Chapter 9, Part 3 - "He's Not the Kind of Person You Expect to Be Smart"

Dear Gentle Readers:

We're still in the same chapter because we're still on the same night where Clete meets the Security Council. What gets related here picks up right after Clete is dismissed from the Council proceedings. The point of view shifts though through the lens of remembered conversations by two of the participants at some later point in history (I'm thinking probably quite a bit AFTER the timeline of the book's events themselves).

So a stranger comes to town and it's going to be a while before he leaves. The good town-folk of Dog Island "git-together and parlay" as to what's to be done about him. Give a listen to what they think of the guy.

Qi and Lee actually like each other, it's just that sometimes when they get together there's friction. I suspect they competed regularly when they were young girls. Thanks for reading. Coming next week, another view of the same day but from a younger viewpoint.

Love,
Pops

Entry into the Annals

U.S. Time:             Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Island Time:        Dragon, Month 5, Day 30, Xingqi 3

[Reporter’s note: I requested that the Water Guardian and the Chilin Guardian of the West recall the discussion that took place among the Security Council after Dr. Wong’s first appearance before them. Following is a transcript of a recording of their joint recollection.]

Feng: I remember that day very clearly. Very strange to think of it now in that way.

Lee: Not so odd to me.

Feng: Don’t you ever have a thought deeper than a centimeter? How can you be like that? Living life entirely in the shallows?

Lee: That’s why we have you.

Feng: Yes, well. Carrying on. Ting Ting, you, and I picked up all of the tea service items to take into the kitchen. She’s just like you in that way. Never thinking beyond the immediate. I told her:

Feng:	“I don’t know how he did it, but he identified us by our tea!”
Ting Ting:	“What are you talking about?”
Feng:	“Don’t you pay any attention? He set down the cups in the order that we were seated before him!”
Ting Ting:	“Oh. I just noticed that he didn’t pick mine. He doesn’t like fruit extract in his tea. And his pants need washing. Ling is not doing her job. Maybe I should offer to help.”
Lee:	“Don’t go blaming Ling,” you said. “He likes wearing the same pants over and over!”
Feng:	“You told him. Didn’t you Lee? Whose cup was whose.”
Lee:	“How would I know? You didn’t tell me beforehand! I wasn’t even invited. He’s troublesome, but he is a clever man. Extremely observant.”
Feng:	“I just don’t understand,” I said. It seems supernatural.”

Lee: I told him to ignore your silly girl game. But did he listen? No. He thinks everything is a puzzle to be solved. Then I called you out on your robes.

Lee:	“What are you all up to wearing your yellow robes? You have not put those on since we were adolescents.
Qi:	Don’t you fit in yours anymore?
Lee:	You shut up. Of course I do. Don’t clean up dressed like that. You will soil them and then Ling and I have to clean them. Go change! I will clean the dishes!
Qi:	I am having a hot spell again. I’m stepping out of mine right here. Anyway, we thought the robes would be helpful for him to tell us apart since this is the first time he has met us.”
Lee:	Tell you apart? They are all the same except the embroidery. And what do you mean “the first time?”

Mu, Ting Ting, and you all gave me a look that said you would kill me if I said anything about that day at the bath incident, so I kept my tongue.

Lee:	“We agreed that I was to be his contact and he was NOT to communicate with others.”
Feng:	“I remember that he was not to initiate contact, but he could respond if an Islander reached out to him. And we reached out. If it makes any difference to you I was the one who called for this meeting. Dr. Wong and I had a … chance meeting. After learning the nature of his work, we thought it would be instructive to hear what has discovered about our Island. You are not opposed to education, are you?”
Lee:	I don’t think this about education for you.
Feng:	Oh, what is it then, Lee?
Lee:	I don’t know, but I know you are talking too much. This is only going to make it more complicated to communicate what we require of him if there are several of us talking to him.
Ting Ting:	Why are getting so upset Lee? Your voice is rising. He is just going to give us a report now and then.
Feng:	I thought you might appreciate talking to him less. You two always seem to arguing and yelling at one another. We all hear you from far away.
Lee:	We are not always yelling. Why are you putting that kind of judgment on me?
Feng:	I didn’t want to say this, but this is exactly why we didn’t invite you here with him. You agitate him. We wanted to see how he was WITHOUT you around. By coming here you’ve upturned the whole reason of this meeting.
Lee:	Then maybe you should tell me such things. Be clear about this though. I don’t agitate him. He agitates ME!
Qi.	I think you are upset because WE are treating the professor with respect, and you do not.
Lee:	You call him a professor? He curses like a sailor! He acts like a salesman! What kind of scholar behaves like that? He is a very bad example to children.
Feng:	He said he is an ADJUNCT professor.
Lee:	And do you know what that means in American English?
Feng:	No.
Qi:	It has something to do with lasting “ten years” I think he said. And a track. A railroad track.
Ting Ting:	I have his file here, let me read it out loud . . .”
Mu:	Enough. Everyone change out of your formals and clean up the dishes. After that we need to talk. I will go get Lian. I want her in on this discussion.

Feng: We did take quite a long break while we waited for Lian to come. Good thing too. It was getting intense. I suppose some of us felt something was happening that night.

Lee: What was happening was you were all ganging up on me.

Feng: Oh Lee. Can we move on?

Lee: She says “move on.” Let’s talk about movie night then?

Qin Qin: That recollection is for another day. Thank you.

Lee: When we got back together, Mu throws out her question, uh, “What do you make of him? General observations. Anyone.” And then everybody start yelling. I don’t remember who said what.

Feng: It was very quick. I’m even sure what I said.

Qin Qin: What were the things that were said then?

“He is harmless enough. I did not understand most of what he said though. All this talk of topsoil, chemical compositions, and saline levels.”

“What I notice is that he has no absolutely NO sexual interest in the Seconds. That is a relief.”

“Yes, agreed. He is very single-minded on his project. You cannot move his attention to anything except on his meal breaks.”

“Is he an actual college professor?”

“He is, but he said he is only part-time.”

“He cannot be very good then. If he were good he would have a full-time job as a teacher.”

“His other job is to search for oil. And so then, he must only be a part-time oil searcher.”

“He seemed to say that most of the time he does NOT find oil.”

“So then, he is probably not a very successful or prosperous man in his work.”

“He has proven to be a good fisherman for himself, and for us.”

“YES. I appreciate the fresh meat on the table he provides. I’m glad someone said that. I heard that the fish practically jump into his boat. They fear him.”

“His file from the institute says he holds general partnership interests in several oil, gas, and mining operations around the world. That sounds important.”

“Oil and mining. Sounds like very dirty work to me. Not very gentlemanly.”

“No, not very scholarly.”

“It is only the sound of importance on paper.”

“He came here in a U.S. military helicopter! Doesn’t that mean he is important?”

“Who comes here to our Island on the government boat? Regular people, poor people. The rich people have their own boats. Why doesn’t he have his own helicopter if he is prosperous?”

“Or at least his own boat?”

“Yes but smart people don’t come here on boats. They wind up shipwrecked on the rocks.”

“He may not be rich or important, but I sense he is a nice man.”

“You’re saying that because he gave you a present. He bought your approval.”

“He did not. I can be very objective about this.”

“But he’s so rude and coarse with all his cursing. And it’s the same thing all the time. ‘Goddamn fuckin’ this. Shit that!’ It is very tiresome.”

“That aside, I like that he LIKES working with his hands. And I appreciate a man who likes to work with his hands and who is proud of it. In that he is just like us.”

“But he will probably be just another person to tell us that we need to leave. Just like the rest of them.”

“I think you are right.”

Qin Qin: So that’s where the conversation ended?

Feng: It almost did. And the Lee said, “He is definitely not The One.” Mu then responded, asking why she would even bring that up.

Lee: You were all thinking about it. You were afraid to say it. Afraid what it would mean. I was asked “How are you so sure?”

Qin Qin: Who asked that?

Lee: Lian asked. The next part of the conversation I remember very well.

Lee: I see him every day. EVERY day. He is just another man.

Lian: Is that not why you got together? Just to assure yourselves? That’s why you brought me over here, isn’t it? To get the Guardian of Fire, to bless your observation? You think the brilliance of fire makes this clear?

Mu: You disagree with Lee then?

Lian: He MADE it here. Doesn’t that count for something? We’ve made it impossible for anyone to even GET on this Island because we’re afraid of being manipulated. So for him to arrive is a miracle.

Lee: Or a failure of security?

Qi: I don’t like your tone of voice Lee. But Lian, you didn’t answer the question. Do you think he may be The One?

Lian: You all think he can’t be The One because he is a disappointment. Isn’t he? I find him troubling.

Feng: How so?

Lian: Since talking to him I’ve become very dissatisfied.

Ting Ting: So you don’t like him then?

Lian: Did I say that? I like him a lot. He’s very charming in his way. We had a lovely time over dinner with Lum and Xiaomei. We had a lot of laughs together.

Ting Ting: Laughing? About what?

Lian: About charcoal believe it or not. He told us what happens molecularly in the combustion process and why a batch will fail. It’s made me rethink a couple of things that I do.

Ting Ting: And THAT was funny?

Lian: You had to be there. He has a very colorful way of describing technical things. Lum and Xiaomei had a great time too. A “Goddamned great fuckin’ time!” as he would say. He’s different. He’s like smelling new smoke from a wood I’ve never cut and burned before. But I’m dissatisfied because he knows more than me about something that I’m supposed to be an expert in.”

Mu: He IS highly educated. What’s so surprising about that?

Lian: I know, but he’s not the kind of person you expect to be smart. He’s very, well, common, and coarse.”

Lee:  That’s exactly what I am saying to you all!

Lian: We are so limited here. You know what he wants to do? He wants. . . He wants . . . sigh, never mind.

Lee: THIS is why he should only be talking to me. You have only stirred up trouble by bringing him here tonight.

Lian: Oh Lee, I am so jealous of you. You get to talk to him every night, you sit there on your porch. What do you talk about?

Lee: He reports what he did that day as I have mandated him to.

Feng: What do you say to him?

Lee: He says I need then to tell what I did with my day. Then he asks all about Ling’s doings. Then he asks what I think about things.”

Feng: What things?

Lee: I can’t remember! What I did as a child? What fish I like and why? And when storms come what direction do they go? And on and on. It is like being interrogated. But thankfully then we just sit. And then he sees something that is broken and he fixes it. And I tell him not to bother because that is my job! And he doesn’t put away my tools just right. It’s very disruptive to have him about.”

Mu: Why don’t you send him away then?

Ting Ting: He FIXES things for you without asking? SEND him to me. The Shrine needs a lot of work.

Lee: To refuse his aid ... to send him off ... I think that would be . . . rude. He doesn’t seem to want to get up and go. BUT DON’T you get ideas about bothering him. I don’t need the trouble of fixing problems he will cause interacting with you all.

Qi: Seems like you’re being very possessive now. Where is this coming from?

Lee: All of us agreed I would manage his time, may I add, PRECISELY because I was the most opposed to allowing him on the Island. He’s very disruptive of our life here. It’s because of him we are here right now. Using up fuel for the electric lights too, I may add.

Qi: Just turn off the electricity an hour early for the next three days. I don’t need it.

Lian: WAH! Lee, be honest. He gave us the gift of electricity with all that diesel he brought? Did you forget? Really high grade too? Ling tells me you’re burning it now. Anyone notice we haven’t had a blackout for a long time?

Ting Ting: What diesel?

Mu: We are getting off the topic.

Qi: Mu, darling? What is the topic? I’ve lost all track.

Feng: I called this meeting. I’ve seen enough. I have intelligence that Xiaomei is being privately tutored by Professor Wong. I was going to call for an investigation on this breach of ethics. This is not allowed in his research contract. I didn’t want Lee here because I didn’t want the professor to feel inhibited, but since she is here and he is gone, Lee? Tell us what you know about this.

Lee: I don’t know a thing. I do know that Xiaomei has gone over to his lab a couple of times after his duties were complete and before he came home for dinner. I think it had something to do with mathematics.

Feng: That is corroboration enough for me.

Ting Ting: Feng, what is this? Xiaomei’s The Questor after all. Do you want to cut her off from someone who can help her attain her objective--correction, OUR objective--of getting admitted into a good college? You want to require him to cease all contact?

Feng: I don’t care what the arrangements are with Lum and Xiaomei. But if he does that, I demand he give equal treatment to Wen. There is precious little opportunity of intellectual enrichment here. We have an American college professor here as a resource. I want just as much for my daughter.

Mu: To what end? You are going to make your daughter just as frustrated as Lian has admitted to being. The Seconds need to be encouraged to continue their duty as Guardian Princ. . .

Feng: No. That is NOT Wen’s duty. It is NOT her dharma. It’s none of the Seconds’.

Lian: Feng? What are you saying?

Mu: THAT! AGAIN?

Feng: I have a minority opinion. The Security Council all know it. You and Lee don’t. When I say it you will believe it, but you won’t want to admit it. I am the only one who is not in denial.

Lee: Denial? About what?

Feng: None of the Second Princesses are avatars of The Empress. They don’t have the memories. They don’t have the consciousness. They are now all of age and that has great implications for what we plan for them. The Empress has broken her pattern.

Qi: That’s just your theory.

Feng: Think of the connection you had with your mother. My mother. Me. Do you have it with Fei?

Qi: I don’t feel like answering that.

Lee: Feng, are you saying we should leave then? Or send the Seconds away?

Feng: No. WE cannot. Not until our dharma is complete. I don’t know what’s to be done about the Seconds. As I said, we’re in denial.

Mu: Do you think our duty has changed then?

Feng: It’s just my opinion. The Empress has a broken heart; I know it’s broken because I feel her sadness. She has waited as long as she could. I feel her despair. Don’t you? Maybe it’s time to rest. Maybe she wants to stop. There is no One. . . and so I want Wen to prepare for college and to be tutored to that end. The One may not have come, but a teacher has. And that’s enough, for me.

Lian: Even if what you think is so—not that I believe it—and you ask him to tutor Wen, what if he balks?

Feng: He won’t. I have no doubt he will comply with my request.

Mu: It’s getting late, but maybe we should summon Lum and settle at least this issue. I’ll have Nu fetch her. Nu? Nu dear?

Feng: LEE! That was remarkably accurate. You WERE listening to me. And when we looked about, we found that ALL of the Second Princesses had apparently stepped away. And I understand, young lady, that YOU had convened your own meeting that night? I’d like to hear what was going on at that other meeting.