The Garlic Ballads

been killed by a car….”
    Jinju, far along in her pregnancy, came running into the room, followed by her brothers.

2.

    Two horse-drawn wagons entered the lane at dawn and stopped in front of the threshing floor. Fourth Aunt ran outside, shouting for her husband. The area was packed with people, including even the village boss, Gao Jinjiao. Elder and Younger Brother stood impassively beside the wagon.
    “Your father, where’s your father?” Fourth Aunt demanded, her hands spread out questioningly in front of her.
    Elder Brother squatted down and held his head in his hands as he wept softly. “Father … my dear father
    His younger brother, dry-eyed, flung back the sheet of plastic covering the bed of the wagon to reveal the rigid corpse of Fourth Uncle. His mouth was open, his eyes staring, his cheeks spattered with mud.
    Husband, my husband, such a cruel way to die! Let me touch your face, your hands. Your face is cold as ice; so are your hands. Last night you were full of life, this morning just a cold cadaver! Fourth Aunt rubbed Fourth Uncle’s bald pate, then his ears. Through rips in his thin jacket she glimpsed his dark, sunken abdomen. Shredded pant legs revealed a gory mess of skin and blood.
    Husband, bringing down a farmer is supposed to be so hard. A bump on the leg shouldn’t do it. She felt his cold scalp for wounds. And found one: a dent the size of an egg in the center of his cranium. Here it is, the spot where they cracked your skull and drove bone splinters into your brain—this is how they killed you.
    Two of the villagers dragged Fourth Aunt away, teeth clenched and gasping for breath. Fearful that she was about to follow her husband in death, a couple of the bystanders forced her mouth open with a chop-stick; Jinju’s tearful, pathetic cries sounded in the background. “Take it easy, not so hard! Dont gouge her teeth out,” the one holding her head cautioned the one holding the chopstick. Once they had her lips parted, a mouthful of cold water brought her to her senses.
    The dead cow lay on its side in the second wagon, its stiff legs poking over the side of the wagon like gun barrels. Inside its belly an unborn calf squirmed and wriggled.
    A burst of weeping, followed by one of wailing. When the people next looked up, they saw that the sun was high in the sky. “Fang Yijun,” the village boss, Gao Jinjiao, said, “your father’s dead, and no amount of tears can bring him back. In this heat hell start to stink pretty soon, so dress him up in the newest clothing you can find, then hire a truck and take him to the county crematorium. As for the cow, skin it and sell the meat—tomorrow’s market day, and the price of beef has gone through the ceiling. What you get for the hide and meat will be more than enough for your father’s funeral expenses.”
    “Uncle,” Fang Yijun said to the village boss, “do you expect us to accept our father’s death without a murmur? Gao Yang says they were parked by the side of the road, and that the car swerved into them.”
    Oh?” Gao Jinjiao commented. “Is that how it happened? Then the driver should go to jail, and the owner should pay restitution. Whose car was it?”
    “The township government. Party Secretary Wang Jiaxiu was in the car when it happened,” Gao Yang said.
    Gao Jinjiao blanched. “Gao Yang,” he said sternly, “I want the truth. Are you sure?”
    “That
is
the truth, Uncle. The car sprung a leak and broke down a few seconds later. I was holding Fourth Uncle in my arms and crying when Secretary Wang and his driver came running back. Little Zhang was shaking like a leaf, and he reeked of alcohol. ‘You don’t have anything to be scared of as long as I’m around, Little Zhang,’ Secretary Wang assured him. Then he asked what village I was from, and when I told him, he breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Little Zhang,’ he said, ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re peasants from our township. That’s easy. A little cash for the family will take care of everything.’ “
    “Enough of that crazy talk, Gao Yang!” Gao Jinjiao said. “What about the license number?”
    “Ifs a black car, with no license plate. The only time they dare drive it is at night,” Gao Zhileng, the neighbor who raised parakeets, remarked angrily. “The driver’s a cousin of Secretary Wang’s wife. Used to be a tractor driver, and doesnt have a passenger-car license.”
    “Gao Zhileng!” Gao Jinjiao shouted.
    “What?” Gao