I was surprised to see who was waiting in the car. “You have more sage advice for me, Li?”
“Get in and close the door. We’re going to have to drive like a house on fire to get there and back before dinner.”
“Where have I heard that before? Never happen. I can cook something at my place. It won’t be anything elaborate.”
As soon as I closed the door, we were moving. Once we were out of the city, the colors of the harvest took over. “If you’ve got to die, autumn is best, my grandfather used to say.” I thought about that as we sped past a checkpoint. “He was probably right.”
“When did he die?”
“Summer.”
“Can’t exactly set the date, I guess. When it comes, it comes. Any season it wants. What do you think your grandfather meant?”
“What did he mean about anything? He used to talk about rhythms, about how things had to be aligned. He thought trees understood that better than any other living being. Not embodied it, understood it. On summer nights, when he was making benches for the village, he’d grumble at me, ‘You’ve got to look at a tree, listen to it, see how it grew, before you know how to use the wood. These people just chop them down and cut them up. What sense is that? No wonder everything is ugly these days. And I’m not talking about just ugly to look at, you know what I mean, boy?’ ”
We drove for a while. I opened the window and let the wind rush in.
“Nice drive,” I said. “The fields look pleased with themselves. The harvest must have been good this year, though I haven’t heard anything.”
“What would you know about harvests, O?”
“Hey I know plenty. I grew up in the countryside, don’t forget. My grandfather didn’t like cities, not after the war, anyway. He said he wanted to smell earth that hadn’t been pulverized by bombs.”
“Who wouldn’t? Do you mind closing your window? I start sneezing otherwise, this time of year.”
I cranked up the window. “How is that you got assigned to watch me?”
“Meaning what?”
“I don’t know. For some reason, I’ve been getting the impression you and Major Kim don’t get along.”
“Come on; you know me, O. I get along with everyone. That’s my nature.”
“So you’re working for him?”
“I’m not working against him, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“He’s very interested in loyalty, have you noticed? Doesn’t like divided loyalties. He’s after me to choose.”
“And what do you tell him?”
“What did you tell him?”
“Me? I’m loyal as they come. Loyal as the day is long.”
“It’s autumn.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So the days are getting shorter.”
He laughed. “Maybe your grandfather was right; maybe autumn is the best time to die.” When we got off the pavement onto the dirt road that led up the mountain to my house, he turned to me. “Watch how you choose, O.”
“I’m always careful.”
“That’s good. But careful isn’t enough anymore. You have to be right every time. Take your hands off the wheel for one second,” the car hit a rut and careened off to the side, “and it could be all over.”
“Watch where you’re going,” I said. “Other than handing out advice, what do you do all day?”
“Don’t laugh, but I’m a chief inspector now. Surprised? They did a scrub of the chiefs after Kim got here, let several of them go, and moved up some of us who had been sitting around all these years. You probably could have made chief, too, if you hadn’t been up on your mountain. What were you doing there for all those years?”
“Making wooden toys. You have to concentrate when you make toys. They’ve got to look simple. It’s a lot of work, making something look simple.”
“Is that so?”
“Like doing a ‘scrub.’ Sounds cleaner than a ‘purge.’ But that’s what it is, a purge.”
“I know what it is.” He opened his window partway. “All of a sudden, it’s stuffy in here, don’t you think? That’s my dilemma; I have to choose between stuffy air and my allergy.”
“It’s going to get cold pretty soon, a couple of weeks maybe. Then you won’t have to worry.”
“Yeah, I won’t have to worry.”
For the moment, the car was headed almost due east. The setting sun poured light across the fields in front of us.
“Did I tell you about the woman I met in Macau, the one whose voice sounded like wildflowers?”
“What kind?” Li lifted his head slightly. His nostrils flared, like an animal when it senses danger.
“You smell it, too? It must be from a wood fire,” I said. “That’s strange, because no one lives out here. The nearest village is behind us and the wind is blowing the wrong way.” I put my head out the window to get a better look. There was a glow at the top of the mountain, my mountain. “You see that?”
Li stopped the car and peered out the windshield. Then he accelerated sharply, so the tires spun in the dirt before we jumped ahead. “I hope you didn’t leave the stove on for all this time.”
“I don’t have a stove.”
We tore up the road past the abandoned guard shack and hit the steepest part of the grade going so fast I thought we might flip over. We went around turn after turn, sliding close to the edge in places, brushing against the sides of the mountain in others, going at a reckless speed that seemed to be in slow motion, a dream speed, a horror film remembered years after. When we burst into the clearing, my house was gone. The roof had caved in, and the only wall left standing was pitched at a funny angle. The remains were still smoking. The tallest of the tall pines had been chopped down; it had fallen against an outcropping of rock. The next big wind would bring it down onto the road. Another car inched away as we drove up. It stopped when it came abreast of us, and the rear window rolled down.
“A total loss,” Zhao’s voice came out from inside. “A pity. I’d come up here to see if we could do business, and I find your house in flames.”
“My grandfather’s carpentry tools were in there, you Chinese bastard.”
“Well, that’s a loss, I’d say.”
I got out and ran over to Zhao’s car. “By the time I finish with you, you’ll beg me to kill you.” It wasn’t clear what I was going to do next. I wasn’t armed, and beating on the car with my fists didn’t seem much of a follow-up.
Zhao moved closer to the window, so I could see him clearly. He stared at me for a moment; then the glass went up and the car drove away. Li got out on his side and watched as it made its way down the hill.