Wu Ming-Yi - The Man with the Compound Eyes

Alice had already learned some of the words: mona’e meant ocean, lulala was flower, and sudoma beach. But she still didn’t understand the meaning of the whole sentence. She spent quite some time querying Atile’i before she felt she probably understood what it meant. Maybe it could be translated like this: No beach, no matter what the island, can hold the waves .

This was a maxim and an admonition. It would undoubtedly also count as a truth, even under scientific examination. Waves could not stay on a beach. There was often a fine line between proverbial wisdom and stating the obvious, between a truth and a truism, Alice thought.

“Only whales can be kept on the beach,” Atile’i said. The islanders believe that whales sacrifice themselves for the sake of all the folks who are unable to go fishing. When sea creatures use the land to kill themselves, their spirits soar up to the clouds; when land creatures drown themselves in the sea, their spirits turn into jellyfish. These were the rules of the spirit realm, taught to Atile’i by the horde of second sons he’d met on the sea.

“Sometimes death is payback. At other times, it’s just farewell, not owing anyone anything. As the days are long and the sea is deep, in the end the salikaba (Alice now had the word memorized) will betray the flesh, for the flesh is weak.”

Maybe because Alice tended to translate literally from Wayo Wayoan to Mandarin she always felt that the young Atile’i’s speech was overly poetic and a bit unreal. He made the pain that everyone had to suffer sound so beautiful. A kid Atile’i’s age should not be saying things like that. But in another sense, Alice thought about all Atile’i had experienced at sea, far more than she herself had experienced anywhere. Maybe the soul that resided in his young body was more complicated than the one that dwelt in hers.

Alice started taking Atile’i to draw water in the morning. Atile’i was curious about everything he saw along the way. The first time he saw a waterfall, he fell down to his knees, his eyes brimming over. He said this was something the Sea Sage had prayed for his whole life long: “How wonderful it would be to have such a mighty spring on Wayo Wayo. The sea is so big, but there’s not a drop to drink. That is the punishment of Kabang.”

Alice wanted to tell him that nobody could punish anyone else. She gave him a long explanation, but couldn’t be sure he understood.

Aside from drawing water, Alice also had to gather wild food plants. She had learned a lot by going to the Seventh Sisid, because Hafay would use plants Pangcah people often ate as ingredients in the meals she prepared. Things like kakurot (wild bitter gourd) to go with steamed fish. And you can combine sukuy (gac) with the snails you can catch anywhere and make a broth. Violet wood-sorrel can be pickled and served as a side dish. Rattan shoots make a great soup, while cassava can substitute for rice. Hafay also taught Alice how to make a pot out of a betel leaf and cook with it. You put the water and ingredients in the “pot” and toss in stones so hot from the fire that they make the water boil. Hafay said this was “stone bowl hot pot,” Pangcah style.

Atile’i had an outstanding ability to recognize plants. Usually he could remember something after Alice had picked it a single time. Soon he took over Alice’s job of foraging up in the hills. Sometimes when she got up in the morning, she would find the basket full of a day’s worth of vegetables. Alice couldn’t resist giving him field guides to read. Atile’i was really interested in the pictures, which looked just like the real thing. He was learning the names of different species at the same time as he was getting more and more familiar with a foreign language. At first he only learned the practical plants, the wild vegetables or herbs, but soon he knew almost all the birds, insects and reptiles, too. He could tell Alice at a glance that up ahead there were three emerald doves, eleven lesser scimitar babblers, seventy-nine Japanese white-eyes and a yellow-mouthed screech owl, with its eyes closed. Oh wait, there’s also a red-banded snake.

He quickly realized that the wild ferns, both cross-the-ditch and lady fern, that carpeted the mountains weren’t poisonous. They were edible, and could be eaten raw as you walked along. Soon the gash on Atile’i’s calf formed a scab, and the sore at the corner of his mouth was much improved. He picked breadfruits and wild raspberries and stored them in the cellar he’d dug to keep them cool and fresh. Alice was amazed. Atile’i knew a whole lot more about survival than she did. Sometimes she felt that the mountain knew Atile’i right from the start. He plucked buds and drank dew as he went along, as natural as a babbler in the woods nibbling on raspberries.

Once in a while, Alice walked down alone and drove into town to buy food. She would arrange to meet Dahu, Umav and Hafay along the way, and would always see the ruins of the Sea House, now almost completely inundated, and the endless seashore, still in a shambles even after several months of clearance. She got the latest news update about the Trash Vortex from Dahu and Hafay: journalists had recently started calling it the “Primeval Plastic Soup,” which sounded like a dish on a menu.

One time when she came down to town, Alice caught a talk show on TV while eating in a buffet. Some famous buckraker claimed he had seen a little dark fellow swim to shore out of the plastic soup and vanish into a grove. “If you don’t believe me launch a search in the mountains. You’ll find him,” the buckraker averred.

“Nonsense,” said the owner of the buffet. Alice knew it was not. Could someone have possibly seen Atile’i run into the hills? Thank God Atile’i had already changed into the clothes Alice had bought for him and could speak some Mandarin now. It would not be too hard to make up some story. Not to mention that the folks on this kind of show were all talk, no action. And to most viewers, it wasn’t supposed to be informative; it was pure entertainment, the kind of program that gave people everything but the truth. Nobody would actually go looking, would they?

At first Dahu and Hafay urged Alice to come back and live by the sea, but Alice told them that she wanted to stay in the hut for the time being, so they didn’t force the issue. Dahu had sorted out the stuff from the Sea House and packed it up. He was planning to take it up for her, only to meet with her adamant refusal. The situation was so awkward Dahu could only relent.

“I’m sure there’s something going on at the hut,” Dahu said privately to Hafay.

“You still don’t know Alice after all these years? If she wanted us to know she would have told us already,” Hafay said. “Anyway, maybe she’s just being a bit paranoid.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“But haven’t you noticed that Alice’s complexion looks so much better? Didn’t she say it’s been awhile since she stopped taking that whatchamacallit medication? I think it’s less likely now that she’d go and do something stupid, so whatever’s going on at least it seems to be doing her some good so far, right?”

“I hope you’re right,” said Dahu.

Indeed, every time Alice came down she was talking more about Ohiyo and less about Toto. But now Hafay, too, sensed that Ohiyo wasn’t Alice’s only companion at the hunting hut.

Alice found a quiet place by the highway and tossed a few things from the Sea House, leaving most of them in the car. She kept all of Toto’s books and stationery, even though she knew that keeping these things would only cause her sorrow. It was like leaving a deadly weapon lying around. She discovered a bundle of letters in a manila envelope, all from Thom.