Yu Hua - Brothers

Baldy Li couldn't help sobbing, too. "I don't know."

The two children stood there, weeping and looking about. No one came over. They squatted down again, shooing away the swarms of flies from Song Fanping's face, wanting to take a closer look. Was this Song Fanping? His face was smeared with blood and dirt, so they couldn't really tell. They felt that it looked a little bit like Song Fanping, but they couldn't be sure. Was it him? They got up from the ground and decided that they should ask someone.

First they walked to the spot under the tree where two men were smoking. They pointed at Song Fanping, asking, "Is that our father?"

The two men smoking under the tree froze, then shook their heads. "Don't you know your own father?"

The children walked up the station steps to Popsicle Wang. Wiping away his tears, Song Gang asked him, "Is that our father on the ground over there?"

Popsicle Wang slapped the wood block against his icebox, staring. "Scram!"

Baldy Li complained, "But we're not drooling anymore."

Popsicle Wang replied, "Scram anyway!"

Weeping, Baldy Li and Song Gang walked hand in hand into the main hall and asked the people clustered under the two ceiling fans, "Do any of you know? Is that our father lying on the ground outside?"

Their pathetic questions elicited a roar of laughter. People commented that they couldn't believe there could be such fools as these two, who didn't even know their own father and had to ask others. Grinning, one of the people waved the children over. "Hey, kids, come over here."

The boys walked up to the man, who looked down at them and asked, "Do you know who my father is?"

The children shook their heads, and the man asked again, "Then who would know who my father is?"

The children thought this over and replied, "You would."

"Go away, then." The man dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "Go identify your own father."

Weeping and still grasping each other's hands, the children walked out of the station and down the steps and approached Song Fanping's prone body. Song Gang sobbed, "We do know our own father. But this man's face is covered in blood, so we really can't make it out."

The boys went into the snack shop next to the station. Inside there was only Mama Su, wiping the tables. They were a little fearful and stood at the door, hesitating. Song Gang whispered, "We'd like to ask you something but don't want you to get angry."

Mama Su saw two weeping boys standing at her door, took a look at Baldy Li and Song Gang's clothes, and asked, "You're not beggars, are you?"

"No." Song Gang pointed at Song Fanping lying on the ground outside. "We'd just like to ask you, is that our father?"

Mama Su put down the rag she was holding. She now recognized Baldy Li. This was the little hoodlum who had been going around rubbing himself on all the wooden electrical poles, exclaiming that he was in heat. Mama Su gave Baldy Li a look and then asked Song Gang, "What is your father's name?"

Song Gang replied, "His name is Song Fanping."

The children then heard her gasp and wail, saying something like "Oh God," "Dear mother," or "My ancestors!" When she paused to catch her breath, she panted to Song Gang, "He's been lying there for more than half a day. I thought that everyone in his family was dead."

The two children didn't know what she was talking about. Song Gang persisted, "Is he our father?"

Mama Su wiped at the sweat on her forehead. "His name was Song Fanping."

Song Gang immediately started howling, turning to Baldy Li. "I just knew he was Papa. That's why I started crying the moment I saw him."

Baldy Li also burst into tears. "That's why I started crying, too."

The children began to screech and wail in the summer heat. They once again approached Song Fanping's body, their sharp wails scaring off even the swarms of flies. Song Gang knelt down to the ground, as did Baldy Li. They leaned in close to take a good look at Song Fanping. The sun had dried up the blood on his face. Song Gang peeled off the caked-up blood and finally saw his own father clearly. He turned and clutched Baldy Li's hand. "This is Papa."

Nodding, Baldy Li wailed, "This is Papa…"

The two children knelt on the ground in front of the bus depot and wept loudly. Their mouths agape, they sobbed toward the sky, their wails ascending into the heavens. But like broken wings their cries would suddenly plummet to earth as the children wept open-mouthed, soundless, tears and snivel having closed up their throats. With great effort they swallowed all of it down, and again their wailing exploded. They tugged at Song Fanping's body and wept, "Papa, Papa, Papa …"

Song Fanping gave no response, and the children were at a loss as to what to do. Baldy Li wailed to Song Gang, "He was still fine this morning. Why is he deaf and dumb now?"

Song Gang looked toward the crowds that had gathered around them and cried, "Save my father!"

Snot and tears flowed down the children's faces. Song Gang wiped some from his face and hurled it away, accidentally hitting the pants leg of one of the spectators, who immediately grabbed Song Gang by the collar and started swearing at him. Baldy Li wiped the mucus from his face and splashed the mans sandals. The man then grabbed Baldy Li by the hair and, with one boy in each hand, thrust both of them to the ground, demanding that they use their shirts to clean up the mess they had made. Still weeping, Baldy Li and Song Gang began to use their hands to wipe up the man's pants and sandals but ended up smearing him with even more tears and snot. The man, initially furious, became merely annoyed, and said, "Quit it! Damn. Just stop wiping."

But Baldy Li and Song Gang held on to the man's legs, as if they had finally found a savior and were clinging to him for dear life. As the man backed away the boys hung on, crawling forward on their knees. They begged him, "Save our father! Please, save our father!"

The man pushed them away and raised his foot to kick them off of him, but they still clung on. After dragging the children a dozen yards, he found them still clutching him, beseeching. The man, now out of breath, stood there wiping away his sweat. He complained to the crowd, "Look at this! My pants, my sandals, my socks. What the fuck is this?"

Mama Su from the snack shop walked over and stood in front of the gathered crowd. The wailing of the children had reddened her eyes. "They're just kids."

Furious, the man responded, "What do you mean kids? They're two little fucking demons."

"Then do a good deed," Mama Su responded, "and help these two little demons collect their father's body."

"What?" the man roared. "You want me to carry that filthy, stinking corpse?"

Wiping her eyes, Mama Su replied, "I didn't say you needed to carry the body yourself. I have a cart here that I can lend you."

Mama Su went back to her snack shop and returned with a cart. On behalf of the two children, she begged the bystanders to help lift Song Fanping onto the cart. The crowd started dispersing, and Mama Su, losing her temper, singled out a few of them for the task: "You, you, you, and you."

Mama Su pointed at Song Fanping lying on the ground. "No matter whether this was a good man or not, now that he's dead, we have to bury him. We can't just leave him lying here."

Finally four people walked out of the crowd and squatted down, grabbing hold of Song Fanping's arms and legs. Shouting "One, two, three," they hoisted him up. All four were red in the face from the exertion, remarking that the dead man was as heavy and cumbersome as an elephant. They placed Song Fanping next to the cart, and, with another "One, two, three," they heaved him onto it, as it creaked under the weight of his large frame. The men dusted off their hands. One of them raised his to his nose, sniffed, and told Mama Su, "We want to go wash our hands in your shop."