Ocean of Words: Stories (Vintage International) by Ha Jin

Author:Ha Jin [Jin, Ha]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780804153522
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2014-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

MISS JEE

After we cleaned the classroom and spread rice straw along the wall to make a large bed, we — the Thirteenth Squad — had our first meeting. Sitting on the squared timber nailed to the floor to contain the straw, we were introducing ourselves. The squad leader said his name was Lu Hai. Unlike us recruits, he had served in the Fifth Regiment for two years.

Then we introduced ourselves, each in two or three sentences. Jee was the last to speak. “I’m Jee Jun, nineteen, an orphan, from Yushu County, Jilin Province. I joined the army because I’m grateful to the Party and the people who brought me up. The Russian Social-Imperialists have massed over a million troops along our border and attempt to invade our country, so it’s my duty to come and defend the Motherland with my blood and life!”

None of us had expected this slender lad to speak so well. His thin lips quivered after he stopped, and his long eyes gleamed.

Impressed, some of us struck up a conversation with him after the meeting. I thought Jee must have been a high school graduate, unlike me, who had gone through elementary school only. I wanted to get close to him but didn’t know how.

In the evening we studied newspapers together, Guan Chi and Jee Jun by turns reading out a long editorial, “Resolutely Punish the Russian Chauvinists.” After the study, we were preparing for bed. Wu Desheng smiled to himself, still sitting on the timber. “Jee Jun, you sounded funny when you read aloud, you know.”

“How?” Jee asked, unlacing his boots.

“You sounded like a girl.”

“Damn your mother!”

We all laughed. Wu’s eyelids were flapping. “It has nothing to do with my mother. You really sound like a girl. Don’t you think so, Fan Hsiong?”

He asked me, but before I could answer, Wang Fukai cut in, “Look, he looks like a girl too.”

“I look like your grandpa!”

We laughed again. Jee indeed resembled a girl, with a pale face, curved eyebrows, pink cheeks, slim hands and feet. “What a discovery,” Song Ang said. “We have a young lady among us.”

“Miss Jee, nice to meet you.” Guan Chi stretched out his hand.

“Miss Jee, how do you do?”

“Welcome to our squad, Miss Jee.”

“Can I help you, miss?”

“I screw all your mothers!”

Squad Leader Lu intervened. “Enough, men.” He turned to Jee. “Don’t take it to heart, Jee Jun. They were just joking, no hard feelings.”

We didn’t sleep well the first night. At eleven sharp, a horn burst out honking in the corridor like a crazy goose, and we all jumped up groping for our clothes in the dark. The electricity was out. Squad Leader Lu said in a subdued voice, “Emergency muster! Pack up your stuff, take your weapons, and follow me out.”

We were fumbling in the large straw bed. Zhang Min cursed and couldn’t find his socks; his large body knocked me about. Jee moaned weirdly while struggling to put on his clothes. A mug dropped on the floor. “You took my hat, Song Ang.

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