Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square (31 page)

“Dad was hit by a tear-gas canister,” said Broomstick.

“Oh, my old man. That’s your self-imposed suffering. Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?” said Pumpkin while helping Marshmallow get off the motorcycle.

“The road is blocked. It would take much longer to get to the hospital. We just have to wash his eyes very quickly,” said Broomstick.

Pumpkin helped Marshmallow to the sink in the yard and began splashing water into his eyes. His moaning turned into yelling. But soon he lost his strength. Lili’s mother brought her medicine box.

“I would never have predicted that my nursing training would become useful again,” said Wu Zheng. She squeezed some eye drops into his eyes and wrapped a bandage around them. “He will feel better soon.” She said to Pumpkin, and then they both helped Marshmallow walk back to his apartment.

After they returned, Broomstick introduced the other motorcyclists.

“This is Meiling. She is our group mother and moral support.”

Meiling took off her helmet, opened her leather jacket and said, “This is an interesting experience for me and made me feel twenty years younger. See, I’m just a shameless old lady.” She laughed loudly.

Then everyone’s attention shifted toward a young man who just entered the yard. He was a tall young man wearing a black mask over his face, which only showed his small eyes. He wore a black cape and two small ears stuck out from his tight black hat.

“Batman!” Broomstick advanced a fencing step toward him and lunged at him with a stick. “Batman” swiftly avoided the stick.

“Ba…tman! You…you’re my…my favorite ……superhero!” Potatofeet bounced toward the young man. Just before he could reach him, his legs suddenly lost their strength, and he fell on his knees in front of the young man as though he was worshipping him.

“Zhuzhu is our ‘Batman’, our ‘Flying Tiger Brigade’s captain and our warrior!” Broomstick continued his introduction.

“Oh, my God, it’s Batman!” Pumpkin came over and touched Zhuzhu’s body. “Are you real? Are you really that magical?” Her big round eyes were widely open. Her fat double chinned jaw dropped a little.

“No. I just like to dress up like one,” said the Zhuzhu.

“He can leap over tall walls,” said Meiling. She was standing next to Zhuzhu and looking very proud.

“Ya, a five-meter high wall,” said Zhuzhu.

“Yes, you sound human to me. Do you drink tea? I can make some for you,” asked Pumpkin.

“No. Thank you. We have to leave now. We have to pass the news to the students as soon as possible. The soldiers have already started firing at the protesters over at Muxiudi, right Meiling?” Zhuzhu asked.

The crowd in the yard suddenly turned quiet. Everyone’s face turned solemn. It was so quiet that the water dripping from the leaking tap became loud and annoying. Pumpkin was staring at everyone while tears rolling down on her face that she didn’t even bother to wipe.

“Let’s go, comrades! Let’s kick their ass.” Zhang Ping suddenly appeared in the middle of the courtyard. She wore faded green uniform with a red armband on her right arm and a green hat atop her disheveled hair. Her face was red and swollen and full of scratch marks.

“Stop her!” said Pumpkin. Lao Liu and Mr. Wang went forward, trying to pull her toward her apartment.

Zhang Ping fought back by kicking. “Don’t stop me! You are against the revolution. You are proletarian’s enemy!” Pumpkin joined the effort by lifting her legs. They carried her back to her apartment, still kicking and screaming.

“How did she get out?” asked Lili’s mother.

“Dagong locked her in her room before he left yesterday,” said Little Pea, “she probably got out from the window.”

After locking up Zhang Ping back in her apartment, Pumpkin, Lao Liu and Mr. Wang came back to the yard. Mr. Wang sat in front of their door and took out the pipe from his pocket while his wife went to prepare dinner. Lao Liu sat down on the step, looking at his garden.

Pumpkin walked to the center of the yard and crossed her arms on the top of her fat belly. She was giving a speech to Marshmallow and others.

“So what happened this morning?” asked Pumpkin.

“I heard troops had driven into the downtown area last night and had left five trucks of weapons on Changan Avenue, just outside of Tiananmen Square. We decided to go and take a look. I hadn’t been out for weeks.” Lao Liu turned around and said. Even though he had a bandage on his head, he did not look particularly injured. “When we first got there this morning, it was quite nice. There was an early summer breeze in the air. The few people on the street looked happy and relaxed or maybe they were just simply fearless.

“No. It was gloomy. I could sense it.” Mr. Wang cut in.

“Yes. You probably know more than we do. Have you been working for the government, Mr. Wang?” Lao Liu stepped over and confronted him.

“I guess you know everything. I can’t lie to you. Yes. I was. I figured it was a chance for me to get ahead.” Mr. Wang found a chair and sat down. “Then I realized not a single person was willing to help the government in the pro-democracy movement. I felt isolated and simply was tired of lying. It looked like the people might win. I wanted to be on the winning side. So I told them I quit. They told me that I couldn’t. I just ran away. It has been so chaotic and nobody knows who was in charge. So I’m Scott Free.”

“Good. Comrade. Welcome back.” Lao Liu shook hand with Mr. Wang, and then he continued, “As we approached the square, I could see more people around us. They either wore armbands or headbands, which were made of white cloth and made them look like Japanese warriors. Then a truck full of demonstrators pulled up. I asked them why they didn’t go and pick the weapons in the abandoned trucks. They said that they didn’t want to play into the officials’ tricks. They want to be peaceful demonstrators. As we went further into the square, it became more crowded. When we were just about to arrive at the LiuBuKou (Six-steps entrance), we suddenly saw flames rising in front of us, then a loud explosion. We were so curious that we just kept walking. Actually as a policeman I was trained not to be afraid of this kind of violence. I pushed forward but it was impossible. There were people all around us. Then Mr. Wang suggested that we should go home before it was too late. Marshmallow agreed. But it WAS too late. Police cars zoomed around the crowd, throwing tear gas canisters at us. Marshmallow’s eyes were scorched. Mr. Wang and I were standing a little further back so we didn’t get hurt. Then Broomstick and the ‘Flying Tiger Brigade’ came along and took us home on their motorcycles. What a stupid adventure!” Lao Liu sighed and started smoking a cigarette. He also helped Mr. Wang to light his pipe.

“I saw a tear gas bomb burn a small boy’s leg with my own eyes,” added Mr. Wang.

“Let me tell you. This is just a warning. Something much worse is going to happen soon,” said Lao Liu, eyelids widening.

Little Pea leaned against Yu Gang’s shoulder and covered her mouth with one of her hands. Pumpkin’s face was purple red. Her eyes were showing anger.

“Those bastards!” Pumpkin stumped the ground.

“Mo……Mother, could I ……go and sell some…..some tea?” Potatofeet sauntered over with a teapot in one hand and a couple of teacups in the other.

“Just in the alley, OK?” said Pumpkin.

Potatofeet swerved toward the door.

“You’d better come back in an hour and have some dinner,” said Pumpkin.

“Su…re!”

Silence. The yard went into a temporary brooding mood again. Someone turned on the radio. All of the stations had the same program. The message chilled everyone down to his bones. A cold female voice said,

“The situation is getting becoming grave. A small number of thugs have spread rumors and incited the people to insult, beat and kidnap some of the soldiers. They also have seized weapons. For these reasons, all the civilians should heighten their vigilance. From now on, please do not go out onto the streets and don’t go to Tiananmen Square. All workers and staff numbers should stay at their places of work and all residents should remain at their homes to ensure their safety and avoid unnecessary losses.”

Marshmallow came out with a bandage on his left eye. “What did they say on the radio?”

Pumpkin ran out of the kitchen and tried to push him back. Little Pea went over to help.

“This government has really disappointed everyone. Let’s go and fight. If everyone fights, we can win!” said Marshmallow while waving his fist in the air.

“Fight? You almost lost an eye and next time you will lose your head,” said Pumpkin. She was surprised that these kinds of cowardly words could come out of her mouth. She had not been feeling good lately since she saw Zhang Ping had gone crazy; Dagong disappeared for a few days and her husband Marshmallow was wounded by a teargas canister. Maybe she just simply got tired. She felt like she was facing a huge mountain in front of her. In the last few weeks, the students and Beijing citizens had shaken the mountain and caused a few stones to come crumbling down, some of which had wounded some people. Gestures were not enough to get rid of the mountain. They had to start digging from the bottom.

In order to calm her husband down, she compromised. “Ok, let’s have dinner first and then I will go over there with you.”

“God dammit, I couldn’t take this anymore! This government is lying. I saw it with my own eyes. These students didn’t start the fight. It was the police who fought first.” Mr. Wang threw his pipe into Lao Liu’s garden and walked toward the gate. Everyone was stunned to see him behave this way but no one tried to stop him. Even Lao Liu didn’t worry about the Mr. Wang’s pipe hurting his roses. He stared at the back of Mr. Wang with his mouth wide open. Mrs. Wang came out of the kitchen, holding a bowl of porridge. She sat on the same chair Mr. Wang was sitting before he left, eating silently. They all knew Mr. Wang was a stubborn man.

“Where is Yu Gang?” Pumpkin asked when Little Pea, Marshmallow and Pumpkin sat around a little table in the yard eating steamed bread and porridge.

“He is with Broomstick’s ‘Flying Tiger Brigade’,” said Little Pea. “He didn’t want me to go with him because he thought it was too dangerous.”

“Could you hear gun shots outside?” Marshmallow suddenly put down the chopsticks and stood up.

“Yes. It sounds like fireworks!” said Pumpkin.

“I’m sure that it’s not fireworks out there,” said Marshmallow.

“Oh, God. Potatofeet and Yu Gang are still there.” Throwing the chopsticks on the table, Pumpkin ran toward the alley. “Little Pea, watch your father. Don’t let him go outside again,” she added.

The alley was full of people rushing back and forth. Wounded were carried in and more people ran out of the alley. She could see the sky was lit up and rounds of gunshots deafened her ears. It was real and they were real bullets, she kept telling herself. But she was so dumbfounded that she could not even comprehend what she was saying. Then she saw Potatofeet’s smashed tea stand and there was no sight of Potatofeet. She started running and yelling, “Potatofeet, Potatofeet!”

“They started shooting. They are real bullets.”

“Those bastards! Let’s go and fight.”

“Don’t you care about your life? They are real bullets!”

Pumpkin could hear these voices. She understood what they were talking about. But she just kept walking. She saw tanks everywhere. No wonder it felt like an earthquake, she told herself.

Suddenly she felt someone nudging her on the back. She turned around and found Yu Gang behind her. His eyes were red and swollen and his clothes were stained with blood.

“Auntie, please come with me now. Potatofeet got shot in the leg.”

“What!” Her reaction was slow. It took a few seconds for her to comprehend what he meant. It was like she was caught in a tornado. She was thrown into the air and traveling with the vortex. Then she was suddenly dropped back onto her feet. The world started spinning in front of her. Her sense of reality had been distorted.

It took pumpkin and Yu Gang a while to get Potatofeet home. The alley was full of wounded people. As soon as they entered the door, the desperate moaning made by Potatofeet could be heard.

He lay on his father’s chest and his round face was full of tears. Under the dim light, his leg was covered with bandages, which were soaked with blood. Wu Zheng kept applying new bandages around his thin leg. Pumpkin rushed toward them and knelt down.

“He got shot in an artery on the leg,” said Wu Zheng, “I tried to call an ambulance but all the roads are blocked by barricades and tanks. There is no way they can get here. I asked Lao Liu to try to get Broomstick and his motorcycle back.”

Pumpkin pressed Potatofeet to her chest.

“Mom!” He buried his face into her soft chest like a newborn.

Mrs. Wang bought out more used sheets for Pumpkin to use as bandages. She quickly slammed the door behind her before her four boys could get out.

“Stay inside! Don’t you see that it is dangerous here?” Then she went to the window where her boys were looking out and pounded on it with their fists.

At the same time, Zhang Ping’s shrieking voice and the noise she generated by shaking the door were muffled by the popcorn-like gunshots outside.

“What a crazy woman!” Mr. Wang said as he walked toward Potatofeet and the people around him.