·pa He nods,hands over his ears. "That's not the way."She frowns."Are you listening?" Silly boy!Everyone teases him except his mother,who pleads presses them back,hoping to train them to bring him less pain. while the other boys will grow up,she says,he should ignore friend Grover Ding,Ralph Chang was just a small boy in China, an engineer,much less an imagineer like his self-made-millionaire IT's AN American story:Before he was a thinker,or a doer,or OVER HIS EARS WITH HIS HANDS ABOY
mother. blushes. He shrugs. "Might there be something nicer to talk about?"suggests his marching armies,a new dynasty,the end of society as they know a fan-cooled veranda,he entertains apocalyptic thoughts of inflation,and moral collapse.Or so it seems to his father as,on Hands over his ears,Yifeng presses,presses,presses. ment for his son:Yifeng will please study his Older Sister.He official,calls him a fan tong-a rice barrel.He has an assign- "Do you realize your father will beat me too?' give him preserved plums,mooncakes,money.If he doesn't, As Ralph,who back then was not Ralph yet,but still Yifeng- jian means,one listens but fails to hear.People hear what they Ting de jian in Mandarin means,one listens and hears.Ting bu out in Chinese;there's even a verb construction for this purpose. not hear?What's taken for granted in English,though,is spelled are simple.One listens.After all,why should a listening person way the Chinese will,between effort and result.Verbs in English "You listen but don't hear!"- -distinguishing,the Back and forth.Until finally,irked,she says what his tutor "I'm listening. "How can you listen with your hands over your ears?" Of course,in the end,Yifeng did come to the United States pure,the next good for nothing. "Your only son,"pleads his mother. going abroad. appeared.Though Yifeng has scored seventeenth on the de- discovers that things are indeed more involved than they at first making a few discreet inquiries,among friends.This is how he "But it seems,perhaps,that he is." His father goes on grinding his ink.Yifeng simply cannot be "America,"his mother says then. eracy!Stupidity!Corruption! His father announces that he's going to write about Degen- maobi-his mother prepares to speak up. write an article-he has an inkstone out,and a wolf's hair is,Theresa)fields grounders from her coach.Ralph,though- songs to herself;on a convent school diamond,Know-It-All (that "Too much rice wine,"muses Ralph's mother. his lifelong enemies;thanks to them he no longer holds office
stopped. What else? sidiary aims. It was hot. 6 about the girls was so important it counted for at least four On 7 through Io,he was stuck until he realized that number 6.I will on no account have anything to do with girls. 5.I will on no account keep eating after everyone else has 4.I will eat only what I like,instead of eating everything. 3.I will do five minutes of calisthenics daily. 2.I will bring honor to the family. as the saying went,there was no carving rotten wood.) I.I will cultivate virtue.(A true scholar being a good scholar; rolled up to hand his father.He also wrote down a list of sub- class,and he was not going home until he had his doctorate out two main goals for himself.He was going to be first in his ken-backed books,and as the boat rocked and pitched he set his physics,his English,struggling for long hours with his bro- On the way to America,Yifeng studied.He reviewed his math, Yifeng nodded."I'll remember him always." slid a wristwatch into Yifeng's hand. true ships in the distance,the ragtag boats by the shore-she dock.As his father stared off into the Shanghai harbor-at the "Your father would like to give you this,"she told him at the trunk full of Western-style clothes. His mother arranged a send-off banquet,packed him a black "A degree,"he echoed dully. as everyone agreed.He could bring back a degree! training,but for graduate study.A much greater opportunity, vately,not through the government,and not for advanced field anyway,his stomach burbling with fool hope.But it was pri- 9 shrugged,sheepish."Interesting." like that,a mosquito.) two notes. American spectacle,without his looking up once. Years later,when he told this story,he'd claim that the only How was anyone supposed to be able to read? That splendor!That radiance!True,it wasn't the Statue of Golden Gate Bridge. more than itself.For girls,he knew,were what happened to even
He did notice. of oil.Nothing was made of bamboo details of life impressed him too-the neatly made milk cartons, New York.He admitted that maybe he had taken a look to hate the alphabet?Anyway,he did I's,consonants at the ends of words.Was it beneath a scholar wrong.He turned red,thinking of his trouble with long a's,th's, "Name?".he repeated,or rather"nem,"which he knew to be working,liked him. hat with him,though he never put it on,and it was always in his digestive problems.Everywhere he went,he carried a Panama that tended to flush and pale with the waxing and waning of of gum;those round ears;and delicate,almost maidenly skin quarter inches.Otherwise he was himself-large-faced,dim- him look even shorter than his five feet three and three- grease.A new,light gray,too dressy,double-breasted suit made PICTURE HIM.Young,orotund.Longish hair managed with OVER HIS CROTCH WITH HIS HAT A BOY
tomorrow." was in! "That-way-you-find-a-namc-you-like-better-you-can-tell-me- "I'll-hang-onto-this-form-overnight,"she tried to tell him. glish that carried him away. "Sure.You give."There was something about speaking En- "I-give-you-a-name?" disappoint her.Then he brightened."You give me." "No English name."How to say initials?He was sorry to typewriter,the form she had to fill out. "English name,"she said again,finally.She showed him her out!Ting de dong-he listened and understood! "Me?"With mock offense,he drew his chin back. begin to guess her age."At you!" he would have expected.She smelled of perfume.He could not "I'm laughing at you."Her voice rang,playful yet deeper than never would have asked a Chinese girl why she was laughing. Later he realized this to be a very daring thing to ask,that he "What you laughing?" he was used to hearing Chang rhyme with twang.) sounded like the beginning of angst;it would be years before "Name Y.F.Chang."(His surname as he pronounced it then "Naaame,"she said,writing it down.She'd seen this before, 6 you like it?" grave. a mission;what mattered was that he register for the right It would have been better if Ralph sounded a bit more like name of at least eight kings."My father picked it for me,"he For himself,Old Chao had Henry,which turned out to be the A kind of dog,thought Ralph. who in turn called them Little Something-or-another).He looked another being what younger classmates called older classmates, program)had all stuck with their initials,or picked names for Chinese students(there were five of them in the master's degree enough,when he asked around later he found that the other he'd overdone it.His stomach puckered with anxiety.And sure to be like other people-decisive,practical-only to discover too hasty?He did this,he knew;he dispensed with things,trying Walking home,though,Ralph was less sanguine.Had he been "Sure!"He beamed. "Ralph,"she said finally.She wrote it down.R-A-L-P-H."Do Norman?She toyed with a stray curl.Fred?John?Steve?Ken? Meanwhile,she ran through her ex-beaux.Robert?Eugene? mound he had ever seen:in Shandong,that was,Confucius's for big shots.This woman put him in mind of the biggest countryside-the small mounds for nobodies,the big mounds He thought of the burial mounds that dotted the Chinese
Chinese. whether she had reason to thank him or not."Shay shay shay "Shay shay!"she said now,whenever she saw him, stacked paper for Cammy.He taught her to say thank you in Did he confuse this phenomenon with love?Not yet.He was still carrying that hat around. sideways look that made Ralph's pants bulge-lucky thing he And so to Cammy he was grateful,nothing more. His degree,his degree! li after li,by boat and by train,only to have to get himself going. complete other side of the world.Mile after mile,he'd travelled, about such things-having come,he belatedly realized,to the long nose and hairy forearms,though,she just wasn't Ralph's Chao,idiom book in hand.)With her big barbarian frame and didn't seem to be foreign students.("Fan club,"explained Old must be,as about half the men with affairs to discuss with her would help him. Ralph had noticed by then that she was pretty,or figured she Foreign Student Affairs Office,where gaily colored Cammy turned out to meet at the same time:he found his way to the two of his courses,and that for one of them,enrollment was He discovered,for instance,that he wasn't on the class list for books.All of this proved more difficult than he'd anticipated. courses,that he attend the right classes,that he buy the right He was lonely still,but it was only a mist,a weather front that More and more now,he was beginning to know what was what. Ralph nodded,beamed,situated his hat. it right?Shayshay?" "Shay shay."She lit up."Shay shay!You mean,I am saying Ralph hesitated."Shay shay. Ralph gave solemn testimony.Mr.Fitt straightened up,glar- Ralph?Wasn't I?" of Cammy choked up made Ralph's throat catch."Wasn't I, "But I w-was here.At one on th-the b-b-button." his other hand was all five hairy fingers on Cammy's neat desk. dered onto the scene,Mr.Fitt was tapping that bat on his thigh; sneering mouth;in another life he might have been a carnivorous Now Mr.Fitt was a grim man,an enforcer,with a small, her boss,Mr.Fitt. loved ballet." said Cammy. expeditious disposal of a bumblebee.And,of course,help with More favors,innocent enough-packages to the mailbox, something he couldn't catch). but nod."Good!" offered what he could on a kind of tray."Isn't that what I said?" The sound
changed in a thousand years. gineer? More red. through an exhausted,dusty land,no detail of which had New York lost its gleam.He drifted through its streets as if Who had ever thought the rice barrel could become an en- His problem sets started to come back red. His lamp turned out to have a short in it. The problem sets got harder. From.his doorway,the first grocer scowled at him. one coin at a time. the street).Also,he'd bought a lamp for his room,from the and marshmallow sauce(the specialty of the luncheonette down a dollar at General Lee's,and also banana splits with extra nuts to participate.Other developments:he'd discovered supper for The kitchen was where Ralph spent his free time too,learning their English for impersonations of certain professors. was America.They forged on,mostly speaking Mandarin,saving instead of to five decimal places.Was it fair?Who knew?This marvelled that their tests would be scored to the whole point, zled out problems with his classmates.Between equations,they on I23rd Street.There,on the blackboard by the stove,he puz- Student Affairs Office anymore,but rather to the stone-stepped having launched into his work,he did not go to the Foreign turned too permeable.When he was working,he was fine.And passed through him when he was alone,a feeling of having holding her hands over her ears
their own loving depilatory. 4× uim.Morefoestuck reamily thsik "You've gotten completely hutu" Little Chang,if your schoolwork were going better. LOVE "Dames too?" luncheonette. "Dames got it the worst.You know what dames understand?" Dough,dough,dough." (dames);what was wrong with the Yankees(dames);and what "Dames?"chewed Ralph The last of these wisdoms came from an old man in the from their hairspray. ings in the White House were ready to fall down,as well as Chinaman should know.This was how he learned that the ceil- Now he had had some experience pitching woo before.For Ralph mooned harder,with oedipal glee
that she'd stay. "Presents?" Reassurance.It was all she'd ever wanted,though they did But magically,one day,they had;and there then were Ralph It seemed the drifts would never melt. In person,though,he was just so much ardor next door,a he felt in the stores. a pickle chip."Big fat presents. "You got it."He nodded so emphatically,his sandwich laid "Diamonds.Pearls.Big fat fur coats." 品 "Cold?"he asked finally;and when she didn't answer,he Still she was crying. me-cee..." "Bird?" What had happened?He didn't eveni know. "You're just like the other guys.You are."Now she was crying. "Those are cliches."She started to sniffle. "You know,"he said."Up." higher than ceilings. She looked at him as though she'd never heard of a thing "Bird.You know...in sky." "You are like bird,"he went on. "I'm not happy. "Of course you will happy,"he told her. tree leaves rustled obligingly. already night.The clamorous street had turned private,a blue but this time its front glowed gold;and when they emerged a "Hmm,"mulled Ralph."That's far." dreamed of going to Paris for her honeymoon. talk too about houses and cars,and about how she'd always
she doesn't love you." Plans? America! "Forget her,"said his friends."If you bave to give ber a car, bought her a fat fur coat.He ought to have bought her a car. her diamonds,but still he thought it anyway.He ought to have Cammy went back to ignoring him.Until Mr.Fitt strode out cone,a wooden volcano.He did another. her desktop.The lead broke off neatly,leaving a kind of headless Ralph picked a pencil out of her pencil cup.He pressed it to had had a wife,until the papers finally came through.With Honeymoon.Paris.Snails.The dean had a house and car,and "Our plans,"she lamented. in open defiance of the dean. he thought,they had to.But they didn't;so that when Cammy He went back to buying her presents.Things would change, a question,Mr.Fitt would be happy to answer you." "By Tuesday."It was as if she'd filed herself away."If you have "Second form from the right,"said Cammy,her face closed. With morning,though,came day. of her sweet-smelling head. Crushing his hat between his knees,he gently kissed the top earthworks at all. to his shoulder.Her breasts against his chest were nothing like carefully,half expecting her to object.She dropped her wet face liberated Manchuria in the fall. And so,no doubt,he would have,had not the Communists certain people can sustain indefinitely. This made a certain amount of sense,even to Ralph.Yet he 出