Chapter 5 - Ha ha, h-ha, h-ha haha!
clownfish - 0 | clownfish - 4 | clownfish - 6
“Cao Mu?” Shen Dong sat up and opened the window. Waking to suddenly see Cao Mu had a real sense of unreality to it.
“I’ve been knocking for ages,” Cao Mu smiled as he leaned in through the window. He held his hand out. “Here.”
“W-what?” Shen Dong moved back. There was something in Cao Mu’s hand but he couldn’t see what so he reached for the lamp next to his bed and turned it on.
“A scale. You wanted one, right?” Cao Mu said, waving his hand.
“Oh.” Shen Dong held out his hand and Cao Mu carefully put the tine scale in it.
Shen Dong pinched the scale and held it under the light to better see the light rings on it.
He didn’t know what to say. Using this method to deduce Cao Mu’s age was a little…
“How old?” Cao Mu asked excitedly, still leaning in.
“Three.” Shen Dong got off the bed, went to the door and opened it. He motioned for Cao Mu to come in.
Beyond excited, Cao Mu padded around the house and went in. “Three? Three years old?”
“Oh.” Shen Dong put the scale down on the desk. Three years old.
“Then, how old are you?” Cao Mu seemed completely unperturbed at this turn of events and was just as excited.
“Tw-tw…”
“Two? Ha! Then I’m older than you!” Cao Mu shouted.
Shen Dong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. At first he wanted to tell Cao Mu he wasn’t two but that wasn’t the most important thing. He pointed at him. “B-be quiet.”
“Oh.”
“Twenty five,” said Shen Dong.
“Ah? How old?” Cao Mu stared at him.
Toward his own age, Cao Mu seemed to have no opinions, but faced with such a big difference in number, he suddenly seemed to care.
Cao Mu’s brows furrowed and he thought for a while, then, “Twenty two years difference… No way. You sure you did it right?”
Shen Dong eyed him and said nothing.
If it didn’t get eaten or sick or fished up, a clownfish’s normal lifespan was about ten or so years. Even if Cao Mu was an old clownfish, he’d still only be about ten years old.
Shen Dong knew this wasn’t something he could explain in just a few sentences so didn’t want to bother trying to explain all this, especially if it meant he’d be stuttering all the way. Besides, who knew if Cao Mu would even remember it.
He grabbed his watch face, checked the time and estimated the time. He had better get to work. It was important to have someone in the lighthouse just in case anything happened.
“How come it’s so different…” Cao Mu still didn’t get it.
Shen Dong grabbed some dry clothes. He planned to take a quick shower then head to the lighthouse.
“Whatcha doing?” Cao Mu asked as he followed him.
“Shower.”
“Shower what?”
Shower myself, what else?! Shen Dong sighed, gave him a look then continued out the door. “Me.”
“You have a shower? Why? Can’t you just jump in the ocean?” Cao Mu asked.
Now that he thought about it, Cao Mu spent all day soaking in the ocean. If he didn’t shower, wouldn’t he feel uncomfortable? Curious, Shen Dong stopped and turned to touch Cao Mu’s arm.
“Don’t hit me!” Cao Mu dodged back from his hand.
“…I’m not.” Shen Dong reached for his waist. To his surprise, he found that Cao Mu’s skin was silky smooth, completely unlike someone who’d been soaking in water.
Was it because he was a fish, not a human?
“Aiya!” Cao Mu laughed and wriggled away. “That itches!”
Shen Dong saw his reaction and also laughed. He hadn’t met someone so easily itchy before, let alone someone who made such a big deal out of it.
“You laughed!” Cao Mu stared at Shen Dong, eyes wide. He looked like he’d just stumbled upon an octopus.
“I…” Shen Dong didn’t want to squabble so took his clothes and went to the shower stall, nearly banging Cao Mu’s nose as he shut the door.
“Why’d you close the door? It’s boring if you can’t see who you’re talking to,” Cao Mu complained, leaning against the side of the door. “Is it cos you’re naked? So you can’t let people see? But you’ve seen me naked…”
Shen Dong yanked the door open and shoved a wet towel into Cao Mu’s face, splashing him with water. Then he shut the door again. “Shut up!”
“Your temper’s real bad…” Cao Mu said as he wiped his face. He didn’t continue on and instead crouched down by the door and listened to the sound of running water. After a while, he thought of something and knocked at the door. “Shen Dong, can you laugh again? The kind where you go ‘hahaha’?”
“Why?” came Shen Dong’s muffled voice.
“Hahahaha!” Cao Mu laughed, then knocked the door again. “If you laugh like that, with your stutter, it would become ‘Ha ha, h-ha, h-ha haha!‘”
Right as Cao Mu was crouched down, laughing, the door of the shower stall burst open revealing Shen Dong. He was naked but for a towel around his waist. He raised his foot and kicked Cao Mu’s shoulder.
“Ah!” Cao Mu splatted to the ground. As he got up and rubbed his shoulder, he saw that Shen Dong was back in the stall and about to shut the door.
Cao Mu shot forward and pushed the door open. “Don’t close it!”
Shen Dong ignored him and tried to push it closed, but after a few attempts, he realised just using one hand wasn’t enough. He turned and put his back to the door.
“Why you always hit people?” Cao Mu shouted.
Shen Dong used his back to push against the door but again found that he couldn’t. At first he’d only been somewhat annoyed but now, on hearing those words, he flared up.
His people? If it weren’t for you going ‘stutter this’, ‘stutter that’, who’d bother trying to hit you?!
“Let me tell you!” Shen Dong yanked the door open and pointed a finger at Cao Mu’s nose. “You know what I hate the most? People bringing up my stuttering. You do it again and I swear I’ll chop you up and make a nice dish of sweet and sour fish!”
Cao Mu was stunned. He stared at Shen Dong, unspeaking. Then after a while, he pointed at Shen Dong’s lower half. “You’re not covering it? I can see everything.”
“Didn’t you want to see? So look!” Shen Dong replied wooden faced.
“I didn’t say I wanted to see,” Cao Mu said. He stepped back. He’d originally wanted to say ‘you’re not stuttering again’, but he didn’t dare. Shen Dong, though not a cheery person, hadn’t been that harsh to him before. Cao Mu lowered his head and said in a small voice, “I’m not talking.”
The door closed with a clatter. “Don’t just stand there. What ever you need to do, just go do it,” came Shen Dong’s voice.
“Oh.” Cao Mu stared a while at the closed door then slowly turned and left.
After showering, Shen Dong headed to the lighthouse. He didn’t the usual inspection then turned on the computer. As the machine rattled and spat, he suddenly felt like a smoke.
His pack was still at him, and he didn’t want to bother going back for it, so after some contemplation, he thought of Chen-shu’s water pipe and tobacco.
He wasn’t used to using it, it made him cough, but the inexplicable sudden nicotine craving made him rise and get it. But after just two puffs, he threw it down.
“Shit.” Shen Dong swallowed. He’d probably never get used to that taste.
The watch room was peaceful, the distant sound of crashing waves against the rocks making it even mroe so.
Shen Dong grabbed the computer mouse and started clicking. Today’s game of minesweepers was not going along smoothly. After only half an hour, he got blown up.
He was absentminded.
But that was to be expected. Anyone who’d experienced what he had these past two days would be too. He closed the game and started up a new one.
After three hours, he finally gave up. Not a single completed game. Even in his best one, when he was down to ten bombs, a stray shake of his hand had had him mis-clicking and blowing himself up anyway.
“Ah…” Shen Dong chucked the mouse away, stretched, then got up to get himself a cup of water.
It wasn’t even twelve yet. Normally he could play minesweepers all night but in his current condition, he doubted he could make it to sunrise. Instead, he stood with his cup of water and pushed open the window.
The night air was refreshing and had none of the stickiness it had during the day.
Shen Dong looked out at the inky darkness. There was usually nothing much to see in this direction, let alone at night, just the occasional white waves. Over and over again, it would make anyone feel sleepy. Shen Dong let his eyes wander, wander downward, down to the rocky reef below…
When he leaned out the window to look at the reef below, he hadn’t thought he’d be able to see anyone. So when he did, his elbow nearly slipped on the window sill.
But he knew who it was.
Shen Dong took a deep breath then shouted out “Hey!”
“Ah!” Cao Mu gasped and looked around. “Who’s there?!”
Who else could it be? Shen Dong felt it couldn’t be helped so grabbed his electric torch and used it to shine around on the reef. When the beam of light passed over him, Cao Mu raised a hand to cover his eyes.
“I can’t see!” Cao Mu shouted.
Shen Dong grinned and turned off the torch, then he went back to sit in the watch room.
Though he found all this a load of nonsense, Shen Dong wasn’t afraid of Cao Mu at all. The guy was simple and clearly not dangerous. Only when Shen Dong remembered what had happened earlier did Shen Dong feel the true weight of them. Apart from those moments, when it came to Cao Mu, he was merely curious about the latter’s life.
According to what Cao Mu had said, the reason why Shen Dong had never run into Cao Mu before, be it as a human or as a fish, was because Cao Mu’s grandfather had still been around and so hadn’t needed to seek out someone to spend time with. But Shen Dong had spent years on the island, seven years, and he’d never even heard of this fish human stuff, not even from Chen-shu, so how did Cao Mu and his grandfather live their lives? From Cao Mu’s words, Shen Dong guessed they didn’t live all that far away.
The metal gate down below clanged and Shen Dong turned. He could hear someone walking up the stairs. From the sounds of it, the feet were bare. Had to be Cao Mu.
“I thought you were already asleep,” Cao Mu called up before arriving at the top.
“Y-you can’t sleep at, at work.” Shen Dong didn’t rise from his chair and watched as Cao Mu came in.
Cao Mu was wearing clothes. Shen Dong was moved. Though seeing naked men didn’t bother him, there was a time and place for that, he noticed that Cao Mu was carrying a curious bag in his hand.
“Do you want to eat something?” Cao Mu swung the bag back and forth. “I brought this for you, but then I thought you were asleep, so I didn’t come in.”
“W-what?” Shen Dong stared at him. Eat?
The bag in Cao Mu’s hand was made of cloth and looked old and battered. Just what exactly would food from it be like?
“Food,” Cao Mu said with a smile. He set the bag down on the table next to Shen Dong and opened it. “I haven’t eaten. If you’re hungry, we can eat together.”
Shen Dong took a look in the bag. For a few moments words failed him.
The items in the bag were indeed edible, steamed buns and bread and things like that - even half a roasted chicken.
However!
Shen Dong, he who had not gone ashore to the village before, knew exactly what they were - ancestral offerings!
“W-w-where did you… take, take these from?” Shen Dong asked, suppressing his shock. He pointed at the no small amount of food.
“From the village,” Cao Mu replied, apparently not paying attention to Shen Dong’s expression as he happily took a round flat cake with a red flower stamped on it and offered it to Shen Dong. “Sometimes there’s stuff, sometimes there isn’t. It all comes down to luck. You want the chicken?”
“Cao Mu…” Shen Dong took the flat cake. He looked at the rest of the food. This stuff shouldn’t be eaten. Even if it didn’t look like it had gone bad, but who knew how long it had been sitting out there for. Was he supposed to just join Cao Mu in this feast?
“Oh?” Cao Mu had a steam bun to his mouth and was about to take a bite of it when Shen Dong held out a hand to stop him. He stared at Shen Dong. “What?”
“You… a-always eat this?”
“Not always. When I’m a human I do, like right now. If you don’t eat, you’ll get hungry.” Cao Mu laughed.
“Come here.” Shen Dong rose, took the bun from Cao Mu’s hand and the flat cake and put them back in the bag, then pushed it all to the side. Then he went out of the Watch Room.
“Where you going? Chat?” Cao Mu followed him excitedly.
Shen Dong didn’t reply. Next to the entrance of the Watch Room was another small room. It was more or less a breakroom with an electric stove and a nearly complete cooking set. He and Chen-shu normally cooked here.
Usually that meant boiled fish noodles with bok choi, or bok choi, or bok choi. Or, when they had potatoes, with potatoes, or potatoes, or potatoes, since neither of these things could be kept for too long.
“Whatcha doing?” Cao Mu asked with great interest as he followed Shen Dong turning around the small room.
“You!” Shen Dong grabbed him by the elbow and pushed him to one wall then pointed at him. “Don’t move.”
“Oh.” Cao Mu nodded.
Shen Dong didn’t know how to explain to Cao Mu why he shouldn’t eat the food in the bag, be it the customs around offerings or the fact that things went off over time.
Before coming to the island, Shen Dong had also lived alone and he could only recall himself cooking. Even though on the island he basically just cooked noodles, he could say he was pretty good at it, and even Chen-shu loved to eat his noodles.
When he’d reached the step where he was to add the meat, he picked up a piece of fried ribbonfish, hesitated, then put it down again and instead took a piece of bacon.
“What’s that? It looks tastier,” Cao Mu asked from by the wall.
“Fish.” Shen Dong replied.
“Fish? What kind of fish?” Cao Mu looked carefully. “Ribbonfish?”
“Oh.” Shen Dong cut a piece of the fried ribbonfish and put it in a bowl. He felt weird about slicing up the corpse of a fish in front of another fish.
“Tasty?” Cao Mu asked.
Shen Dong couldn’t help but turn to look at him. Looked like his effort to spare the feelings of this little fish was wasted.
“Do you… want to e-eat it?” He asked Cao Mu.
“Which ever. I haven’t eaten either. No idea what they’re like,” was Cao Mu’s happy reply. “Any fish is fine. Grandpa said, the weak get eaten is a law of nature.”
So even you know such profound words, Shen Dong thought to himself with a chuckle.
Each time the ship came, it would bring fresh capsicum. It spoiled easily so Shen Dong added it to the bacon noodles. He dished it into a bowl then put it in front of Cao Mu.
“So tasty!” Cao Mu exclaimed after taking a bite, then shouted again, then ate another bite. “So spicy! I’m going to die!”
Spicy? Shen Dong took a bite himself but couldn’t taste anything like that. If he’d known Cao Mu had never eaten anything spicy before he would have cooked bok choi instead.
“How about…”
“So tasty!” Cao Mu shouted again, cutting him off. This was then quickly followed by another shout of ‘so spicy!’
Shen Dong decided to ignore him and eat his own food to the chorus of ‘tasty’ and ‘spicy’.
“H-how is… it?” Shen Dong asked Cao Mu, who’s face was covered in sweat.
“Way tastier than that other stuff. I’ve never eaten anything like this. So hot.” Cao Mu laughed and wiped his face.
Shen Dong found his words rather moving. So he’d never had a hot meal before?
He sighed. “L-later if you’re you’re hungry, c-come find me.”
“Really?” Cao Mu asked, looking shocked.
“Oh.”
“I knew you were a good person!” Cao Mu slapped his own leg. “When you’re free, come over to my place to play.”