登陆注册
6741000000019

第19章 Scattered in the Wind(19)

The whole village waited with bated breath for the returnees to finish their slow, first meal back. They were waiting impatiently for them to clear away their meal, stand, and show themselves in the square. Sangdan was first. No one knew her exact age, but it was the village's unanimous opinion that she must still be young, in other words, under forty. However, her once silky black hair was now completely white. The strange thing was, her face was still as rosy and smooth as if she were a young girl. Now that she was outside her house, she acted as if she'd never left; first she cast an uninterested glance out into the square, as if sizing it up. Then she untied her braids and began to comb her hair.

When Gela came out, he picked up the wood plank door from the ground and pushed it back into its frame. He threw his whole bodyweight at the door in his efforts to jam it into place, but after a few attempts it was clear that he wouldn't succeed.

He tried one last time, but his stick-thin arms finally could take no more, and the door clattered heavily back to the ground. Following the door's lead, Gela lay down on top of it. Before long, the men of the village approached him, circling around his prone body.

Enbo reached out a hand.

Gela reached out his hand.

Enbo hauled the boy to his feet with only the most cursory effort. The men around them began to laugh, while Enbo just showed his snow white teeth, without laughing. Gela too showed his full mouth of white teeth, and after a pause he began to chuckle.

With everyone lending a hand, the door was quickly installed in its frame. Then, Enbo produced a bunch of nails, which he held in his mouth while hammering them one by one into the door, standing with his bald head gleaming under the sun. Now the door had a brand new, sturdy latch. Gela sat nearby in silence, watching the older man.

Enbo turned his head to look at Gela, who was not much older than his own son, and said to him:

"Alright, no need to sit there like an idiot. Get the lock."

Gela twisted round and picked up the lock.

"Try it," Enbo said.

So Gela locked the door.

Sangdan, hearing the click of the lock, suddenly took an interest. She turned her head and said:

"Don't bother with the lock, we're not going anywhere."

Gela undid the lock, and repeated under his breath:

"Yes, we're not going anywhere."

Enbo spread one of his big hands wide and rested it on Gela's pointy head. He cleared his throat a few times, and with obvious difficulty, opened his mouth to speak:

"Child …"

But Gela just made a small happy noise, and ran off. This was because he'd seen Bunny come out of the wicker courtyard gate of his family's house. Gela ran full-tilt at his friend, who still had the same long, slender neck, and the same blue vein on his forehead that still jumped around alarmingly. Gela pulled Bunny into his arms, lifting him from the ground by his waist. Reunited, the two children began chuckling.

Enbo laughed, and then everyone in the square laughed. The leader of the production team chose that moment to open his throat and bellow:

"Out to the fields!"

The primary school bell rang out, clear and crisp.

People drained out of the square in every direction, leaving it empty except for Sangdan, who was still seated and engaged in the combing of her lustrous white hair, which glistened like dewdrops.

Jamcan Gonbo was the last to leave. The old, secularised lama stood in silence, holding a hoe with the same poise with which a monk's staff would be held, watching Sangdan until the final, careful stroke of her hair brush. Then she lifted her perpetually youthful face and flashed him a dazzling smile. Only then did Jamcan Gonbo turn away and walk off towards the western edge of the village. The sun was behind him, so he could see the shadow cast by his body and the hoe over his shoulder on the ground in front of him.

"Evil-doer," he said to himself.

He followed his shadow a little further down the road, and then turned his head to look back at bright white-haired Sangdan; she was still following him with her eyes.

"Where there is life in the dust of this corrupted world, evil-doing follows" , the old man muttered.

Seven

Gela and Sangdan left the year before last, in the summer. They were gone all through the next summer. Just as the third summer was about to arrive, that was when they returned.

In the nearly two years that they were gone, life carried on as normal in Ji village, except that everyone had a feeling the days were passing more slowly than before. The creaking of time was felt especially keenly in Enbo's household. If you simply observed time without trying to feel it, you'd think that day gave way to night and that night gave way to day in much the usual way, but as soon as you allowed yourself to feel it, it would suddenly CLUNK, like a whirring machine that goes like clockwork right until the moment it jams. Many evenings at dusk, the thought of the disappeared mother and child would suddenly burst into Enbo's head, and his heart would CLUNK in the same way. It pained him, and his pain was the kind that can't be spoken about. In his world, the pain settled over the mountain tops, which were a shade of light blue at dusk, and it settled over the dim, grey village. The days were just like a pair of legs with a coil of rope wrapped tight around them; they were unable to move forward.

So, when Gela and Sangdan returned, a festival atmosphere broke out in Enbo's house. Boiled meat sat at the ready, while alluring odours wafted from the cooking pot: peas and silverweed stewing in beef broth. He even traded two dippers of grain for a jug of wine from a neighbour. When the meat was done, Grandma Er Chiang piled it in large chunks on a serving plate. She blew on her fingers; it was hot. Positively beaming, she announced:

"It's time to go get our guests."

Enbo and Bunny both made for the stairs.

"I want to go too, I want to go get big brother Gela!" Bunny couldn't contain his excitement.

同类推荐
  • Zhongshan Road 中山路:追寻近代中国的现代化脚印

    Zhongshan Road 中山路:追寻近代中国的现代化脚印

    《中山路:追寻近代中国的现代化脚印》讲述了孙中山先生将中华民族引上了一条民族、民权、民生三大主义并重的现代化之路的历程。回顾了中国在追求现代化过程中的艰难与曲折,试图洞彻历史的幽微。
  • 临时应急会话宝典

    临时应急会话宝典

    本书主要是为英语口语学习者准备的,以句子的形式表达各种情况。句子中包括了实用的词汇及短语。对于有相同说法的词语或句子,书中也做了说明。本书以主题划分,分为十大主题,主题以下又划分为具体的状况,比如:逛街购物时如何讨价还价,挑选衣服;面试找工作时,应聘者如何自我介绍,面试者如何提问;身在外国时需要去药店、去医院等等,涉及日常生活、工作、出国等方方面面,读者可以很轻松地找到应急的那句话。同时还配备MP3,让你听到原汁原味的英音。
  • 英语实用口语

    英语实用口语

    本书编写了三部分。第一部分为口语交际,目的是为了提高学生日常对话的能力,使英语说得更流利、通畅。第二部分为诗歌、俚语,这部分将从外国文学方面提升学生对英语的审美度与鉴赏力,扩大他们对英语的兴趣,减少语言学科的枯燥性。第三部分为外语歌曲,这一部分选取了大量朗朗上口的儿歌以及中学生耳熟能详的流行歌曲,让学生在唱读之余,提升他们对英语的好感度。
  • 神秘的农场主

    神秘的农场主

    讲述了约翰叔叔带着三个心爱的侄女——帕齐、贝丝和露易丝到位于小乡村米尔维尔的一个新购置的小农场度假的故事。在农场中,露易丝偶然发现原农场主的死有些蹊跷,他的好友在他死后变得疯疯癫癫,而且他和好友的财产在他死后均离奇失踪。所有的谜团引起露易丝强烈的好奇,她遂与小姐妹们偷偷地展开了侦查。就在她们的案情进展缓慢的时候,农场主的儿子约瑟夫在离开故土三年后再度现身,他带着满身的伤偷偷地躲藏在农场的一间废弃的小木屋中,他究竟发生了什么事?
  • 商务英语900句“袋”着走

    商务英语900句“袋”着走

    本书提炼出外企员工日常交流中使用最高频的话题情景,力求生活化,真实化。全书点面结合,通过句型替换,举一反三,以一句顶万句,方便记忆。 本书采用口袋书设计,方便携带,可谓挤地铁乘公交的上选佳品。便于随时随地学习,为自己充电。上班前看一眼,一天都能用得到。
热门推荐
  • 豪门盛婚之千亿暖媳

    豪门盛婚之千亿暖媳

    本文1V1,男女主身心干净,绝对宠文,希望亲们加入书架,么么哒!*她是京都云氏家族的千金大小姐。高贵淡雅,气质脱俗,容貌绝美。却在家中地位不如两个私生子女。老爸不疼,继母伪善,弟妹背地里对她耍尽阴招。当她是病猫?*阮尚东;国内第一豪门唯一继承人。矜贵冷傲,气势逼人,姿容超绝,永远一副睥睨天下的姿态。传言他从来不近女色。即便如此,依旧引得各路女人争先恐后。
  • 孤女悍妃

    孤女悍妃

    这一世她是父母双亡的国公府三房孤女,不想勾心斗角,只愿在深宅大院中,护住幼弟平安一生。没曾想,初见,再见,两次差点因他丧命,后来却心甘情愿为他放血续命,为他奔袭千里、为他战场搏杀……
  • 绝品神医

    绝品神医

    生死人,肉白骨一手堪比华佗,扁鹊的绝世医术,一手杀人于无形的神技,看来自药王谷的传人如何在花都,泡美妞,踩狂少!新书《绝品小邪医》已上传,希望大家多多支持!!!
  • 绝色前妻

    绝色前妻

    三天三夜,连续不断的凌辱与蹂躏!她被折磨的体无完肤。他是地狱的魔鬼,恶魔的化身!只是不满这场包办的婚姻,他用尽各种方法来折磨她。目的只有一个,就是让她从南宫家净身出户。一切幻想,一切希冀,一切期望,原来都是场恶梦。这场婚姻带给她的只有恶梦与灾难。要结束这一切,只有一个方法,那就是结束自己的生命。濒临绝望而崩溃的边缘,她毅然割断了自己的手腕。殷红的血液流淌、蜿蜒,绽放成娇艳而绝美的花。从小训练,她是一个冷酷而无情的杀人工具。她唯一的情意,就是自己的主人,心爱的情人。她只是没有想到,她只是一件工具。她完成最后一项任务时,他,她唯一爱的人,一刀扎进她的心脏。跨越千年,一个古代女杀手的灵魂,穿越到了她的身上。重生,她不再娇弱,不再无助,她变的冷酷、无情!他的冷漠,她不在乎,因为她比他更冷漠。他要离婚,她毫不犹豫,在离婚协议书上签下自己的名字!千疮百孔的心,她只想做个普通而平凡的女人,过着简单的生活。他却不能容忍,她离开的太洒脱,太干净!他发誓,他要她后悔,要她跪在他的面前求他。于是,各方势力都去找她的麻烦,一次次,要把她逼上绝路。她开始暴发,决定成为这个世上最强的人!雪雪完结的文:冷血总裁的逃妻:推荐:一个女佣四个大少慾火锋芒
  • 电影世界里的快递员

    电影世界里的快递员

    主世界类赛博朋克,任务世界科幻电影为主,已经历美国队长1、特种部队、冬兵起源(融合原创)、地狱男爵、明日边缘、寄生兽、超凡蜘蛛侠、金刚骷髅岛、环太平洋、毒液—致命守护者、雷神、复仇者联盟、阿丽塔战斗天使、变形金刚、诸神之怒……第一次写书,前两个故事槽点多一些,后续改变了很多,一百来万字了还这个成绩也没啥念想了,大家看个开心,留个票给个好评,感谢啦。也许看下去会发现是自己喜欢的那一款(?????)!
  • 快穿任务之炮灰来逆袭

    快穿任务之炮灰来逆袭

    孟离围观异宝出世成了炮灰,又成了穿梭各个世界替人逆袭的任务者。觉得功法不如意?自创!没有称心的武器?也有!没有合适的机缘?都有!(注:本文无cp。)
  • 国学必读(全集)

    国学必读(全集)

    《国学必读》分上下两册,上册为“文学通论”,凡收录三十七家文章四十四篇,杂记七十五则,目的是使学生“读之而古今文章之利病可以析焉”;下册为“国故概论”,凡收录二十家文章三十六篇,杂记三则,目的亦是使学生“读之而古今学术之源流于是备焉”。全书讲解深入浅出,实乃国学入门之必备。
  • 听说你还期待爱情

    听说你还期待爱情

    在这匆匆忙忙的世间,谁也不知道下一秒会发生什么。对于爱情,我们都怀着憧憬,对于爱情我们都怀着等待的心,靠近,错过,期待,直到最后进入那婚姻的殿堂,身边的人,或是你爱的人,或是爱你的人,或只是宿命中尚无太多瓜葛的人。在女子生命的十字路口,我们选择不同的人,便选择了不同的人生。是潘多拉的魔盒,抑或阿甘的巧克力盒,我们能否收获期待的爱情?
  • 宠妃之路:帝王心尖宠

    宠妃之路:帝王心尖宠

    重生×穿越顾云薇因为一场意外来到了这架空时代。她和他的相遇始于一场意外,却好像花光了他毕生的运气。
  • 生物知识知道点:动物的进化

    生物知识知道点:动物的进化

    简单地说,动物界的进化经历了一个从原始鞭毛虫到多细胞动物,从原始多细胞动物到出现脊椎动物。随着海洋面积的逐渐缩小,部分海洋脊椎动物开始向陆地进军,演化到两栖类,从中分化出哺乳类和鸟类,哺乳类中的一支进一步发展为高等智慧生物 。