Knock on the door

Author: Feng Jiqi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-01
Features:
Excerpt Introduction: If only that snake hadn’t appeared. A single snake managed to stir up the entire family. It was Ding Xiaoli who first spotted the snake. She quickly shouted, “A big snake!” Her cry was sharp and unnatural, as if her fingernails had forcefully pinched unripe corn kernels, sending a milky corn juice gushing upward, splattering unevenly onto people’s faces. Mother rushed out of the room, tripping over the threshold before she laced up her worn-out cloth shoes. Before even stepping off the porch, Mother eagerly called out, “Xiaoli! Xiaoli! Xiaoli!” Xiaoli ran over and hugged her mother’s waist. Mother asked her daughter, “Where is the big snake?” Xiaoli didn’t turn around and said, “Under the wall base.” Ding Xiaochun and his younger brother Ding Xiaqing walked past their mother and sister. They took only two steps forward before stopping at the same time, instinctively stretching their necks. There, under the eastern earthen wall, lay a pale snake as thick as a sickle. The warm sunlight after breakfast glinted on the snake’s lush green body, instantly making it the most striking, frightening, and dangerous part of the courtyard. The four walls, the ramshackle houses showing signs of hardship, and the iron shovels and pickaxes quietly standing in the yard—all living and inanimate things—were overshadowed by the presence of the snake, losing their luster.