The Day the Sun Died by Yan Lianke & Carlos Rojas

Author:Yan Lianke & Carlos Rojas
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2018-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

BOOK SEVEN

Geng 5, Part One: The Chicks and Birds Fly Away

1. (3:01–3:10)

We couldn’t permit everyone to continue dreamwalking.

People died as easily as someone grinding his teeth while dreamwalking. They stole and looted as easily as someone mumbling something while dreamwalking. We walked back from the town government compound, but Father didn’t have any idea how to stop everyone from dreamwalking. He asked Mother to take a gas stove and an aluminum pot out to the square, where he lit the stove, brought the water in the pot to a boil, and added several handfuls of tea leaves.

Then he went to the pharmacy and bought all of its realgar ice-crystal for dispelling sleepiness and refreshing oneself, and added that to the pot.

In the middle of the night, the town was pitch-black, but the fire in the square was burning bright. There were no dreamwalkers in the square, or else they had all escaped from their dreams. Instead, there were groups of awake people: three and five, or four and six, standing in the square drinking realgar brew and tea.

That night, my father became an extraordinary saint. He arranged for my mother and for the awake passersby to prepare more tea and realgar medicinal brew. He found a gong somewhere and began beating it while they walked up and down the town’s streets and alleys, each of them shouting:

“Hey . . . On this night of the somnambulism, everyone needs to guard against theft and looting.”

“Hey . . . The village chief and the members of the town government are all dreamwalking. My own family needs to guard against theft and looting.”

“Hey . . . Everyone who is unable to conquer sleepiness should go to the square and drink some tea. Go drink some realgar brew. Your drowsiness will immediately be dispelled and you’ll feel as though you just woke up.”

Following the sound of his gong, many front doors and windows opened. It seemed as though all of the dreamwalkers really were going to gather in the square, where it was loud and noisy. They drank the tea and the realgar ice-crystal brew. As they were drinking, they discussed the events of that somnambulistic night. “How could they . . . ? How could they . . . ? How could they have let our Gaotian Town experience this once-in-a-century or once-in-a-millennium somnambulistic hysteria? Even if you are skeptical, you’ll have no choice but to believe it.” Footsteps resonated up and down the streets and alleys, and it seemed as though the entire world was filled with footsteps. Everyone was headed toward the square, to drink tea and hear extraordinary stories about the night of the great somnambulism.

A large crowd gathered in the square—so many people that it appeared as though they were holding a convention. The area was filled with the smell of tea and realgar ice-crystal brew. People were drinking while standing and squatting, and my mother was as busy as if she were at the market. She ladled several

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