yours – they’re as brown as rust. When you next go into town, buy three toothbrushes and a tube of Black Sister toothpaste – the advert said it protects against gum disease. And buy some roundworm tablets for Nannan as well. She’s always hungry these days. She probably has ringworm too. Have you seen that red patch on her leg? You can go to the pharmacy after you sell the eggs tomorrow.’
Meili climbs out of the boat and walks to the shelter. A few seconds later, Nannan comes running up searching for something to eat. She stumbles over a ladle and wok lid and bumps into the stove, overturning a pan of boiling gruel straight onto her bare foot. She yells in agony. Meili steps over the pan and scoops her into her arms. Kongzi scrambles up the beach and stares at the large red blister already covering Nannan’s foot and ankle. Meili douses the blister with soy sauce and says, ‘This is serious. We must take her straight to hospital.’
Kongzi carries Nannan to the boat, shouting out to the other islanders, asking if anyone can lend him some cash. Meili runs after him. ‘No, stay here, Meili,’ he says. ‘If you come to the hospital, they’ll put an IUD inside you.’
She watches Kongzi sail Nannan across the river, carry her onto the jetty and disappear into the town. She imagines him carrying her along the road that leads to the hospital. First, they’ll pass the pleasure pond where she took Nannan last month, and watched her pedalling cheerfully in a small plastic boat, her lips and hands blue from the cold, while on a trampoline behind, two girls stared into space, munching sunflower seeds. After the pond, they’ll pass the Empress Yang Guifei Roast Chicken Store, with platters of burnished birds displayed in the front window, then a poky shop cluttered with crates of instant noodles and beer. The smell of roast chicken will follow them to the end of the road, all the way to the hospital forecourt. The entrance lies behind a cluster of large ornamental rocks and a large poster advertising cosmetic surgery. The thought of entering the hospital doors makes Meili sick with fear. To distract her mind, she boils up some water in which she’ll dunk their clothes and sheets to kill the bedbugs that have infested their shelter.
A few hours later, Kongzi returns. Nannan is still sobbing, her left foot now wrapped in bandages. ‘Mum, take the hurt away,’ she cries. ‘It hurts, it hurts!’ Meili squeezes Nannan’s little hand and bursts into tears. ‘Good girl,’ she says. ‘I’ll buy you some instant noodles tomorrow, and a chocolate monkey. I promise.’ At this moment, Meili suddenly realises she’s a mother, and that her body is still connected to Nannan. She can feel the burns on Nannan’s feet as though they were singed into her own skin. She’ll make sure she never comes to harm again. Nannan curls up on Meili’s lap, as hot and limp as a boiled duck.
‘I had to pay two hundred yuan,’ Kongzi says, slumping into his legless chair, ‘just for a few bandages.’
As the sky darkens and the air grows damper, ducks leave the bushes and waddle to the feeding bowls. The feathers they leave on the branches quiver in the cold breeze.
Dai’s two daughters wander up and tell Kongzi that their father wants to have a drink with him.
‘Tell him I can’t tonight. Nannan’s hurt herself.’ Kongzi seldom refuses an invitation to join his neighbours for a drink. Many families have come and gone since they arrived, but their firmest friends are still here. The children spend their days playing together, and the families often eat together at night.
‘The ducks seem to be suffering from cramps,’ Meili says to Kongzi, carrying Nannan into the shelter. ‘We’d better not let them wade in the river.’
The infant spirit watches Father squat down and tune the radio to a different station. A nasal voice whines: ‘Today, prosperity is within everyone’s reach. If you want to turn your dreams into reality, make sure you catch the next edition of The Road to Wealth . . .’
‘A man in the waiting room tipped me off about a good job,’ Father tells Mother. ‘It pays seventy yuan a day, lunch included. I’d be painting the jagged mountain behind the town. The authorities have renamed it Mount Yang Guifei. They’ve closed the quarry and are getting workers to paint the exposed rock face green, in