Chapter 15

AT BIG UNCLE'S THEY DID NOT EVEN DARE light the lamp that night. They spoke in whispers, though Big Uncle always coughed loudly when he shuffled about, for fear that he would bump against his daughter-in-law and make himself a figure of ridicule.
"Did I not always say so: one day these people would get into big trouble," he muttered.
Big Aunt scolded her daughter-in-law in a low voice. "Whispering to Gold Root's wife all day long, rushing over there whenever people were not looking. Now this is fine! Maybe they'll also come and get you. And once they say 'anti-revolutionise do you still expect to live? You think they say it just for fun?"
Sister-in-Law Gold Have Got wept with fright.
"Since they came here to search the house, it must be that those two were still alive and in hiding somewhere," Big Uncle speculated matter-of-factly. "Might have es-caped to town and taken the boat from there."
"How can they get on a boat without a pass? Didn't you hear what she said when she came back? How many questions they ask at the boat landing!"
The militiamen came again during the evening. Peep-ing through the window in the darkened house, the old couple saw them enter bearing lanterns. They came out again carrying off Ku's luggage on a flat-pole. It must be that Ku was staying with Comrade Wong for the night, for safety's sake.
The militiamen neglected to latch tight the door to Gold Root's rooms. It slammed all night in the wind so that Big Aunt could not sleep, and she called out to her daughter-in-law to get up and shut it tight.
"Ae, we must not touch it-must not touch it," Big Uncle said in alarm. "If people find out about it, they might think we took something from those rooms. Then when all their things are confiscated, the blame will be put on us if anything is missing."
The door banged on with shattering savagery.
Big Aunt lay awake for a long time listening to it. Then she whispered to her husband, "I do not think it is the wind. It sounds like those two coming back."
"Don't talk nonsense!" said Big Uncle, who was think-ing the same.
Then Big Aunt realized with a shock that she had spoken of those two as if they were already ghosts. They might still be alive and it would bring them bad luck like a curse. In her contrition she thought of all their goodness, and their youth. And her tears fell onto her hard, flat old pillow of blue cloth stuffed with the white plumes of reeds.