Getting this out a little late this weekend, but got tax clients to take care of. We're back into Clete's point of view for this passage.
Here in Los Angeles, we've tamed the three rivers that would flood this town regularly, and forced them into concrete channels that empty into the sea. These water flumes are dry most of the time, but when it rains they become high-speed death traps. And of course that always attracts stupid people who go down to look at them, jump fences and see how powerful the water is against their feet or hands. They of course get sucked in and carried to oblivion, gaining their 15 minutes of fame on the nightly news. An exciting way to exit our mortal coil no doubt!
As an Angeleno (a native of Los Angeles) Clete should know this truth about life's hazards. And yet he dips his toe into one. Well, we're glad he did, because he teaches us a lesson, no?
You may have noticed I don't describe things or people very much. I think actions tend describe people and things more adequately. That said, in my own mind, Princess Feng, who figures a lot in this part, is one of those people with a facial type that has a very high and prominent forehead. There was an accountant in a company I used to work for who is the model for what I think Feng looks like.
Those of you who have read the "Cinderella" story, will have noticed that there is a "Qi" who has surfaced in this story arc. There is a relationship, but they are different persons and that will be explained in chapters to come.
Have a great week and thanks for reading. Love,
Pops
Personal Journal Entry
U.S. Time: Thursday,
July 19, 2012
Island Time: Dragon, Month 6, Day 1, Xingqi 4, New Moon
Island Time: Dragon, Month 6, Day 1, Xingqi 4, New Moon
Project Time: Week 4, Day 5
My work in the Wood Domain continues. Today is a photo
documentation day for this sector; and I have taken many photos and videos. I
decided to wait until later in the week to break out the cameras because it
looked like the rainy spell would end—and I was right. The lighting today was spectacular.
Everything had a just-washed sheen about it, rather like a new-car-lot. I could
sell these to magazines if I wanted. The major order of the day, I was
informed, was that they were going to kill one of the pigs. They grow these little
Vietnamese porkers they grow here. I don’t really know farm animals, but they all
look fat, happy, and healthy to me. I was strictly forbidden to not document the
slaughter however.
Qi and her daughter Fei, whom I had been introduced to in
passing last night at the Security Council meeting, were outfitted in a
different sort of uniform—sashed smocks made of heavy canvas-like material.
They were a natural brownish linen color, clean but stained from the blood of
many butcheries past. And yet they were highly perfumed, as if the robes had
been infused with nectar. They wore hats of the same material. The pig knew
them quite well and followed them quite contentedly as they escorted it to its
doom in a special area far removed from its pen-mates. It was a neutered male,
I think they call them barrows, and it was washed down and carefully dried and
examined for any cuts or bruises. If he were injured in any way the slaughter
would be postponed until he had fully healed, but he was perfect.
Qi and Fei sat with the creature for a good half hour,
brushing him, massaging him, and singing songs to make him peaceful and calm.
After a while there were five or so points that Qi continued to massage, which
had the effect of lulling the pig into a stupor. She had Fei insert needles at
those points and then they rolled the pig onto its back. Qi and Fei put on
thick gloves, crowded him between them and applied two heavy cloth straps as a restraint.
Lee, who was similarly attired had been present this entire
time with Ling. Lee was seated at the pig’s hind end now moved up toward the
torso. She had also been speaking a gentle, droning verse over and over all
this time. Her left hand caressed the pig’s chest, felt for the heartbeat, and
her thumb expertly found the insertion point above the breastbone. She held out
her right hand and Ling handed her mother a shining, freshly sharpened knife.
It was extremely narrow, almost sword like. She set it on the spot that her
thumb had found, broke her song into what seemed like a prayer, and then pushed
it in a motion that was confident and effortlessly smooth, and then she made a
small pull to the side. The pig started, then went limp. Lee extracted the
blade. True to her word, Lee was an expert killer.
For some reason I wondered if she had ever dispatched a human. I started to wonder if that's what happened to all the men on this island. Were these girls like top-of-the-food-chain preying mantises who killed and subsequently ate their lovers upon a successful mating? How close had I come to a sure demise? But my imagination was running wild. Still, their ability to put a dumb animal into stupor and complacency before a killing stroke was impressive.
For some reason I wondered if she had ever dispatched a human. I started to wonder if that's what happened to all the men on this island. Were these girls like top-of-the-food-chain preying mantises who killed and subsequently ate their lovers upon a successful mating? How close had I come to a sure demise? But my imagination was running wild. Still, their ability to put a dumb animal into stupor and complacency before a killing stroke was impressive.
Qi and Fei hung the pig securely, placed a pan, slit the
throat, and left it to drain properly for the next several hours. Qi told me
that the pig died without fear, and because of that the meat would be most
sweet, or so she was told because she said she herself was a vegetarian. Vegetarianism
on Dog Island is just a fine shade of difference of lifestyle, because meat is
not often on the menu. Eating the meals that Lee had prepared for me, I felt
like I had gone vegetarian myself. I think my ability to pull fish rather
easily out of their waters had made Lee feel like I was somewhat useful to have
around. I had become a consistent provider of protein.
Fei, I assume was the pig’s primary keeper. She stood for a
while touching the pig’s haunches and back. She told me she was admiring the
beauty of the curves and forms, and while there was a sadness in parting with
her charge, she was grateful to the little one for nourishing the Island
community.
The end-of-day uplink was made and all of the day’s
observations were stored to the server as usual. I shut everything up. I was
waiting for Xiaomei to show up and we would work on her math issues, but Qin
Qin had come back and told me that I was to meet Xiaomei at a place called the
Classroom Annex. It was apparently a room adjoining Feng’s cottage and she was
going to take me there. I thought that was odd, but she told me Feng lived
quite close by the lab and so it was no hardship to get there. As we walked,
Qin was uncharacteristically silent and I should have taken that a clue that
something was up.
Feng was awaiting me outside, dressed in standard Black and
White. Qin Qin proceeded straight through the door of what I assumed was the
classroom without a word. Feng gave me a polite bow. “Welcome to my home, Dr.
Wong,” she said. She walked me to an additional room that had been built on her
prefab cottage and pulled the door for me. “Please enter.”
Waiting for me inside was a small classroom. We were
standing at the front of the class. There were nine old-style Japanese school desks
at which you sit on the floor, arranged in a three-by-three formation. Seated
before me were Ling, Nu, and Xiaomei in the first row. Fei, Wen, and Jie sat in
the second. In the third were two girls I had not met, and Qin Qin. I now knew
their age order. The girls had name signs at their desks, their names carved
into the wood. Unfortunately, the names were rendered in their Chinese
ideograms which I could not read without a dictionary.
I had failed to notice Lum who was standing to my right. My
glance caught her, and I shot her a surprised look—she probably rightfully
interpreted it as “WHAT THE FUCK?” She had an embarrassed look on her face.
“These are ALL the daughters of Dog
Island,” said Feng. “You have met most of them. We understand that you have
been retained to tutor Xiaomei to improve her scores on her college entrance
exams?” I looked at Lum. She nodded that it was OK to own up to it.
“I am here to represent all of their
mothers. And we would like to respectfully request that you would tutor all of them
so that they would likewise meet the admission standards to university, such as
the one at which you teach.”
“Before I answer, do you mind if I have a
word with Lum? Privately?”
“Please do.”
“We’ll be right back.” I held the door for
Lum and we stepped outside.
No sooner had we stepped out then that poor woman started to
cry. I started to reach for my bandana to offer to her, but realized this is
just her coping mechanism. Still, there is a little-girl quality about her that
makes me want to scoop her up and rock her. But if she’s anything like Lee,
she’s a iron-armed farm woman who can flip me on my back anytime.
“I’m so sorry! This was supposed to be our
secret! I didn’t know this was going to happen. I don’t know what to do,” she
sobbed.
“Subterfuge is probably not your strong
game, sister,” I said. “So now I know why I was ordered to appear at the
council last night. It was my job interview unawares. Fuck, man, that Feng is
pretty scary looking. She reminds me of the vice provost who gets on my case if
my grades are late. She has that look of someone who’s got your balls in her
fist and is not afraid to squeeze. Ugh.” I had to think for a bit. “You know. I
don’t have time for this. I’m just going to turn it all down. We can try again later.”
“It’s no use, you are now under
surveillance.”
“I could take Xiaomei on as my second
research assistant, or replace her for Qin Qin and kind of work with her on the
side that way.”
“Lian would kill me if I got in the way of
the relationship you’ve already started with Qin Qin. I DO have to live next
door to her. If you gave her a job, they’d make you give all of them jobs. It
would be the same thing.”
“You got any advice for me? If I turn this
down it looks like I make an enemy out of this Feng person. Is she dangerous to
me?”
“I never thought of her in that way. But if
you’re an outsider, she could be trouble. She is the smartest person on the
Island and I think she is the second most powerful. She maintains the library
that lines the walls of the classroom. She is consulted on all of our issues of
education, law, and ritual.”
“OK. She’s a pretty big fish in this pond.
What are the plusses for being on her good side?”
“She is the Phoenix Guardian Princess of
the South and so is the overseer of bird domestication. You can probably get a
chicken to slaughter anytime you want. And maybe at least one duck or two while
you’re here. And eggs. She may even cook the chicken for you. Her steeped
chicken is the best. She has this tea technique . . .”
“You guys are all REALLY into food, aren’t
you?”
“I suppose. What else do we have to occupy
our time here? Clete, I’ll still make you that garment I promised.”
“Forget it. Not like I made good on my
part.”
“That’s not true. Mei so, so much more
confident in herself now I don’t know what the Firsts are willing to do to
compensate you. It’s going to be a lot of work that you weren’t counting on,
isn’t it?”
“Lum. Don’t worry about it. I’m a big boy,
I’ll handle it. It’s not going be doing anything that I don’t want to do. But
you need to be punished. I am going to make YOU take a bath with me every
Saturday night and give me a full goddamned body massage.”
“Well,” she said, “ I suppose I could do
that . . .” She was starting to work that out in her head.
“LUM! I’m being sarcastic!” She looked a
little disappointed. And actually because she was, so was I. But I didn’t have
time for that kind of thing either. “Why don’t you go in and have Feng come out
and talk to me now?”
Feng emerged from the annex and slowly and carefully strided
over to me. I stood there with my arms folded across my chest in the universal
defense posture. I tried to make myself
look as big as possible. I decided to
dispense with build-ups and go with an initial denial.
“I am sorry, but my personal schedule will
not allow me to take on your request. I am sorry that you have put everybody
out like this and built up expectations, but. . .” She was having none of it.
“I am calling in my favor, Dr. Wong. I believe you said you owe me one. This is
it. You are teaching those girls to be college-ready.”
“Wait a fuckin’ minute. It was not you who
got me out of that situation. Let me remind you it was Lee.”
“I held subsequent silence on your behalf.”
She had me there. Time to act like a pompous jerk who's better than she is.“I'll have you know I teach doctoral level fluid mechanics issues. I run seminars on exploration geology. This is Mickey Mouse league. I don’t have time to be
running a goddamned rinky-dink cram school for your daughters.”
“I am then sufficiently impressed with your credentials to do a more than adequate job. You apparently have time to tutor Xiaomei
surreptitiously. You have time to make repairs on Lee’s cottage. You have time
to give lessons in computer information transfer to Qin Qin.”
“It’s ONE thing to help ONE girl with her
algebra. To run a course for nine girls of disparate age and skill level to
meet a common performance objective within eight weeks? That’s totally
something else. Do I look like Annie Sullivan to you?"
"Who is Annie Sullivan?"
"An American teacher who set the bar higher than anyone could reach since. A miracle worker."
"Our girls are very bright. I don't think I"m asking for a miracle."
"SHIT! Why can’t you people leave me to my own charitable intents? Why can’t I buy one girl one damn pair of glasses! What’s wrong here?”
"Who is Annie Sullivan?"
"An American teacher who set the bar higher than anyone could reach since. A miracle worker."
"Our girls are very bright. I don't think I"m asking for a miracle."
"SHIT! Why can’t you people leave me to my own charitable intents? Why can’t I buy one girl one damn pair of glasses! What’s wrong here?”
“On Dog Island, you may NOT help just ONE
girl. Or haven’t you figured that out?”
“How can I figure ANYTHING out about you
people? Nobody answers my questions about this place. You’re all mysterious,
close-lipped, obfuscation artists. You’re all driving me fuckin’ nuts!”
“Your first class is waiting to start
Professor. They need to all get to dinner after that.”
“I refuse.”
“That is really not an option you have.”
“Fuck you. I am hereby no longer tutoring
Xiaomei. OK. I admit I helped her a few times already. And if it makes you all
happy, I will dismiss Qin Qin as my helper and I am just going to work on my
own from here on, talking only to Lee.”
“This is no longer about those
relationships, Dr. Wong. You WILL run this class for me.”
“This is for YOUR daughter, WEN? Is it?
Let’s just cut a deal and I’ll help her too and that’s it.”
“She must be a beneficiary. But I have all
the daughters of Dog Island in mind.”
“And if I don’t do this?”
“I am the primary administrator of your
research contract. Your agreement will be terminated immediately with all
assets forfeit and fees payable in full to the Island.”
“On what grounds?”
“Primarily express violation of boundary
agreements that you know that I know. But I have other things. Violation of
sanitation regulations. Violation of religious taboo. What will your sponsoring
NGO say when you have forfeited all of their millions of dollars of invested
assets here?”
DAMN, I thought. Earth Dragon won’t give a damn. It’s not
their nickel. It’s mine. Several million nickels actually. Was I ready to walk
away from this? I decided to try playing a "culture card."
“I thought in Asian cultures, teachers are
to be respected, to be revered like royalty? How do you justify jackin’ me
around like this?”
“What you say is true about teachers’
status in general society. But, I AM royalty; a true princess. I outrank you. I
CAN push you around as I need to.”
“You’re bluffing. You can’t be that petty.”
“You’re wrong if you think that I think the
future of my Island is a petty matter. Do you have your satellite phone on
you?”
“I do.”
“Your Earth Dragon liaison is on the speed dial
list, no? Mr. Lai?”
“He is.” I got my phone out.
“Call him now. And then hand me the phone.”
“He’s sleeping right now.”
“Do I care?”
I hit Johnson’s entry. One ring. Two ring.
Three ring. Pickup.
“Clete? Is that you? Is something wrong?
Why are you calling me?”
“Johnson . . .” Feng extended her hand,
ready to take the phone. Come on, lady. Blink.
“What?”
“How ya doin’?” Hand still out. Deadpan
serious look on her face.
“Damn you! You better be getting kidnapped
by pirates or something. You know what time it is here?”
“Look, I thought I had a situation here,
but I think I can handle it.” I learned Feng was capable of an evil smile right
there.
“My wife’s throwin’ daggers at me. She has
a hard time sleeping. You woke her up.”
“Take her shopping for shoes, send Sally
the bill.”
“Prada.”
“Too expensive. No fuckin’ way.”
“We can do Asian then, you racist you.
Jimmy Choo.”
“You outta your mind?”
“OK. Vera Wang then.”
“What?!”
“Gotcha.”
I sighed. “Whatever.”
“Missus says you can call whenever you want
then.”
“Go to hell.” I hung up and turned to Feng.
“I run it like an American classroom. Voluntary students only, NO compulsories.”
“Agreed. Your classroom, your rules. But if
Wen doesn’t want to be there though, too bad for her. Discipline hard as
applicable. Cane if needed.” Feng bowed to me.
I hung my head in submission, shoulders drooped, as I walked
over to the classroom door. No matter what part of the world I’m in, I FUCKIN’
HATE vice provosts with too much power. Have I lost my touch in sizing up how
to deal with an opponent?
She pointed out my stupid error when she said
to me, “That outcome wasn’t very hard to predict. You know Dr. Wong, there are
much nicer places in this world where you can spend a three-month vacation, and
yet you came here.”
Was she right? Did I want to be here? Do I really, REALLY like it here? No. It's awful here. It's a hell hole--there's not been a minute I haven't felt oppressed by the climate. Every fiber of my body tells me at every moment to get the hell out of here. Or maybe I really want to help out Qin Qin? I certainly have had research assistants or "bush helpers" in the past that I became fond of and "adopted," giving them taxi fare and buying them meals and the like. It's probably because I'm a cheapskate and spent so much to get here, I don't want to flush it away.
The only thing I could think to say in reply to Feng was, “Lucky for us both I actually like teaching.”
“Thank you. I promise, Dr. Wong, that at
some point, when the time is right. I will give you some of the answers that
you deserve.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what they all say.” At
least we were even from that point on and I turned the knob to meet my students.
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Be truthful and frank, but be polite. If you use excessive profanity, I'll assume you have some kind of character flaw like Dr. Wong. Tks!