Page 71 - Vol. VII #7

and soft beds of palace life.
“It’s time to set a date for the operation,” he says. “I’ve spoken to the surgeons. How does next Tues- day sound?”
“Can’t we wait until the emperor returns?” Pei Pei asks.
“The emperor has already accepted you,” Zhang says. “Anyway, it’s better to have the operation before he arrives, in case for some reason he really doesn’t want you.”
Pei Pei nods. To try and relieve some of his anxieties, Zhang takes him to the room where he is to have the operation. The room, with its stone walls and small windows, reminds Pei Pei of a dungeon. A wooden bed is located at the center, leather straps hanging off the sides. The surgeons who greet them don’t look like doctors at all. They are all eunuchs, dressed in yellow and red half-moon jerseys, with strange grins on their faces. ~
“The surgeons who greet them don’t
The night before the operation, it snows. Overhead, a sheet of white covers the green panels, barely allow- ing light to escape through. At noon, the courtyard already has its streetlamps turned on. Pei Pei sits on the steps outside of Zhang’s mansion, thinking about tomorrow. He turns around and looks through the window at Zhang, who is laughing and talking on his cell phone. That is what I will become, Pei Pei thinks. He imagines Zhang speaking in his high voice. “I am Zhang Mei,” he tries to mimic, but he can’t imagine his own voice ever changing into that.
look like doctors at all. They are all eunuchs, dressed in yellow and red half-moon jerseys, with strange grins on their faces.”
Zhang opens the window. “Your parents want to talk to you!”
Pei Pei gets up and walks into the mansion. “Here he comes,” Zhang says, and hands him the phone.
“We’re so happy you have made your decision,” Pei Pei’s mother says.
“Congratulations!” his father says. “But you have to speak with Song. She is hysterical.”
Pei Pei looks at Zhang, who smiles back. He carries the phone outside and takes a seat on the steps again.
No one is on the other side of line anymore. He hears a lot of noise in the background. His parents are having a party. Among the drunken shouts, he hears
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