The History of Bees

Chapter 10 TAO

The Day of Rest finally arrived. Unannounced, like every year. We were not notified until the evening before that the Committee had decided the citizens had finally earned the right to a day off. The official announcement was made by Li Xiara, the Committee’s leader, a woman who always presented the Committee’s most recent decisions to us, on the radio, and on battered information screens. Her chanting, dispassionate voice was the same, regardless of whether the message was good or bad. The pollination was finished, she now reported, the blossoming season was almost over. They could treat us to this, she said, we, the community, could treat ourselves.

We had been waiting for this day for weeks. More than two months had passed since we’d last had time off. While the tendons in our lower arms grew more and more inflamed from the repetitive brushing movement, while our arms and shoulders grew stiffer and stiffer and our feet perpetually tired from standing, we worked and waited.

For once I was awakened not by the alarm, but by the light. The sun warmed my face, I lay in bed with my eyes closed, feeling how the temperature slowly rose in the room. Then I finally managed to open my eyes and look around. The bed was empty. Kuan was already up.

I went to him in the kitchen. He was having a cup of tea and looking out at the fields, while Wei-Wen played on the floor. It was so quiet, a day of rest for all of us, as had been decided. Even Wei-Wen was playing more calmly than usual. He drove a red toy car around the floor while making a soft rumbling sound.

His soft neck, the close-cropped hair, the short fingers clutching the car, the mouth buzzing so intensely that a little spit was pressed out between his lips. His enthusiasm. He could probably sit like this for hours, create roads down there on the floor with all of the vehicles he had, cities full of life.

I sat down beside Kuan, took a sip of his tea. It was almost cold; he must have been sitting here for a long time.

“What do you want to do?” I said finally. “How do you want to spend our day?”

He took yet another sip of tea, just a little sip, as if he were saving it.

“Well… I don’t know… what do you want?”

I stood up. He knew what he wanted to do. I’d already heard him speaking with some of his workmates about everything that would be taking place in the center of the little place we called the town, an eatery was being set up on the square, long tables and entertainment.

“I want to spend the day with Wei-Wen,” I said lightly.

He laughed softly. “So do I.”

But his eyes didn’t meet mine.

“We have many hours, we can get a lot done. I would really like to teach him numbers,” I said.

“Mm.” The still evasive gaze, as if he acquiesced, even though I knew that he was doing the opposite.

“You asked what I wanted to do,” I said. “That’s what I want.”

He got to his feet, then he walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, massaged it lightly. A persuasive massage, trying to hit my weak spot; he knew that even if I could resist him verbally, I seldom managed it physically.

I gently twisted out of his grasp, he was not going to win. “Kuan…”

But he just smiled at me, took hold of my hand. Then he pulled me towards the window, stood behind me while letting his hands slide from my shoulders and all the way down towards my hands.

“Look outside,” he said softly and intertwined his fingers with mine. I gently tried to pull free, but he held me tight. “Look outside.”

“Why?”

He held me calmly against him, and I did as he asked. The sun was shining. It was snowing white petals out there. The ground was covered. The petals floated through the air, turning a luminescent white from the sun. The rows of pear trees were endless. The amount of blossoms made me dizzy. I saw them every single day, every individual tree. But I didn’t see them the way I did today. Together.

“I think we should go to town. Dress up, go out and get something good to eat.” His voice was mild, as if he had made up his mind not to get angry.

I tried to smile, meet him halfway, couldn’t start this day with an argument. “Not the town, please.”

“But that’s where everyone is.”

He wanted to join the queue, the way we did every single day. I took a breath.

“Can’t we do something, just the three of us?”

He lifted the corners of his mouth in an attempt at a smile. “Makes no difference to me. As long as we go outside.”

I turned towards the window again, towards the flowers, the white sea. We were never alone out there.

“Maybe we can just walk over there?”

“Over where? To the fields?”

“That’s outside.” I tried to smile, but he did not return it.

“I don’t know…”

“It will be nice. Just the three of us. And then we won’t have to walk that long distance with Wei-Wen. It will be good for him to be spared that, just this once?”

I lay my hand on his upper arm, an affectionate gesture, refrained from saying anything more about the lesson. But he saw through me.

“And the books?”

“We can bring some with us? And I needn’t keep at it all day.”

His eyes finally met mine. Resigned, but with a little smile.