Last Visit to Gu Ling Street
My conversation with the folks at the grave paper shop this afternoon went something like this:
Cast of Characters:
Me
Master
Framebuilder
Housebuilder
Me: I'd like to ask you to make something for me.
Framebuilder: What would that be?
Me: Something to help my dead grandfather. He was blind. I'd like to send him some medicine. Or maybe it would be better to send him a doctor.
Framebuilder: Ask her.
Me (to the Housebuilder): Can you make something to help my grandfather?
Housebuilder: Yes, I think we can make something like a doctor to send.
Me: Like a doctor? Do you have a picture? What would that look like?
Housebuilder: I don't have a picture. I don't know how to explain it.
Housebuilder and Framebuilder (at the same time): Here comes the boss!
(as if on cue, a blue truck pulls up into the loading area and the Master jumps out of the truck)
Me: Can you make me something for my grandfather?
Master: Sure. For sick people, we usually make the God of Medicine.
(whips out foldable cardboard cutout of the God of Medicine - a half-naked balding wild-eyed, wild-haired man with a pot belly hanging over his grass skirt, holding two leafy branches and carrying what appears to be a medicinal gourd)
Me: (Slightly repulsed and thinking of what my Christian friend said about inviting the devil close) Are you sure it wouldn't be better to send medicine? (pull out cold medicine in mini-ziploc bags from my doctor)
Master: What was your grandfather's problem?
Me: He went blind in his forties when his first son was sent to war. We think maybe it was due to sadness. He's still blind.
Master: Sorry, the God of Medicine is sent when people took too much medicine or the wrong kind of medicine. That won't work for you.
Me: Yeah, so can you make me some medicine? A little bottle that just says "Cure for Blindness"?
Master: I can't. But you can make it yourself.
Me: But you're the Master. You made an airplane last week on special commission. I'll pay you to make this for me.
Master: There are some things we are forbidden from making. But really, you can make it yourself. I'll show you how.
(Rolling paper into a tube)
Just get a piece of paper a little heavier than this - any color, even white. Just roll it up and write the words that you want to write on the outside and than burn it.
Me: English or Chinese?
Master: Doesn't matter.
Cast of Characters:
Me
Master
Framebuilder
Housebuilder
Me: I'd like to ask you to make something for me.
Framebuilder: What would that be?
Me: Something to help my dead grandfather. He was blind. I'd like to send him some medicine. Or maybe it would be better to send him a doctor.
Framebuilder: Ask her.
Me (to the Housebuilder): Can you make something to help my grandfather?
Housebuilder: Yes, I think we can make something like a doctor to send.
Me: Like a doctor? Do you have a picture? What would that look like?
Housebuilder: I don't have a picture. I don't know how to explain it.
Housebuilder and Framebuilder (at the same time): Here comes the boss!
(as if on cue, a blue truck pulls up into the loading area and the Master jumps out of the truck)
Me: Can you make me something for my grandfather?
Master: Sure. For sick people, we usually make the God of Medicine.
(whips out foldable cardboard cutout of the God of Medicine - a half-naked balding wild-eyed, wild-haired man with a pot belly hanging over his grass skirt, holding two leafy branches and carrying what appears to be a medicinal gourd)
Me: (Slightly repulsed and thinking of what my Christian friend said about inviting the devil close) Are you sure it wouldn't be better to send medicine? (pull out cold medicine in mini-ziploc bags from my doctor)
Master: What was your grandfather's problem?
Me: He went blind in his forties when his first son was sent to war. We think maybe it was due to sadness. He's still blind.
Master: Sorry, the God of Medicine is sent when people took too much medicine or the wrong kind of medicine. That won't work for you.
Me: Yeah, so can you make me some medicine? A little bottle that just says "Cure for Blindness"?
Master: I can't. But you can make it yourself.
Me: But you're the Master. You made an airplane last week on special commission. I'll pay you to make this for me.
Master: There are some things we are forbidden from making. But really, you can make it yourself. I'll show you how.
(Rolling paper into a tube)
Just get a piece of paper a little heavier than this - any color, even white. Just roll it up and write the words that you want to write on the outside and than burn it.
Me: English or Chinese?
Master: Doesn't matter.
posted by Shin Yu Pai at 9:46 PM
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