Brothers (12 page)

This was Song Fanping's most glorious day. After the parade, the marchers returned to their homes, but he continued walking down the main street, leading Baldy Li and Song Gang by the hand. Many people called out his name, to which he grunted in reply. Some even walked up to shake his hand. Baldy Li and Song Gang strutted with pride, feeling that everyone in town knew Song Fanping. They kept asking him enthusiastically who that man was who just called out to him and who the person was who just shook his hand. They kept on walking, farther and farther away from home. The two kids asked Song Fanping where they were going, and he replied in a ringing voice, "We're going to the restaurant for a meal."

They arrived at the People's Restaurant. The meal ticket collector, busboys, and customers all waved at them, smiling. Song Fanping waved back with his large hand, looking like Chairman Mao atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace. They sat at a table by the window as the staff encircled them and the other customers brought their dishes over and sat with them. Even the cooks in the kitchen caught wind of the news and, all covered in grease, came out to see. Everyone chattered about
things ranging from the greatness of Chairman Mao and the origins of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution to couples’ squabbles and children's illnesses. Song Fanping had waved the largest red flag in Liu Town's history and had become the most important personage in town history. He sat up straight, his giant hands spread out on the table, and each time he answered a question, he would begin with, "As Chairman Mao taught us …"

His responses consisted entirely of Chairman Mao's words, without a single additional word of his own. They made his listeners’ heads bob up and down like woodpeckers, repeatedly saying "Ah, ah" as though they had toothaches. By this point Baldy Li and Song Gang were so hungry that their chests were flat against their backs and even their farts consisted of just fresh air, but they remained silent and gazed admiringly at Song Fanping. They felt that his voice was Chairman Mao's, and even his flying spittle was Chairman Mao's.

Baldy Li and Song Gang sat at the People's Restaurant for who knows how long. They didn't notice when the sun set or when the lights were turned on. Finally, the boys got to eat a bowl of steaming hot plain noodles. The greasy chef bowed down to them and asked, "Is the noodle broth good?"

The children answered in unison, "It's great!"

The chef grinned with pride and explained, "This is meat broth. Everyone else got only plain water, but I gave you meat broth."

After returning home that night, Song Fanping led the boys to the well to wash up. The three of them stripped down to their shorts and scrubbed their bodies with soap. Then Song Fanping drew a pail of water from the well and rinsed off the boys, then himself. Various neighbors sitting on their front stoops fanned themselves and chatted with him, discussing how magnificent the parade had been and how awe-inspiring he had looked waving the red flag. Song Fanping, exhausted from talking, gained a second wind, and his voice rang out once again. When Baldy Li and Song Gang returned to their rooms, they went to bed, but Song Fanping sat under the light and beamed as he wrote to Li Lan. Baldy Li gave Song Gang a look before falling asleep and giggled, saying that his father was red in the neck from all his writing. Song Fanping wrote for a very long time, describing all the events of the day.

When the boys woke up the next day, Song Fanping was standing at the foot of their bed. Still beaming, he stretched out his hands to the
children, and they found two red Chairman Mao badges glowing in his palms. He said that these were for them and that they should wear them right over their hearts. Then he took another badge and pinned it to his own chest. Holding a copy of Chairman Mao's quotations, his face as red and bright as the badge, he stepped proudly outside. Baldy Li and Song Gang heard a neighbor ask him, "Will you be waving the red flag again today?"

Song Fanping answered, "Absolutely!"

Baldy Li and Song Gang put their ears to each others chests in order to make sure to pin their Mao badges right over each others beating hearts. Song Gangs badge had Mao perched atop the Gate of Heavenly Peace, while Baldy Li's Mao was standing on the surface of a giant ocean. After eating breakfast, the boys were greeted by the morning sun as they walked outside, and flags as large as sheets and as small as handkerchiefs again filled the streets.

Everyone who had been parading the previous day had happily returned, and the people who had been putting up big-character posters were again busy slapping glue onto the walls. Blacksmith Tong was again raising his hammer and shouting that he was going to smash the class enemy's beastly legs. Yanker Yu was again raising his tooth extractor and shouting that he was going to yank all the class enemy's good teeth. Popsicle Wang was again walking around with an icebox on his back, banging on it as he marched and shouting that he would sell popsicles only to class brothers and sisters. Tailor Zhang once again had his measuring tape around his neck and was shouting that he wanted to make the most tattered funeral clothes for the class enemy, then corrected himself and hastily changed it to a corpse shroud. Old Scissors Guan was again waving his scissors, snipping at the class enemy's imaginary dicks. Little Scissors Guan, who had pissed against the wall the previous day, was once again unfastening his pants. Of all the people who had previously spat, coughed, sneezed, farted, and argued, not a single one was missing this time around.

The middle-schoolers Sun Wei, Victory Zhao, and Success Liu also walked over. Looking at the Chairman Mao badges pinned to the brothers’ chests, they cackled like smarmy Japanese collaborators in a World War II movie, making Baldy Li's and Song Gang's hearts skip a beat. Long-haired Sun Wei pointed to an electrical pole and asked Baldy Li, "Hey, kid, where s your sex drive?"

Baldy Li knew they were up to no good. He pulled Song Gang over for cover and shook his head. "Nope, not right now."

Sun Wei grabbed him and pushed him toward the pole, giggling: "Show us some sex drive."

Baldy Li struggled and said, "But I have no sex drive now."

Victory Zhao and Success Liu laughed, grabbed hold of Song Gang, and pushed him toward the pole as well, saying, "You show us some sex drive, too."

With an innocent expression, Song Gang explained, "I don't have any sex drive. Really, I never have."

The three middle-schoolers pushed Baldy Li and Song Gang up to the pole and pinched the boys’ noses, ears, and cheeks as though they were steamed buns, until they squealed with pain. Finally, the middle-schoolers snatched off Baldy Li's and Song Gang's Chairman Mao badges and took off. Song Gang sobbed so hard that his mouth filled with tears and snot, which he swallowed then sobbed some more. He told everyone who walked by how his and Baldy Li's Mao badges had been stolen, and pointed in the direction of the students’ vanishing figures. Over and over, Song Gang described the Mao badges: "Chairman Mao's face is red, a red face perched atop Tiananmen Square. The other one is a red face floating over the ocean's waves…"

Baldy Li didn't cry but pointed in the direction the middle-schoolers had gone. With a look of righteous indignation, he complained to everyone who walked by, "I have no sex drive now, and they were forcing me to squeeze some out for them."

Everyone who walked by couldn't stop laughing. As Baldy Li watched Song Gang cry so hard that he shook, he became depressed as well. Wiping at his tears, he thought of how his Mao badge had been stolen by the three middle-schoolers. Song Gang pointed to his chest: "We only just put on the Mao badges this morning."

Baldy Li also pointed to his chest, saying, "My heart is still pounding inside, but there's no longer a Chairman Mao on the outside."

The boys were alone and helpless. They thought of Song Fanping, their tall, strong father, who could take down several men with a single sweep of his leg. They were convinced that Song Fanping would teach those middle-schoolers a lesson and retrieve their Mao badges, that he would grab the students by their collars and toss them into the air like little chicks, until they squawked with fear and their legs flailed about.

Song Gang said to Baldy Li, "Let's go, let's go find Papa."

By that time it was noon. The boys’ stomachs were empty as they walked hand in hand down the street. Whenever someone came between them, forcing them apart, they would immediately grab each others hands again. They went to look for the parading troops, to see if the man at the head of the line waving the red flag was Song Fanping. Then they went to the gathering place to see if the man standing in front giving a speech was Song Fanping. They walked to many, many places, asked many, many people, greeted many uncles and aunties, grandpas and grandmas, but still couldn't find Song Fanping. The boys came to the bridge where the day before Song Fanping had made the whole town holler in delight with his flag waving. Now there was no red flag, only a few people standing with their heads bowed. They were wearing tall dunce hats and big wooden placards. The boys knew that these were class enemies. They stood in front of these class enemies and spotted a few people wearing the rebels’ red armbands pacing back and forth on the bridge. Song Gang asked, "Have you seen my father?"

Someone with a red armband asked, "Who is your father?"

"My father is Song Fanping," Song Gang replied. "The Song Fanping who was waving the red flag here yesterday."

Baldy Li added, "He is a very famous man. When he goes to eat noodles, they serve them to him with meat broth."

Song Fanping's voice rose from behind the two children: "Sons, I'm here."

The boys turned around and saw Song Fanping. He was wearing a tall paper hat and had a wooden placard around his neck, on which was written The boys couldn't read what this said, but they certainly understood the red
X’
s scrawled across each word. Song Fanping's body blocked the sunlight like a wooden door. The two boys stood in his shade and looked up at him. His eyes were swollen from being punched, his lips bleeding from being slapped. He smiled as he looked at Baldy Li and Song Gang, though his smile appeared tight and frozen. The children couldn't understand what had happened: Yesterday he was standing on this bridge, an awesome figure, but today he had been reduced to this. Song Gang asked timidly, "Papa, why are you standing here?"

Song Fanping asked in a low voice, "Sons, are you hungry?"

Both boys nodded. Song Fanping found twenty cents in his pants pocket and gave it to them to buy something to eat. The man who was
wearing the red armband yelled at him, "No talking! Lower your mutt-head."

Song Fanping obediently lowered his head, but Baldy Li and Song Gang were so startled they jumped back a few steps. The man with the red armband continued to yell, and amid the din Song Fanping snuck a peek at the boys. Seeing that he was smiling, they regained their confidence and returned to his side. They told him that their Chairman Mao badges had been taken away by those three bastard middle-schoolers. Song Gang asked him, "Could you get them back?"

Song Fanping nodded. "I could."

Baldy Li asked, "Could you beat them up?"

Song Fanping nodded again. "I could."

The boys started chuckling. The man with the red armband walked over and slapped Song Fanping twice on the face. He shouted angrily, "I told you not to speak. Why the fuck are you still talking?"

A trail of blood flowed down from Song Fanping's lips as he urged the boys, "Get out of here."

Baldy Li and Song Gang slipped away quickly. They went under the bridge, then, trembling all over, scurried away. They kept turning back to look at Song Fanping atop the bridge. His head was flopped over, as if it were merely dangling from his neck. The boys made their way to the crowded, noisy street, walked into a snack shop and bought two steamed buns, then stood outside eating them. In the distance they could see that Song Fanping was almost bent over at the waist, and it was clear that todays Song Fanping was not the one from yesterday. Song Gang lowered his head and started to weep silently, then raised his two clenched fists to his eyes like binoculars and wiped away his tears. Baldy Li didn't cry. Instead, he kept thinking about his badge with Chairman Mao atop the ocean, fearing that he would never get it back. While Song Gang wept, Baldy Li walked over to an electrical pole and humped it perfunctorily a few times. Then he returned to Song Gang and dejectedly told him, "I've lost my sex drive."

It was dark by the time Song Fanping returned home. His footsteps were as heavy as if he were dragging along two prosthetic limbs. Without a word he walked into the inner room and lay on the bed for two hours without moving; in the outer room Baldy Li and Song Gang couldn't hear a sound. The cold moonlight shone in through the window. The children became alarmed and went into the inner room. First Song Gang crawled onto the bed, then Baldy Li joined him, and
together they sat at Song Fanpings feet. After a long time had passed, Song Fanping suddenly sat up and said, "Oh, I fell asleep."

Then the light came on and laughter began. Song Fanping heated up the stove and started to make dinner with Song Gang and Baldy Li at his side, learning how to cook. Song Fanping taught them how to rinse the rice and vegetables, light the coal, and cook the rice. As he stir-fried the vegetables, Song Fanping told Baldy Li to add oil and Song Gang to sprinkle in some salt. He also held their hands as they took turns stir-frying. Each of them took three turns, and after nine rounds, the greens were finally ready. The three of them sat around the table and ate. Though it was just a plate of greens, they all worked up a sweat eating. After Song Fanping finished dinner, he told the boys that though he had not taken them to the ocean since their mother had left for Shanghai, if it wasn't stormy the next day, he would take them to see the waves, to see the sky above the waves, as well as the seagulls flying between the sky and the sea.

Baldy Li and Song Gang shrieked with excitement, which startled Song Fanping so much that he covered their mouths with his hands. The look of terror on his face also frightened them. When he saw their alarm, Song Fanping immediately lowered his hands and laughed as he pointed up to the ceiling. "Your screams almost blew the roof off!"