and said, “You know, I can go home by myself, and I can do my own laundry, too.”
“I believe that,” Yao said with a big smile. “Hopefully you’ll do my laundry when I can’t move around.” Talking with the girl made her happy. Like a crumpled handkerchief that had just been ironed, a radiant glow smoothed her wrinkles away.
A week later, Yezi discovered that several of the silkworm eggs were marked with the much-anticipated black dots. Exhilarated, she reached for a box that she had perched on the windowsill just for this occasion. The lid of the box had numerous holes punched in it for ventilation. She lifted the lid from the box, and carefully placed the toilet paper with the eggs inside. From a small plastic bag on the table next to her, she withdrew one of the mulberry leaves she and Jian had collected and then wrapped in a wet rag so that they would remain moist. She laid the leaf in the box adjacent to the eggs.
“Bedtime, Yezi,” Sang called, as he leaned against the headrest. He was waiting for her to climb into the bed behind another makeshift curtain that now divided the bed into two parts.
After returning the box to the sill, Yezi asked, “Do you think the baby silkworms will come through?”
“Certainly. They can survive better than human beings.”
“Are you sure?” she asked as she clambered onto her part of the bed. She was so excited she could hardly sleep. It wasn’t long though before her dreams were filled with delicate webs made of silk fibres.
The following morning, she sprang out of bed and ran to the little box on the windowsill. Inside, she found two tiny, dark brown silkworms on a partially eaten leaf. “I’ve got two!” she shouted.
“Get yourself dressed before playing with the worms,” Yao’s voice sounded from outside the room.
Yezi dressed and ate her breakfast faster than usual. She couldn’t wait to show the box to Jian. When she was about to leave, Jian surprised her at the door, a similar box in her hand and a wide smile on her face. “I’ve got some worms,” she said, brightly.
“So have I!” Yezi replied exalted, holding out her box for Jian to see.
“Wow! We both have silkworms now.”
“We should go and get some more mulberry leaves,” Yezi said gravely, taking the box from Jian’s hand. “Leave your box here with mine,” she said, gently placing both boxes side by side on the windowsill. The two friends bounded out to the yard, excited to pick mulberry leaves.
A week later, fifteen worms crept inside Yezi’s box, devouring mulberry leaves and leaving tiny black pellets. Day by day each grew the length of a single grain of rice.
Yezi and Jian collected mulberry leaves every other day; soon the mulberry bushes along the lakeshore became bare. They needed to find a new source. When they heard that a group of children from Jian’s yard planned to go to Hundred Step Islet, they decided to join them to try and find more mulberry bushes.
On a Tuesday afternoon, Yezi left with Jian for the shore to meet the other young adventurers: Ming and his twin sister, Lan, Jian’s brother, Keyu, and Benben. The group walked along the lakeshore for a while before they reached the stepping stones in the water that led to the islet.
“Watch out and take big steps. The stones are far apart.” Keyu, about to enter the seventh grade, resembled a commander with a stick in his hand. “You can hold onto my stick if you are afraid.”
“Someone can hold the handle of my net, too,” said Ming, waving his butterfly net.
“No, sir. I’m not chicken,” Benben, the youngest, responded.
When Yezi approached the stone steps, her heart pumped fast. She was afraid of the water and nervous about making her way across the stones without falling. Jian pulled at her blouse, and said reassuringly, “Don’t worry. I’m with you.”
Yezi eyed the space between the first stone and the second. They were about twenty centimeters apart. The water seemed to run fast. The gap appeared to widen. Yezi was terrified.
Benben pushed his way in front of Yezi and sprang to the first stone. “I’m okay, everybody.” Then he leapt to another one. Yezi sucked in a breath and tried to raise her right leg. Hesitating, she stepped onto the first stone.
From behind her, Jian was encouraging. “You are doing fine. Keep going. I am right behind you.”
Yezi moved on to the second stone and then the third. She found it hard to concentrate on each step. Two of the children had already made it to Hundred Step Islet, and were gleefully running along the shoreline. Benben, on the stone in front of Yezi, turned around and said, “I’m coming to get you.”
Ming yelled, “Benben! Don’t …” Before Yezi realized what was happening, Benben had already stepped onto her stone, but he lost his balance and toppled into the water. Frightened, Yezi shuddered, and tried to catch Benben’s hand. She leaned forward, but was also caught off balance and fell into the water. Benben and Yezi’s heads bobbed to the surface. They were coughing and flailing as water surged around them.
“Help!” shrieked Jian.
Time seemed to have stopped. Yezi was keenly aware that her body was getting lighter as the water swelled up to her chest, then her shoulders. Soon it reached her mouth. Am I going to die? Managing to open her eyes, she screeched at the top of her lungs. Under the hazy water, she could see strands of her hair floating around her and feel the heaviness of her clothes as they clung to her skin. The water was cold, penetrating her flesh, and then her bones. Her hands clenched, but there was nothing to hold onto as she felt herself sinking downward.
Before her feet touched the lakebed, two hands grabbed her arms and lifted her out of the water. She was light-headed and gasped for air, but relieved to feel her hand graze the warm stepping stone. Jian grabbed her from behind and helped her sit up on the stone.
Keyu stood in the water, his hands on Yezi’s knees. “Are you okay?”
Yezi nodded. “Many thanks.”
Meanwhile, Benben, who had also been pulled from the water, was now sitting sheepishly on the next step. Ming was behind him, holding his back upright. The sunlight was warm on Yezi’s skin, and the air smelled fresh. I’m okay, she thought. Soothed, Yezi let her feet dangle in the water that no longer menaced.
“Maybe we should stay in the water,” Keyu said to Ming. “We can help everyone along the stepping stones.”
“Sure. I can even carry Benben to the islet,” said Ming, relieved. But suddenly he turned and shouted, “Where is my net?”
“It’s down there!” Lan had reached the islet and was pointing to a brown spot further downstream.
Yezi stood up. “Let’s go.”
“Hold my hand,” Keyu said, wading beside the stone steps. “I’ll walk with you to the shoreline.”
In front of her, Benben was holding Ming’s hand tightly as he stepped onto the next stone. Finally, the whole team gathered on the islet and flopped down on the grass. Yezi, Benben, Ming and Keyu were drenched. Pants and shirts off, the three boys were in their underwear and laid their clothes on bushes to dry. Yezi preferred to keep her clothes on. She could hear Yao’s stern words: “Do not take your clothes off anywhere except at home!”
“Your clothes will dry faster if you take them off. You don’t want Yao to see you in wet clothes!” Jian said, removing her T-shirt, under which she wearing a tank top. Handing the T-shirt to Yezi, she said, “Put this on.”
“Okay, I’ll find a place to change,” Yezi said as she slipped behind some bushes.
She changed into Jian’s top, but kept her wet pants on. She did not want to walk around wearing only her panties. Yezi’s blouse joined the other clothes hanging on the bushes.
Ming found a Y-shaped branch, upon which he tied his handkerchief. The substitute net looked crooked, yet might be useful for capturing dragonflies and butterflies. Keyu pulled a coiled fishing line from his pocket and attached it to his own stick. He intended to fish for
small turtles lurking behind rocks in the water.
Yezi and Jian searched for and examined all the bushes around Hundred Step Islet hoping to find some mulberry bushes. An American song her brother had taught her sprang to Yezi’s mind: “All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel…” Jian followed her lead, skipping behind her and humming the tune. “The monkey thought ’twas all in fun. Pop! Goes the weasel!” A breeze whispered through the trees; the water gurgled sweetly along the shore. Altogether, the two girls identified five mulberry bushes. They hung circles of willow sprigs on each bush as markers for their next visit.
Then they wrapped the mulberry leaves they had picked into a handkerchief. As the group gathered, Keyu showed them the three fist-sized turtles he had managed to catch. He promised to give one to Benben. Ming’s plastic jug contained three butterflies that had red spotted wings, and two dragonflies with blue-black heads. Lan was holding a huge bouquet of daisy, honeysuckle and blue flag, their individual scents mixing to create an intoxicating aroma. Before making their way back, Ming offered to help carry everyone’s treasures, while Keyu helped the others across the stepping stones by wading into the water that reached his chest and guiding their steps. He reminded everyone to keep their adventure a secret; tattlers would be excluded from future explorations forever.
Back at home, Yezi used a piece of wet cloth to rewrap her mulberry leaves so that they would stay moist for four or five days. Lying in bed that night, she replayed in her thoughts the events of that afternoon and resolved to learn to swim.
Two days later, Yezi and Jian, followed by Yao, arrived at the swimming area of Lake Dianchi. Many of the neighbourhood children were already there, in shorts or bathing suits, playing in the water or lying on the beach. Yezi and Jian, wearing shorts, joined several girls standing in the sun.
“Ha! Look at these white-skinned piglets!” A boy nearby laughed as he pointed at them.
Looking down at her body, Yezi realized that her skin was pale. Jian’s skin looked white too, but Yezi suddenly became aware that her skin was fairer than anyone else’s.