Read Online Mulberry and Peach by Hualing Nieh - Free Book Online Page A

‘Go ahead and chew. Go ahead and slice me up. Kill me. What good will that do? When the water rises and the ship floats up, you will need someone at the rudder.’
    Â 
    â€˜Dice!’ I yell as I cross the aisle into the ‘Boys’ Dormitory’. The old man is sitting on his bunk, rolling three cubes of dice around in his
hand. I snatch them away and cast them on the bunk. ‘Come on, let’s gamble. Everybody, come here.’
    â€˜Just what I was thinking!’ As soon as the old man gets excited, he starts coughing. ‘You should live each day as it comes. I still have four bottles of liquor in my suitcase. I was going to give it to friends in Chungking. To hell with them, let’s drink now.’ He opens a bottle, gulps down a few swallows and strips off his coarse cotton jacket. He bares his chest. A few hairs stick out of his armpits.
    The five of us crowd together in a circle. Lao-shih has ignored me all day. I want to sit next to her on the bunk, but I also want to sit beside Refugee Student. In the end I squeeze in between them. We pass the bottle around the circle. I’ve never drunk liquor before. I gulp down several swallows in one breath. My face burns. My heart pounds. My left hand rests on Lao-shih’s shoulder and my right on Refugee Student’s shoulder.
    We put the dice in a porcelain bowl in the middle of the circle.
    I raise my hand and shout, ‘I’ll be the dealer!’
    â€˜I’ll be the dealer.’
    â€˜I’ll be the dealer.’
    â€˜I’ll be the dealer.’
    â€˜I’ll be the dealer.’
    â€˜Let’s decide by the finger-guessing game. Two people play; the winner gets a drink; then plays the next person. The last one to win gets to be dealer!’
    â€˜Let’s begin. Two sweethearts!’
    â€˜Four season’s wealth!’
    â€˜Six in a row!’
    â€˜Lucky seven!’
    â€˜Pair of treasures!’
    â€˜Four season’s wealth!’
    â€˜Three sworn brothers.’
    â€˜Pair of treasures!’
    â€˜Eight immortals!’
    â€˜Six in a row!’
    â€˜One tall peak!’
    â€˜Four season’s wealth!’
    â€˜Lucky seven!’
    â€˜All accounted for!’
    â€˜Three sworn brothers!’
    â€˜Six in a row!’
    â€˜Pair of treasures!’

    â€˜Eight immortals!’
    â€˜Lucky seven!’
    â€˜I win, I win,’ yells Peach-flower Woman. ‘I’m the dealer. Place your bets.’
    â€˜OK. Fifty dollars!’
    â€˜Sixty!’
    â€˜Seventy!’
    â€˜Eighty!’
    â€˜Another seventy!’
    â€˜Another eighty!’
    Peach-flower Woman laughs. ‘You just bet more and more. I haven’t got that kind of money. If I win, I get to be the dealer again. If I lose, I’ll give up. I get first crack at this!’ She grabs the dice and throws them into the bowl with a flourish.
    They spin in the bowl.
    I take a drink. I see several dice spinning crazily in the bowl.
    â€˜Five points! The dealer has got five points!’
    â€˜I only want six points, not a single point more!’ The old man cups the dice in his hands, blows on them, and then his hands open slowly like a mussel shell opening.
    The dice spin in the bowl.
    He bends over, glaring at the dice and yelling, ‘Six points, six points! Six points! Six points . . . oh, three points.’ He lifts Peach-flower Woman’s hand and sticks the bottle in it. She takes a drink. She’s still holding the bottle and he lifts her hand and puts the bottle in his mouth. He pulls her toward him with his free arm and presses her face against his naked chest. He strokes her face. He finishes off the liquor with one gulp and sucks on the empty bottle like a baby.
    â€˜Sir, men and women should not mix. The booze is all gone. I don’t have anything for you either. You are supposed to be respectable. You shouldn’t touch a woman’s body like this,’