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

laughs Peach-flower Woman as she struggles out of his embrace and straightens up. Her chignon comes undone and hair straggles across her chest. The buttons of her blouse pop open, exposing most of her breasts.
    The dice click as they spin.
    â€˜Six points! Six points! Six points! I only want six points!’ Lao-shih yells, rolling on the bunk.
    I roll next to her, turn over and climb on her back, as if riding a horse, bumping up and down as if keeping time. I yell with her: ‘Six points! Six points! Six points! Six points! Six points! If you keep on ignoring me, I won’t let you go. Six points! Six points!’

    She suddenly stops yelling, yanks me off and rolls over on the bunk and grabs me. Our faces press together, legs curl round each other, rolling this way and that. She mumbles. ‘If you ignore me, I won’t let you go. If you ignore me, I won’t let you go.’
    â€˜Four points,’ yells Peach-flower Woman. ‘You got four points, Lao-shih! OK, Mulberry, it’s your turn.’
    I struggle out of Lao-shih’s embrace, roll over to the circle and stuff the dice in my mouth. I spit them out into the bowl. ‘Six points, come on, six points! Six points! Six points!’ Refugee Student is sprawled beside me on the bunk. I pound on his hip with my fist. ‘Six points! Six, six, six, six points. How many? How many did I get?’
    â€˜Five points. The dealer also got five. The dealer wins!’ Another bottle of liquor is passed around.
    Refugee Student sits up, grasps the dice with his toes and tosses them into the bowl. He looks at me and begins singing in a flirtatious way. The dice, as if minding their own business, clatter in the bowl.
    Wind blows through the window
My body is cool
The willow tree whistles in the wind
Lovers behind the gauze curtain
I have a husband, but we’re not in love
Ai-ya-ya-erh-oh!
Ai-ya-ya-erh-oh!
    â€˜Too bad, you lose. You only got three points.’ Peach-flower Woman smiles at Refugee Student. With one sweep she rakes in the money.
    She beat all of us.
    We place larger and larger bets. In the end, we take out all our money and valuables and place them down. Lao-shih and I share our money. We have only two hundred dollars left in our purse. I put down the two hundred dollars. She puts down the purse. The old man bets his gold watch. Refugee Student bets his flute.
    We lose again. Refugee Student wins twenty dollars, the price of the flute. He proposes that we change dealers. The three losers all agree. Of course, he gets to be the dealer. In any case, since he’s won once already, he’s probably the only one who can beat Peach-flower Woman. But the three of us losers don’t have anything else to bet.
    â€˜I have an idea,’ says Refugee Student. ‘We play only one more game. This time it will be a game of life or death. Everyone take out his
most prized possession. If you don’t have anything, then bet yourself. I’m the dealer. If I win, I’ll take things, if there are any. If not, I’ll take people!’
    â€˜And what if you lose?’
    â€˜All I’ve got is myself, you can do what you want with my body, cut it in two, chop it up, lick it, kiss it, fuck it.’
    â€˜Good Heavens!’ laughs Peach-flower Woman, as she looks at her baby asleep on the bunk. ‘My most valuable possession is my son.’
    Refugee Student leans over to her and says in a low voice, which everyone can overhear: ‘Your most valuable possession is your body.’
    The old man chuckles. ‘What you say sounds reasonable. I’ll bet my house in Peking. If you win, you can go back and take possession. I hope to retire there once the war is over.’
    â€˜I’ll bet my family heirloom!’ I yell as I step over to the ‘Girls’ Dormitory’ and fish out the jade griffin from the little leather case by my pillow and return to the ‘Boys’ Dormitory’. ‘Hey,