Aldiss, Brian W-A Rude Awakening

by A Rude Awakening(Lit)

  She began to sob another liquid sound far more noticeable than the others surrounding us.

  'Oh, pack it in, Margey. I love you but my fucking time is up. It'll break my heart to leave you but that's the way it is. Kismet.' Checking with my watches, I worked out that it must be eleven o'clock, give or take ten minutes. The rain was dying out.

  Margey turned away from me and curled up in a foetal position, still sniffing.

  'You say you love your Margey, so you say. You say you like be in the East, so you say. Then why you go England? Now you must decide! For safety sake, since Medan is so dangerous, we go Singapore short time, okay, you and I? Later time, when Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek throw out the rebels from China and law-and-order come back, then I take you Shantung, show you Tsingtao. We can go on the railway train! I have a pre-war timetable in my trunk. Is easy journey!' She sat up, smiling again, stretching out her arms as if to embrace all China. 'Aei-ya, Horry, just you think! You can see the Yellow Sea and those occasional beaches like I told you, with all the trees with flowers on when spring comes down from the mountains. I bet you like that, Horry, I really bet!'

  'Yeah. I would.'

  Yeah, I would like it. Sweat rash apart, yes, I loved the East: I loved the extraordinary people, the muddle, the failure, the hope, the climate, the ghastliness, the perennial courage, the Jack of pretension. Everything was much more real and exciting than anything I had known in England. But...

  And Margey. Temper apart, yes, I loved Margey. She was so vulnerable, yet so bouncy, oppressed yet serene. She embodied in her frail plump self the whole teeming confused Chinese nation, that extraordinary half of the globe, that secret and alluring half, which existed almost like a female counterpart to the gun-toting, overcoat-clad West. Passionately, I longed to know her and, through her, her people better. I longed to dive deeper and not be jerked suddenly out of context like a carp out of a pool. But...

  'Oh, you so insc'utable! You say nothing!' She kicked her savage little feet under the cover. 'You say you love me, you no love me jus' because I China girl, I got yellow skin, you fool ignorant soldier!'

  'That's all balls, Margey. Look, you are far paler than me.' To make her look, I stripped the sheet back. There lay our bodies, soon to be divided for ever unless I got a fucking move on, lying together on the same bed, knees touching. I struck out angrily at a mosquito feasting on my leg, and left a smear of blood. Years of sun in India, Burma, and Sumatra had toasted my torso to a dark mahogany. From the waist up, I would have passed for a Dravidian on his annual holiday in Bermuda. By contrast, Margey's soft figure was as tallowy as the sheet beneath us. I slid my hand between her legs, clutching the lips of her twot. 'China girl skin like ivory. Horry love his China girl.'

  With spirit, she said, 'You no go with Katie Chae or I die. That girl got bad terrible disease.'

  'Horry love this China girl.'

  'Stink-pig, no make fun how I speak! If you try speak Shantung dialect, I make fun you, you foreign devil, you take your filthy disease hand out my cunt fast, or I scream for Daisy.'

  Laughing, I overcame her resistance and kissed her. You were full of hope in these days, dear Margey, as I was. Have you lost it all by new, and the years ground you down?

  At the time, I told myself that I still had a chance to make up my mind and to plan accordingly. Matters could be arranged. I would have to get military permission to marry Margey; otherwise, there was no way in which she could leave Sumatra. 'Do you, Horatio Stubbs, take this China girl, Tung Su Chi, to be your lawful wedded wife?' Then we could get to Singapore at least. Not that I wanted to stay in Singapore . . There was India, but India was passing from British hands. And in England I flinched to think of the cretinous reception Margey might receive there; the attitude of my mates in the mess gave me warning enough on that score.

  In order to arrange anything, I had to get in touch with Captain Maurice Boyer, my company officer. I had left it a bit late, because Boyer was not in Medan. He was in Padang, on the other side of the island, and I would have to speak to him over the air.

  There was another difficulty, which I had often tried to explain to Margey, who steadfastly refused to believe a word of all the unlikely formalities which constituted army regulations. I was in Medan on detachment from the Mendips. My battalion was stationed down in Padang, four hundred or so miles away, the other two battalions of 8 Brigade having been shifted to Batavia in Java, where the British and the Dutch were having more trouble than in Sumatra. Major Inskipp had recently been repatriated. Now it was the eccentric Boyer I had to speak to, and I knew how difficult it was to hold personal discussions over a wireless link.

  One other possibility existed. I could talk to Captain Jhamboo Singh, the dandified officer under whose supervision I came officially whilst in Medan. He was perfectly capable of taking decisions, being Commanding Officer of the British personnel of 26 Div and such odd bods as me. But I failed to visualise how I could talk to an Indian about my chances of marrying a Chinese girl.

  Too violent to last, the rainstorm was fading away. The dripping into the landing basin became more slowly spaced and deeper in tone. Daisy could be heard singing softly to her baby on the other side of the partition.

  'There's a good film showing at the Deli Cinema tomorrow evening. Shall we go and see it?'

  'I don't want see any films. Why you change the subject? Why you are ashamed to be see' with me in London if you don't mind in Medan? You think I not pretty enough for Mayfair or something, you bastard? Anyhow, what is this rotten film you mention?'

  'Melvyn Douglas and Joan Crawford in They All Kissed the Bride. Comedy.'

  'Aei-ya, I love Joan Crawford. Really great, though not so hot as Rita. Will you take me along, in spite my bad temper, honest?'

  'What do I get if I do?'

  'You so kind man, Horry. Though you do not love me, you so sweet man.' She rubbed her face against mine so that one wing of that night-black hair swept my cheek, while her naughty little hand teased my prick again. As I began to respond, she rolled over so that she was half on top of me, opening her legs and gently chafing her fanny against my thigh.

  Her titties swung into my grasp like two mangoes, her nipples became imprisoned between my thumb and first finger. In the heat, we were juicy together. She had that beautiful clear scent, which was in part an artificial aid but mainly emanated from her body. As we started to stir, the covering slid from us on to the floor. Shadows lay across our flesh. Part-seen, Margey was wholly lovely.

  She had my prick in a curious grip, her thumb pointing up its stem. Up came her right leg and pwop! she'd slipped cock and thumb yet it was the tiniest little delicate petalled hole you ever saw up that succulent passage and was immediately working on my knob, while smiling impudently into my face, as if determined to sharpen the blunt end to a fine point. Sliding over on the bed, I pulled her right on top of me, grunting at her in encouragement.

  'Aei-ya, you muscle-brute!' She bounced away so positively that I was afraid, as I counter-thrust from below, that I would lose her. Her legs were spread wide now, she clutched at my torso. Working my hands down between her little tight buttocks, I nailed her in place with one finger up her bumhole. As ever, that induced tremendous voltage on both sides. She always came when I did that. 'Illegal, illegal!' she cried. We went over the top.

  We were having a smoke. The downpour ceased. Margey got up and opened her little window. Draughts of cool air blew in, tickling our flesh. Outside, water dripped from innumerable broken gutters. From Daisy in the next compartment came only silence; she and her baby were asleep. Checking with my watches, I found the Amsterdam one had stopped; I wound it vigorously. The Indian one indicated a time somewhere near eleven-twenty, but the hour hand looked a bit loose. It was time I thought about getting back to the billet.

  A shot sounded only a couple of streets away. It was answered almost immediately by rifle fire. The first weapon replied, then a sten opened up, firing bursts. I stubbed my fag out and
jumped to the window, pushing the lamp and custard powder away so that I could lean out.

  'Horry, you get shot, come in!' Margey called.

  In the alley, all was quiet. The action was taking place in the street beyond.

  Running feet could be heard. A dog was barking. The sten opened up again for one brief burst, then a vehicle engine started a Jeep by the sound of it. Whatever vehicle it was, it belted up Bootha Street from the direction of the Kesawan, and I caught sight of the wash of its lights as it shot past the entry to the side street in which we were ensconced. Then silence. A minute later, I could hear its engine distantly, still going like the clappers. No more shots.

  Night airs moved against my cheek. Wild dogs yelped dispersedly from the direction of the Deli river. Incredible to think that next Monday night only next Monday night I would be away from here for ever, waiting in Nee Soon stinking transit camp for the boat to take me home. It was like a sentence of death; all this would exist only as something shrivelling slowly in memory, flowers in an empty vase.

  Margey smacked my haunches.

  'Why you must stick your head out there, you foolish soldier? Why they shoot so close here? Never before so close, I think. Aei-ya, never any peace, nowhere! After the Nips are beaten, now come these terrible Indonesians under Dr Soekarno, to make new troubles. Will they shoot again, Horry ?'

  'That'll be it for tonight.' I drew the curtains and put the lamp back. 'Probably just some trigger-happy MPs, or some nut trying something... I'd better get on back.'

  She clung to me with fierce strength.

  'Damn you, why you have no proper feeling? What do men think, blast them? Listen to me, Horry, I no speak more of coming to live London with you. Not London, not Singapore, not Tsingtao, not any place on this round globe. But I much hurt in my heart, okay. You know I am educated girl with Shanghai degree. I understand more than you how us two live different places me here, you there only no, I no can find words, my Horry, tell you all things... Fuck it, forget what I say... Just stay here with me in this humble room tonight, all night. Just sleep and love, no more jig jig, just stay in Margey's arms, my English love.'

  I looked down at her, half in anger.

  'You know I could lose my tapes if I was found staying out all night with no pass.'

  She waved her arms above her head, and then had to clutch at the sheet.

  'What's that answer? Oh, you time-expired man, you not care what army do how often I hear you say that? Yet for Margey not one thing you do, not one single thing! You think I utter fool because I no can speak English so proper!'

  'Sorry, Margey, I'll stay the night if you want. You never asked me before, that's all.'

  I clung to her, feeling all her strength and energy. Her arms went round my neck. 'I get you fruit,' she whispered.

  'You are a terrible girl, Margey. I love you more than anything.'

  As I sat down on the bed, she looked dubiously at me, smoothing down her silky black hair. Now she saw that she was to have her immediate wish, she was calm. Her lips came together, her forehead wrinkled in a thoughtful frown.

  'Now stay here, Horry, you devil. Not look out window. I go get you fruit and bread and beer. Then we smoke cigarette and sleep all night together.'

  Still frowning, she slipped into her knickers and the towelling robe.

  From her finger, a cautionary wag before she disappeared. I heard her carry the bowl of rainwater from outside our door and fling it out of a window.

  As soon as she was gone, anxiety possessed me. I pulled the curtains over the window and began to dress with immense haste.

  It was not that I distrusted Margey. But I suddenly felt myself alone in the heart of a hostile city. Even in the peaceful Chinese quarter, army training warned me to remain alert for danger. Of all the races churning about in Medan, the Chinese had least reason to hate the British, but they had their survival to see to, and I was one man on his own.

  Silence from the other side of the partition. I stood for a moment, then buckled on my belt and revolver. I took the gun out of its holster, walked out to the landing, started to descend the ladder, peering through the shrouded dimness as I went.

  As for Margey's despair... How could she exist without resorting to prostitution, penniless and unprotected as she was? Fat was little use to her, except as a pimp. She must be a whore, however desperately she tried to hide the truth from me; why else her perpetual obsession with disease? Besides, Johnny Mercer had been slipping her a length before I arrived in Medan. If Johnny, many others, white, brown, yellow. Some of them would have a personal interest in this house, and would know when I, Margey's current purchaser, was in occupation. The bitch could get me shot.

  Dear Ghost of Margey, that was how I calculated then. I shied from the thought of your whoredom, I understood little. I was a cold young man from Europe, brought up with a traditional middle-class suspicion of sexuality. I thought I had renounced all that crap, but it lay under my surface like permafrost, even when the spring of your body was on mine.

  On the floor below, people were already in bed, horizontal behind their dividing curtains. Their presence could be felt. The air was thick with a sweet Chinese smell, a mixture of cooking, sweat, perfumed soap, and revolting Jap cigarettes. Taking courage from my revolver, I continued on down to the ground floor.

  It was very dark. One naked bulb burning in the living area, a small oil lamp dim in the kitchen area. Night had changed the almost changeless scene. The card-players had gone. A battered bamboo screen had been drawn round the sofa; behind the screen, Auntie slept restlessly, dreaming of faraway lands.

  Two men sat at the table. One was Fat Sian himself, still in greasy string vest and shorts, smoking with his cigarette almost vertical in his mouth. The other was a Chinese I had noticed about the place before. They had been talking quietly together over a bottle of Red Fox; now they lapsed into silence and watched me.

  I went over to them, ostentatiously holding the revolver and enjoying my role.

  'Man shoot,' Fat said. 'Bang, bang, bang.' He raised his plump right hand and fired it three times in order to get his meaning across. In addition, he smiled and nodded.

  'That's right,' I agreed. 'Merdeka, bang, bang, bang...' Merdeka was the Malayan cry for freedom, the slogan of the Indonesian campaign.

  I gave Fat's companion a hard look. He returned it. He was a slender man, neatly dressed with a white shirt, the sleeves of which were rolled down against mosquito bites. He wore gold-rimmed spectacles. His hair was brushed to the back of his head.

  Margey came out from the rear, carrying a plate of apples and mangusteen and a glass of beer. She looked tense, smiling at me without speaking.

  'I'm checking to see that the place is properly secure,' I said. 'Ground floor windows all shut.' Walking across to the door into the lane, I found that it had no lock and the bolt was broken. There was only a simple catch. Fat said something, laughing, and Margey translated. 'Fat Sian sleep in his bed so no man ever break in here. He pull bed in front this door. China people all very scare Malayan murder-thief.'

  'The back?' I crossed to the kitchen area. A door with cracked glass panels led into a cluttered little yard surrounded by other yards and premises. I could make out puddles on the stones. My expert eye told me that in case of trouble in the front one could escape out the back. It also noted a platoon of cockroaches reconnoitring round Margey's sink. I tried the lock on the door. Although it was secure enough, an armchair had been pushed against the door, another indication of Fats commendable concern with security.

  'Who is this man with your brother-in-law?' I asked Margey, pointing the gun at the man with the gold-rimmed spectacles.

  At this point, Margey showed extreme embarrassment, and put the refreshments down on a cupboard to recover herself. I stared at her in surprise, never having seen her behave like this before. I was immediately suspicious.

  'Come on then, sod it, who is he?'

  'He is only journalist...'

&
nbsp; At this juncture, the man in spectacles spoke up for himself. He said, 'You have no need to shout or shoot, sir, I am only a journalist, as Tung Su Chi says.'

  Acting heavy, I walked slowly over and looked at him. He countered by rising from the table as I approached and regarding me with a half-smile.

  'You speak English. What's your name? Do you live here?'

  'I live in Medan. Not particularly through choice.'

  I moved a pace nearer. 'Do you live in this particular fucking building?'

  'I live nearby. Sir.'

  'Is he a relation of yours?' I asked Fat.

  Fat had been devoting his attention to smoking and blinking. He continued to blink as he said, 'No, sir, no rela'. On'y fren'. He Tiger Balm, run China newspaper.'

  The other man produced a grubby visiting card. 'You see, sir, I am known by my journalist's name of Tiger Balm. My name is Chae Lieng Sing, and I am acting editor of New South China Times, published from Boulan Way, where I also live.'