Crossroads

By Yang Qian

Translated by Mary Ann O'Donnell

The Road Not Taken

—Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Crossroads

Characters:

Zhang Chi: William’s live-in helper;              

Song Jieru: Zhang Chi’s wife;

Zhang Jin:  Zhang Chi’s sister;

Zhang Ba:  Zhang Chi’s father;

William: An older Englishman, who has retired in China;

Kathy: William’s daughter;

Zhao Shouhai: a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Culture;

A Long: one of Zhang Ba’s workers.

Time:  A Southern Chinese city in the early 1990s, just after Deng Xiaoping’s famous “Southern Tour”.

Place: William’s house.

Note: The translation of Chinese names follows Chinese custom—Surname first and then given name.  For example, Zhang Chi’s surname is Zhang, his given name is Chi. I have used pinyin to transliterate Chinese names.

Act 1

Scene 1

William lives in a typical Chinese apartment complex with one important difference—it has been filled with shards and other junk that he has found on his “archaeological digs” in the new city. As the old landscape of villages has been razed to construct modern buildings, many archaeological sites have been discovered and then just as quickly, those sites have been buried again.  William’s “archaeological digs” are in fact salvage missions.  Pieced together and reconstructed pots from the Paleolithic era are neatly lined up on floor to ceiling shelves.  Against another wall are two large trunks with rusted locks.  A quilt is spread out on the trunks; this is a bed.  Part of the space on the bed is used as a bookshelf, and at the head of the bed is an oxygen tank.  A breathing tube dangles for easy use in case of an emergency.  On a table, is a pot that has been partially copied.  Next to the pot is a tube of superior strength glue, a magnifying glass, a pair of tweezers, a notebook, and a vase full of Chinese writing brushes.  There is an enlarged picture of Zhang Chi, Zhang Ba, and William squeezed into an empty space on the wall.  There are three doors.  One leads to the garden on the patio; one leads to the kitchen; the other leads to the sauna. 

William is a tall, thin, and slightly stooped old Englishman.  He enters, carrying a watering can in one hand and steel spade in the other.  He rests at the table, puts down the spade and watering pot, and after catching his breath, goes out again, this time returning with an unplanted orchid.   He turns to the shelves to look for a suitable pot. 

William

(Talking to himself, but with traces of the college lecturer he once was.)

Glasses, hmm, where are my glasses?

(He takes down an exquisite pot, holding it up in front of his eyes.)

No matter how you think about it, this is a successful creation, the apex of17,000 years of human industry and civilization.   And those brilliant creators, when they lived here 17,000 years ago, what did they look like?  Did they speak Cantonese, too?

(He examines the pot again, and then puts the orchid in it.)

It has a percolation rate of only five percent.  That’s even lower than the clay pots used in contemporary Cantonese cooking.  An altogether remarkable accomplishment.

These small yet precise decorations are perfectly designed and proportional.  The ancient Greeks, no less intelligent, based natural mathematics on similar notations.  That’s why I have always said industrial design is the cradle of civilization.

(A thought suddenly occurs to him.  He turns toward the sauna door.)

Lazy brute, come here!

Zhang Chi

(offstage)

William, a little patience.  I’m almost ready.

William

Even crabs could have been steamed by now.

Zhang Chi

Just another minute.  Okay, William, now.

(William opens the door and Zhang Chi comes out.  Except for a towel, Zhang Chi is naked, revealing a plump figure.)

This is the third time I didn’t get a thorough steaming.

William

But I’m hungry.

Zhang Chi

William, even for you, this is too much.  Can’t I simply and quietly enjoy myself for a few moments?

William

What?  Of course.  Go steam yourself.

Zhang Chi

Forget it.  As soon as I get comfortable, you’ll need me again.

(William points to the vase and flower on the table.)

It is beautiful.  But, I’m willing to bet that 17,000 years ago people didn’t spend two days making a pot so they could arrange flowers.

William

Of course not.  Luxury has always been a fool’s glory.

Zhang Chi

So what was it for?

(William takes an identical pot, turns it upside down and gently places it on the mouth of the still unfinished pot.)

Slow down a minute.  The lip on this pot opens out.  How can you put on the lid like that?  Oh, I know.  First you put them together and then you fire them.

(William nods.)

But that’s the problem.  What did they do with a sealed pot?

William

Is there a myth?  No, not a myth.  It was a religious artifact, for rituals.

Zhang Chi

A religious ritual?  What kind of ritual?

William

Death.

Zhang Chi

Death?

William

(Nods.  Then William fixes his eyes on Zhang Chi.)

How do we die?  And after we die, what happens?  All religions are concerned with death.

Zhang Chi

Who said that?  Saint Augustine?

William

(Ignoring Zhang Chi’s gentle sarcasm.)

No, William.  William Anderson.  Have you thought about death, Zhang Chi?  Seriously thought about it?

Zhang Chi

(Suddenly nervous, Zhang Chi shakes his head no.)

No.  I’ve been busy thinking about life.

William

Dying is the last thing we do.  Possibly the most important question we face is how to die.  Of course, young people don’t have to worry about death.

Zhang Chi

So you really haven’t eaten?

William

Are you trying to change the topic?

Zhang Chi

If you would spend money on a maid, I wouldn’t have to ask.

William

This is the tragedy of aging; we have to endure friendly aggression.

Zhang Chi

William.

William

I’m not complaining.  And, no, I really haven’t eaten.

Zhang Chi

Because you can’t use the microwave?

William

Of course not.

Zhang Chi

Then why go hungry?

William

There was a black out.

Zhang Chi

A black out?  Why didn’t the sauna go off?

(William indicates he doesn’t understand either.)

All right.  I’ll go make dinner.

William

Wait a minute.  Zhang Chi, you’ve been avoiding me.  You don’t want to tell me what happened at the meeting today, do you?  Come clean.  Do we have a chance or not?  The answer won’t kill me.

Zhang Chi

William, why do you pressure me like this?  Do you know what I need more than anything?  To relax.  But all you do is put me on edge.

William

(Gesturing to the trunks and picking up his spade.)

Then crawl onto my bed and I’ll help you relax.

Zhang Chi

All right already.  I’ll tell you.

William

Speak only the truth.

Zhang Chi

Only the truth.

William

So?

Zhang Chi

You won!

William

Is this a Chinese version of the truth?

Zhang Chi

No.

William

Then I want to hear you say it again.

Zhang Chi

You won.  They are going to designate it an historical landmark site.

William

Really?  Thank you Zhang Chi.  I told you we would win.  You didn’t believe me, but look what happened.  What did they say about my report?

Zhang Chi

Most of the experts agreed with your findings.  They said that excavating the ruins buried there had ‘great scientific value’.

William

Of course it does.  You can’t find another site in China with an indoor burial room.  They know the real thing when they see it.

(Picks up the unfinished pot on the table and kisses it.)

Ah, darling…

Zhang Chi

You know, they were actually as excited as you are.

William

You’re a poet.  How did they take my hypothesis that these people kept their dead relatives with them at night because sleep reunited them.

Zhang Chi

They didn’t think you had established that this was an indoor burial room, let alone prove that for Neolithic humans sleep was the door between the living and the dead.  I quote, ‘You can’t extrapolate cultural beliefs from unanalyzed data’.

William

Don’t be such a prig.  Imagine souls talking.  How do they communicate?

Zhang Chi

You believe this?

William

Probably.  At least… (suddenly cajoling) We should celebrate with a drink, right?

(William turns to get a bottle from the cupboard.  Zhang Chi stops him.)

Zhang Chi

You know the rules.  No drinking before 4:00.

William

This is a toast.

Zhang Chi

Toasts are drinks, William.

William

Just one glass?

(Zhang Chi shakes his head no.)

Half a glass?  Just this much?

Zhang Chi

You promised.

William

Fine, then.  Just go make me something to eat.  I’m famished.  You take my money to wine and dine a bunch of corrupt officials, leaving an old man like me so hungry that I can’t even breathe.  And you’re still just standing around.  Get to work!

Zhang Chi

(Holding the towel in place, Zhang Chi approximates the bow used by Qing officials when they received an imperial order.)

Immediately,  master. 

(Zhang Chi doesn’t leave, but stares deliberately at William.)

William

Why are you looking at me like that?  Am I a plate of roasted ribs?  Or maybe a deep-fried chicken wing?

Zhang Chi

You still want to drink, don’t you?

William

Of course not!  After all, I gave my word…

Zhang Chi

In that case, why don’t you go outside and tend your flowers?

William

I just came in from there.

Zhang Chi

But today I managed to get fresh duck shit for you.  I put it near the Belgium peonies, next to the pond.

William

You really are the good news herald!

Zhang Chi

Go fertilize your plants, William.

William

(Shaking his head as he walks out)

Times have changed.  We used to have twelve gardeners and three cooks in our Yunnan compound.  Your father helped in the kitchen.  Then he went off to join the revolution, and the country went with him.

Zhang Chi

Thank you for the history lesson.  William, an old colonist like you should have given up those dreams when the empire fell.

(William reaches into his pocket, pulls out a harmonica, and starts playing a song on his way out.)

I’ll call you when the food’s ready.

(Zhang Chi opens a drawer for clothes.  Song Jieru enters.)

Song Jieru

How’s my favorite museum curator?

Zhang Chi

(Startled, Zhang Chi drops the clothes and replaces his towel.  When he sees Song Jieru, Zhang Chi relaxes.)

Jieru!  Hey, you look really great.

Song Jieru

Thank you.  I am very, very grateful for the compliment.  Do you realize this is the first time in three years you’ve noticed what your wife is wearing?

Zhang Chi

Huh?

Song Jieru

No, I don’t mean anything other than I’m glad you noticed me.  I still notice you.

(Song Jieru caresses Zhang Chi’s chest, but seeing that he isn’t responding, she changes the topic.)

So, where’s the museum director?

Zhang Chi

He’s outside taking care of the plants.  You shouldn’t call him museum director, he can hear the sarcasm.

(Zhang Chi finally manages to start dressing.  Occasionally the sound of William singing drifts into the room.)

Song Jieru

So what stinks so badly?

Zhang Chi

I just bought duck shit from the botanical garden.

Song Jieru

Duck shit?

Zhang Chi

The old man thinks that chemical fertilizers aren’t effective.  He said that in the past, the gardeners collected horseshit in the street and brought it home.  He then thought it would be a good idea for me to go get him some.  Thanks to my scrupulous attention to details, he and I both know now that horseshit isn’t readily available in the city because there aren’t any horses.  Not even an ass.  So duck shit it is.

Song Jieru

He doesn’t see contemporary China, does he?  He just sits in here and remembers what Kunming used to be when his parents and their wealthy friends traveled in horse carts or were pulled by coolies.  Maybe he’d like you better with a Qing queue. 

Zhang Chi

That may be the style next year.  It could even be what sells your dolls.  Here’s an idea, next year design a line of Gu Hongming dolls, and when they pull the queue the doll will sing Ai Luote’s version of “Wilderness”…

Song Jieru

If you’re starting to worry about business that could be Gu Hongming’s greatest posthumous achievement.

(William hits a particularly high note.)

What has he dug up lately that’s got him so happy?

Zhang Chi

He has every reason to be happy.  Why don’t you sit down while I make lunch.  He still hasn’t eaten.

Song Jieru

This late?  Are you trying to starve him?

Zhang Chi

I just arrived myself.

(Finally dressed, Zhang Chi goes into the kitchen.  Song Jieru inspects things in the room.)

Song Jieru

(Speaking to herself.)

They’ve added another shelf’s worth of junk.

Zhang Chi

(From the kitchen.)

What?

Song Jieru

I said you’ve bought new furniture.

Zhang Chi

(Coming out of the kitchen.)

What new furniture?

Song Jieru

(Kicking the shelf.)

This.  It wasn’t here last month.

Zhang Chi

Oh.  I excavated those artifacts.  Ever since William’s come back from the hospital, he hasn’t had the strength to go to Fenggang.

Song Jieru

I didn’t realize you had planned on taking over this particular family’s business.

Zhang Chi

I’m just a pair of hands and legs.  I go to the site and bring back the shards, but everything else he still does himself.  In fact, I don’t help all that much.

(Zhang Chi returns to the kitchen.)

Song Jieru

What era does this stuff belong to?

Zhang Chi

It’s from the Neolithic.  Probably Xinglong hollowware .

Song Jieru

So very professional.  The old colonial ghost hasn’t passed away, but his spirit already lives in your body.  Do you know your sister calls the pair of you?  She calls you the ‘Neolithic tool’ and William, the ‘Paleolithic remnant’.

Zhang Chi

Are they all well?

Song Jieru

Are you referring to your father and sister?

Zhang Chi

Who else?  Are they well?

Song Jieru

You can go home and see for yourself.  I’m not your intermediary.

(Silence from the kitchen.)

Cat got your tongue?  I know what you’re thinking; every day I can put it off, is another day I can hang out here.  The Old Ghost is your excuse for everything you’re not doing.  You don’t want to defend yourself?  Or can’t you think of a reason for not coming home to live with your wife?  You want to see us, right?  Or maybe you don’t.  Maybe you think taking care of the Old Ghost day in and day out is a meaningful existence.  But who is he to you?  You treat him better than you treat your own father.

(Song Jieru picks at the oxygen tank.)

But even you must realize he’ll be on the shelf soon enough.  He won’t survive another year.  I’ll tell you something, after I read the report, I stepped out of the hospital and smiled.  I surprised myself.  Then I pinched my nose to make myself stop grinning.  But I couldn’t.  I know it wasn’t right, but I admit to feeling relieved.  I had stopped hoping you’d come back.

Zhang Chi

(Comes out of the kitchen and catches Song Jieru offguard.)

What are you talking about?

Song Jieru

You scared me.  I was just saying I had lost hope.

Zhang Chi

What’s wrong?  You’re the business communities’ it girl this year.  No other woman entrepreneur gets the press you do.

Song Jieru

So what?  I became a great entrepreneur after I gave up on other things.  And I’m not the only one.

Zhang Chi

What exactly were you hoping for?

Song Jieru

I hoped you would love me like you did when we first met.  That you’d talk to me like you used to when we were first married.  That you’d make good on your promise ‘for better or worse’.

Zhang Chi

(Startled.)  What are you trying to say?

Song Jieru

I still love you.

(Zhang Chi looks away.)

I love you.  Are you deaf?  This is real, Zhang Chi.  I can’t lie to myself.  I want to be with you.  I don’t feel anything with other men.  Are you listening to me?  Am I making you uncomfortable?   I miss you. 

(Song Jieru moves toward Zhang Chi, but he puts the chopping knife and a bowl of peanuts between them.)

Now maybe, no, in fact it doesn’t matter what you feel for me.  You can keep ignoring me.  The problem is with yourself.  Can you really split your time between taking care of an eccentric Old Ghost and steaming yourself in the sauna?

Zhang Chi

What’s wrong with the way I live?  Didn’t you use to say that artists aren’t like everybody else?

Song Jieru

So now you’re an artist?

Zhang Chi

Compared to you, yes, Ms. General Manager of the family toy factory.

Song Jieru

Art and running away are two different things.  All you’re doing is avoiding reality.

Zhang Chi

What reality is that?

Song Jieru

Reality is the era you’re born to.  And people of this era don’t have the luxury of pursuing art.  We have to feed ourselves first.

Zhang Chi

I’m not on the street begging.

Song Jieru

That’s because you had the fortune of having a good father.

Zhang Chi

Don’t bring him into the discussion.  I don’t want anything of his.

Song Jieru

I’m grateful to him.  Six years ago, if it hadn’t been for him, I would have wasted another two years in graduate school.  Instead, I went to work for him at the toy factory.  Otherwise, no matter how good a painter I was, today, I’d be just another art instructor at some school.

Zhang Chi

So you sacrificed your art and married me to pay back you debt to my father?  Surely you’ve overcompensated the man?

Song Jieru

Sacrificed art?  Don’t even go there!  I will never again let imaginary things dictate my life.  In the real world, people don’t care about how or what you express, they care about what you can do.  Your father may not have much in the way of taste, but he can get things done.  In a word, he’s got the power.

Zhang Chi

Correct.  And that’s all he has.  I’m sure he uses it frequently and well.  But, what about your aesthetic principals?  Aren’t you avoiding the issue, too?  Of course you are.  Otherwise, all those imaginary things would dictate your life.  (pause)  So, have you had another child?

Song Jieru

Sarcasm won’t solve the problem.

Zhang Chi

I still don’t know what the problem is.

Song Jieru

You two want to excavate the site at Fenggang.

Zhang Chi

So?

Song Jieru

But all you can do is beg the Ministry of Culture for help.  Whether or not you’ll succeed depends on the good will of others.  But I can buy that site.  That’s the difference.  You have a desire, but I have the means.  The problem is that you haven’t faced this reality.

Zhang Chi

I’m starting to.

Song Jieru

You’re too late.  Didn’t they tell you?  I already bought that site.

Zhang Chi

Really?

Song Jieru

I’m the landlord.

Zhang Chi

So you want me to beg you for the land, rather than the Ministry?

Song Jieru

I’m telling you that either you’ve got power or you’ve got to be of use to the powerful.

Zhang Chi

Oh.  In that case how do you make General Cao’s chicken, oh she who is both powerful and ever of use?

Song Jieru

What?

Zhang Chi

For some reason, I’ve never mastered any of your cooking techniques.  Especially the peanuts.  They’re either soggy or burnt. 

Song Jieru

Peanuts.  Soak them in boiling water to remove the skins.  Then fry them until the tip splits.  Once the tip splits take them out of the oil and put them to the side. This way they’ll be crunchy and white.  Next add the chicken pieces to the oil.  When you add the seasoning, you don’t want to burn the chilies.  Then add a few slices of ginger.  And finally stir in the peanuts.  Now I’ve told you the secret to my success.  What’ll you give me in return?

Zhang Chi

I’ve already paid.

Song Jieru

If so, who embezzled the payment, because I’m still empty-handed?

Zhang Chi

I listened to you lecture me without interrupting.

(Zhang Chi returns to the kitchen.)

Song Jieru

Hey, artist.  I don’t see any of your paintings.

Zhang Chi

I’m not interested in cloning Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian or Shi Lu.  And I’m definitely not willing to take responsibility for William’s eyes going bad.

Song Jieru

Then what are you interested in mangling?

Zhang Chi

Poetry.

Song Jieru

Ah.  You’re going after his ears instead.

Zhang Chi

What about you?  What precious beauty have you given birth to this time?

Song Jieru

(Taking out a carefully packaged box from her bag.  It is clear that it is for an upscale market.)

We’ve opened a new line of dolls to sell in Europe.  I brought one for you to see.  The first order was for half a shipping container, over one million U.S.  At today’s rates that eight million renminbi.

(Song Jieru looks for a place to put the doll, but can’t find an appropriate spot.  She ends up holding the doll.  William walks in.)

William

Hello.  What are you holding?

Song Jieru

Our baby.

William

(Loudly)  Zhang Chi, Zhang Chi.

Zhang Chi

(Running out of the kitchen.)

What’s the matter?

William

I want a drink!

Zhang Chi

The food’s almost ready.  Eat first.

William

No.  I want to drink a toast to your baby.  To congratulate the two of you for giving birth to the next generation.

Zhang Chi

The next generation?  (looking around)  Her?  But I’m not responsible in anyway for that pregnancy.  So there’s no need for you to toast me.

William

That makes me sad.  It’s also cause for regret.  Why don’t you do something meaningful with your lives?  Aren’t you ashamed?  I, for one, am.

Song Jieru

William.  What’s the matter?  Zhang Chi, what’s the matter?

Zhang Chi

William thinks that if the two of us had acted like a normal Chinese couple and had a baby a year or two after we got married, then our relationship wouldn’t have become what it is.

Song Jieru

There are times when William actually understands what it means to be human.  William, forget that child has nothing to do with him, I thank you.

William

What about him?

Zhang Chi

I’m not thanking you for anything.

William

He’s a cruel one.

Song Jieru

He’s a tool.

William

Huh?

Song Jieru

Sorry, a Neolithic tool.

William

I’m ashamed because I’ve missed another opportunity for a drink.  So don’t thank me.

(William walks off in a bit of a tiff.  Zhang Chi smothers his laughter and heads into the kitchen. Song Jieru gets red in the face.  Suddenly, William returns.)

Zhang Chi!

Zhang Chi

(Coming out of the kitchen.)

What is it now?

William

Someone stole our hoe!

Zhang Chi

What hoe?

William

The one I made to loosen the soil around the plants.

Zhang Chi

Who would steal that old thing?  Don’t you remember?  You put it on top of the plastic basins to keep them from blowing away.

William

Oh.  But that’s not what I wanted to tell you.  I’m not an alcoholic and didn’t just come in here to sneak a glass.

Zhang Chi

Then what were you doing back inside before I called you for lunch?

William

Our strawberry plants have flowered.

Zhang Chi

Really?

William

This spring we’ll be able to enjoy the juicy sweetness of fresh strawberries from our own garden.  Strawberry on your lips is as fragrant a delicacy as a young girl’s kiss. 

(Zhang Chi and William leave together to look at the strawberry flowers. Song Jieru starts to get angry and then shakes her head.  She puts on an apron and heads into the kitchen.)

Scene 2

(Zhang Ba enters, bringing a traditional New Year’s cake.)

Zhang Ba

Isn’t anyone home?

(Zhang Ba shuts the door.  He goes over to the table and fiddles with the pot that William has reconstructed, picks up the magnifying glass and looks around the room.  His gaze rests on the picture of him, Zhang Chi, and William.  As Zhang Ba looks at the picture, Zhang Chi enters.)

Zhang Chi

Dad!

Zhang Ba

This is palm leaf I brought back from Zhaoqing.  I bought the New Year’s cake for you at Panxi Restaurant, but I know its not as good as you mother used to make.

Zhang Chi

Where’s Jieru?

Zhang Ba

When I came in the door was open, but no one was here.

Zhang Chi

We must have really pissed her off if she actually left.  Anyway, I still have to make an ever-hungrier William lunch, so why don’t you sit down and make yourself comfortable.

Zhang Ba

About William…  Jieru told me it’s cancer.  I’m very sorry.

(Zhang Chi doesn’t respond.)

Your sister is, too.  If you need anything, anything at all, all you have to do is ask.

Zhang Chi

If we ever need anything, I won’t hesitate.

Zhang Ba

We’re your family.

Zhang Chi

I know.  I… know.

(Zhang Chi tries to go to the kitchen.)

Zhang Ba

Does William know the prognosis?

Zhang Chi

No.

(Zhang Chi tries to go to the kitchen again.)

Zhang Ba

So what are you going to do?

Zhang Chi

Do?

(Zhang Chi remains in the room, but once exasperated he’s no longer fully present to his father.  This makes his father more agitated.)

Zhang Ba

We need to talk about this whole situation.

Zhang Chi

Now?  Couldn’t you find a more appropriate time?

Zhang Ba

I’ll be brief.  You’ve already loafed around here for six years.  That’s five more than enough.  Now I didn’t raise a son just to watch him waste his living like a wild dog. 

Zhang Chi

Ah…

Zhang Ba

So speak.  Defend yourself.

Zhang Chi

You’re all fine, right?  Isn’t that what’s important?

Zhang Ba

Who in the family has let you down?  Me?  Your sister?  Or is it your wife?  Why can’t you tell us what’s going on?

Zhang Chi

It’s not any of you, it’s me, I’m simply not good enough.  I see all of you and feel ashamed that I haven’t done more with my life.  I’m even worse than that wild dog you mentioned.  

Zhang Ba

Don’t change the subject.  I’m asking you, why have you been avoiding us?

Zhang Chi

I’m just not actively seeking you out, and if I knew why, then I probably would go home.

Zhang Ba

You don’t live with your wife, why’s that?  Has she taken up with someone else?

Zhang Chi

You’d have to ask her.

Zhang Ba

But you’re the one who moved out, so the reason is here.  She lives a respectable life, not like you, sneaking around…What have you done that you’re so ashamed of that you can’t come home?

Zhang Chi

(laughing)  You really are an expert in pathological psychology.

Zhang Ba

Screw your pathological psychology.  I didn’t go to college, but I understand that when a couple can’t get along they either split up or make up.  Not like the two of you, maintaining a polite distance and then occasionally flirting with each other in public places.  What’s that about?  I don’t get it.  Is this what you learned in college?  You get so smart you can’t even keep a family together.  And that’s another thing, when will I hold my grandson?

Zhang Chi

Why don’t you get remarried, then my stepmother will give you a son, who will give you a grandson.

Zhang Ba

Don’t play games.  I’m serious; you owe us an explanation.

Zhang Chi

There is no explanation.  I’m just a little unsatisfied.

Zhang Ba

Unsatisfied?

Zhang Chi

Maybe nauseous is a better word.  I look around and feel like vomiting.

Zhang Ba

See a doctor.

Zhang Chi

Doctors leave me unsatisfied, too.  It’s always the same.  They say their prescription will cure your dis-ease, and maybe even help you feel younger.  I often wonder what actual success nourishes their self-confidence.

Zhang Ba

So you’re not sick.  What’s the problem?

Zhang Chi

I’m healthy.  I’m beginning to think that in the world today, good health is the sign of a serious problem.  One that induces vomiting.

Zhang Ba

I didn’t come here to entertain you.  I’ve held my tongue for five years, thinking I could find an appropriate time to talk with you.

Zhang Chi

And now because William is dying, you think that time has come?  Dad, you’re not seriously worried that I won’t be able to find another sugar daddy as tolerant and generous as William?  Surely, you underestimate me.

Zhang Ba

Zhang Chi, I’m not Huang Shiren or even Mu Renzhi.  I didn’t barge in demanding the rent you can’t pay.  I’m your father.  You are my only son.  Maybe I should consider taking your advice and remarry, but right now you are the only son I have.  When I see you wasting your life, when I see you unhappy, I hurt.

Don’t look at me like that.  When you were a little boy and looked at me like that, I boxed your ears.  Or have you forgotten that, too?

Zhang Chi

Maybe if you boxed my ears it would help.

Zhang Ba

How could it?  You’re a man.  A man has his dignity, he has his pride, and that’s all he has.

Son, I know what’s eating at you.  You can’t live with the fact that your wife is more successful than you.  You wanted to show her what’s what, so you’ve ignored her, and now she’s come crawling to you.  You’ve made your point.  Why are you blushing?  What’s to be ashamed of?  You’ve never heard me say similar things in the past?  Your father is also a man.  I see that your wife can’t live without you, but do the two of you meet more than once a month? 

Before I read “Woman’s Report” Magazine, I didn’t understand what you were up to, but now I know that modern couples sometimes need to separate for a while in order to “rekindle love’s eternal fire”.  But you’ve gone overboard.  I even understand that you needed an extreme method to “provoke her deepest feelings”, but now you’re just sulking.  Don’t be so concerned about who’s number one in the eye’s of the world.  Frankly speaking, if it weren’t for your wife, our family company would never have become what it is.  She risked a million yuan loan and paid it back in a year.  Not even a year, ten months!  She’s a real doll.

Zhang Chi

Dolls are cold.

Zhang Ba

Warm her up, then.  Your mother and I were more traditional.  We fell in love day by day, and didn’t need constant stimulation.   But modern women aren’t like your mother, they’re…you see, one day you need to slap their butts, and the next you need to kiss their hands; there’s a rhythm to modern love.  But you…

Zhang Chi

Dad, if you understand women so well, why haven’t you remarried?  It’s been eight years already.

Zhang Ba

Because the door God won’t let any other women enter.

Zhang Chi

My sister?  If you set someone up outside, what could she do?

Zhang Ba

Do you ever stay on topic?  It’s impossible to have a serious conversation with you.  So, let me tell you why I came.  I’m retiring and I want you to take over as Chairman of the Board.

Zhang Chi

Huh?

Zhang Ba

What do you mean “huh”?!

Zhang Chi

Aren’t you doing a fine job?

Zhang Ba

I want you to think about it.

Zhang Chi

Think about what?

Zhang Ba

I want you to promise me that you will carry on the family business.

Zhang Chi

You think I’m qualified?

Zhang Ba

Cut the crap.  What can’t a person do if they put their mind to it?  Do you remember the old miser who pushed a broken-down cart, selling candied apples when you were a child?

Zhang Chi

Yes, but I remember he was always generous to children.

Zhang Ba

He was a self-made eunuch.  He wanted to enter the Qing court so badly he castrated himself.

Zhang Chi

My desires aren’t equal to his.

Zhang Ba

Your wife will help you, and you can sit back and enjoy being Chairman.

Zhang Chi

Then why don’t you just give the company to her?

Zhang Ba

What?  And let everyone think I’ve been sleeping with my daughter-in-law?   Do you know they’ll say about me?  That I cuckolded my own son and that’s why he’d rather serve a foreigner that work in the family business.  Son, I want to retire, not make a spectacle of myself.

Zhang Chi

But I’m not interested in the family business.

Zhang Ba

Then I’ll have to give the job to your sister.  You know as well as I do she’d take the job for all the wrong reasons.  Even now, I have to stop her from making major decisions at the company.  If she were half the person your wife is, then I wouldn’t be here.  But if Zhang Jin gets control, sooner or later, she’ll run the company into the ground.  I loose sleep thinking about her running a board meeting.

Zhang Chi

You actually loose sleep over that?

Zhang Ba

What’s worse, if you don’t take the position, your wife won’t agree to let your sister take over.  Jieru’s no saint and with forty percent of the company stock, she doesn’t have to accept my decision.  I don’t want the family divided simply because I want to retire and enjoy my old age.  Right now, if I retire, I’ll be eating cold soup, alone.

Zhang Chi

You worry too much.

Zhang Ba

I hope it’s just my imagination.  Listen, carefully.  I’m telling you that whether or not you agree to be Chairman has grave consequences for the family.  So don’t play the dilettante with our future.  I’m also thinking about what’s best for you.  With your personality, who else would hire you?  And what about your all-too honest wife?  If one day, she really did leave you, how would you feel? 

Maybe you think you live a bohemian life forever, but nothing in this world comes with a lifetime guarantee.   Yesterday, I read an article about a foreign lady who slept her way into the king’s bed.  Once she had the crown, she organized a large feast.  She invited all the nobles in the land, except of course for the men who had once helped her.  Those she executed while dinner was served.  When one of her ladies-in-waiting asked her why she had executed her former lovers, the queen said, “I can’t endure the thought that my enemies once touched me.”  You see, women everywhere make practical and expedient decisions.  I’ve heard rumors that your wife is starting to go to church.

(Zhang Chi stares at Zhang Ba, who continues with special emphasis.)

She’s studying foreign ways. 

Song Jieru

(from the kitchen)  Where’s the ginger?

Zhang Ba

She’s here?

Zhang Chi

I thought she’d left.

Zhang Ba

Then…why don’t I go say hello to William.  I never thought he’d… William.

Zhang Chi

Dad.  He doesn’t have long, so if you really are his friend, then treat him like you always have.

Song Jieru

(from the kitchen)  The ginger?!

(Zhang Ba hesitates a moment and then leaves out to the garden.  Zhang Chi sits down and covers his face with his hands.  He is visibly upset.   Song Jieru comes out, sees Zhang Chi, and returns to the kitchen, where she again calls for the ginger.)

Song Jieru

Zhang Chi, where is the ginger?

Zhang Chi

(walks over to the kitchen) Second shelf in the refridgerator.

Song Jie

(enters) Go get William.  The food will be ready in a minute.  What’s wrong with your eyes?

Zhang Chi

Too much chili.

Song Jieru

I use chili in my chicken and peanut stirfry?

Zhang Chi

I’m completely allergic.  Even a little bit and my eyes swell up.

Song Jieru

The two years we lived together you didn’t seem to have a problem.

Zhang Chi

You really want to know everything I endured to be with you?

Song Jieru

Yes.

Zhang Chi

(caught off guard) Why?

Song Jieru

That way I’ll know if you ever really loved me.

Zhang Chi

…I’ll go get William.  Oh, my father’s here.

Song Jieru

Would you like me to leave?  The two of you have a lot to talk about.

Zhang Chi

And one of those things is you.  You have been the perfect daughter.

Song Jieru

If he really were my father, there wouldn’t be a problem.  I wouldn’t have to humiliate myself begging you to take your place in the family just so I could take mine.

Zhang Chi

They treat you better than they treat me.

Song Jieru

That’s a matter of courtesy; it’s not the same as having a proper place.  Your father is going to retire.  Who will be the next Chair?  Not me.

Zhang Chi

You knew? 

Song Jieru

Uncle A Xiang told me.

Zhang Chi

How is Uncle A Xiang?

Song Jieru

Already retired.  Now he heads a Cantonese Opera appreciation club.  They organize trips to hear different troupes all over the delta.  Your father’s going to join as soon as he has time.

Zhang Chi

He wants to sing Cantonese Opera?  Can he even speak Cantonese?

Song Jieru

Better than you.  Your father is a chameleon,  and wherever he ends up, he adapts and succeeds.  He’ll be sixty-eight this year.  But even so, there are still women interested in him.  If it weren’t for your sister’s ferocity, you would’ve had a stepmother years ago.  Strange that you’ve never had a problem with that.

Zhang Chi

With what?

Song Jieru

Desire.  A craving to be with someone else no matter what.

Zhang Chi

You have?

Song Jieru

What do you think?

Zhang Chi

You have.  You can’t fall asleep without hugging something.  (suddenly realizing) I’ve almost forgotten what you look like asleep.

 Song Jieru

You know, some men are interested in me.

Zhang Chi

I’m happy for you.

Song Jieru

Yesterday evening I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I’m okay.  I look younger than most women my age.  Once I thought I’d never be thirty, but I blinked, and that was it.  Thirty. 

Zhang Chi

You don’t look in the mirror and realize that your flesh is decaying?  The only thing that might not succumb is your heart; this doesn’t terrify you?

Song Jieru

No.  I don’t worry about my ‘flesh’, so to speak, because it’s not my livelihood.  Haven’t you heard the expression ‘brains don’t sag at forty’?

(Zhang Chi holds Song Jieru by the should and looks at her chest.)

What are you looking at?

Zhang Chi

So seductive.

Song Jieru

Me?  Or them (Song Jieru pushes her breasts into Zhang Chi’s face)?

Zhang Chi

Your cross.

(Song Jieru fingers her cross, disentangling herself from Zhang Chi’s grasp.)

How could you fall in love with someone like me?  What could we possibly have in common?

Song Jieru

You haven’t figured it out?

Zhang Chi

No.

Song Jieru

Neither of us wants what’s been given to us, but we’re still afraid that simply working for things won’t make them the things we want, once we get them.

Zhang Chi

I’ve never worked for anything.  But I do fear gifts that I’ll never be able to repay.

Song Jieru

It’s never easy.

Zhang Chi

But if you have the same fundamental doubt that I do, what are you working so furiously for? 

Song Jieru

Because a person can’t live rejecting everything;  you can’t not want something.

Zhang Chi

And what do you want?

Song Jieru

I want what’s mine.

Zhang Chi

I see.  You came today to talk about the business, but that’s not a problem.  I’ve already recommended you to the old man.

Song Jieru

You think I came to make my claim for the business?

Zhang Chi

Weren’t you the one who announced that he wants to sing Cantonese opera?

Song Jieru

I shouldn’t stick my nose in your family’s business.  Just pretend I didn’t say anything.

Zhang Chi

This isn’t the time to get queasy!  You have more ties to that company than I do.  You even have stock.  What do I have?

Song Jieru

You’re his only son.

Zhang Chi

Fuck.

Song Jieru

You’re also my only husband.

Zhang Chi

I don’t want to be anybody’s only anything; it sucks.

(William and Zhang Ba enter.)

William

So your car can move freely between here and Hong Kong?

Zhang Ba

Yes.

William

That’s perfect.  Can I ask a favor?

Zhang Ba

What do you need?

William

Magazines.  At the moment there’s no one to help me get magazines.

Zhang Ba

What magazines can’t you get here?

William

Playboy and Penthouse.

Zhang Ba

What?

William

Zhang Chi, explain to him.

Zhang Chi

American smut.  Two of the foreign English teachers at the University are missionaries.  Their church pays for a post office box across the border in Hong Kong.  That way, any sensitive material doesn’t need to go through the mail here.  William asked if he could use their post office box and they agreed, bringing him his magazines after their monthly service. However when William’s mules discovered they weren’t delivering  “impossible-to-get-in-China” archaeological journals, they gave him a stern lecture and stopped the deliveries.   

Zhang Ba

What kind of smut?

Zhang Chi

Just naked women.  You want to see an example?  I can get you…

Zhang Ba

(looking at Song Jieru)  Never mind.  The border guards are more interested in large packages than small, so it shouldn’t be a problem.  William, I’ll do my best.

William

Thank you.

Zhang Ba

Don’t tell your sister. 

(Song Jieru laughs, goes back into the kitchen.)

William

That’s right, Young Zhang, you and I need to toast my latest discovery.

(William glances at Zhang Chi slyly, and then gets two glasses and a bottle from the cupboard.  He pours two generous drinks and invites Zhang Ba over to the table.)

There is no other site like Fenggang, where the dead and the living met as they slept.  Fenggang should be preserved because it reveals the beginning of your civilization.   Your ancestors have been buried for ten thousand years and now you’ve been reunited.  Few others have the opportunity to explore their origins; you are truly fortunate.

Zhang Ba

(fingering the reconstructed pot)  I remember when I was a child, when a child died they put him in a covered jar, which they placed at the head of an adult’s grave.  And you say they were doing this ten thousand years ago?   But not exactly, right?  You said they buried the dead in the house?  Wouldn’t that be like living on a graveyard?

William

Cheers!

Zhang Chi

William!

(William ignores Zhang Chi and downs the drink in one shot.  Song Jieru comes in.)

Song Jieru

Zhang Chi, lunch is ready.  Have William eat.

Zhang Chi

William, go have your lunch.

William

These past few days have been some of the happiest in my life.  Thank you.

(William exits.)

Zhang Chi

Dad, Jieru, I have to tell you something.  About Fenggang.  The Ministry of Culture has already approved closing the site to development.  They asked several experts to review our request and initial findings.  This morning those experts announced that excavating the site had great value.  I didn’t know you were interested in the site.

Zhang Ba

But Chinese people don’t live on graveyards!  We live as far away from them as possible.

Zhang Chi

Anyway, you won’t be able to build on the site.

Song Jieru

The Ministry of National Land Use sold us that piece of land.

Zhang Chi

Then you’ll just have to take the hit.  What’s more, according to the laws protecting cultural relics, the owner of a site that has been designated for preservation has to contribute to the costs of excavation…

Song Jieru

Do you have any idea how much it cost us to purchase that piece of land?  We’re not going to build a museum there.  You did this deliberately, didn’t you?

(Zhang Chi finally realizes how Song Jieru and Zhang Ba have been taking his announcement.)

Zhang Ba

Did you do it for William?

(Zhang Chi nods.)

Jieru, we have the money and it’s a family matter.  I owe William’s family a debt of gratitude.  The year your uncle and I were orphaned, it was William’s father who took us in.  William taught us to read.  And now William is dying.  Let’s just say, Zhang Chi is repaying a debt that the family owes William’s.

Song Jieru

William, William, it’s always William.  I don’t understand, who’s the father here?  You or that person in the other room?

Zhang Ba

Jieru!

Song Jieru

I won’t shut up.  As long as I’m married to Zhang Chi, I have the right to speak about family matters.  Zhang Chi, answer me, is William your real father?

Zhang Chi

Couldn’t you ask a more intellectually challenging question?

Song Jieru

I’m asking you, whose idea was it to go to the Ministry of Culture?

Zhang Chi

William’s.

Song Jieru

Do you support his claim to preserve the site for the dead or our claim to develop it for the living?

Zhang Chi

That’s a good question.

Song Jieru

Don’t dodge the issue.  Whose side are you on?  Or is it that you don’t even know?

Zhang Chi

I don’t know.

Song Jieru

You don’t know?  You haven’t made up your own mind in thirty-one years.  Do you still need a mother to tell you to brush your teeth after meals?  Is this indecision the stuff your art is made of?  Grow up and decide: whose side are you on?

Zhang Chi

You’re absolutely right.  Maybe because my mother died so early, I never learned to make up my own mind.  But Confucius taught that at thirty we “stand up straight”, and I’m thirty-one, which means I should be acting like an adult. 

(Zhang Chi goes over and hugs Song Jieru.)

Thank you, mommy.  I promise I will brush my teeth every day.

Song Jieru

(speaking to Zhang Ba)  This is your responsibility.

Zhang Ba

Zhang Chi, do think everything is a joke?  Your wife is correct.  You have to decide.  Especially now.

Zhang Chi

What’s special about now?

Zhang Ba

It’s not just your future.

Zhang Chi

You want to force the issue?  Fine.  Bring your latest baby doll to me.

(Song Jieru hands the doll to Zhang Chi, who has picked up the reconstructed pot.)

You want me to choose between the dead and the…

(Zhang Chi looks at the doll, puts the pot back on the table and then pats the doll, which says, “I love you, too.”)

You’re right, no there’s no contest.  I’ll take the living doll to keep me company.  I am truly, truly grateful to the two of you.

(A silence.)

Zhang Ba

Son, those dolls travel across the ocean, remitting dollars and pounds to families at home.  Can you?

Zhang Chi

No.  Absolutely not.  No.

Look, my hands are shaking.  I get nervous sitting here all day, where would I find the stamina to become migrant labor just so my family could spend dollars and pounds in China?  I’m not rich, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care.

Well, that’s said.  I’m going to steam myself.  If there’s nothing else, the two of you can see yourselves out.

(Zhang Chi walks toward the sauna, as he enters, he turns back and sees Zhang Ba staring at him.)

Dad, would you like to join me?

(Zhang Chi smiles and closes the sauna door.  Song Jieru marches over and opens it.  Zhang Chi speaks offstage.)

I’m undressing.  I mean everything.

Song Jie

Strip!  Maybe I’ll faint.

Zhang Chi

You’re letting the steam escape.

(After a silence, Zhang Chi finally comes out.)

Song Jieru

Who do you think you are?

Zhang Chi

Fifty years ago, my father worked in William’s family’s kitchen.  Now I’m working in their kitchen.  I don’t think taking my father’s place is an affront to family honor.  Dad, do you think I’ve embarrassed the family?

Song Jieru

Are you done yet?

Zhang Chi

Or maybe, you’d be satisfied if I joined the revolution.  Dad, are their any rural uprisings taking place?  I’ll sign up to help protect the people’s harvest from capitalist running dogs.

Zhang Ba

Zhang Chi, why do think everyone in the family works hard?  The money we earn is yours, too.  But you don’t see it that way.  You’re not just anybody’s son.

Zhang Chi

Is that so?  That’s why William and I are living below the poverty line?

(William comes out carrying his glass.)

William

Zhang Chi, you really outdid yourself today.

Zhang Chi

You’ll have to thank Song Jieru.

(William bows to Song Jieru.)

William

Are we going to eat this well everyday from now on?

Zhang Chi

As long as the cost of living keeps going down.

William

Then I think I’ll drink to deflation.

(William takes the bottle and exits with a flourish.)

Zhang Ba

Are you two really having money problems?

Zhang Chi

William invested a portion of his life savings in the Fenggang project, but he didn’t calculate the cost of paybacks.  So now we’re living on just under 40 yuan a day.  I’ve even started translating things I can’t bring myself to read in order to supplement his pension.

Zhang Ba

Why didn’t you say something?  William is my friend, too.

Zhang Chi

Right, you met in his family kitchen.

Zhang Ba

Whatever the circumstances, I wouldn’t stand by and watch the two of you suffer.  But you didn’t tell me.

Zhang Chi

Maybe it’s just that all your money makes us poor folk feel even dirtier; we’re afraid to come too close.

Song Jieru

Dad, it’s not a crime to have money.  Why do you keep begging him to take your place?  Can’t you give it to someone else?

(Song Jieru realizes she’s said too much.  At this moment Zhang Jin enters.)

Zhang Jin

What’s going on?  Dad, Jieru, didn’t the two of you realize my older brother has been unhappy?  And still you came over to yell at him.  Chi, how’s William?

Zhang Chi

He’s eating.

Zhang Jin

I came with good news.

Song Jieru

We can always count on you for good news.

Zhang Jin

It really is good news.  Jieru, maybe you don’t understand how kind-hearted my brother is, so you haven’t noticed the toll that William’s illness has taken on him.  Anyway, I have long suspected that in today’s environment and with the proper incentive even a doctor’s professional ethics might bend a little, so I took William’s results to an old and respected doctor for a second opinion.  And guess what?  He said that William was suffering from ailments common to all old people, but not from cancer.  Chi, you don’t have to worry.

Zhang Chi

You came to comfort me?

Zhang Jin

When have I ever lied to you?  We’re a family that tells each other the truth, no matter what.  What did mom say before she died?  Once family members start lying to each other, they’re no longer a family.

Song Jieru

Of course, when either the truth or a lie will get the same result, why bother lying?

(William sticks his head in and, seeing Zhang Jin, he rushes over to give her a vigorous hug.)

William

Princess.

Zhang Jin

William, you look even better than the last time I saw you.

William

And you know I’d be even better with more wine and women to keep me warm.

Zhang Jin

There’s an old Chinese saying, “a clean heart and no desires keep a person healthy”.

William

I know.  Your brother is my inspiration; look how healthy he is.  Princess, what good news did you bring me today?

Zhang Jin

The weather report for today is clear skies and pleasant breezes.

William

That calls for a drink!

Zhang Chi

William!

Zhang Ba

Let him drink already.  I want a drink, too.  William, let’s drink to each other’s health.

Song Jieru

I’ll join that toast.

(Song Jieru gets two more glasses and pours.  Then she proposes a toast.)

William, long life.

(Song Jieru finishes her glass in one shot.  Then she offers the glass to Zhang Jin.)

Do you want to drink to William’s health?

Zhang Jin

I can’t really drink, but William, you can give me a kiss.

(Zhang Jin walks over and lightly kisses William, who waits for a second, but Zhang Jin has already returned to her place.)

William

Obviously, an old fart can’t be too greedy.  Zhang Chi, this time I really promise to finish fertilizing the plants.

(on his way out)  It’s nice to see you all together today.

Zhang Jin

It’s been too long since we’ve all been together, don’t you think, Jieru?

Song Jieru

The two families, yes.

Zhang Ba

Jin-jin, is it true about William?

Zhang Jin

If you don’t believe me, check it out for yourselves.

(Zhang Jin hands an envelop to Zhang Chi.)

Zhang Chi

It’s true!

(Zhang Chi hands the report to his father.)

William isn’t going to die, thank Heaven.

Zhang Jin

Chi, you should thank me.

(Zhang Chi pats his sister’s arm.)

Zhang Chi

(Pulling out another medical report.)

So Jieru, what’s the meaning of this report?

Song Jieru

If William really were a Paleolithic remnant, he wouldn’t need all this (pointing to the oxygen tank and medicine).  Do you really mean to tell me that none of you saw that he gets out of breath walking to and from the garden?  He’s going to die.  Soon.

Zhang Ba

Everyone dies, but we don’t wish for their deaths.

(Song Jieru grabs the medical report out of Zhang Chi’s hands and rips it up.)

Song Jieru

Yes, but some people’s lives aren’t as valued as the dead’s, especially when they have to work themselves to death for those who don’t know how to live.

(Song Jieru throws the doll on the floor and storms out.)

Zhang Jin

(knowingly)  Why is Jieru in such a bad mood today?

Zhang Ba

Tonight I’m going to treat everyone to dinner at Panxi.  Eight o’clock.  Chi, you bring William to the restaurant and we’ll celebrate his success.  I’ll also invite Department Head Zhao from the Ministry of Culture.

Zhang Chi

What about Jieru?  She’s not going to want to see Zhao Shouhai.

Zhang Ba

Leave her out of this.  She doesn’t want to see William either.

Zhang Chi

You really care for William?

Zhang Ba

You have to ask.  William and I are older friends than the two of you.

Zhang Chi

If you want to… if…

Zhang Ba

I want to give the two of you enough money so you won’t keep suffering like this.  I can’t stand it.

Zhang Chi

Dad, I’m not asking you for money!  I’m saying that if…you said that our family owes William’s a debt of gratitude…  Do you understand what I’m trying to say?

　

Zhang Ba

I’ll think about it.

Zhang Chi

Good.  This way William won’t die as quickly.

Zhang Ba

William isn’t going to die as soon as we thought anyway.  This is very good news.  But you have to consider my offer.  So it’s decided, we’ll meet tonight for dinner.

Zhang Chi

Tonight.

(Zhang Ba and Zhang Jin exit.)

Scene 3

(Zhang Chi looks at the doll on the floor, picks it up and places it on the table.  He makes the doll speak.  Since he learned that William’s condition isn’t as critical as he thought, Zhang Chi is noticeably excited.  Unnoticed by Zhang Chi, William enters, straightening himself before speaking.)

William

Zhang Chi, are we friends?  Good friends?

Zhang Chi

Why ask that?  Do you think I haven’t been a good friend?  Could a poor, old, and stubborn colonial like you have any other friends?

William

Why did your family come today?

Zhang Chi

To see you.

William

Song Jieru came to see me?

Zhang Chi

You and she are friends, why wouldn’t she come?

William

You aren’t a friend.  You never tell me the truth.  I went into the hospital for tests because I’ve been sick for a long time now.  But you didn’t tell me the results.  You don’t trust me.  You don’t have the right to conceal this truth from me; my life is mine.  I want to have the chance to arrange the last days of my life, to enjoy this last opportunity.  You can’t take that from me.  You can’t lie to me anymore.  What you’ve done is wrong.  It was unethical.  Unethical.  If you think I’m a pain in the ass, you can leave now.  Go.  Take your things and go.  I don’t need this kind of friendship.

(This speech has taken its toll on William and by the end, he’s gasping for air and red in the face.)

Zhang Chi

William, William.

William

Just leave me alone.

Zhang Chi

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  I didn’t want to believe it.  I don’t want you to die.  You are closer to me than anyone else; you are my family.

William

Wrong.  The people who just left are your family.

Zhang Chi

In another world.  We belong to this world.  In this world, I only have you and you only have me.  Family.

William

Wrong again.  I have a daughter, admittedly off-the-wall strange, but a daughter.

Zhang Chi

But here, in China, we rely on each other.  Didn’t you once say that we fell for each other as quickly as young lovers?

William

Me?  Impossible.  I’m not filling my last days with a homosexual fling.  Another lifetime, perhaps.

Zhang Chi

William, believe me.  I’m not lying to you.  You really are okay.  My father invited you to dinner tonight to celebrate your success and your health.  If you don’t believe me, take this medical report (noticing it’s ripped)…to any doctor and ask.  This w..is your medical report.  Thank the god who protects old colonial friends.

(Zhang Chi helps William over to the bed.)

Do you need oxygen?

(William shakes his head no.)

Good, then just lie down and rest.

(William sits up.)

What’s wrong?  Do you need anything?  Something to drink?

William

Why didn’t you fight with me?  That’s right, you’re Chinese.  Polite, patient, a gentleman.  It doesn’t matter how unhappy you are, you’re not going to loose control of your emotions, ah, my Chinese friend.  What aren’t you telling me?  How beautifully you’ve hidden the truth from me, from each other…  They came to pressure you into going home, didn’t they?  They told you there’s no future in living with me.

Tell me what’s bothering you; let me help you.  All you feel for me is pity, and when I need something you humor me.  Thank you, merciful angel.

(William lies down and turns away from Zhang Chi.  Zhang Chi sits for a bit looking at him.  When Zhang Chi moves to stand up, William grabs his arm.)

I’m sorry.  That wasn’t fair.  You have been a good friend.  I am grateful.  But I want to do something for you.  You’re a good person.  Too lonely and too isolated, but good.

Zhang Chi

(bitter laughter)  And useless.

William

Sit with me for a while.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep you so busy, no one will be able to call you useless.  That I can do.

(William takes a few breathes from the oxygen tank before speaking.)

When I first met you, you were even more anxious than you are today.  If I had blown up like this a few years ago, you really would have left me.

Zhang Chi

That’s because I was completely lost at the time.  Frightened by everything, but especially too scared to think clearly.  More cautious than a rat.

William

And now?

Zhang Chi

At least I’m not afraid of you.  William, why did you let me stay with you?

William

Isn’t it obvious?  I kick you in the ass to keep you moving, and then when I pause, you return the favor.  We’re both running away, but because neither of is faster than the other, you think this mad race counts for intimacy. 

I’m joking.  But I’ve been running for a long, long time.  When I left England to come

 China, my daughter asked me if I wasn’t tired from all this running away.  Now at least I know why I’m running.

Zhang Chi

To get away from yourself?  Or to get closer?

William

Both.

Zhang Chi, I know that I can’t run anymore.  We won’t be together much longer and then you’ll have to run this race alone.

Zhang Chi

(silent before speaking)  But you give me something no one else can.

William

What?  A kick in the ass?

Zhang Chi

Calm.  You make me believe I really can start again, anytime.

William

(chuckling)  Why don’t you just say, that you’re never ready to start.  Like that poem by Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”. 

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

(Zhang Chi picks a volume from the shelf and turns to the poem.)

Zhang Chi

Why do always recite the last stanza?  There are three others.

William

That’s the heart of the matter.  How is it translated in that book of yours?

Zhang Chi

Many years later, I’ll sigh and tell this story: I stood at the crossroads of a deep forest, and decided to follow the road that few others took as far as I could.  That is all.

William

A travesty!  What fool translated this poem?

Zhang Chi

I did.

William

It’s a translation that makes me look at you in a whole new way.

Zhang Chi

William, does every Old Ghost intentionally mystify what is actually quite simple?

I think that Frost liked to trick people as much as you do.  In the past, when you came to the crossroads, didn’t you want to take both?  Frost admits as much in the first stanza.  It’s only because he couldn’t take both roads that he finally chose one, but at the time, he couldn’t see any real difference between the two.  Why then in the last stanza does he rewrite the inevitability of incompleteness as an example of free will and moral choice?  Isn’t this just how old people convince themselves that they haven’t lived in vain; even when they’re dying, they’re still trying to keep up appearances?

William

And you young people don’t even know when you’ve come to a crossroads.  You think you’ve run into a dead end, don’t you?

Zhang Chi

A draw.  Again.

(Zhang Chi and William shake hands and smile.  However, William doesn’t let go, just grips tighter and tighter.)

What do you want?  A drink?  This is the last one today.

William

God bless you.

(Zhang Chi goes to pour their drinks.  When he returns to the bed, William has already died.)

Back to Top

Crossroads

Act 2

Time:  Christmas season, five years later.

Place:  William’s apartment.

William’s apartment has been transformed into a children’s playroom.  Several low tables and chairs are in the middle of the room.  More chairs are stacked against the wall.  To the side is a sculpture that has been made out of building blocks. There are several chests for toys.   The shelves that once held pottery are now filled with children’s books.  Colorful education posters, including posters of food groups and the animal kingdom have been stuck to the walls.  They are all hand painted.  Most teach the names of different nouns and activities in English and Chinese.  In preparation for Christmas, the room has been over-decorated with bright decorations, including a tree, lights, ribbons, and wrapped presents.  On the CD player, a woman sings children’s songs in English and Chinese.  The overall effect is one of unintended jumbling.

Zhang Chi is setting the children’s table.  He is wearing red Santa pants, his red coat, hat and white beard are laying on one of the chairs next to the walls.  After finishing the table, Zhang Chi counts the places.  There aren’t enough and he goes into the kitchen.  The apartment bell rings. 

Zhang Chi

(offstage)

Just a minute…I’m almost ready.

(Zhang Chi rushes across the stage and puts on his coat, hat and beard.  He suddenly remembers that there aren’t enough place settings and runs back toward the kitchen.  Just then Song Jieru enters.  Zhang Chi recognizes her, but Song Jieru doesn’t recognize him.)

Song Jieru

(holding a key in her hand)

Excuse me, I must have entered the wrong room.  But this key is the right key.  Strange.  Anyway, my ex-husband used to live here.  We divorced five years ago and I thought he was still here…  So, don’t worry about me coming back.  I’ll just leave this key with you.

(Song Jieru hands the key to Zhang Chi, who is still standing in shock.)

Again, I’m very, very sorry.

(Song Jieru turns to leave, but is unable to resist looking around at the room.)

Zhang Chi

You don’t want a closer look?  It’s changed a lot five years.

Song Jieru

(turning back toward Zhang Chi)

But the voice hasn’t changed.

Zhang Chi

(excitedly) What are you doing here?!

Song Jie

I’m still not welcome?

Zhang Chi

No, of course not.  I just wasn’t expecting… You’ve changed.  Completely different.

Song Jieru

Just my hair.

Zhang Chi

No, your demeanor.  You’re unruffled.  You barge into a stranger’s house and remain completely unaffected.

Song Jieru

So after… I didn’t recognize you.  Why are you wearing…this?  At home? Or no, it’s a nursery school?

(Zhang Chi takes off his hat and beard.)

Zhang Chi

If I recruit another twelve, I’ll have two dozen.

Song Jieru

Weren’t you the one who wanted peace and quiet?

(Song Jieru looks around the room and shakes her head in disbelief.)

Twelve children?!  What were you thinking?

Zhang Chi

I wasn’t.  It’s their Auntie Zhang’s idea.

Song Jieru

Oh.  You have a new friend.

Zhang Chi

And thus so much change in only five years.

Song Jieru

A new life.  But it’s the same old apartment.

Zhang Chi

Are you going to sit down?  Or is someone waiting for you?

Song Jieru

No.  I haven’t had your luck in finding new friends.

Zhang Chi

I’ll get you a bigger chair.

Song Jieru

I couldn’t sit still.

Zhang Chi

How are you?  Still making toys?

Song Jieru

Yes.  We’ve actually gotten quite large.  Some friends and I started a new company and the shares have already gone public.  We produce for both domestic and foreign markets.  You’ve probably got some of our stuff.

(Song Jieru goes over to the building block sculpture and picks up a couple blocks.)

These are ours.

(Song Jieru replaces the building blocks.  She looks around the room again, unable to digest the difference.  Song Jieru finally sits on a large toy chest.)

She studied preschool education?

Zhang Chi

Who?

Song Jieru

Your friend.

Zhang Chi

She didn’t go to college.  You have a master’s.

Song Jieru

Younger than you?

Zhang Chi

Twenty.

Song Jieru

She’s twenty years younger than you?

Zhang Chi

She’s twenty.

Song Jieru

Is she pretty?

Zhang Chi

You can see for yourself.  They should be back now.

Song Jieru

Where did they go?

Zhang Chi

Every morning they go to the park, while I prepare lunch.  That’s the division of labor.

Song Jieru

You really have changed.

Zhang Chi

More attractive?

Song Jieru

More unexpected.  I always thought you weren’t interested in pretty girls.  You liked complicated, experienced, slightly used women.  Yes?  You found me bland, unstimulating,  and way too respectable.  Right?

Zhang Chi

Maybe I’ve matured.

Song Jieru

Enough to take advantage of young girls.  That’s something.

Zhang Chi

Is that a compliment?

Song Jieru

Your defenses haven’t changed either.

Zhang Chi

Were you just in the neighborhood, or are you on business?

Song Jieru

Neither.  I came here on purpose.

Zhang Chi

Not to see me?

Song Jieru

No, you’re not that important.  Your father wrote me a letter asking me to come.

Zhang Chi

I figured I had overestimated my charm.  But even so, I’m happy to see you.

Song Jieru

What’s wrong with your father?

Zhang Chi

Him?  He’s not sick.  Yesterday, the evening news broadcast a story about him donating money to flood victims.

Song Jieru

In his letter, he said he wanted to see me before he died.

Zhang Chi

He’s always saying he’s going to die.  It’s as if death is some great honor that needs to be flaunted.

Song Jieru

I think William’s death frightened him because there was no warning.  Suddenly, he was gone.  I still remember that day.  He had planted Belgium peonies and wanted you to get some horseshit to fertilize them.  In the end, you went to the botanical garden and bought him duck shit.  I can still smell that rancid odor.

Zhang Chi

William’s sickness was always serious.  My father doesn’t even catch colds.  He’ll probably outlast me. 

Song Jieru

Then I don’t understand why he wrote to me.

(Song Jieru reaches into her purse.)

I remembered to bring it.

Zhang Chi

He really wrote you a letter?  Hm.  You know, all these years, except to borrow money and sign his will, I don’t think he’s written a single character.  He even paid someone to ghostwrite his memoirs.

Song Jieru

(handing over the letter)

Look, it’s his handwriting.

Zhang Chi

Indeed.  You should keep it in a safe place.  He wrote me a letter over twenty years ago, when I was a junior at college.  He wrote to tell me that my mother had died, been buried, and there was no need for me to come home.  That was my one letter. 

You know, I think my father truly cares for you.  You may be the one person who ever touched his heart.  And if you returned the feeling, he would definitely marry you.  After all, you’re single, he’s still single…

Song Jieru

I’m not so desperate that I need my ex to play matchmaker.  You think no one else wants me?

Zhang Chi

(explaining) I was just saying my father likes you.  That’s all.  Why would someone like you need someone like me as her matchmaker?  You’re sensuous, charming…

Song Jieru

Still nothing on you.  You’re sleeping with a twenty-year old.  Was she a virgin?

Zhang Chi

You know better than anyone I’m not into that.

Song Jieru

What’s that supposed to mean?  You were my first.

Zhang Chi

Is that your biggest regret?

Song Jieru

And now I’m wondering if I’ll live to regret another decision.

Zhang Chi

What?

Song Jieru

I’ve decided not to become your stepmother.

Zhang Chi

Do you want me to call you ‘mom’?

Song Jieru

Why else would I marry your father?  Money?  The one thing I have absolutely no need of is more money.  Sex?  Your father isn’t a great choice as a bedmate.  My standards are higher than they were.  I used to wait until I had fallen in love with a man before I slept with him.

Zhang Chi

And now?

Song Jieru

He has to love me.

Zhang Chi

Maybe I’m just a bumpkin, but I’ve heard that men are willing and quite able to tell a woman they love her, if that’s all it takes to get in her bed.

Song Jieru

Of course it’s easy to say.  I remember one guy, who panted after me, claiming that no one on the planet loved me more than him.  I said I was truly honored, but how could I be sure of him?  So I told him to place a half-page advertisement in the daily paper, asking if in fact there was anyone on the planet who loved me more.  The add had to run for one month.  His picture would be on one side of the ad and any information about his competition could be placed on the other side.  If no one came forward, that would prove the truth of his claim.

Zhang Chi

Half a page for a full month?  That’s a lot of money.  We wanted to place an ad for a teacher’s helper, but once we heard the price, we didn’t.

Song Jieru

I’d have paid for the ad.  I wanted to know how serious he was.  I was willing to pay.  All he had to do was show his face.

Zhang Chi

But…

Song Jieru

He hasn’t spoken to me since.

Zhang Chi

He thought you were playing games with him.

Song Jieru

I was dead earnest.  I laid my cards on the table.  After which, he told everyone I was psychologically unstable.

Zhang Chi

Only an idiot would turn himself into a laughingstock.

Song Jieru

Exactly.  Only an idiot would dare risk everything in love.  You can’t fake that kind of idiocy.  It has to be real.

Zhang Chi

Your standards have risen tremendously.

Song Jieru

They serve me well.

Zhang Chi

Of course, it’s none of my business, but are you really keeping yourself pure?

Song Jieru

What do you think?