fingers that moved up to his forehead, drawing the welcome antiseptic smell more powerfully to his nostrils. As he breathed it in greedily, the stuffiness of his chest began to dissolve. The scent of the woman gave him a powerful sense of well-being; an airy feeling of sadness, beauty, and blessedness all rolled into one cradled him. His nose ached-he was about to cry.
“Hold this down.” He watched her shake a glittering glass tube, then slip it under his armpit. “Hold it tight.”
A dark, gaunt, uniformed man wearing an unsure, uneasy expression stood behind the woman, hiding like a bashful child in front of strangers.
“You should be dressed,” the woman said.
He tried to say something in reply, but was unable to.
“That’s how you people brought him in,” the middle-aged inmate said. “Stripped to the waist and barefoot.”
“Warden Sun.” The woman turned to address the gaunt man behind her. “Can you have his family bring him some clothes?”
The warden nodded, then disappeared behind her.
“What’s it like, being in here?” he heard the warden ask.
“Great!” the young inmate boomed. “Cool, comfortable, a touch of Paradise! If not for those damned lice, that is.”
“Lice, you say?”
“No-at least none that can speak.”
Officer, how about dispensing some of that revolutionary humanism by getting rid of the lice in here?”
“That’s a reasonable request,” the warden said. “Dr. Song, have the infirmary make up some pesticide.”
“All together there are three of us in the infirmary. Where are we supposed to find the time to mix pesticide for every cell in the place?” Dr. Song grumbled as she removed the thermometer from under Gao Yang’s armpit. He heard her suck in her breath when she held it up to the fight.
From her leather bag she removed an instrument, draped it around her neck, and stuck the ends in her ears. Then she lifted a shiny, round metal object dangling from the end of a quivering rubber tube and bent over until her large white face was directly over his. The smell of her skin nearly sent him into another world, as the metal object moved heavily from spot to spot on his chest-a most pleasurable pressure.
If my life ends right now, in this cell, I’ll die fulfilled, he thought hazily. An aristocratic woman has touched my forehead and put her face next to mine, so close I can smell her natural fragrance and see the skin, fair as powder, below her neck when she bends over. It doesnt get any better than this.
She tapped him. “Roll over,” she said gently, then held up a glass tube with dark rings around its surface. It was filled with a golden fluid and tipped with a long silvery needle. He rolled over as he was told. Her fingers, so soft and gentle, so cool and refreshing, so wonderful, grabbed the band of his underpants and jerked them down, exposing his buttocks to the cold air, which touched his anus; every muscle tensed. Something even colder touched his left cheek and began spreading outward.
“Relax!” This time her voice was stern. “Relax your muscles. What are you afraid of? Havent you ever had a shot before?”
She smacked him on the rear. “How am I supposed to stick a needle in something this tight?”
What more could I ask of life? An aristocratic woman like this doesnt even care how dirty I am. She smacked my grimy ass with her clean hand! I could die here and now with no regrets.
Gently she rubbed the spot with two fingers. “What happened to your foot?” she asked. “Why is it so swollen?”
His thoughts turned to his ankle and the lacks rained on it by the policemen, and he was so overwhelmed by the pressure of the well-being he felt now that he was incapable of answering.
Again she smacked him on the rear, but this time that was followed by a bee sting. He heard her breathe heavily as she pushed the needle in, and felt her pinkie make painless little nicks in his skin. Never before had such tenderness settled upon him. Feeling as if his very soul were in suspended animation, he shook with sobs.
The doctor pulled the needle out. As she put her instruments into her medical kit, she said, “What are you crying for? It didn’t hurt that much.”
‘ He said nothing, for all he could think was, She’ll be leaving now that she’s given me the shot.
“Doctor,” the young inmate said, “I’m constipated. Would you check me out while you’re at it?”
“Why get rid of it? Let it stay put,” she told him.
“That’s no way for a doctor to talk.”
“How am I supposed to talk to a little hooligan like you?”
“You have no right to call me a little hooligan. Your daughter and I were schoolmates. We even considered marriage.”
“Watch your mouth, Number Seven!” the warden threatened.
The dialogue between the young inmate and the doctor pained Gao Yang. He hoped she’d have more to say to him. But it wasn’t to be, for she picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked out with the warden, who returned a half-hour later. “We have prepared a special meal for you, Number Nine,” he said from the corridor. “Try to eat it.”
A gray bowl slid under the door, flooding the cell with a delicious fragrance. Green lights shot from his cellmates’ eyes. The middle-aged inmate personally carried the bowl of noodles over to him, and when Gao Yang sat up he saw a pair of golden eggs nesded in the noodles and a layer of green onions and oil floating in the broth.
“Warden, Officer, I’m sick, too!” the young prisoner yelled. “I’ve got a bellyache!”
“Little Li,” the warden called to one of the soldiers pacing the corridor. “Make sure they don’t steal his food.”
Rattled, the middle-aged inmate quickly set the bowl down on Gao Yang’s cot and returned reluctantly to his own cot.
The sight of the noodles and eggs triggered Gao Yang’s appetite. Picking up his chopsticks with a trembling hand, he stirred the slippery white noodles-the thinnest and whitest he’d ever seen-then lifted the bowl to his lips and delivered a mouthful of the warm broth to his stomach and intestines, which rumbled pleasurably. As tears brimmed in his eyes, he faced the door and muttered to the soldier, “Thank you, Officer, for your great kindness.”
Gao Yang, you’re a lucky man. An aristocratic woman you could only gaze at from afar before actually touched your head, and noodles the likes of which you never saw before now rest in your stomach. Gao Yang, people are never content with their lot. Well, it’s time for you to be content with yours…
He ate every noodle in the bowl, and slurped up every drop of broth. With some embarrassment, he noticed that the old and young inmates’ eyes were glued to his bowl. He was still hungry.
“Still sick?” the guard asked through the bars. “You could probably polish off a bucketful if you weren’t.”
“Officer, I’m sick, too,” his young cellmate wailed. “I’ve got a bellyache… ow! Dear Mother, it’s killing me!”
3.
A shrill whisde signaled the exercise period, a time for prisoners to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. Two guards unlocked the cells, and as Gao Yang’s older cellmates stepped into the corridor, the younger one removed the plastic pail, which was brim-full of the inhabitants’ waste. An idea hit him. “Hey, new man,” he said to Gao Yang, “since you ate a big bowl of noodles, you should be the one to dump this.”
Without waiting for a response, he darted into the corridor.
Feeling a bit sheepish about being treated to a bowl of noodles and an injection by an aristocratic woman, Gao Yang strained to sit up. After stepping barefoot onto the cold, damp cement floor, his head swimming, he stood wobbily, his injured foot so numb it felt as if he were stepping on cotton. He picked up the plastic pail, which wasn’t particularly heavy but stank horribly, and tried to hold it at arm’s length. Unfortunately, he wasn’t up to the task,
