Chapter 24: The Old Mountains

Su Ye carried both of his sons up the old mountain, and he did not hand either of them to anyone.

The younger boy rode in a sling against his chest.

The older boy rode on his shoulders, holding two fistfuls of hair.

The path was three kilometers of stone steps.

Behind him came the Chairman, with a walking stick and a list.

Behind the Chairman came Mrs. Su, in a cream blouse and sensible shoes, with a basket.

Last came Lu Chen, carrying a thermos of tea and nothing else.

"Point one," said the Chairman, at the first rest. "He is breathing very loudly."

"I'm fine."

"Point two. He is not fine."

"Ye," Mrs. Su called up the steps. "Give me the little one."

"No."

"Give Lu Chen the little one."

"No," said Su Ye, and kept climbing.

At the top, two cabins stood on a shelf of rock above the clouds.

Each had a stone chimney and a porch that looked out over three ranges of green.

The grandparents took the big cabin, and the boys, and the basket.

"Point three," said the Chairman, setting down his stick. "Go away."

"Dad."

"You have until noon tomorrow.

"Point four, there is a hot spring on your porch.

"Point five, do not use it near the children's window."

Mrs. Su took the older boy by the hand and led him inside, smiling to herself.

The door shut.

Lu Chen and Su Ye stood on the porch in the late gold light, with nothing in their arms.

It felt, to Su Ye, extremely strange.

He sat down on the bench with a pen and a sheet of the cabin's cream paper, and began, very slowly, to write.

He wrote in his loopy, cheerful hand.

When he was finished, he read it through, once, and folded it into his shirt pocket.

Lu Chen was watching him from the doorway.

"What's that?"

"Later."

After dark, the stars came out over the ridge, thick and cold.

The spring ran steaming into a wooden tub on the porch.

Lu Chen undressed in the cabin light and stepped into the water with a long breath.

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