Part 10 (1/2)

”Well, every night there is a moon,” the girl said. ”That is why we call it Moon Rain.”

”And you don't know why?” Minli asked. Even though she was tired, she could not help being curious.

Both children shook their heads and before Minli could ask more questions the boy pointed. Minli followed his hand and saw crimson gate doors painted with a cheerful greeting.

”We're here!” he cried. ”Come on, we're home!”

CHAPTER 35.

After the great storm, Ma and Ba worried that vast damage had been done to the village. And when the sun shone in the morning, the village looked as if it was in ruins. Large tree branches had fallen and a clutter of leaves and roof tiles and dust and dirt littered the ground. Yet, when the villagers began to clean, the storm had not harmed them as much as they had feared.

”At least no homes were destroyed,” the villagers said to each other, ”and we know everyone is safe.”

Well, everyone except for Minli, they added silently. they added silently.

Ma and Ba said nothing when their neighbors paused awkwardly. They helped pick up the broken branches, swept broken bits of pottery and tiles from the street, and nailed shutters. At night, they quietly sat together at the table with the goldfish. Though Ma had heard nothing, Ba remembered the fish's words about the fear in the wind. It filled him with worry and he waited for the fish to speak again. However, it remained oddly silent.

Finally, when Ma was busy helping a neighbor, Ba tried to question the fish.

”During the storm you said there was fear in the wind,” Ba said to the fish. ”Whose fear was it? Was it Minli's? Was she afraid of something?”

The fish stared at Ba with its round eyes and made no sound.

”Please tell me,” Ba said, his hands around the bowl.

The fish swam noiselessly in the water.

Ba was puzzled. Had the fish stopped speaking? Or was he now unable to understand? Or perhaps the fish had never spoken and it had all been his imagination?

Ba placed his ear close to the water. Was that faint bubbling a whisper? He strained closer, his ear beginning to dip into the water...

”What are you doing?” Ma asked as she came into the room.

Ba jerked his head up, his ear dripping with water.

”Uh, nothing,” he said sheepishly.

”Were you cleaning your ear in the fishbowl?” Ma said, slightly appalled.

”Not exactly,” Ba said awkwardly.

A cross look streaked across Ma's face, but as she looked at Ba, rubbing his ear shamefacedly, she did something she hadn't done in years. She laughed.

”You look so silly! If Minli were here now,” Ma said, ”she would laugh at you.”

”Yes, she would,” Ba said, and he too began to laugh. ”She would laugh until she cried.”

Their laughter intertwined but when they looked at each other, they could see the tears forming were not from joy.

CHAPTER 36.

Minli was so tired that she could barely remember what happened when they entered the village. She hardly remembered the clamor of people gathering around them and the loud cheers as Da-A-Fu told about the destruction of the Green Tiger. And she vaguely remembered the big, soft hug of an elderly woman who pushed her inside a welcoming house. But she did remember the cozy, lovely feeling of falling into a bed, like holding a warm steamed bun on an icy day. And then Minli closed her eyes and slept.

When she woke up, three round faces peered above her like plump peaches. They were Da-Fu, A-Fu, and Amah, their grandmother. Each of the children, dressed in their red wadded-cotton outfits (the rip in Da-Fu's pants was now patched), had little moveable stoves with them. With the heaters and all of them crowded in the room, Minli felt as if she were in a warm oven of kindness. She smiled.

”Good morning!” Amah said.

The children giggled. ”Good night!” Da-Fu said. ”You slept the whole day! Pretty soon it'll be time to go to bed again!”

”Now Da-A-Fu, don't tease the girl,” Amah said. ”Obviously, she was very tired. Here, Minli, drink this.”

Amah poured some tea from a pot and handed Minli a cup. Minli sipped it gratefully. The steaming liquid slipped down her throat smoothly, and seemed to fill every part of her with a fresh energy. She took another sip of tea and breathed in the tangy fragrance, which smelled familiar.

”This is nice tea,” Minli said. ”Thank you.”

”It's not tea!” A-Fu said. ”It's the medicine that cures the tiger's poison.”

”It is tea as well,” Amah said. ”It is good whether you have been touched by the Green Tiger or not.”

Minli stopped drinking. ”Is there enough of this for the dragon?” Minli asked, remembering how A-Gong had asked them to bring more medicine. ”Maybe we should take this to him.”

Da-A-Fu laughed again. ”Don't worry,” they said, ”we have a lot of it! It's made from the leaves of the flowering trees.”

”And Da-A-Fu already brought a large pot to your dragon friend,” Amah said, her wrinkled face looking kindly at Minli.

”Yes,” A-Fu said. ”Your dragon is doing fine. He and A-Gong were talking to each other when I brought the pot, and he even said thank you for saving him from the Green Tiger's poison.”

Minli sat back, relieved and cheered by their words. ”What was the Green Tiger? Da-A-Fu said something about a magistrate?” she asked. ”And how did you know this tea cured the tiger's poison?”

”We found that out by accident,” Amah said.

THE STORY OF.

THE GREEN TIGER AND THE TEA.

When the Green Tiger discovered us four moons ago, we quickly learned he was not an ordinary tiger. It was not his color or his size, it was the anger he had for us. First, he attacked our livestock - the sheep, the pigs, the chickens - but not to eat, just to kill. He taunted us with his evil, leaving the dying animals in a row outside our door. Whatever animals he did not kill outright, died within an hour or so from the vile poison of the tiger's touch.

We knew it was just a matter of time before he caught one of us. We kept the children and whatever animals we had left inside. A-Gong, my husband, studied furiously, trying to find out more about this powerful monster who tormented us.

We were running out of food, when A-Gong finally discovered what the Green Tiger was. When A-Gong was a young man, he had made a journey to the city south of here and bought an old book of history. That book, with our ancestors' ancient texts, was how A-Gong discovered that the Green Tiger was the spirit of the magistrate our ancestors had tried to give the secret of happiness to, but had angered instead. During his life, the magistrate had filled his spirit with so much rage that when his body left, his spirit could not rest and instead turned into the Green Tiger. A-Gong learned that the Green Tiger searched for all those he felt had wronged him - the tiger would punish us for his imagined offense and then, when he felt the punishment was complete, destroy us; afterward he would find others who had wronged him and punish and destroy them as well. Who knows how many people he hurt before he came to us; perhaps we were lucky he only found us four moons ago.