Mo Yan - Frog

Second Sister-in-law opened the bundle to let Father set eyes on this late arriving grandson. Wonderful, he said over and over, tears in his eyes. And when I saw the dark-haired, ruddy-faced infant, my heart filled with emotions, my eyes with tears.

Sensei, this child helped me recapture my youth and my inspiration. While the gestation and birth might have been more difficult, more torturous than most, and while issues concerning his status might create some thorny problems, as my aunt said, Once it’s seen the light of day, it’s a life and will become a legal citizen of the country, entitled to all the rights and benefits of the country. If there is trouble, that is for those of us who permitted him to come into the world to deal with. What we have to give to him is love, nothing more.

Sensei, tomorrow I will spread out some writing paper and complete the laboured birth of this play. My next letter will include a play that might never see the stage:

Frog .

Dear Sensei,

I finally finished the play.

So many things in real life are tangled up in the story told in my play that when I was writing I sometimes could not tell if it was a true-to-life record or a fictional work. I finished it in a period of five days, like a child who can’t wait to tell his parents what he’s seen or thought. I know it’s a bit of an affectation to compare myself to a child, but that is exactly what I was feeling.

This play ought to constitute an organic part of my aunt’s story. Though some of the incidents did not actually occur, they did in my mind, and that makes them real to me.

Sensei, I used to think that writing could be a means of attaining redemption, but when the play was finished, instead of lessening, my feelings of guilt actually grew more intense. Although I can trot out an array of rationalisations to absolve myself of responsibility for the deaths of Renmei and the child in her womb — my child, too, of course — and place the blame on Gugu, the army, Yuan Sai, even Renmei herself — that is what I did for decades — now I understand with greater clarity than at any other time that I was not just the chief culprit, but the only one. For the sake of my so-called ‘future’, I sent Renmei and her child straight to Hell. I tried to imagine that the child carried by Chen Mei was the reincarnation of the unborn child, but that was nothing but self-consolation. It served the same function as Gugu’s clay dolls. Every child is unique, irreplaceable. Can blood on one’s hands never be washed clean? Can a soul entangled in guilt never be free?

I long to hear your answers, Sensei.

Tadpole

3 June 2009

GUGU , a retired obstetrician, in her seventies

TADPOLE , playwright, Gugu’s nephew, in his fifties

LITTLE LION , one-time assistant to Gugu, Tadpole’s wife, in her fifties

CHEN MEI , surrogate mother, in her twenties, a fire victim with a disfigured face

CHEN BI , Chen Mei’s father, Tadpole’s elementary schoolmate, a vagrant in his fifties

YUAN SAI , Tadpole’s elementary schoolmate, Bullfrog Company boss, secretly engaged in a ‘surrogate mother company’, in his fifties

COUSIN , Jin Xiu by name, Tadpole’s cousin, Yuan Sai’s subordinate, in his forties

LI SHOU , Tadpole’s elementary schoolmate, restaurant owner, in his fifties

STATION CHIEF , police officer in his forties

WEI YING , policewoman, a recent police academy graduate, in her twenties

HAO DASHOU , a folk artist, Gugu’s husband

QIN HE , a folk artist, Gugu’s admirer

LIU GUIFANG , Tadpole’s elementary schoolmate, manager of the county guesthouse

GAO MENGJIU , Gaomi County Chief during the Republic of China era

YAMEN CLERKS

HOSPITAL SECURITY GUARD and HOSPITAL SECURITY SUPERVISOR

TWO MASKED INDIVIDUALS IN BLACK

TV CAMERAMAN, FEMALE JOURNALIST , and OTHERS

Sino-American Jiabao Women’s and Children’s Hospital compound. An impressive gateway, suggestive of a government office. The hospital marquee hangs above and to the left of the marble-faced main door.

To the right stands a sign the size of a billboard etched with hundreds of baby pictures.

A security guard in a grey uniform stands stiffly to the left of the gate, welcoming or sending off each luxury automobile that enters or leaves the compound with a crisp salute. His action is comically, laughably exaggerated.

A full moon shines brightly on the backdrop, behind which emerges the sound of exploding firecrackers; an occasional burst of fireworks lights up the backdrop.

SECURITY GUARD:( takes out his cell phone, reads a text message, and laughs ) Tee-hee.

The security supervisor slips out through the gate.

SUPERVISOR:( standing unnoticed behind the security guard, says sternly in a low voice ) What’s so funny, Li Jiatai? ( feels something land on his foot ) Where did all these frogs come from at this time of year? What are you laughing at?

SECURITY GUARD:( startled, nervously snaps to attention ) Reporting, sir, the earth is getting warmer, the greenhouse effect. What’s funny? Nothing…

SUPERVISOR:If nothing’s funny, what are you laughing at? ( shakes the foot on which the frog rests ) What’s going on here? Is another earthquake on its way? I asked you what’s so funny.

SECURITY GUARD:( seeing there’s no one around, says with a laugh ) Sir, this joke is really funny…

SUPERVISOR:I’ve told you people, no texting!

SECURITY GUARD:Reporting, sir, I’m not texting. I’m just reading a few text messages.

SUPERVISOR:What’s the difference? If Department Head Liu saw you, you could kiss your rice bowl goodbye.

SECURITY GUARD:So what? I’ve been thinking of packing it in anyway. The boss at the bullfrog breeding farm is my uncle. My mother has asked her cousin to get her husband to hire me at the farm…

SUPERVISOR:( impatiently ) Okay, that’s enough. All this uncle-cousin-husband talk has me going in circles. You might not care about your rice bowl because you’ve got an uncle you can rely on, but I need mine to survive. So while you’re on duty, no reading text messages and no answering your phone.

SECURITY GUARD:( snaps to attention ) Yes, sir!

SUPERVISOR:Be careful.

SECURITY GUARD:( snaps to attention ) Yes, sir! ( can’t keep from laughing ) Tee-hee…

SUPERVISOR:Have you been drinking dog piss, or did you dream you were marrying a rich woman? What the hell are you laughing at?

SECURITY GUARD:I’m not laughing at anything…

SUPERVISOR:( sticks out his right hand ) Hand it over!

SECURITY GUARD:What?