Wild Ginger - Anchee Min [39]
"But when exactly will they be coming next time? How will I find them?"
"Is everybody ready?" came Wild Ginger's call. "Let's practice. Ready? One, two, and three, begin! 'Enthusiastically we dance and sing to you, our great helmsman, Chairman Mao!'"
The crowd sang.
The drums beat loudly.
The accordion players worked their bellows as hard as they could.
"The fourth Tuesday of the month!" The woman's knee began to tremble so violently that Mother's knee almost buckled. "Six-thirty at the corner of Chia Chia Lane."
"I'll be there!" Mother said excitedly. It was followed by a deep sigh. "The reason I keep the coupons is because I hope that one day I'll be able to spend them. To buy cloth I need those coupons. All my bedsheets are worn out. My children dress like beggars."
"You'd better make use of those coupons before they expire."
"Will I get caught if I am seen?"
"Do it so that you won't get caught, big sister!" the woman gasped. "I've ... never ... gotten caught. Gee, this is torture."
The Mao picture in my mother's hands shook. "Thank you!" came Mother's voice from behind the frame.
"Oh, Buddha Heaven! I can't..." The woman's knee gave in.
"A long life to you! A long, long life to you!" the chorus sang.
Bang!
The Mao picture fell.
The "smokestack" collapsed.
The "ship" fell apart.
15
"'The masses have a potentially inexhaustible enthusiasm for socialism.'" Wild Ginger and Evergreen resumed their Mao study. "'Those who can only follow the old routine in a revolutionary period are utterly incapable of seeing this enthusiasm. They are blind and all is dark ahead of them. At times they go so far as to confound right and wrong and turn things upside down. Haven't we come across enough persons of this type?'"
It was eight o'clock at night. I was in the closet. Wild Ginger's voice was tired. She had been working to teach the Zhong dance for days without a stop. She slept four hours a night. Now she was dozing off. "Why don't you take over?" she said to Evergreen.
Evergreen was not enthusiastic. But he followed Wild Ginger's wish. "'... Those who simply follow the old routine invariably underestimate the people's enthusiasm. Let something new appear and they always disapprove and rush to oppose it' ... Wild Ginger!" He noticed that Wild Ginger's head was like a hen's pecking grain.
"What's wrong, Evergreen?" Wild Ginger muttered. "Keep going."
"'...Afterward, they have to admit defeat and do a little self-criticism. But the next time something new appears, they go through the same process all over again. This is their pattern of behavior in regard to anything and everything new..."'
Evergreen slowly put down the Mao book and moved to sit next to Wild Ginger. He paused for a few seconds. When he saw there was no response, he bent his head to reach for her left cheek.
"Go on reading, please." She struggled with her sleepiness and turned her head away.
"'...Such people,'" he went on but began to kiss her at the same time, "'...are always passive, always fail to move forward at the critical moment ... and always have to be given a shove in the back before they move a step..."' He kissed her neck fervently.
"Pah!" She turned around and slapped him in the face. "We have a contract! Don't tell me that you want to break it!"
He rose. His face was red. "I am quitting."
"Get out, then." Her tone was sharp.
"But ... you were bored to death and falling asleep yourself."
"How dare you accuse me of being bored with Mao study! I am not sleepy! You are the problem! Your mind is getting dirtier every day. I am sure you are not here to study Maoism but to enjoy bourgeois indulgence."
He was insulted. In a quick motion he came and grabbed her shoulders. "Why did you insist on making us a team if you are so holy? Why? To keep me here for what? For the pleasure of your eyes? What do you want from me? You know, deep down, you know that we are not interested