Page 134 - I Live in the Slums: Stories (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

Woman Wang knew that some people wanted to burn certain old things in their
homes so as to leave no trace behind. Woman Yun must be that kind of person.
Woman Wang had no destination in mind. The lights of the nearby snack bar
were on. A man was sitting alone at an outdoor table, absorbed in drinking from
a bowl. When he looked up, Woman Wang saw that it was the neighborhood

mason. It was late at night, and the bar was closed. Nobody was inside. How
could he have been served?
“Woman Wang, our good days are almost over. I was too troubled to sleep
and came to sit here for a while. Then someone just handed me a bowl of sweet
rice wine. I didn’t notice who it was. It couldn’t have been a ghost, could it?
Anyhow, at a time like this, drinking sweet wine and sweating all over, you feel
all right again!”
He took a matchstick out of his pocket and picked his teeth. He was staring at
the door.
“What do you mean by ‘good days’? You must really like living in Catfish,
don’t you?” Woman Wang asked. The middle-aged man was at a loss.
“Do I like living here? I’ve never thought about it that way. I’m just scared.
I’m used to living here, and now I have to move. It’s normal to be afraid, isn’t
it?”
“But aside from being afraid, do you really not want to move?”
“Me? I don’t know. In my dreams, I’m always moving—moving over here,

moving over there—back and forth. This made me sweat all over in my dreams.
Now, finally, I’m going to move for real, but I have cold feet.”
They laughed together. Woman Wang felt that the laughter was particularly
strident in the darkness.
The mason kept staring at the door. Maybe he thought someone would come
out and give him something to eat. He was the kind of person who always
wanted more. All around, it was dark. This was the only place with a light on.
Walking past him, Woman Wang merged into the darkness.
There were a lot of little noises in the darkness, sometimes loud, sometimes
soft. The mason rose from the table. He was lurching, as though he would bump
into the door. Was he drunk? The door creaked. From where she was standing,
Woman Wang couldn’t tell if the door was open or not. After a few seconds, the
mason rushed inside. The light at the entrance went out. Woman Wang thought,

Probably it was only when the mason saw her walking over that he had made a
point of coming out of the diner and sitting at that table. Under the dark cloud of
the impending move, all kinds of schemes were faintly discernible.
Circling the alleys, she headed home. Someone approached her hurriedly.
Under the dim streetlights, Woman Wang saw a stranger’s face.
“Do you think there are a lot of opportunities inside? Could it be the