Part 5 (2/2)
”Well, I always think better after I've eaten,” the boy said, and he stood up and opened one of the crates. ”Let's have dinner.”
While he fried the plain bamboo shoots in the pot over the fireplace, Minli looked around the bare room.
”Do you live by yourself?” she asked.
”Uh-huh.” The boy nodded. ”My parents died four years ago. Ever since then, it's been me and the buffalo.”
He spoke almost carelessly, without anger or self-pity. Suddenly, Minli thought about her own home - the wood floor always swept by Ma, the extra blanket Ba put over her when the wind blew cold - and she felt a strange tightness in her throat.
The boy finished cooking and pushed the cooked bamboo, like thinly sliced pieces of yellow wood, onto a plate. He only had one plate so he set it on the stool next to the three peaches Minli had left, and both sat crossed legged on the ground. She took out her chopsticks (he only had one pair of those as well) and each picked and ate with the stool as a table and the single plate between them.
”You don't have any aunts or uncles?” Minli asked. ”Other family or friends?”
”Well,” the boy said, tossed a peach to the buffalo, and then hesitated. ”I do have one friend.” And, Minli was surprised to see his face change unexpectedly. The sharpness of his expression softened like a flower blossoming, his small smile gentle.
”Who is it?” Minli asked.
THE STORY OF.
THE BUFFALO BOY'S FRIEND Sometimes, during the hot summer days, there is not enough water for my buffalo, so I like to take him out of the city into the surrounding forest to drink in the stream there. One day, I brought him to the forest and he kept pulling and pus.h.i.+ng me away from the stream. No matter what I did, he refused to go in my direction. So finally, I just let him lead the way.
And he brought me to a part of the forest I had never seen before, a part I don't think anyone from the city has ever seen before. The trees seemed to reach the clouds, the green gra.s.s felt like a silk blanket, and there was a lake of clear water, so pure and clean it looked as if it were a piece of the sky. But the most beautiful things there were the seven girls swimming in it.
But when the girls saw me and the buffalo come through the trees, they screamed. They jumped out of the water, grabbed their robes, and ran away. They moved so quickly, it seemed like they had all disappeared into the sky.
All except for one, that is. One girl stayed in the water and stared at me with scared eyes. Her hair floated around her like a midnight halo and her white face looked like a star in the sky.
”h.e.l.lo?” I said.
”Your... your buffalo,” she said, and her voice was like flute notes in the air, ”he's sitting on my clothes!”
”Oh,” I said, and I quickly pushed him over. On the ground, crushed and a little muddy, was a blue silk dress. As I lifted it, the softness made me ashamed of my rough hands. ”Here,” I said, bringing the dress to the edge of the lake.
She looked at me, hesitating. ”I won't look,” I said, and I placed the dress on the ground and walked a bit away, with my back turned. I heard her slip out of the water and rustle of silk as she put on her clothes.
”Thank you,” she said. ”You can turn around now.”
And when I turned around, a girl was smiling at me. She was my age but she was prettier than any girl I had ever seen before. Even paintings of princesses were ugly compared to her.
”I didn't mean to scare you,” I said. ”My buffalo was just thirsty.”
”I guess so,” she said and she laughed like tinkling bells as we watched my big, lumbering buffalo make his way to the water. ”I can't believe my sisters just left me like that! I'm the youngest, too - they're supposed to watch me. But I'm glad they didn't because now I can talk to you. Tell me all about you! Does your buffalo go with you everywhere?”
And just like that, we became good friends. She wanted to know everything about me and wasn't sn.o.bbish or anything. In fact, a lot of the time she sighed and said she wished she had my freedom.
”I have to go before they miss me.” She sighed. ”I wish I could stay here. Where I live, I'm not allowed to do anything. There's always someone watching, telling me what to do. And it's kind of lonely.”
”Well, visit me,” I told her. ”We can have lots of fun together.”
”I'll try,” she promised.
And she kept her promise. Like she said, it was hard for her to get away, but every night on the full moon when she visits her grandfather, she stops here. Sometimes she can only stay for a little while, sometimes she can stay for hours. Whenever I see her, we laugh enough to last for the month. She's my best friend, and someday when we're old enough I'm going to talk her into staying here forever.
”And she should be coming tonight,” the buffalo boy said, and his smile was bright and broad.
”Oh, can I meet her?” Minli said. It was funny how the buffalo boy's whole manner changed when he talked about her - his vaguely mocking att.i.tude and tough expression washed away and he lit up like a lantern. She was glad the boy had someone in his life other than the buffalo.
The boy looked troubled. ”She's really shy around other people,” he said. ”And I think she's afraid if anyone sees her, her family might find out that she stops here instead of going straight to her grandfather's. They're really strict with her.”
”I won't bother her, then,” Minli said. ”Do you want me to leave?”
”No, you can just stay with the buffalo,” he said. ”She told me last time that this visit would have to be fast anyway. She was behind on her work, so they will expect her back quickly.”
”Work?” Minli asked. ”What does she do?”
”She weaves and spins thread,” the boy said. ”That's what she brings to her grandfather when she visits - thread that she spins. Hey, I know! I'll ask her how you can see the king! She'll know.”
”How will a weaving girl know about the king?” Minli asked. ”Does she live in the Inner City?”
”No, she lives far away,” the boy said vaguely, ”but she knows a lot of things.”
Minli shrugged. It didn't seem likely to her that a friend of the buffalo boy would know how she could see the king, but as she didn't have any ideas of her own, she would hope.
CHAPTER 19.
Minli started awake as she heard the sc.r.a.ping of the door against the dirt. The moonlight streamed in from the window, lighting the bare hut. The boy had given her his pile of gra.s.s to sleep on and joined the buffalo, using some of its gra.s.s as a pillow. But as the buffalo snored loudly, Minli could see the bowl-shaped hollow in the hay was empty. ”I wonder where he went?” Minli said and she found herself thinking of Ma and Ba and Dragon all waiting for her. Suddenly the silence of the room seemed to ache with loneliness.
”The boy must be meeting his friend,” Minli realized, and unable to control her curiosity, she crept to the window to peek.
Yes, the friend was there. Minli was startled when she saw her. Even with the buffalo boy blocking most of her view, Minli could see his friend was beautiful, even more beautiful than he had described her. She seemed to glow like a pearl in the moonlight and her deep blue silk dress seemed to be the same color as the sky. The bag she held in her graceful hand seemed to be made out of the same silk, but the silver thread embroidered on it made it look as if it were made from a piece of the star-scattered sky. Everything about her seemed finer and more delicate than the average person. There was definitely something unusual about the buffalo boy's friend.
Minli watched her laugh and then listen intently as the buffalo boy spoke. He gestured to the house and Minli just ducked down out of sight as the friend glanced toward her. He must be asking her about how I can see the king, He must be asking her about how I can see the king, Minli thought. Minli thought.
As soon as she dared, Minli peeked again out the window. The buffalo boy's friend had her eyes closed toward the sky, as if listening to the wind. Then she looked at the buffalo boy and spoke. He nodded and the girl smiled at what Minli imagined was the buffalo boy's enthusiastic thanks.
Minli sat down on the wooden stool. ”She knows a lot of things,” the buffalo boy had said about his friend. After seeing her, Minli was ready to believe it. ”But who is she?” Minli asked aloud.
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