這篇是我自己有點喜歡，我想了好久要讓Pei怎麼結束這個故事，因為她自己也沒有很清楚到底發生了甚麼事，應該是因為我在寫的時候也沒有很清楚到底會發生甚麼事。
我很喜歡火，真的很喜歡火，記得小時候在院子裏面玩火，燒葉子、燒頭髮、燒快要燒完的蠟燭（然後弄得髒兮兮）也很喜歡爐火，可以看著爐火看很久。各種美麗的火舞♥
那請各位欣賞－－
Pyromania
“Light
up the incense for us sweetheart,” said Pei’s mother.
“Sure!” Surprised by mother’s
command, Pei leaped up from the game she was playing with her siblings and rushed into the attic shrine.
She nodded to her grand-grandparents and pulled out the drawer which was filled
with incense. She counted carefully to five, it was half of the number she knew. The school only taught them how to
count until ten. Pei aligned the incense, lit up the lighter without any try,
and equally lit up every incense to make sure it had the same speed of burning. The incense started to burn and
sent out the lifting smoke.
Pei was fascinated by the breathing red tops of the incense. She watched them for a second, and rushed out the
attic shrine.
“Mom,
the incense is ready!” Pei yelled.
“Okay,
everyone, go say something to your grand-grandparents,” Pei's mom announced, rubbing her wet hands on her apron.(Nice incidentally invoked sense of Taiwanese setting…)
Pei
realized that the lighter was still in her hand. She forgot to return it back
to the drawer. She lit up the lighter three more times and enjoyed the sounds
made by the lighter when it was releasing
the gas.(Nice detail…)
“Don’t
play with fire,” Pei’s mom patted on her head when she saw her daughter lit up the lighter without any reason.
“I’m
not, mom,” Pei put the lighter back into the drawer.
Pei
knew that she was not playing with fire. She was controlling it.
Chingming
is the day to talk with ancestors, people burn the incense and paper money to let the smoke carry our
words to their world. Chinese people use fire
to show respect and admiration to ancestor. For Pei, Chingming is her big day too. On that day, she was asked to
burn things rather than being prohibited
from burning them. The fire utters her words with heat, melting down the
barrier of the world. We are
eventually all dust.(Nice)
Pei’s
talent was discovered when she was in kindergarten. Her friend, Guan, found a
box of matches her way to
the kindergarten and showed it to Pei. The box was worn out on the corner and the printed characters were
unreadable. The matches were damp with the winter rain. The teacher had noticed that the girls were
playing with a box of matches, but after she checked the box and decided it was
too wet to burn, she returned the new discovered treasure to the girls.
“I’ve
seen how it works on the TV!” said Guan, she tried to lower her voice so that
she wouldn’t attract the other classmates, but still couldn’t hide her
excitement in her words.
“My
mom never let me use them,” said Pei. She pulled out the tiny drawer with only
a few matches left inside,” Do you think we can light it up?”
“Maybe,”
Guan used her tiny but delicate finger to pick up a match,” Let me try!’’
Guan
tried to light up the matches but in vain. The matches did not even give out
the smell of burn. Pei knew what was wrong.
“May
I try the last one? Please! Please! Please!” Pei begged her best friend.
“Okay,”
Guan’s interest to the matches died when she broke her forth matches.
Pei
picked up the last match carefully. Her fingers could feel the wetness of the
match, but she knew it was nothing to worry. She licked her lips, and struck.
The
sparklet twinkled and there was the fire on the match. The fire burned all the
noise in the indoor playground in to ashes, only the match was hissing the
flame. Pei was standing there, holding the match with fire and amazed by the
fire fairy who just came visit. The fire quenched in a few second, the world
went on to rotation.
“Did
you see that?” Pei barely spit out
some words. She was hooked by the red skirt corner of the fire. It made her
think about the skirt that the Flamenco dancer wears.(Nice…where are your labels?) (老師對不起我忘記Label了...)
“It
was just fire,” Guan shrugged. Suddenly the match box without match was trash
for her. She looked around the playground and decided a slide deserved more her
attention. She rushed to the line of getting on the slide, yelling and
screaming with the other kids. Pei looked at the empty match box, carefully put
the match box into her pocket, and followed her best friend to the slide.
Pei’s
mother found the match box in Pei’s pocket before she tossed it into the
laundry machine. The paper fiber would just ruin the whole basket of laundry. (Nice) She threw the match box into
trash can.
“Mommy,
did you see my box?” Pei was taking her room apart to find her match box.
“What
box, sweetheart?” Pei’s mother still focused on washing her dishes.
“A
match box,” Pei was going through the stack of clean clothes her mom just
folded neatly.
“Honey,
stop doing that,” Pei’s mother frowned,” I don’t know what box you’re talking
about.”
“I
think I left it in my pocket,” Pei was now going through all the pants’
pockets.
“Oh!
The match box?” Pei’s mother finished the last plate and turned to Pei,” I thought
it was trash so I threw it away.”
Pei’s
action suddenly froze. She lifted her head up slowly and said, “You threw it
away?”
“I’m
sorry honey,” Pei’s mother apologized. She lowered her body so that she could
see directly into Pei’s eyes which was tearing, “I’m so sorry.”
“But
that was my box, my match box!” Pei’s voice was shivering and shaking. Tears
were rolling down on her check and dropped on her dress.
“Why
would you need an empty match box?” Pei’s mother said patiently.
“They
bring the beautiful thing! And fairy came!” Pei was sobbing. She lost her power without the
match box.
“Would
it be the same if I can give you another one?” Pei’s mother wiped the tears on
Pei’s cheek.
“New
one?”
“New
one, but the box only,” said Pei’s mother.
Pei
was sitting beside the tiny temple, caressing the rough sandpaper of her match
box. The texture of sandpaper reminded her think of the street cat was licking her finger after she gave her some pellets. She
felt the heat without flame. She observed the candlelight of candle which sit
beside the self-serve incense. Pei enjoyed the moment when there came a new
pilgrim and lit up a bundle of incense. She knew how long would the incense
infect the heat, how the first wisp of smoke would twist in the air. She could
even feel it when she closed her eyes. In her daydream, she was lifted by the
heat, bathing in the cozy smoke and listening to the peace that only an object
which is being transforming to ashes can provide. Until the strong wind blew away the fog, Pei
fell. Pei knew someone would catch her, but she never knew who they were. It
might be the wind which grabbed her before she landed, the heat which gave her
the last cuddle before she left or the god who is worshipped by the pilgrims in
the tiny temple. The winter wind blew and Pei sneezed. She was wetted by her
sweat in a deep deep deep winter. Pei sneezed again.
The
world was crumbling. Dreaming a wonderful picnic time with her friends, Pei was
disturbed by the unusual feeling of trembling. She woke up and tried to sense
the danger in air, but it was too hard to get her mind out of cupcakes and soda.
Everything is shaking. Pei’s mother rushed into their room. Pei saw her mother
was shaking as well. After checking all her children was safe, Pei’s mother
rushed to turn off all the gas and electric equipment and opened the door.
Something was falling out from the cupboard, clattering in the kitchen.
“I
hope is not the set of plate that my mom gave us,” Pei’s mother murmured to her
husband.
“Don’t
worry, honey,” said Pei’s father,” As long as we are all safe, there is nothing
we need to worry.”
The
land went back to tranquil, stiff as if it would never move again. They could
hear neighbor’s baby was crying and screaming. The dog on the street were
barking, stirring the uncertainty in the atmosphere. The battery of flash light
ran out and Pei’s father couldn’t find the candles for emergency.
“Seems
like we need to stay in the dark for a while then,” Pei’s father shrugged and
said. Pei’s mother didn’t blame anything on him, she knew arguing would be the
worst thing to do in the dreadful darkness.
Suddenly,
a beam of light popped up in the palm of Pei. The fire was weak and feeble,
glittered when Pei breathed. Pei carefully settled the fire on a used short
candle and extinguished the match. Pei took out the other used candles and lit
them up, until it was bright enough that she could see her mother’s eyes
wrinkles. Pei covered her shoe box which was filled with the used candles which
were abandoned by temples and the matches and used lighter she collected from
the smokers in their community and hid the shoe box under the bed again.
“Thank
you, sweetheart, to bring us back the light,” surprised by the half-full shoe
box, Pei’s mother didn’t scold on Pei. Pei broke into a bright smile with her
mother’s compliment. She was the magician of the light, of the heat, of the
fire. They were sitting in silence, listening to each other’s breath, heart
beats, the evidences of life, sharing the subtle joy of being safe and union
and waiting the first siren to slice the peaceful night.
Pei
knew how all the different leaves in the park smells like when they catch fire.
(Interesting) She had been
conducting the experiment of odor and color of smoke for a few weeks. She knew
how dry the leaves need to be and she knew the fastest way to dry them. They
were ready to sacrifice when Pei line them neatly on the balcony. Pei also knew
how to melt the nylon clothes slightly without burning them, but cotton was her
favorite. (Interesting psychology) She
loved to see the flame replacing the cotton, licking the edge of the cloth with
softness and leaving the voiceless ashes tumbled. She collected the hair from
the comb as well. They turned into ball when they were heated, like panic
school of fish is running away from a predator.
Sitting
beside the fireplace, Pei appreciated the warmth of fire. It’s her first time
to stay beside the fireplace. Her mother assigned her to take care of the fire.
The fire should stay in the balance. Pei was doing it flawlessly. She enjoyed
the dying moment of flame when she put a new piece of wood coal in to
fireplace. The flame would surround the new wood coal quietly, and took it over
in a sudden. The flame was dancing, performing to its only audience, Pei. The
flame was shimmering, winking glamorously and disappeared. The other dancer
jumped out and stretching like a cat and vanished. Pei kept the fire in the
required condition until her mother came and told her that she can let the fire
die. The flame evaporated and left the coal was twinkling, their color was
shifting like spreading lava. Pei slept beside the fireplace that night. In her
dream, she saw her promising future was hiding in the smoke.
Pei’s
secret base was located in the
back alley of their apartment. Her shoe box was not big enough to keep all her
collection. She had different kind of match boxes, lighters, candles, papers
and clothes, sometimes with a bottle of gas. Gas is not dangerous at all, Pei
knew how to let it burn gently. She had a bucket full with water to make sure
she extinguished the fire before she left. She knew the fire is dangerous, but
it was all under her control. She was hundred percent sure.
“The
firefighter was not sure what was the reason of the fire which took place in
the Wen-Chou alley, even though they had found the point of origin,” said the
anchor hastily,”
The firefighter found a few sets of equipment which can set everything of fire
efficiently, but investigation needs to be taken to clarify which set of the
equipment was the cause of the fire. Fortunately, there were no one injured and
property was not in great damage.” Pei turned off the television, looked up to
her mom. Pei’s mother was frowning. She sighed and rubbed her eyes.
“I
hope they can find out the arsonist as soon as possible,” said Pei’s mother,” I
am so proud of you, sweetheart. If you didn’t call the firefighter just in
time, our house would just burn into ashes.”
Pei
blinked, caressing the sandpaper of the match box she got from her
mother.
Very
sophisticated sense of storytelling...obliquely rendered setting and
psychologically infused, partially realized and partially obscured
protagonist…this story has a strong enough core to get published…keep writing…
