A Drop in the Bucket Excerpt 2: A Man Who Needs No Introduction

A Man Who Needs No Introduction

Originally Written 11/30/2011

Introduction

I debated even including this story in the compilation (you see the pattern). I re-discovered it after digging for materials to include. This isn’t really a short story – it’s a first chapter of a Nano that, by all accounts, sucked. I absolutely loved the premise but wasn’t a good enough writer yet to deliver the story this narrative deserved. Perhaps one day I’ll finish it. I was incredibly proud of this first chapter; I’d place it as one of my best first chapters I’ve ever written. For that reason, I’ve included it here. I realize the ending is less-than-satisfying, but I just love how mysterious this chapter sets up the rest of the book (which, again, sucks).

              The premise of the story was simple enough – a disgraced Chinese PLA General’s failures ultimately cause China to break apart, potentially ushering in violence and an ultimate breakup of the Chinese empire and political system. I guess that’s kind of a spoiler, but the story is more about how things come to that. It’s a fictional showcase of just how fragile China’s political system really is.

              I’m a bit of a Sinophile. I studied Mandarin and Chinese history and culture in college and then my graduate studies focused on the Chinese political and military systems. I lived in Beijing for a few months during a study abroad and have visited multiple times for work. I have a special affinity for China’s people, culture, and history, if not for the current political apparatus. I wouldn’t call this an activist cause of mine per se, but it’s always been a sincere, heartfelt, and personal wish of mine that one day the Chinese people will be fully free to express themselves, to include their political opinions. I suppose you could say this story was a written manifestation for that wish, but also just a genuinely curious look at how that might unfold.

Story

Gaoqiang's hands caressed the blackened section of the wall, whose newly-applied paint failed to completely cover it up. He felt the clear separation in the coats of the wall; this part, the blackened part, was clearly older. Why was it blackened? He squinted his brown eyes; did a fire once scorch this hallway?

"Hey, stupid! Come on!"

Gaoqiang felt a lightning twinge go through his ears and run up his spine as the silence that had filled the hallway was immediately broken. Looking away from his discovery, Gaoqiang found the dark silhouette that he knew belonged to Jinmin, who was waiting for him to catch up. Gaoqiang ran past the rows of the new lockers that glinted in the white of the dim nightlights above him, reaching his comrade in a moment or two.

"What in the heavens were you looking at?"

Gaoqiang looked back at the wall and back at Jinmin, his yellow face barely visible.

"Nothing, I was just -"

"Whatever, I don't care. Don't get distracted. We need to find those results and then get the hell out of here."

Gaoqiang lowered his head, "I'm sorry, Jinmin."

Jinmin combed his straight black hair and sighed, "Whatever, let's go. They're probably in the next building over, anyway."

Together they walked down the hall, and eventually emerged from the towering doorway into the Beijing night. Gaoqiang tread more lightly still, moving between the courtyard trees, somehow trying to escape the watchful eye of the full moon. Why did I agree to do this, he asked himself. Of all the dumb things he did to try and fit in. Jinmin showed less concern for their security, moving at a normal pace and not caring about how heavy his footsteps fell. Gaoqiang clenched his jaw to prevent them from chattering.

"Calm down, you jittery bastard."

Gaoqiang emphatically shook his head, "Do you have any idea how much trouble we'll get if we get caught being here at this hour?"

"Do you have any idea how much I want to swap out these test scores so I don't have to be a plumber for the rest of my life?"

They crossed the courtyard to the adjacent school building, which housed the teachers' offices and records. Gaoqiang noticed the large, empty pedestal in the middle. It was in the same spot it always was, but somehow the darkness made it easier for him to imagine the gigantic, bronze Buddhist statue that would have once sat there. He glanced back behind him and tried to picture the hundreds of monks that once assuredly paced back and forth from the building they had just emerged.

This former temple had been abandoned long before the provincial government decided to turn it into a school. Part of some initiative to improve access to education, Gaoqiang knew. The irony was not lost on him that current students now studied math where monks once studied and recited the sacred texts. In spite of its new visage, this landmark would always be a temple, even long after its memory of such had faded. Even though many things had changed in China, the concept of having an education system based on one huge test had not.

At last they came to the far side of the courtyard and faced another large entryway, filled with a huge red door, blocking their entrance. Jinmin reached out to grasp the huge spherical doorknob.

"Careful, Jinmin!" Gaoqiang took a sudden step towards him, "There's probably an alarm."

Jinmin withdrew his hand as if the doorknob were electrified, "I didn't think of that. How do you recommend getting in, smarty-pants?"

Jinmin grabbed his hips and glared at Gaoqiang, who mistakenly took his question as rhetorical. He stammered for an answer before settling on one, "Let's go!"

Jinmin threw his hands back, "Hell no! I wasn't nearly as prepared for that test as I should have been. I know they're going to give me some backwater job, or worse" Jinmin gasped, "What if they make me a teacher?"

Gaoqiang rolled his eyes, "Somehow I don't think you should be worried about that."

Jinmin didn't hear him, "We need to get in there. I'm going in there. I can change your scores while I'm in there!" He withdrew several crumpled papers from his hoodie pocket, "I brought enough forged report cards for the whole gang! I could improve your scores if you wanted. Think of how cool everyone else will think of you! You'd basically help save all their future careers!"

Gaoqiang shook his head again, fairly confident his test experience had fared better than his comrade's. He sighed and watched the ghostly mist of his visible breath disperse; then he checked behind him to make sure nobody was sneaking up on them. "Look, this is crazy! Let's get out of here while we still can!"

"Fuck that, I'm going in. Even if there is an alarm, I could probably switch out the scores in time. I know where Wu Laoshi keeps his desk!"

Jinmin's hand darted out and twisted the knob. He pushed as hard as he could and the door flew open, immediately prompting the high-pitched wail of the alarm system. Jinmin screamed as he ran inside, several of the crumpled papers suddenly flying high above his hands.

The alarm rang through Gaoqiang's ears; every instinct in his body urging him to run, but he loyally, and perhaps stupidly, stayed put and waited for his comrade to gather up the report cards, enter, and reemerge. After what seemed like an entire circle of time, Jinmin came back out, his face covered in sweat in spite of the cold.

"I did it! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Together they ran back through the courtyard toward the exit. His footsteps barely making any audible noise over the sound of his heart pounding in his ears, Gaoqiang ran in front of his more-plump comrade as he eyeballed the exit and his freedom. All of a sudden, out of the corner of his eye, Gaoqiang spotted a crouched figure. He hadn't noticed him earlier. He was hunched over a stone table, doing Heaven knew what.

Gaoqiang stammered, "There's someone over there!"

Jinmin caught up with him, his eyes darting over to where the man was, apparently sitting on one of the stone seats in front of a stone table. He shouted, barely making his voice audible over the blare of the siren, "H-h-hey! Hey you! Who are you?"

"Heavens, who in hell cares?" Gaoqiang demanded, "Let's get out of here!"

"No! I don't want anyone knowing I was here! No witnesses!"

Gaoqiang's eyes widened as Jinmin charged forward Gaoqiang followed. They immediately reached the man. Gaoqiang squinted his eyes in the dark. The man could have been dead, he was barely moving. He simply sat and stared at the table in front of him, where several mahjong tablets lay. The tiles that would belong to his absent opponent lay untouched and unmoved. Beside the man's seat lay a dry mop and an empty bucket. Gaoqiang recognized him; he had noticed this man sitting in this very same spot for several years.

"It's the Shifu," Gaoqiang said in a voice just louder than the blaring alarms, trying to reassure Jinmin, whose face was contorted and grim.

"I don't care who it is!" Jinmin shouted, running up to him, "You! If you tell anyone who did this, I swear by my ancestors' graves that I'll come back and you'll be sorry!"

The Shifu didn't move, or make any indications he had heard him.

"If you leave now, you idiot, he might not even know who you are!" Gaoqiang shouted, "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

Jinmin moved closer to the Shifu, clearly not listening to Gaoqiang's admonition. He kicked the man's seat from under him despite its weight. The man groaned and toppled over.

"You hear me?"

The Shifu started to get up but Jinmin landed a kick squarely in the Shifu's stomach.

"What the hell are you doing?" Gaoqiang shouted.

Jinmin looked back at Gaoqiang, his darting eyes on fire, "Making sure he won't tell anybody," Jinmin turned back to him, leaned over, and hit the Shifu in the face. Even at night Gaoqiang could see the blood spurting from the Shifu's nose. The Shifu continued to moan in pain as he covered his nose. Jinmin stood back up and kicked him in the stomach one more time. Gaoqiang winced as he saw the force of Jinmin's blow. Jinmin then ran past Gaoqiang back towards the exit.

"Now he won't tell anyone. Let's go!"

Gaoqiang looked at the Shifu, the blood dripping off him like sweat during a hot Beijing summer day. Without taking his eyes off him, he began running with Jinmin. He got halfway through the courtyard before stopping.

"Come on!" Jinmin called back to him.

"Go to hell," Gaoqiang said back.

"Suit yourself, idiot!" With that, Jinmin ran exited the school and Gaoqiang lost sight of him in the dark streets of early-morning Beijing.

Gaoqiang ran back to the Shifu, who was still scrambling to roll back over on his side. The alarm was still blaring. Gaoqiang kneeled and helped the Shifu get to his feet.

The Shifu whispered something, but it was lost in the wail of the alarm.

"What?" Gaoqiang asked as he set the stone seat up right. The Shifu pulled a remote out of his pocket and toggled it. The alarm stopped.

"I said 'thank you'." The man then wiped his wrinkled face and sat back down at the table with a groan - surely of many years of back pains - continuing his one-sided game of mahjong.

Gaoqiang sat on the stone seat opposite of the Shifu, "You know the game's better if you play against someone." He reached out for one of the untouched rows of tiles.

"Don't touch it!" the man spat and pointed a sharp index finger at him, a fiery glance hitting Gaoqiang squarely in the eyes, "Don't you dare touch it. Those tiles aren't for you."

Immediately the man's expression relaxed and he covered his eyes with his hands as he wept.

"Oh father, I'm so sorry. Oh Xiaojiang, I was so blind..."

"I'm sorry," Gaoqiang said, "I didn't move any of the pieces. See?" He motioned to the tiles, which still had not moved.

The man took a deep breath, and wiped his face, smearing blood across his cheeks and into his grey hair.

"Go away."

Gaoqiang frowned and stuck his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, "Don't you care about the break-in? Aren't you going to turn us in? Make sure nothing was stolen or whatever?"

The Shifu didn't look up from his game, "No. I don't care. I'm a janitor, not a security guard."

"But what about Jinmin? You're just going to let him get away with this?"

"If there's one thing I've come to understand in my time here, it's that his actions will come to haunt him, and he will have to live with himself for the rest of his life."

"That must make you one horrible janitor."

For once the old man grunted - laughed? - as he moved a single tile from one row to another.

"Yes, I suppose so. Perhaps I wasn't meant for this job. Or any job."

"What were you before you were a janitor?"

The man still didn't look up, "Do you know my name?"

"I have no clue."

"My name is Xu Shenyu."

Gaoqiang shook his head, not understanding.

Xu finally looked up from the stony table, "I was a general."

"But... we don't have a military," Gaoqiang answered flatly.

Xu lowered his head back towards the table, "Of course. You're far too young to remember."

"Remember what?"

"China used to be a very different place. And I was completely responsible for changing it."

Xu paused. Gaoqiang peered at the old man, waiting for him to continue.