Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

buttocks missing. . . .” Well, he threw his arms around her waist. “You’re not ugly, Mother, you’re the most beautiful mother anywhere. Really, you don’t have to take me to school. I’ll take Little Four with me.” They turned to look at me, and I rewarded them with a couple of authoritative barks as a way of saying: I’ll do it. No problem, leave everything to me!
    “Little Four,” your son said as he wrapped his arms around my neck, “you’ll take me to school, won’t you?”
    Arf! Arf! Arf! I barked so loud, the leaves on the parasol tree rustled and scared the wits out of a pair of ostriches our neighbor was raising. My meaning was clear: No-prob-lem!
    Your wife rubbed my head. I wagged my tail for her.
    “Everybody’s afraid of our Little Four, isn’t that right, son?”
    “Yes, Mama.”
    “Little Four, Kaifang will be your responsibility You’re both from Ximen Village and grew up together, so you’re like brothers. Isn’t that right?” Arf arf! That’s right. She rubbed my head again, looking sort of melancholy, before removing my chain-link collar and signaling for me to follow her. When we reached the front gate, she stopped and said, “Little Four, listen carefully. I have to be at work early in the morning to fry oil fritters. I’ll have your breakfast ready for you. At six thirty get Kaifang up. At seven thirty, after you’ve had breakfast, start out for school. Don’t take shortcuts. Stay to the main streets. It’s okay if it’s a bit farther, since safety is the most important. Walk on the right side of the streets, look both ways before you cross the street and then to the left when you’re halfway across, looking out for motorbikes, and especially, motorcycles with riders in black leather jackets, since they’re all members of gangs and act like they can’t tell the difference between red and green lights. After you’ve left Kaifang at the school gate, head east, cross the street, then go north straight to the bus station restaurant. You’ll find me out front frying oil fritters. Come up and bark twice, and I’ll know everything’s fine. Then go back home. This time you can take a shortcut. The door will be locked, so you’ll have to wait at the gate till I get there. If it’s a hot day, you can cross the lane and lie beneath the pagoda pine on the other side of the wall. You can doze off in the shade, but don’t fall asleep. With all the thieves around, you need to keep an eye on our place. They carry master keys, and if they find an empty house — they first knock at the door as if they were normal visitors — they walk in and take what they want. You know all our relatives by sight, so if you see a stranger going into our house, don’t hesitate, run over and bite them. I’ll be home by eleven thirty, so you can come in and have some water before taking the shortcut back to school to bring Kaifang home for lunch. Then back you go in the afternoon, but this time, after you’ve reported to me, run home to make sure everything’s okay, then run to school, since there are only two classes in the afternoon. Come back home with him and watch while he does his homework. Don’t let him play till he’s finished. Do you understand all that, Little Four?”
    Arf arf arf, Un-der-stand.
    Before your wife went to work in the morning, she always put the alarm clock on the windowsill and smiled at me. A mistress’s smile — a pretty thing. I’d watch her walk out the door. Arf arf, Bye-bye, arf arf, Don’t worry. Then I’d make my rounds in the yard, feeling like the master of the house. When the alarm sounded, I’d run into the boy’s room, where the smell of youth was strong. Not wanting to startle him awake by barking, I’d go over and lick him on the face, feeling the tickle of his peach fuzz. He’d open his eyes and ask, “Time to get up, Little Four?” Bow-wow, I’d answer him softly, It’s time. Then he’d get dressed, give his teeth a quick brushing, wash his face like a kitten, and sit down for breakfast. Most of the time it was soybean milk and oil fritters, or regular milk and oil fritters. Sometimes I ate with him, sometimes I didn’t.
    The first day we followed your wife’s instructions to the letter, partly because her smell followed us most of the way; she was watching us. Perfectly understandable — she was a mother, after all. I walked a yard or so behind your son, keeping my ears and eyes open, especially when crossing the