Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 170 by Neil Clarke

Author:Neil Clarke [Clarke, Neil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magazine, science fiction, Science Fiction - Short Stories, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction And Fantasy, science fiction magazine
Publisher: Wyrm Publishing
Published: 2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

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They knew they were having a girl with the first B ultrasound. Hospital regulations didn’t permit them to ask, but it was only set up that way to increase “gray income” for doctors. The parents-to-be didn’t broach the subject, but the doctor hinted. Although there were things the hospital wasn’t allowed to reveal, if one wanted to know, it wasn’t impossible. After that he was silent. Actually, Dong Fang didn’t especially want to know, but not asking seemed like it would be rude. So, he flashed a hundred yuan, and when the doctor didn’t take it, he fished out another hundred.

The doctor said, “Your child will take after her mother. Good news either way I think, boy or girl, but of course if you don’t want her, there is something we can do.”

Dong Fang didn’t value boys over girls, not as far as he knew himself. He didn’t think male or female made much difference. This child was coming fast. He’d been dizzy since finding out. But after learning he would have a daughter, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed. He realized he’d been hoping for a son, deep down, for father and son racing VR cars at breakneck speed, battling alien monsters, pursuing the interests of boys and men. It was difficult to understand what a daughter would mean to him.

Shen Lan, however, was quite happy. Back outside, she said a girl was fine by her. A few days before, she’d thought of an especially nice girl’s name: Dong Qingwan, indicating the child would be beautiful like the famed poet and courtesan Dong Xiaowan. The name also stealthily incorporated a line of verse from the Book of Songs: “There was a beauty all alone, pure . . . qing, and graceful . . . wan.”

Dong Fang, not won over, said, “A boy could have a good name too. For instance . . . Dong Shixuan?”

“What a mess,” Shen Lan said. “Why not Dong Shizhang? A kid named ‘chairman of the board . . . ’”

Dong Fang laughed in exasperation. Gazing out the car window on the way home, he buried his nonexistent son Dong Shixuan.

As for the childhood pet name, Shen Lan had another good idea: Wanwan, unique and pleasant to the ear. The name actually moved Dong Fang, as though a pretty and mild girl already stood before him. At that moment, he couldn’t help recalling the first time he’d seen Shen Lan. They’d been at university then. It had been a rainy day, and he’d come out of the library and spotted a young woman in a gauzy dress standing inside the entrance colonnade, sheltering from the rain. Her long hair lightly drifted. Faint anxiety was written on her face. She was like a lily in misty rain. Dong Fang couldn’t help stopping to look, and their gazes met. There seemed to be an expectation in the young woman’s eyes, but she turned away shyly. Dong Fang’s feet felt drawn toward her as if by magnetism. He didn’t normally strike up conversations with female students.

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