DOOR FOREVER

Shao Baojian

An old town in the South. A small compound with an old well. Inside the compound live eight
or nine ordinary families. The same old-styled one-story houses, the same
configurations for many years, despite the addition of modern gadgets inside the houses
recently.

Among the eight or nine households, two of them have only one resident each: old
bachelor Zheng Ruoki and old maid Pan Xue’er.

Zheng lives right next door to Pan.

“Morning,” he greets her. “Leaving?”

She replies and passes him, not slowing one step.

How many times have the neighbors seen the two passing each other in the compound but
heard only those two words? They are disheartened by the simple, emotionless repetition.

Pan is a bit over 40. Slim, oval face, pale skin, dressed simply but tastefully. She can still be
considered charming. She works at the florist down West Street. The neighbors have no idea
why such a charming woman would want to remain single. They only know that she is entitled
to love yet has never married.

Zheng moved into the compound five years ago right after Pan did. He is an art worker for a
movie theater, a painter more conscientious and careful than talented, it is said. He looks much
older than his age of 45 or 46. His hair, dry, messy, faded, shows no benefit of being combed
often. His back humps visibly. Thin face. Thin and narrow shoulders. Thin hands. Only that
pair of large eyes always glints with light of youth, and of dreams.

When he returns home, he often carries a bunch of fresh flowers, roses, crabapple,
wintersweet and so on, in all four seasons, and places the fresh flowers in a tall and
translucent blue vase.

He isn’t in the habit of visiting the neighbors. Once home, he stays inside. Sometimes he
comes out to wash clothes, dishes, and that tall, translucent blue vase. He then fills the vase
with clear well water and carries it home with extreme care, his mouth pouting.

A thick wall stands between his bedroom and that of Pan’s.

Next to his bed is an old bamboo bookshelf, the height of an adult, set against the wall. Atop
the bookshelf on the right is the permanent place for this blue vase.

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Besides this are some paintings, hanging here and there, some Chinese, some foreign,
some by others, some by himself.

It would be apparent from the configuration of furniture and the film of dust that has
gathered, that this household misses the presence of a woman, the aura of warmth only a
woman can create.

Yet the vase is always cleaned spotless, the water inside always crystal clear, and the
flowers always fresh and in full bloom.

The neighbors have once cherished a fond hope that the flowers he carries home would one
day appear inside the house of his next-door neighbor, Pan Xue’er. Yet this miracle never
happened. Naturally they began to develop a sweet and gentle feeling of sympathy for Zheng.

It drizzled one early morning in fall.

Zheng, holding an umbrella, greeted Pan as usual: “Morning.”

Pan, also holding an umbrella, replied as ever before: “Leaving?”

The rain stopped in the evening. She returned home from work, but he didn’t.

Word came that Zheng, while painting in the studio of the movie theater, had a heart
attack and fell to the ground. He died upon arriving at the hospital.

Some in this ordinary compound sobbed.

But Pan did not cry, though her eyes were red.

Wreaths were brought in, one after another. The big one, decorated with all kinds of
fresh flowers but without an elegy band, was from her in memory of him.

In this ordinary compound the sudden absence of an ordinary man, an old bachelor who had not
been favored by love, was felt keenly and with regret.

A few days later Pan Xue’er moved away. Sudden and unexpected.

While packing up Zheng’s things one day, the neighbors couldn’t help being amazed:
That blue vase looked like it had been cleaned recently: the white chrysanthemum in it had not
faded.

Everyone’s eyes popped when they moved the old bamboo bookshelf.

A Door! On the wall was a finely crafted purple-red door with a brass handle!

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Their hearts were tossed in turmoil: So that’s what was going on!

The neighbors grunted and sneered. The sorrow and respect they had felt for this old
bachelor only a few days ago was gone, replaced by an anger that could not be described or
uttered.

Then, someone reached to pull the door open but cried out—the brass handle was flat, and
the door and its frame were as smooth as the wall.

A door painted on the wall!