2016.05.25 Pyromania

　　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…