In the Pond

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SHAO BIN FELT SICK of Dismount Fort, a commune town where he had lived for over six years. His wife, Meilan, complained that she had to walk two miles to wash clothes on weekends. She couldn’t pedal, so Bin was supposed to take her on the carrier of his bicycle to the Blue Brook. But this month he worked weekends in the Harvest Fertilizer Plant and couldn’t help her. If only they had lived in Workers’ Park, the plant’s apartment compound, which was just hundreds of paces away from the waterside. These days Meilan prayed to Buddha at night, begging him to help her family get an apartment in the park soon.

“Don’t worry. We’ll have one this time,” Bin told her Wednesday afternoon.

“How can you be so sure?”

“They should give us one. I have more seniority than others.”

“That can’t be a guarantee.”

Indeed he had worked in the plant for six years. According to the principle of need and seniority, this time it seemed the Shaos should have a new apartment, but Meilan was not optimistic. “You know,” she said, “if I were you I’d give Secretary Liu and Director Ma two bottles of Grain Sap each. I heard that lots of people have visited them in the evenings. You shouldn’t just sit and wait.”

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