Rickshaw Boy: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

he stopped. He couldn’t leave those camels. All he had in the world now was his life, and he’d have happily picked up a length of rope if he could have found one. Even something that worthless would have brought him a sense of well-being; in other words, with that in his hand, he’d at least have something. Escaping was essential, but what good was a man’s life stripped bare of everything else? He had to take the animals with him, though he had no idea if they might come in handy; but they were, after all, something, and something quite big.
    He began pulling the camels to their feet. Clueless as to how to handle them, he wasn’t frightened; he’d come from the countryside, where he’d spent a good deal of time around domestic animals. Slowly, very slowly, they stood up. He had no time to worry whether or not they were tied together, and as soon as he realized he could get one camel to follow him, he started walking—one or all of them, it didn’t matter.
    He regretted the impulse as soon as he started out. Being accustomed to carrying heavy loads, camels walk slowly. And they aren’t just slow—they are cautious, fearful of slipping. Any water puddle or patch of mud can result in a sprain or a cracked knee. The value of a camel rests only in its legs. A damaged leg can put it out of commission. Meanwhile, Xiangzi was fleeing for his life.
    Years of pulling a rickshaw had honed Xiangzi’s sense of direction. But that did little to calm his confused state of mind. Finding the camels had at first made them the focus of his thoughts. But once he had them on their feet, he realized he didn’t know for sure where he was. It was so dark and he was so anxious that, even if he knew how to travel by the stars, he wouldn’t put his trust in them, since they—it seemed to him—were more anxious than he. They seemed to bump into each other in the dark sky, and he forced himself to stop looking up. Head down, he kept walking, slowly, his anxiety growing. He began to ponder his situation: since I’m walking with camels, I need to get away from the mountain paths and find a road. It’s a straight line from Moshi Pass—if that’s where I am—to Yellow Village. That means a real road and no detours. The words “no detours” carried considerable weight to a man who made his living pulling a rickshaw. But the road offered no possibility of concealment. What if he encountered another gang of soldiers? And even if he didn’t, did he look like someone who tended camels, given the tattered army clothes, his dirty face, and his long, unruly hair? No, not in a million years! What he looked like was a deserter. A deserter! It wouldn’t be so bad if soldiers caught him, but if villagers spotted him, he could look forward to being buried alive! That thought made him tremble. The sound of the camels walking behind him gave him a scare. His only chance of getting away was to abandon the camels, since they were holding him back. Maybe so, but he held on to the rope that was fixed to the lead camel’s nose. Let’s go, keep walking. We’ll wind up somewhere and deal with whatever’s waiting for us there. If I make it out alive, I’ve got camels to show for it. If I don’t, those are the breaks.
    He slipped out of his army clothes, tore off the tunic collar, and plucked off the last two conspicuous brass buttons and flung them into the darkness. They fell without a sound. Then he draped the collarless, buttonless shirt over his shoulders and tied the sleeves together in front of his chest, as if he were carrying a bundle on his back. That made him look less like a soldier on the run. Finally, he rolled the pant cuffs up just under his knees. He knew he still didn’t look much like a camel herder, but at least people wouldn’t spot him right off as a deserter. His dirty face and sweat-soaked body probably gave him the appearance of a coal miner. Ideas did not come to Xiangzi quickly, but when they came, they were well formed