chapter 2

My father shoved past me and hurried after Grandpa Eighteen, leaving me alone in the mourning hall.

I did not believe a word Grandpa Eighteen had said. My mother could not change my mind, so that night I began keeping vigil beside my brother’s coffin.

I sat alone, feeding paper money into the brazier and talking quietly to my brother.

Most of what I said was about the things we had done together as children. Tears kept falling as I spoke.

Men do not shed tears lightly, but every man has a grief deep enough to break him.

The candle flames flickered in the mourning hall. As the seconds slipped by, exhaustion swallowed every other feeling, and I drifted off against the wall.

“Shuanzi. Shuanzi.”

I opened my eyes. My brother stood beside the brick bed, tall and solid, looking exactly as I remembered him.

“All the grown-ups went to the brigade screening of Railroad Guerrilla,” he said, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go raid some birds’ nests!”

I agreed at once, sprang up, and followed him into the woods behind the village.

My brother spat into his palms and rubbed them together. “I’ve been watching the nest in this tree for days. I’ll climb up and get the eggs. You catch them below.”

We had done this countless times. He always climbed, and I always waited underneath with my shirt held out.

He might have been fat, but he was amazingly nimble. In a few quick movements, he reached the branches.

“Catch!” he shouted.

I watched his hand. Something small dropped from it.

I caught the object without thinking.

Wait. This wasn’t right. Why was it furry?

I looked down. A yellow creature lay curled in my palms, its eyes shut.

It was no bird’s egg.

“What is this thing, Kanzi?”

I stared at it as I called up to my brother.

He did not answer. When I finally looked up, there was no sign of him in the tree.

Panic stirred in me. I turned in circles, searching for him.

“Kanzi, stop hiding. I can see you.”

I called several times, but the woods remained silent.

I was about to climb the tree for a better view when I remembered the creature in my hands.

Its eyes were open now, staring straight into mine.

I lifted it closer, trying to see what it was.

Without warning, it sprang up and raced from my hand to my forearm.

I slapped at it in fright, but it moved too fast. In an instant, it was on my shoulder.

I jerked my body and smacked my shoulder.

The creature leaped aside with impossible agility and raked one claw across my eye.

“Ah!” I screamed and staggered backward.