This is a story that took forever to write. Well- not the actual writing part. That didn’t take long at all, but Shiyazi and Danny have been dancing around in my head for a while, and this story doesn’t even scratch the surface of the trouble that these two end up getting into. Don’ be too surprised if there is are more Yi Song Kai stories to come!
When Shiyazi was born, the cat had danced. Or so grandmother told her. Shiyazi didn’t know whether to believe this story, because now Biftu was fat and old and always had bread crumbs sticking to his yellow fur. She had seen him wriggle once, but that was only because her brother Huang had been dangling a piece of yarn in front of his nose.
Huang was always up to no good. Once he had broken the fancy mirror in the living room by kicking a ball at it. A crack had rolled down the center of the glass, like a tear drop, and when you looked into the mirror, your face was split in half. Of course mother had been upset, it was her mirror, but grandmother had been furious.
“You just spilt your soul in two boy” she said, her head bobbling along with the pink sleeping mask on her forehead. “No good. Now there is this Huang and mirror Huang. Never look mirror Huang in eye, he will try to steal your life.”
Huang had laughed until grandmother wacked the side of his head. Even after the wack, Shiyazi could see a smiling twitch in his upper lip. Her brother didn’t take grandmother seriously. No one really did, until she turned out to be right.
But grandmother was right about most things. Four summers ago, when spiders had flooded the house, no one but her had known what to do. There were spiders in the living room, spiders trailing over the tiles of the bathtub, and spiders in the ancestor’s shrine mingling with the incense and crawling on the portraits.
Shiyazi’s mother had cried out, “Evil curse” as a thin black spider crawled onto the picture of great uncle Yen making it look like his lip was being bitten, but Grandmother had chuckled and let her mouth pucker into the shape of a wrinkled grape.
“The boar horn. They want boar horn.” She said.
The family watched warily as grandmother hobbled to the fireplace and took the white boar horn down from its pegs. Shiyazi’s father had won the horn in a game of Di-suing when he was younger, and it had been on the wall above the fire place for so long that when Grandmother pried it off, you could see a pale brown imprint in its shape.
“Boar was a forest god before it was skilled by hunters. The spiders have come for its horn” Grandmother said as she carried the horn outside. The spiders followed, and at the time, Shiyazi had thought that they looked like the back petals that people threw onto the ground at parades.
***
“What does it mean when a cat dances?” Shiyazi asked as her hand hovered over the Di-suing board. She was the best Di-suing player in school, but had never come close to beating grandmother. After a moment she moved her favorite piece, the sleeper, to the center of the board.
“Is good when cat dances. It means that he sees bright future for you. Cat knows many things.” Grandmother eyed Biftu, who was standing on the windowsill. The cats tongue twirled like a pink streamer up his paw, and Shiyazi wondered if he was licking himself clean or simply eating bread crumbs off of his fur. Grandmother’s eyes focused back to the Di-suing board. She still had all of her good pieces.
“What do you think he saw?” Shiyazi’s eyes flickered upwards when Biftu ran into the window every time a pigeon flew too close to the glass. “If he can see so much, why doesn’t he see that he can’t eat pigeons if he is inside and they are outside?”
Grandmother shook her head and let out a hiss between her teeth. “Always why. Too many whys. Be good now and eat sandwiches grandmother makes for you.”
“But the game isn’t over yet.” Shiyazi’s lip curled up into a smile as she knocked grandmother’s soldier piece over with her sleeper. “Di-suing. I have slain your soldier.”
Grandmother moved her dancer piece to the last square on Shiyazi’s side of the board. “Di-suing I have slain your god.”
Shiyazi sighed and reached for the sandwich tray that sat on the table beside her captured Di-suing figures. Grandmother’s sandwiches were really only pieces of bread with butter between them, but Shiyazi liked them because you could sprinkle sugar between the slices and pretend that you were eating a piece of cake.
When grandmother slid her sleeping mask on and Huang snuck out to visit the girlfriend that he thought the family didn’t know about, Shiyazi dragged Biftu to her room and buried her face into his bread-crumb fur.
“Dance for me,” she said pulling his hind legs upwards like a marionette doll.
Biftu let out an unenthusiastic yawn that Shiyazi translated to ‘let me sleep and get fat you stupid girl’.
“Biftu. What did you see? Who did you see? Why did you dance?”
Shiyazi was sure that she asked her questions out loud, but somehow between her words and her breath, her mind had wandered to the place that she went when she fell asleep.
***
There were two chairs in the dream-world. One was the small plastic chair Shiyazi had loved when she was little, in the days were Huang would pretend that it was a palanquin, and that she was a goddess. The other chair was black, with padded armrests. That was the chair that Danny sat on.
When Shiyazi had first dreamed of Danny, she thought that he was an angel because he had told her that he lived in a place called Angel-land.
”But where are your wings?” She had asked him once, inspecting the triangles that his thin shoulder bones made in the back of his shirt.
“No. Not Angel-land. England.”
“An-Angleand.” The words had formed around Shiyazi’s mouth like pieces of shattered glass and Danny had laughed.
“England.” He said once more.
“En-gland.” Shiyazi repeated with a grin.
Sometimes she wondered if this was what Biftu had seen the day he danced. Perhaps the cat had seen Shiyazi and Danny sitting in the dream world, their two chairs dragged beside each other. Perhaps his cat ears had heard them sharing stories about the places they lived. Shiyazi’s stories were of grandmother, and broken mirrors. The country of Yi Song Kai, and games of Di-suing. Danny’s stories were of England, of a world that was stranger than her own.
***
“Were is En-gland” Shiyazi asked Huang as they walked to school together. Her orange golf shirt was still stiff and new, and her black shoes squeaked every time they hit the pavement. This year Huang was in the upper class, so instead of the golf-shirt, he wore a blue cardigan. Shiyazi noticed the way he puffed his chest out like a canary and eyed her orange shirt with disdain.
“Hmmm?” Her brother shifted his headphones down to his neck and let the upbeat lyrics of Mina-Mina’s new song leak into the morning like spilled water. Shiyazi didn’t think the young pop star was particularly good, but she was pretty, so a lot of the boys in school liked her.
“En-gland. Where is En-gland?” Shiyazi asked impatiently as her words were smothered by the cheery voice of Mina-Mina.
“Let me think…” Huang said as he scrunched his eyebrows together. “I remember now! It’s where the unicorns are. And the hungry ghosts. And the mirror people. It is where all of the make believe things live.”
Shiyazi punched her brother in the arm, and her fist bounced off of him like a piece of rubber. “Someone told me it was a real place in a dream ok.” she said.
“Yeah. And I had a dream about Mina-Mina last night, but it’s not like that was real. I wish. In my dream she was-”
“Gross. I don’t want to know.” Shiyazi said. “Besides you have a girlfriend. “
Huang shrugged, and then grinned. “She doesn’t have a butt like Mina-Mina. Anyways what else does your dream boyfriend tell you?”
“He’s not my boyfriend! And nothing really. Well by nothing I mean- nothing that is possible. Stuff about a city with busses that have two layers- like a birthday cake, and a giant clock taller than any house.”
Huang laughed. “Why would anyone need a clock bigger than a house? The things you dream about!” Around the corner, Shiyazi spotted two more blue cardigans. Huang walked faster.
When her brother was out of hearing distance Shiyazi murmured to herself. “I didn’t dream of them. I dreamt of him. He told me.”
***
Danny was already sitting on his chair by the time Shiyazi fell asleep. Not for the first time, she noticed how different her chair was from his. The back of his chair had a spine, like it was human, and at the bottom of the chair three wheels made it possible to swivel around the room.
“You’re here early,” Shiyazi said.
“Yeah. I fell asleep while I was trying to study Geography. I have a test tomorrow…but I don’t think I’m going to do very well.” With a shrug, Danny held up a book. The cover of it said The Historical Geography of Europe. “But Look! I brought this with me. Maybe it’s because I was thinking about geography really hard before I fell asleep.”
“Maybe I can help you study…I’m good at Geography. In primary class I memorized every city state in Yi Song Kai.” Shiyazi said.
“Our test is on where I live. I don’t think Yih-Sog… your country… will be on there.”
Shiyazi wrinkled her nose, and plucked the textbook from Danny’s lap. She giggled as she flipped through the pages. “Whales? There is a place called Whales? Where I am from that’s an animal name.”
Danny laughed. “I never thought of that! I guess it is sort of funny. It’s an animal name were I am from too.”
‘But were your from doesn’t exist.’ Shiyazi was about to say before she caught herself. ‘It’s just a dream. Like you.’ For some reason, her last thought made her a bit sad.
***
Shiyazi’s parents had only let her go to the party because Huang was going. The funny thing was, Huang’s attendance at a party was a tell-tale sign that it wasn’t the type of party that she should have been at in the first place.
Earlier, Shiyazi had seen Huang slip away with a girl -her lips were the same colour as the red stains on her brother’s neck- and with a panicked feeling, Shiyazi realized that other than Huang, she wasn’t sure who else at the party she knew. It was sort of like the time when she was six and they had gotten split up at the Autumn Festival.
She had lost sight of her brother during the gods’ march, were people dressed in exaggerated costumes to honour their spirits and their gods. Men wore boar horns and antlers like forest-gods. Girls walked on stilts with joints thin and sinewy like yew tree-gods. The audience threw black petals into the air, and sometimes if one of the pretend gods looked in your direction you could ask “are you a god oh nobly born?” They would answer, “Only until the last bell chimes” and toss you a sweet.
***
At the Autumn festival when Shiyazi had lost sight of Huang, everything had frightened her. The legs of the crowd seemed like an angry forest, and her head had bobbed around looking for something familiar. Eventually, the only sensible thing to do- or so she thought-was to walk towards the nearest corner and cry.
“It is bad luck to cry during the gods’ march girl. If the gods of sadness find you now… they will never leave you.” Said a voice from over Shiyazi’s shoulder.
The voice was deep and airy, and sounded like it was being whispered through every crack in the wall. Beside her, a lady with hollow eyes and hollow cheeks was weaving.
“I lost my brother.” Shiyazi said to the woman.
“Everyone loses someone. Eventually.” The woman said.
“I don’t know where to go.”
“Everyone goes to the same place. Eventually.” The woman said.
Shiyazi peered over at the woman’s weaving. It was a picture of a girl, in a dress like her own, among a sea of black petals. In the next scene the girl was petting a cat who looked curiously like Biftu. “Are you a god oh nobly born?” She asked.
The woman turned to face Shiyazi. “Yes. Sweet girl. You will know my name. Eventually.”
A prickle had formed down Shiyazi’s spine. Before she could say anything more, a hand spun her around. Huang’s face was red and his voice was harsh.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Didn’t I say to hold onto my hand?”
“I was talking to a god.” Shiyazi said. She turned around and pointed, but the corner were the weaver had been standing only moments ago was empty.
“What type of sweet did you get?” Huang asked.
“No I was talking to a real god.”
Huang rolled his eyes. “You’re starting to sound like grandmother. Seeing a god or spirit every time you cross the street.”
It was true. Grandmother was always talking about gods, and dancing cats, and mirror people. When Shiyazi did tell grandmother about the incident she said, “You saw god of things-to-come. Did you burn incense?”
Shiyazi shook her head.
“Did you give an offering?”
Shiyazi shook her head.
“Did you at least bow?”
Shiyazi was about to shake her head, but grandmother shook it for her.
“Such rude children. Break mirrors. Disrespect gods. Will you at least pray for grandmother when she goes to underworld?”
Shiyazi nodded. “Always.”
***
As she stood without her brother at the party, Shiyazi wondered if her head was bobbing like it had at the autumn festival. The only difference was that there was no hollow-faced woman to draw comfort from- not that the woman had been particularly comforting in the first place. With a sigh Shiyazi murmured a make-shift prayer to the god of-things-to-come. “Oh nobly born. If you were a god. A real god. Let someone talk to me. Anyone. Just let them talk to me.”
To her surprise, Shiyazi felt a tap on her back.
“Hey Yazi. Who was that person with your brother?” Edmee, a girl from Shiyazi’s class asked.
“His girlfriend… I think. I don’t really know. I know he has one, but he keeps everything a secret.” Shiyazi beamed.
“And you tell him everything?” Edmee asked with a sideways smile.
“Well. I tell him most things.” Shiyazi said reluctantly. It was true. She did share a lot with her brother. Just this morning, on the walk to school, she had told Huang about her latest meeting with Danny.
Last night Danny and she had talked about the music that they listened to. Shiyazi had mentioned Mina-Mina and Danny had talked about some band. The Ants. No. The Beetles.
“Brothers are weird!” said Edmee with a wave of her hand. With her other hand she tugged Shiyazi into a circle of their classmates. “Anyways! Play hug-kiss-love with us.”
Shiyazi could feel her palms sweating. “I don’t know. I don’t remember the rules.”
“Mhhhm.” Edmee gave Shiyazi a disbelieving nod. “Well it’s easy. If we spin the bottle and it lands on you, then you choose someone in the circle to face. You both can say either hug, kiss, or love. If you say the same thing, you have to do the action.”
“What’s the action for love?”
“Five minutes in a closet together.” Edmee giggled and glanced at the other members of the circle.
“I don’t think I really want…” Shiyazi let her voice trail off.
Edmee rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever.”
Shiyazi continued. “It’s just that-“
“I get it. You’ve never loved anyone. Well anyone but him. That boy who lives in your head.”
Shiyazi could feel her face redden. “Who told you about that?”
“Your brother did.”
***
“I hate my brother.” Shiyazi said to Danny. She wasn’t sitting on her chair. Instead she was on the floor reading a book that Danny had shown up with. The book was about wizards, and Shiyazi found it terribly funny.
“No you don’t. You’re just saying that.” Danny’s hands rolled over the Di-suing set that Shiyazi had brought into the dream world with her. She wasn’t as good at bringing things as Danny, so some of the pieces looked like it had melted in the sun.
“I don’t know…” Shiyazi murmured as she flipped the pages of Danny’s book. In the book, the rogue wizard had just escaped into the streets of London, and all of the characters were panicking. “Your books are funny Danny. Why does everyone find the wizard so strange?” She asked.
“It’s strange because stuff like that doesn’t happen in England. It isn’t magical like Yi Song Kai.”
“Yi Song Kai isn’t magical” Shiyazi frowned. If anything, the way Danny described England was magical. It had a castle and a real live queen who lived in it. It had trains that ran underground like rabbit holes.
“You talked to a god when you were six. Your grandmother can understand spiders.” Danny said.
Shiyazi shrugged. “My grandmother can’t really talk to spiders…she just knows. People meet gods once in a while, it’s like seeing a shooting star. When grandmother was my age a river god wanted to carry her off. She didn’t go because she met grandfather… but if it was me I would have.”
“Really?” asked Danny. “Why?”
“To get away from school I guess. And Huang. Because of him all the kids at school think I’m crazy.”
Danny laughed. “My parents think I’m crazy too you know. Well at least they think I need to go out more. They say that I’m too old for imaginary friends.”
In the dream world Shiyazi laughed. It wasn’t until she woke up that a thought hit her like a cloud of smoke.
How could Danny think she was the imaginary one…when he was?
***
“I’m sorry.” Hunag’s voice chimed above the traffic outside, it chimed above the sound of Biftu’s munching, and above Shiyazi’s own furious thoughts.
‘I don’t forgive you. I won’t ever…’ In Shiyazi’s mind everything was burning.
“I said I’m sorry.”
“I’m going downstairs. I need to get my bag before the Di-suing match,” said Shiyazi coolly without looking her brother in the eye.
As she searched for her bag, light from the “fancy mirror” directed itself onto her forehead. No one really called it the fancy mirror once Huang had broken it, but Shiyazi though that it was still pretty. Carved into the wooden frame of the mirror was a scene of a miniature circus. Wooden lions jumped through hoops, and acrobats held onto each other’s legs. In the back of her mind Shiyazi had always promised herself she would take the mirror out and use the frame to hold pictures. With a sigh, she ran her fingers down the crack Huang had made.
“Careful. Don’t break it even more now. Split a mirror in half and you’ll split you’re your soul into two. You don’t want your mirror-self running around like mine.”
“It doesn’t matter. You never believed anyways…” Shiyazi let her voice trail off.
“I saw him once you know.” Huang said.
“Who?”
“Mirror Hunag. I saw him at school. Holding my textbook. Wearing a blue cardigan. He was trying to talk to my friends but no one could see him but me.”
“What did you do? Did you tell grandmother?” Shiyazi asked. Her anger at Huang had subsided enough to show interest in his story.
“I turned around and started walking home so that we wouldn’t make eye contact. Of course I didn’t tell grandmother. Just another thing for her to be right about.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Shiyazi asked at last.
“I don’t know. I guess maybe if I can meet mirror Huang, then you meeting the boy from En-gland isn’t so weird after all. Maybe his world is the mirror world, and everything he thinks is normal, we think is strange. Maybe you didn’t dream him up at all. ” Hunag laughed. “Or maybe this entire world is were dreams go when their dreamers wake up.
Shiyazi gave her brother a half smile. “Now you’re the one who sounds like grandmother. You know. She isn’t right about everything.”
“Isn’t she?” Huang asked.
“Not once have I ever seen Biftu dance.”
***
When she fell asleep Shiyazi planned to teach Danny the rules of Di-suing. Yesterday he had taught her a game that they played in England, the board looked something like a Di-suing board, but the figures were different.
Surprisingly Shiyazi had won the first game, or perhaps Danny had just been going easy on her. When she toppled his king over she grinned and said “I have slain your god.”
Danny had corrected her. “No, it’s checkmate. We say checkmate.”
Shiyazi rested her favorite Di-shing piece, the sleeper, beside her on the pillow so that she could get its form right when she entered the dream world.
As her eyes closed, she had felt a rustle of bread-crumb fur against her cheek. Instead of Di-suing, she dreamed of Biftu.
“What’s your cat doing?” Danny asked curiously as he swivelled on the wheels of his black chair.
In the dream world, Biftu shook his left paw into the air, and then his right, like he was chasing invisible pigeons. In one swift motion he spun around, and rolled onto the ground.
Shiyazi laughed. “He’s dancing.”
Iron Ore 