The Year of Rice and Salt

'Well.' Ibrahim looked down. 'Monk Bao and his boy were first brought in for questioning in Anchi, as he may have told you. They had been begging by singing songs outside the village headman's house. The headman gave them a single piece of steamed bread, and Bao and Xinwu were apparently so hungry that Bao cursed the headman, who decided they were bad characters, and repeated his order for them to be off. Bao cursed him again before leaving, and the headman was so angry he had them arrested and their bags searched. They found some writings and medicines, and scissors 'Same as they found here.'

'Yes. And so the headman had them tied to a tree and beaten with chains. Nothing more was learned, however, and yet the two were pretty badly hurt. So the headman took part of a false queue worn by a bald guard in his employ, and put it in Bao's bag and sent him along to the prefecture for examination with the ankle press.'

'Poor man,' Kang exclaimed, biting her lip. 'Poor soul.'

'Yes.' Ibrahim took another sip. 'So, recently the governor general began looking into these incidents by order of the Emperor, who is very concerned. I've helped somewhat in the investigation – not with any questionings examining physical evidence, like the false queue, which I showed was made of several different kinds of hair. So the headman was questioned, and told the whole story.'

'So it was all a lie.'

'Indeed. And in fact all the incidents can be traced back to an origin in a case similar to Bao's, in Soochow 'Monstrous.' except for the case of your son Shih.'

Kang said nothing. She gestured, and Pao refilled the tea cups.

After a very long silence, Ibrahim said, 'No doubt hooligans in town took advantage of the scare to frighten your boy.'

Kang nodded.

'And also,' he went on, 'if you have been experiencing possessions by spirits possibly he, also.

She said nothing.

'Do you know of any oddities..

For a long time they sat together in silence, sipping tea. Finally Kang said, 'Fear itself is a kind of possession.'

'Indeed.'

They sipped tea for a while more.

'I will tell the governor general that there is nothing to worry about here.'

'Thank you.'

Another silence.

'But I am interested in any subsequent manifestations of… anything out of the ordinary.'

'Of course.'

'I hope we can discuss them. I know of ways to investigate such things.'

'Possibly.'

Soon after, the hui doctor ended his visit.

After he was gone, Kang wandered the compound from room to room, trailed by the worried Pao. She looked into Shih's room, now empty, his books on their shelves unopened. Shih had gone down to the riverside, no doubt to be with his friend Xinwu.

Kang looked in the women's quarters, at the loom on which so much of their fortune resided; and the writing stand, ink block, brushes, stacks of paper.

Geese fly north against the moon. Sons grow up and leave. In the garden, my old bench. Some days I'd rather have rice and salt. Sit like a plant, neck outstretched: Honk, honk! Fly away!

Then on to the kitchens, and the garden under the old juniper. Not a word did she say, but retired to her bedroom in silence.

That night, however, cries again woke the household. Pao rushed out ahead of the other servants, and found Widow Kang slumped against the garden bench, under the tree. Pao pulled her mistress's open night shift over her breast and hauled her up onto the bench, crying 'Mistress Kang!' because her eyes were open wide; yet they saw nothing of this world. The whites were visible all the way around, and she stared through Pao and the others, seeing other people and muttering in tongues. 'In challa, in challa', a babble of sounds, cries, squeaks, 'urn mana pada hum'; and all in voices not hers.

'Ghosts!' squealed Shih, who had been wakened by the fuss. 'She's possessed!'

' Quiet please,' hissed Pao. 'We must return her to her bed still asleep.'

She took one arm, Zunli took the other, and as gently as they could, they lifted her. She was as light as a cat, lighter than she ought to have been. 'Gently,' Pao said as they bumped her over the sill and laid her down. Even as she lay there she popped back up like a puppet, and said, in something like her own voice, 'The little goddess died despite all.'

Pao sent word to the hui doctor of what had occurred, and a note came back with their servant, requesting another interview. Kang snorted and dropped the note on the table and said nothing. But a week later the servants were told to prepare lunch for a visitor, and it was Ibrahim ibn Hasam who appeared at the gate, blinking behind his spectacles.

Kang greeted him with the utmost formality, and led him into the parlour, where the best porcelain was laid out for a meal.

After they had eaten and were sipping tea, Ibrahim nodded and said, 'I am told that you suffered another attack of sleepwalking.'

Kang coloured. 'My servants are indiscreet.'

'I'm sorry. It's just that this may pertain to my investigation.'

'I recall nothing of the incident, alas. I woke to a very disturbed household.'