Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square (17 page)

“Where is Father?” asked Little Turnip. It sounded he said this in his dreams.

Zhang Ping did not answer.

“Is he in America?” asked Little Turnip again.

“No, farther than that.” said Zhang Ping.

Chapter 10

As Baiyun walked toward the News Center in the morning of May 3rd, she heard on the loud speaker:

“The government has rejected the United Student Federation’s request for a dialogue. Instead the government put together a group of students who were selected by the government, complacent and uncritical of the government. This is unacceptable. The real student federation will organize a May 4
^th
march tomorrow to protest government’s insincerity.”

She opened the door and saw Li Yan talking on the phone and two others sitting by a table busy typing. Many layers of loose papers were strewn about the table. Dishes with half-eaten food were piled up on the corner of the table and the windowsill along with many ceramic tea and coffee cups.

“Hello, busy reporters!” Baiyun stepped in and stamped her feet since nobody bothered to look up when she opened the door.

“Baiyun, what do you have?” said Li Yan after putting the phone call on hold. “I’m taking donations from people from all over the world.

“Yes. I have secured support from the workers for our May 4
^th
March. My friend Dagong is organizing workers to join us as our ‘bodyguards’. Also have you heard of the ‘Flying Tiger Brigade’?”

“Yes. They transmit the news at lightning speed,” said Li Yan with raised eyebrows. “You’ve got their support, too?”

“Sure. My mother is the head of it,” said Baiyun a little proud also a little embarrassed,

“Wow. Great. Any details?”

“Yes. The workers will meet us here outside the Beida and march along with us. ‘The Flying Tiger Brigade’ will join us at the Three Ring Road near the Friendship hotel.”

“I will announce this to the public and it will be a huge boost to the moral! Thank you for the good work.” Li Yan returned to her phone conversation.

Baiyun handed a piece of paper that had an article she wrote last night to one of the writers. The writer thanked her and made a V sign with his index finger and middle finger. She V-signed him, too.

When she went outside the four-story student dormitory, reporters from ABC, BBC, CNN, The Chinese Daily, The Oriental Daily and The Hong Kong Daily News surrounded a few student leaders including Longfe and Yumei.

As soon as she stopped trying to be an observer, a reporter from The New York Times came over and put the microphone in front of her mouth.

“Do you want to say something to the world?” The reporter, a Chinese American who had sleek black hair and black square glasses, said in an accented Chinese.

At this moment, a voice came over from Longfe that overshadowed everyone else.

“I have an announcement to make. The government refuses to talk to us so far no matter how hard we have tried. Instead they are calling us a handful of unlawful individuals with ulterior motives have used the grief of students to create turmoil. So the Beida Student Federation has decided that we will march to the Tiananmen Square tomorrow to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the May 4
^th
movement. Beijing University students had led this historical event that helped to take back our Shandong province from the hands of Germans and Japanese. Today we will need this spirit more than ever. Using this occasion, we will show our sincerity for dialogue and we are not just ‘a handful of unlawful individuals to create turmoil’. We are a group of organized students and citizens wanting to have a peaceful talk with the government.”

The crowd cheered. “Yes. The government is by the people and for the people!”

A short young man whom Baiyun recognized was Xia Nan, the head of the communist party at the Economics Department, stepped in. “The school officials have asked me to convey this message to you. If the class boycott continues, it would be very hard for them to support you. If another demonstration happens tomorrow, you will definitely lose your chance to have a dialogue with the government and you will have to bear the consequences.” His voice was calm but chilling. The crowd went silent.

Baiyun tried hard to move forward. She felt like saying something. But Big Li had beaten her to the front.

“Let’s not give into government’s pressure. In a democratic society, demonstration is our right. This is our first step toward having a democratic society. So it is our condition for a dialogue with the government. Long live democracy! Long live freedom!” The crowd cheered with him.

Longfe stepped over. He gathered up Big Li, Yumei, and a few other student leaders. “Let’s have a meeting to decide about the demonstration tomorrow. Baiyun, you should come to this meeting as a News Center reporter.”

The crowd scattered and Longfe led a few students into the dormitory building. As they walked in the corridor toward the News Center, Baiyun noticed a few students in a dormitory shaving each other’s heads and writing their wills. She nudged Yumei.

“See. How do you think we could stop the rally?” Baiyun said and dragged Yumei to the room where these students were. One of them with a half-shaved head showed them his will on the back of a T-shirt written with red ink: “I join the student movement because I love my country. I’m not a counterrevolutionary and a lawless agitator. Please understand my actions.”

“Do you really think that you might die?” asked Baiyun. She was a little shaken by this. All this time, she was immersed in the class boycott and excitement of seeing Dagong. Shedding blood, is that possible? She asked herself.

“Let’s go,” said Yumei as though she had thought through all these potential perils.

“Wait. Let’s me write this down in my notebook so we can broadcast it from our radio station.” Baiyun wrote down the message written on the T-shirt and left with Yumei.

They entered a room next to the News Center. The room had four bunk beds with two on each side. As Baiyun entered, the smell of food and dirty laundry welcomed her. They managed to squeeze in between Longfe and Big Li in one of the lower bunks. Several had to climb up to upper bunks since the lower bunks had been taken.

“What do you all think? Should we offer a compromise?” asked Longfe.

Yumei stared at him and punched him on the arm, “Are you crazy? Did you see the students next door? They are shaving their heads and ready to die.”

“It’s too late to inform the Beijing Worker’s Union not to join us,” said Baiyun. She was looking forward to marching along with Dagong. She couldn’t imagine going back to the classroom anymore, at least not for a while. The genie is out of the bottle, she was telling herself. She heard this expression from a foreign journalist and liked it. She was not sure about the “Flying Tiger Brigade” due to Meiling. But she couldn’t worry so much. Actually she was a little proud of her mother.

“We can show the government that we are serious about the dialogue,” said Longfe calmly. “I mean we can offer our compromise by only marching to the Third Ring Road and then turn back, only a third of way to Tiananmen Square.”

“But the genie is out of the bottle. Who can stop it?” Baiyun blurted out. She couldn’t believe she was the one who wants to break the school’s regulations.

“Yes. I support Baiyun. She is right. At this point, there is no way we could stop the rally tomorrow. Let’s fight fire with fire!” Big Li shouted. His shaved head looked shining under the sunlight that crept through the window.

“Ok. I will tell the school official that the rally is on and we will try to turn back at the Third Ring Road but no guarantee,” said Longfe. Then he stood up and went to the center of the room. “The rally is on!” He extended his hand and others joined in. One after another, their hands piled up one by one to agreement. As Baiyun put her hand in, her heart beat fast. She envisioned a new life and a different kind of life ahead of her, for which she might be willing to sacrifice her life. She closed her eyes and asked herself, has she gone mad?

Early in the morning, Baiyun was awakened by noise of people whispering in the room.

“Yumei and Li Yan. Why didn’t you wake me up?” said Baiyun. She really didn’t want to miss this rally.

“You are awake. Shuuu.” Li Yan put her fingers on her lips. “Be quiet. Wenjing is still sleeping.”

“Is she going?” asked Baiyun.

“No. She is sick.”

“Ya. I’m not surprised,” whispered Baiyun.

“That’s the official answer,” said Wenjing sticking out her head from under the blanket. She had short bobbed hair and her smooth round face looked pale. “I seriously think you guys are totally crazy. You will be rolled over by tanks and be forgotten.” She put her head back under the blanket and started snoring.

“Wow. What an inspirational speech!” said Yumei and then looked at Baiyun and Li Yan whispering. “She is a total coward. Let’s leave her rotting in bed.”

After brushing their teeth and packing up some water and snacks, they raced to the men’s dormitory #28. Of course, they couldn’t move very fast. Several thousand students were lined up in the space between women’s dormitory #31 and men’s dormitory #28 by the north gate. They could barely see Longfe and Big Li in the front holding flags but it was impossible to get there. Baiyun was on tiptoes looking for Dagong but to no avail. They followed the sea of people after a student with a loudspeaker announced, “Let’s march.”

As soon as they marched out of the Beida gate, journalists, photographers, and camera crews for TV stations followed them. Then Baiyun’s eyes lit up. She saw the sign saying “Beijing Worker’s Union.” “That’s Dagong.” She yelled and then turned to Yumei and Li Yan, “Bye. I have to run because I told Dagong I would join him in the march.”

“No wonder, you have been so happy lately. You have a boyfriend, don’t you?” Yumei teased her.

“Of course, that’s always the reason,” said Li Yan mater-of-fact.

Baiyun waved at them pretending not hearing what they said. Her anticipation of seeing Dagong had overwhelmed her while fighting her way toward the “Beijing Worker’s Union” crowd. This crowd was easy to identify because they were a small group of muscular workers wearing black T-shirts, black workpants and white headbands stating “Democracy”. They did look like a group of intimidating bodyguards. Baiyun spotted six-foot tall Dagong right away. He was carrying a red flag with white print of “Democracy in China Now”. In order not to disturb him, Baiyun decided to sneak in and follow Dagong secretly. A few workers tried to ask her why she was there. She put her fingers across her mouth to indicate that they should be quiet. Of course, that didn’t last long. A few workers started chuckling quietly. Dagong turned around and saw Baiyun. He halted and called out, “Baiyun.” Then he tried to embrace her, which interrupted the whole flow of the worker’s union group. He pulled Baiyun to the side after giving his flag to a worker and telling them to go on.

They stood under a tree holding each other’s hands staring at each other. Although it had been three days since they saw each other, they still remembered where they had left off. Dagong had left her alone that day in the middle of Tiananmen Square without a proper kiss-good-bye.

For Dagong, this was the moment he had been anticipating for two days since he last saw her. Logically this beautiful, but nerdy girl with complicated family background had intrigued him. He wanted to know her more and understand her more, most of all, spend more time with her, alone. Emotionally, he just wished he could kiss her right here under this tree pretending not to notice people on the street, especially now when Baiyun was gazing at him with her two big innocent eyes. She looked so beautiful with her two brown eyes under two thick eyebrows, her red lips and her blushed smooth slightly freckled face. The small mole on her face next to her nose was definitely an enhancement for her. Yet, did he deserve her? Maybe 23 years ago he did when he was fresh out of high school and just about to enter the famous Beijing University. He didn’t now when he was old and married with a son. How would he tell her all that? How would she react to this? He didn’t have answers for all these questions. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop seeing her. It was a time of change. Maybe his life would change dramatically soon.

He gave Baiyun a hug. Baiyun naturally fell into his chest and buried her head in it. Then she looked up at him. Their faces were so close to each other. After a seemingly an eternity, Dagong broke away and said, “Let’s catch up with the others.” He held onto Baiyun’s left hand and started running and shoving through the crowd. Baiyun was a little disappointed after her anticipation of a passionate kiss from him. She hoped it would come later at a more appropriate time. She was grateful that it didn’t happen in public. She hated to be seen in public especially when Meiling could show up any minute and Lao Zheng would then take her home on his hideous motorcycle. She was so excited to be a part of this movement along with Dagong. With Dagong she ran toward the “Beijing Worker’s Union” banner. As she was running, the cold wind swept through her face. She galloped and if not for Dagong’s tight grip of her hand, she felt she could leap over the crowd. No one could stop her. They tried to run in the wooded area next to the road where it was not so crowded.