scamper around the room . . .’
The contractions slowly abate, the cervix closes up, and the womb becomes still. Mother topples to the floor in exhaustion. The breeze blowing from the air-conditioning unit smells of old blood and deep-fried fish.
‘Still not out yet?’ Father says, walking in with a carton of orange juice.
‘The fetus has embedded itself into your wife’s flesh. I couldn’t extract it.’
‘When I came to see you two months ago you said the fetus was only eight months old,’ Mother says. ‘How can I believe anything you say?’
‘Listen, I’ve had enough!’ Dr Tao says. ‘I don’t want your money. Just go and get a surgeon to take it out for you.’
‘So that he can then strangle it to death?’ Mother cries. ‘Never!’
Seeing Father about to light up, Dr Tao shakes his head. ‘Sorry, this room is air-conditioned. No smoking allowed.’
Father drops the cigarette back into his pocket and says, ‘I know a bit about Taoist astrology, Dr Tao. Perhaps we should pay a priest to choose an auspicious day for the birth.’
‘Don’t waste time with that nonsense,’ the doctor replies. ‘Just listen to my advice: take her to a proper hospital straight away and pay for a Caesarean.’
‘All right, all right,’ Father says. ‘Let’s go home and fetch some more cash, Meili.’
‘No, I refuse to have my belly cut open. You know how I hate the sight of knives and blood . . .’ Meili is resolute. She’s terrified not only that the doctors will murder the baby, but that Kongzi will explode with rage when, after spending a fortune on a Caesarean, he discovers that the baby is a girl. Since the baby’s determined not to come out, Meili decides that she should have another ultrasound to confirm its sex. Perhaps it will turn out to be a boy, after all. How could that woman tell that the fetus was a girl from the blurred and grainy image on the screen? She will allow little Heaven to stay inside her for as long as it wants, and they’ll get through this difficult time together. If Kongzi or the government try to force her to do otherwise, she’ll resist them with every fibre of her body.
KEYWORDS: respected scholar, red and pink balloons, maternity dress, looking for whores, hammer and sickle, candlelight.
‘LET ME SEE if you’ve got everything you need,’ Kongzi says, opening Nannan’s satchel and checking that it contains the Year One textbooks, her pencil case and a ruler. She is eight today, and tomorrow he’ll take her for her first day at an illegal school for children of migrant workers. It’s housed in an aluminium warehouse on the southern edge of town, and the fees are reasonable. As a descendant of Confucius, Kongzi is annoyed that he didn’t think of opening a school like this himself.
After breakfast, he listens to Nannan read out the first chapter of the literacy textbook. He’s recently taken up a temporary, part-time post at Red Flag Primary – a government school next to the Confucius Temple – covering for a Chinese-literature teacher who’s gone on maternity leave. He and Nannan are sitting at a small table in the yard, the sunlight shining on their faces. The landlord now uses the three other houses as storerooms for his broken televisions, so the compound is much more peaceful. Kongzi’s delivery van has broken down and now stands in the corner covered with rusty metal sheets and bicycle frames. The ducks waddle out of the pen and peck at the noodles Meili is scattering on the ground.
Nannan reads out the words as she follows Kongzi’s moving finger. ‘“The red flag flaps in the wind. The hammer and sickle in the centre represents the Chinese Communist Party: eternally leading the people forward . . .”’
‘“Question One: What is the name of the flag? . . .”’ Kongzi says, lowering his voice to an authoritative pitch. Although he only teaches three afternoons a week, he is delighted to have returned to his true calling. As soon as he wakes up, he puts on his dark grey suit and polishes his glasses, whether he’s working that day or not.
The Sunday broadcast booms through the town from distant loudspeakers: ‘As part of our ongoing campaign to improve the implementation of national population control policies, Director Jie Ailing, Deputy Chair of the Provincial Family Planning Association, will visit Heaven Township today to carry out a thorough investigation of . . .’
‘Did you hear that, Kongzi?’ Meili says, looking in