Brothers (20 page)

Barely conscious, Song Fanping seemed to make out the call to board. Miraculously he managed to rouse himself, standing up by leaning against the wall. He wiped at the blood on his face and hobbled toward the ticket collection window. The row of waiting passengers all gasped. When the six red-armbanders who had been resting under the ceiling fan saw that Song Fanping had gotten up and was making his way to the gate, they looked at each other in astonishment, letting out snorts of disbelief. One of them yelled, "Don't let him get away!"

They took up their splintered bats and rushed up to him, swinging with abandon. This time Song Fanping began to resist. He struck back with his right fist as he made his way to the gate. Terrified, the ticket counter slammed the metal gate shut and ran away. Song Fanping found that he had nowhere to go, so he had no choice but to strike back. By this point he was barely conscious, and the red-armbanders encircled him and pummeled him until he was covered in blood. They chased him from the waiting room to the steps outside. He resisted with all his might, but when he reached the steps, he collapsed. The red-armbanders stood in a circle around him, kicking wildly, and even bayoneting him with their splintered wooden bats. One of the wooden spikes pierced his abdomen, and his entire body convulsed. As the red-armbander pulled the spike out, Song Fanping's body tensed up as blood gushed from his gut, staining the ground red. Then he fell still.

The six red-armbanders were also drained. First they panted heavily
as they squatted there, but when they realized they were under the blazing sun, they walked over to the spot under the tree and leaned against the trunk as they wiped their sweat with their shirts. They were convinced that this time Song Fanping wouldn't be able to get up again. But when the long-distance bus started pulling out of the station, he somehow managed to rouse himself and stand up, taking a few unsteady steps. He waved at the departing bus, mumbling, "I … haven't… boarded … yet."

The men rushed up to him again and struck him to the ground. Song Fanping no longer resisted but, rather, began to beg. At this moment, Song Fanping, who never admitted defeat, wanted so badly to live. He mustered up what remained of his strength and knelt. Spitting blood while holding back the blood gushing from his abdomen, he wept as he begged them to spare him. Even his tears flowed red. He took out Li Lan's letter from his pocket and managed to use his disabled left hand to open it, trying to prove that he wasn't running away. Not a single hand reached out to take the letter. He only received more and more kicks, and two more bat fragments pierced his body. As the spikes were yanked out blood gushed from his body as though it were a perforated wineskin.

There were some in Liu Town who personally witnessed this savage assault. Mama Su, whose snack shop was right next to the bus depot, wept a river of tears while she watched. Sounds came from her mouth, though it was hard to make out whether they were sobs or sighs.

Song Fanping was barely breathing. The six red-armbanders discovered they were hungry, so they temporarily left him aside and walked toward Mama Sus snack shop. The men felt as drained as if they had spent a day working on the docks, and when they sat down in the shop, they couldn't muster up the energy to speak. With her head lowered, Mama Su returned to her shop and sat behind the counter, silently watching these six red-armbanders, who were worse than beasts. Once they caught their breath, they asked her for soy milk, buns, and fritters, which they then ate with savage delight.

By then the five red-armbanders who had been guarding the docks arrived. When they learned that Song Fanping had been caught at the depot, they ran over enthusiastically, all drenched in sweat. They aimed their wooden bats at the motionless Song Fanping and beat him wildly until all their bats were broken as well. Then they kicked, trampled, and pummeled him. When the initial six red-armbanders finished
their meal and went out of the store, these next five came in to have their breakfast. In all, eleven armband-wearing men took turns tormenting Song Fanping, who by now was no longer moving. Still they kicked at him. At last Mama Su could bear it no longer and said, "He's probably already dead."

Only then did the red-armbanders stop kicking. Wiping at their sweat, they made their victorious exit. All eleven of them had injured themselves from the kicking, so they hobbled as they left. Mama Su watched them limp away, thinking,
They are not human!
She said to herself,
How can people be this vicious?

CHAPTER 17

M
EANWHILE, BALDY LI
and Song Gang were home asleep, dreaming of Li Lan s return. When they woke up, they were ecstatic to find that it was almost noon. Although Song Fanping had said that he wouldn't be home until the sun set behind the mountain, the boys couldn't wait a moment longer. At noon they headed toward the bus depot, wanting to be there when the bus carrying Song Fanping and Li Lan pulled into the station. The two boys stepped outside, their left hands thrust in their pockets and their right arms dangling at their sides, in imitation of Song Fanping's cocky gait. Trying hard to look like movie heroes, they walked with a deliberate swagger but came off looking more like simpering villains or Japanese toadies.

Baldy Li and Song Gang spotted Song Fanping the moment they stepped off the bridge. A bloody, mangled body lay across the empty lot in front of the bus depot. A few people stopped as they walked past, peering down and muttering to one another. The two children walked by him as well, not realizing who it was. He lay sprawled on the ground, one arm folded under his body and the other twisted on top; one of his legs stuck straight out and the other was curled up beneath him. Flies buzzed and swarmed all around him. His face, his limbs, his hands and feet—every bloodied bit of flesh was covered in flies. The two children were repulsed and terrified by the sight. Song Gang asked someone wearing a straw hat, "Who is this? Is he dead?"

The man shook his head, saying that he didn't know, and then walked over to a shady tree nearby and began to fan himself with his straw hat. Baldy Li and Song Gang walked up the steps of the station and into the main hall. Though they had stood outside for only a brief while, they felt that they had been parched dry by the fierce summer sun. Two large fans, whirling loudly, hung from the ceiling of the main hall, and everyone inside was gathered under them buzzing in conversation like so many flies. Baldy Li and Song Gang tried hovering at the edges of each group of people, but the breeze from the ceiling fans dissipated before reaching them. It turned out that every spot where a breeze could be felt had been occupied. So they walked up to the ticket
window and stood on their tiptoes to peer in. They saw a ticket seller sitting inside, struck dumb and still reeling from the horrors of the morning. Jolted back suddenly by the sound of the boys’ conversation, she focused her eyes on them and screeched, "What are you looking at?"

Baldy Li and Song Gang quickly ducked down and crept away. They walked up to the ticket checker s counter. The metal gate of the ticket counter was ajar, so the boys looked inside. Not a single bus was there, only a ticket checker holding his jar of tea. Rushing toward them, he also roared, "What do you want?"

Baldy Li and Song Gang ran away from the ticket counter and listlessly circled the main hall a few times. At this point Popsicle Wang appeared at the main entrance, carrying a small stool in one hand and an icebox full of popsicles on his back. He set his stool down at the stations entranceway, sat down, and started to bang his icebox with a block of wood, shouting, "Popsicles! Popsicles! Popsicles for our working-class brothers and sisters…"

The two boys went up to him and stood there watching him and gulping down their saliva. He kept banging his wood block while keeping a wary eye on the boys. Baldy Li and Song Gang once again caught sight of the body outside, still lying in the same position. Song Gang pointed at him and asked Popsicle Wang, "Who is that?"

Popsicle Wang glanced sideways at the boys but didn't respond. Song Gang persisted, "Is he dead?"

Popsicle Wang snarled at them, "If you don't have any money, then scram. Stop standing here trying to swallow your saliva."

Startled, Baldy Li and Song Gang gripped each other's arms and ran down the station steps until they once again found themselves outside under the fierce summer sun. As they walked past Song Fanping's fly-covered body again, Song Gang suddenly stopped in his tracks and pointed at Song Fanping's beige-colored sandals. "He's wearing Papa's sandals."

Song Gang then noticed Song Fanping's red shirt. "He's wearing Papa's shirt."

The boys stood there, looking at each other. After a while Baldy Li spoke, suggesting that this wasn't Papa's shirt, because his had a row of yellow characters on it. Song Gang nodded, then shook his head, saying that the yellow characters were on the front. The children squatted down, waving away flies and tugging at Song Fanping's shirt. A few yellow
characters emerged from their tugging. Song Gang stood up and burst into tears. Sobbing, he asked Baldy Li, "Is this Papa?"

Baldy Li couldn't help sobbing, too. "I don't know."

The two children stood there, weeping and looking about. No one came over. They squatted down again, shooing away the swarms of flies from Song Fanping's face, wanting to take a closer look. Was this Song Fanping? His face was smeared with blood and dirt, so they couldn't really tell. They felt that it looked a little bit like Song Fanping, but they couldn't be sure. Was it him? They got up from the ground and decided that they should ask someone.

First they walked to the spot under the tree where two men were smoking. They pointed at Song Fanping, asking, "Is that our father?"

The two men smoking under the tree froze, then shook their heads. "Don't you know your own father?"

The children walked up the station steps to Popsicle Wang. Wiping away his tears, Song Gang asked him, "Is that our father on the ground over there?"

Popsicle Wang slapped the wood block against his icebox, staring. "Scram!"

Baldy Li complained, "But we're not drooling anymore."

Popsicle Wang replied, "Scram anyway!"

Weeping, Baldy Li and Song Gang walked hand in hand into the main hall and asked the people clustered under the two ceiling fans, "Do any of you know? Is that our father lying on the ground outside?"

Their pathetic questions elicited a roar of laughter. People commented that they couldn't believe there could be such fools as these two, who didn't even know their own father and had to ask others. Grinning, one of the people waved the children over. "Hey, kids, come over here."

The boys walked up to the man, who looked down at them and asked, "Do you know who my father is?"

The children shook their heads, and the man asked again, "Then who
would
know who my father is?"

The children thought this over and replied, "You would."

"Go away, then." The man dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "Go identify your own father."

Weeping and still grasping each other's hands, the children walked out of the station and down the steps and approached Song Fanping's prone body. Song Gang sobbed, "We do know our own father. But this man's face is covered in blood, so we really can't make it out."

The boys went into the snack shop next to the station. Inside there was only Mama Su, wiping the tables. They were a little fearful and stood at the door, hesitating. Song Gang whispered, "We'd like to ask you something but don't want you to get angry."

Mama Su saw two weeping boys standing at her door, took a look at Baldy Li and Song Gang's clothes, and asked, "You're not beggars, are you?"

"No." Song Gang pointed at Song Fanping lying on the ground outside. "We'd just like to ask you, is that our father?"

Mama Su put down the rag she was holding. She now recognized Baldy Li. This was the little hoodlum who had been going around rubbing himself on all the wooden electrical poles, exclaiming that he was in heat. Mama Su gave Baldy Li a look and then asked Song Gang, "What is your father's name?"

Song Gang replied, "His name is Song Fanping."

The children then heard her gasp and wail, saying something like "Oh God," "Dear mother," or "My ancestors!" When she paused to catch her breath, she panted to Song Gang, "He's been lying there for more than half a day. I thought that everyone in his family was dead."

The two children didn't know what she was talking about. Song Gang persisted, "Is he our father?"

Mama Su wiped at the sweat on her forehead. "His name was Song Fanping."

Song Gang immediately started howling, turning to Baldy Li. "I just
knew
he was Papa. That's why I started crying the moment I saw him."

Baldy Li also burst into tears. "That's why I started crying, too."

The children began to screech and wail in the summer heat. They once again approached Song Fanping's body, their sharp wails scaring off even the swarms of flies. Song Gang knelt down to the ground, as did Baldy Li. They leaned in close to take a good look at Song Fanping. The sun had dried up the blood on his face. Song Gang peeled off the caked-up blood and finally saw his own father clearly. He turned and clutched Baldy Li's hand. "This is Papa."

Nodding, Baldy Li wailed, "This is Papa…"

The two children knelt on the ground in front of the bus depot and wept loudly. Their mouths agape, they sobbed toward the sky, their wails ascending into the heavens. But like broken wings their cries would suddenly plummet to earth as the children wept open-mouthed, soundless, tears and snivel having closed up their throats. With great
effort they swallowed all of it down, and again their wailing exploded. They tugged at Song Fanping's body and wept, "Papa, Papa, Papa …"

Song Fanping gave no response, and the children were at a loss as to what to do. Baldy Li wailed to Song Gang, "He was still fine this morning. Why is he deaf and dumb now?"

Song Gang looked toward the crowds that had gathered around them and cried, "Save my father!"