Five Spice Street

As she was obstinately clinging to that thin sheet of ice, her sister’s confidence in her abruptly wavered. She carefully stepped to the water’s edge quite far from the ice. She didn’t dare walk any farther. The sunshine was cold. The two sisters looked at each other and made megaphones of their hands and shouted. Madam X’s face was livid, and she looked stern and impatient. She stamped her feet, widening the crack even more. Her sister’s eyes were fervent and imploring, brimming with tears. She was all but kneeling. Their conversation lasted an hour and a half. Both were shouting themselves hoarse. Later, heedless of her own safety, the sister wanted to dash out onto the ice to save Madam X. But Madam X wasn’t grateful and reproached her sternly. The sister went back, depressed.

The sister: Let’s come up with a scheme that will satisfy both sides. Lift your toes lightly and run quickly across the ice. I’ll meet you on this side. If we just make up our minds, we’ll succeed.

Madam X: Before I pick up my toes, I must have the will to do so. But I prefer to stay where I am, wait for the crack to blast open, and then play it by ear. Do you think I’ve stayed too long? I’ve just begun! Ha, in every moment it begins! There is the fuchsia-colored glow of the weak sunset! Do I still have time to sort it out? I will decide. There is always a possible scheme. It emerges suddenly from chaos, like the lurking shark.

The sister: You have no choice. Look at that crack, look at that crack: it has already stretched from your feet to the edge of the ice. The shark has opened its mouth and is waiting on the reef over there. This water is so frighteningly black! It’s so cold I’ll soon freeze to death.

Madam X: I hear there isn’t much time. Must this drama end? Finally, do I-this woman who sells peanuts-have to grit my teeth and hold out until the end, and flip my body-wounded all over by arrows-into the sea? Wait, I still want to do something whimsical: I want to dance on this sheet of ice. It’s so bright! So bright!

The sister: Let’s go, let’s go. It’s getting dark. Who’s shouting? I’m scared to death.

Madam X: Who’s there? Who are you? How can you stay there? Go away! I don’t like spectators, not even friends or relatives: all of you hinder me. That time in the mountain gully, they acknowledged my steely heart. Go away! You gossipy woman! I never believed there could be any scheme that would be satisfactory to both sides. I have always been capricious, contemptible, and abnormal. Just go away! Don’t exaggerate: it has nothing to do with winning or losing. I’ve done no more than find a different place to observe the stars. Heaven is so bright, the stars have passed by. Go!!

After her sister left, Madam X picked up a flashing sliver of ice and kept reflecting heaven’s dim light in it. Sometimes she squatted, sometimes she stood. Then she struck the ice beneath her feet with an ice brick, freeing her feet. Perhaps someone thought she would get away, but she didn’t. She sat down at the edge of the floating ice and thrust her feet into the black water. In a flash, she dreamed of the southern jungle and also of the swamps. She went on dreaming this way as she sat there elegantly with her eyes open. She was humming some song, and at the same time, the crack kept widening and breaking up the ice. The next day at dawn, her sister returned and saw that Madam X’s face had grown rosy, and that she was more ‘‘radiant and beautiful’’ than she’d ever been, and was so ‘‘amiable’’ that the sister felt ‘‘a great load had been lifted from her shoulders.’’ She finally made up her mind not to interfere.