9

there were no more screams from second grandma after grandma washed her body with hotwater. a gentle smile graced her scarred and battered face the day long, but blood kept flowingdown below. granddad called in every doctor in the area, and all sorts of medicinal potions weretried.

the last doctor was someone uncle arhat brought over from the town of pingdu, a man in hiseighties with a silvery beard, a broad fleshy forehead, and long curved fingernails. a comb madefrom a bull’s horn, a silver ear pick, and a bone toothpick hung from the buttons of his mandarinrobe. granddad watched him lay a long finger on second grandma’s pulse, and when he wasfinished he crossed her left hand over her right and said, ‘make preparations for the funeral!’

granddad and grandma felt miserable, but they saw the old doctor out and did as he said. shestayed up to make a set of burial clothes, while he sent uncle arhat to the carpentry shop for acoffin.

the next day, with the help of neighbour women, grandma dressed second grandma in thenewly made clothes. no resentment showed on second grandma’s face as she lay stiffly on thekang in a red silk jacket, blue satin pants, a green silk shirt, and red satin embroidered slippers, agentle smile on her face, her chest rising and falling, frailly yet tenaciously.

at noon father spotted a cat as black as ink pacing the ridge of the roof and letting out blood-curdling screeches. he hurled a broken piece of brick at the cat, which sprang out of the way,landed on one of the roof tiles, and pranced off.

when it was time to light the lamps, the distillery hands walked up with the coffin and laid itdown in the yard. grandma lit a soybean-oil light with three wicks, because it was a specialmoment. everyone stood around waiting anxiously for second grandma to breathe her last.

father hid behind the door staring at her ears, which in the lamplight looked like amber, and werejust as transparent, evoking a sense of mystery that danced in brilliant colour in his heart. at thatmoment he knew that the black cat was stepping on a roof tile again, that its black eyes wereflashing, and that it was rending the darkness with obscene screeches. his scalp burned, his hairseemed to stand up like porcupine quills.

suddenly second grandma’s eyes snapped open; and although her gaze was fixed, her lidsfluttered, her cheeks twitched, and her thick lips quivered – once, twice, three times – followedby a screech more hideous than that of a cat in heat. father noticed that the golden light from thesoybean-oil lamp had turned as green as onion leaves, and in that flickering green light, the lookon second grandma’s face was no longer human.

‘little sister,’ grandma said, ‘little sister, what’s wrong?’

a stream of epithets poured from second grandma’s mouth: ‘son of a whore, i’ll neverforgive you! you can kill my body, but you can’t kill my spirit! i’ll skin you alive and rip thetendons right out of your body!’

it wasn’t second grandma’s voice, father was sure of that, but the voice of someone well overfifty.

grandma shrank from the force of second grandma’s curses.

second grandma’s eyelids fluttered as rapidly as lightning; one minute she was screaming, thenext cursing, the sound shaking the rafters and filling the room. her breath was glacial. fathersaw that from the neck down her body was as stiff as a board, and he wondered where she foundthe strength to scream.

not knowing what to do, granddad told father to summon uncle arhat from the easterncompound. even there you could hear the terrifying screams.

uncle arhat walked into the room, glanced at second grandma, and quickly led granddadoutside by the sleeve. father followed them. ‘manager yu,’ he said softly, ‘she’s already dead.

she must be possessed.’

‘he’d barely got the words out when he heard her curse him loudly from inside: ‘arhat liu,you son of a whore! no easy death for you! skin you alive, rip the tendons out of your body, cutoff your prick.?.?.?.’

‘wash her with river water to exorcise the demon,’ uncle arhat said after a thoughtful pause.

second grandma’s curses kept coming.

when uncle arhat walked inside with a jug of filthy river water, he confronted waves oflaughter. ‘arhat, arhat, pour it, pour the water, your auntie’s thirsty now!’

father watched one of the hired hands force a funnel into second grandma’s mouth, andanother pour the water, which eddied momentarily, then disappeared so fast it was impossible tobelieve it was actually emptying into her stomach.

second grandma quietened down. her belly was as flat as ever, but her chest heaved, asthough she were gasping for air.

everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

‘okay,’ uncle arhat said, ‘she’s old now!’

once more father sensed the patter of paws on the overhead tiles, as though the black cat wereon the prowl again.

second grandma’s rigid face parted in a bewitching smile. she screamed once or twice beforea stream or turbid water gushed from her mouth. the fountain rose straight up, at least two feet inthe air, then came straight down, fanning out as the drops splashed like chrysanthemum petals onher newly made funeral clothes.

second grandma’s fountain trick sent the hired hands running from the room in fright. ‘run,’

she shouted, ‘run, run, you can’t get away, the monk can run but the temple will never get away!’

uncle arhat looked imploringly at granddad, who returned the look, as second grandma’scurses grew more spirited again. now they were accompanied by spasms in her arms and legs.

‘jap dogs,’ she cursed, ‘chinese dogs, in thirty years they’ll be everywhere. yu zhan’ao, youcan’t get away. like a toad that eats a blister beetle, the worst is yet to come for you!’

her body arched like a bow, as though she wanted to sit up.

‘oh no!’ uncle arhat gasped. ‘a sitting corpse! quick, give me a flintstone.’

grandma tossed him the flintstone.

somehow granddad found the courage to pin second grandma down so uncle arhat couldpress the flint down over her heart. it didn’t work.

uncle arhat began to back out of the room. ‘uncle,’ granddad said, ‘you can’t leave now!’

‘mistress,’ uncle arhat said to grandma, ‘bring me a spade, quick!’

once second grandma’s chest was pressed down by the spade her body grew still. she wasleft in the room to suffer alone, as grandma, granddad, uncle arhat, and father went into theyard.

‘yu zhan’ao,’ second grandma shouted from inside, ‘i want to eat a yellow-legged rooster!’

‘take my gun and shoot one!’ granddad said.

‘no,’ uncle arhat said. ‘not now. she’s already dead!’

‘quick, uncle,’ grandma said, ‘think of something!’

‘zhan’ao,’ he said, ‘i’ll go get the taoist at cypress orchid market!’

in the early hours of dawn, second grandma’s shouts nearly ruptured the window paper. ‘arhat,’

she fulminated, ‘you and i are enemies who cannot live under the same sky!’

as uncle arhat walked into the yard with the taoist, her curses turned to long sighs.

the seventy-year-old taoist wore a black cassock with strange markings on the front andback. a peach-wood sword was slung over his back, and he carried a bundle in his hands.

granddad went out to greet him and recognised him immediately as mountain li, the taoistwho had exorcised second grandma’s weasel spirit years before. he was skinnier than ever.

with his sword the taoist cut the paper out of the window so he could look into the room. ashe withdrew his head, the blood drained from his face. bowing to granddad, he said, ‘manageryu, i’m afraid my power is inadequate to deal with this evil.’

filled with terror, granddad pleaded, ‘mountain, you can’t leave. you must drive it away. youwill be amply rewarded.’

he blinked his demonic eyes and said, ‘all right, the taoist will take a drink of courage andbang his head against the golden bell!’

to this day the legend of how mountain li exorcised second grandma’s demon still makes therounds in our village.

in the legend mountain li, his hair a wild jumble, performs a dance of exorcism in the yard,chanting as he twirls his sword in the air, while second grandma lies on the kang tossing andturning, screaming and cursing.

finally, the taoist tells grandma to bring him a wooden bowl, which he fills half full withclear water. he takes a potion out of his bundle and dumps it into the water, then stirs it rapidlywith the tip of his wooden sword, chanting all the while. the water gets redder and redder, untilit is the colour of blood. with a greasy, sweaty face, he jumps into the air, falls to the ground, andbegins foaming at the mouth. then he loses consciousness.

when the taoist came to, second grandma breathed her last. the stench of her decomposingbody and rotted blood floated out through the open window. when her body was put in its coffin,all the mourners held goatskin chamois soaked in sorghum wine over their noses.

some people say that when she was placed in the coffin she was still cursing and kicking thelid.