Ride the Universe

Fu Hsi

Fu Hsi

Tem ran up to Teddy's side. "Ready for the show?" he asked. "My dad read the review and wants to see it, too."

Teddy couldn't grasp what was happening, but managed a question: "Why does your dad want to see it?"

"You know he's interested in ancient history. He told me that Fu Hsi lived in China's ancient past and was famous for writing something called The Book of Changes."

Teddy's eyes widened. Ancient past? The Book of Changes? A door had opened.

Tem wondered what his friend was thinking, but he knew how easily Teddy could get lost in his thoughts. "Want to go in?"

Teddy nodded.

Teddy and Tem had been friends from the first grade, and now as eleven-year-olds they shared everything. Tem would do anything for his friend, but he was still smarting, just a little, after the game. Tem had imagined that he would win the championship, but when Teddy had caught that last out, Tem had dropped his disappointment and celebrated Teddy's speed and the long arm that had won Teddy the centerfield position.

Both boys were lanky, with Tem a little more muscular than Teddy; but in coloring they were opposites. Black hair fell over Tem's prominent eyebrows and bright dark eyes; Teddy's blue eyes, brown hair, and light round face were day to Tem's night.

The boys paid their twenty-five cents and sank into the big squeaky chairs. Teddy thought he saw Fu Hsi wave to him from the screen, but decided it must have been the dimming lights playing against the parting curtains.

Singing, gongs, bells and flutes lit up Teddy's senses. In the time it took for the curtains to part, the sounds had transported him to an unknown land. In the distance in the movie landscape, something moved against the reflecting light. A single note rang out and cut through his body. Laughter, as though ricocheting off the blue sky, grew closer. The laughter was so familiar. It couldn't be Fu Hsi.

"This is a movie," Teddy mumbled to himself.

He saw the faint outline of a man tumbling down a hill; smoke rose and then cleared to reveal a smiling bearded face bouncing up and down behind an ox-drawn cart.

"Whoa!" Fu Hsi bellowed on the screen, and the ox stopped, turned its head and snorted.

Teddy gazed into Fu Hsi's eyes. Fu Hsi winked.

"Tem, did you see that?" Teddy whispered.

"See what?"

"Fu Hsi winked. He just stopped and winked."

"No, he's riding in the cart, he hasn't stopped."

Teddy slapped his hands to his face. It was Fu Hsi from his dreams. How could he be in the movie? How could he see Teddy? Teddy's thoughts raced, and his heart pounded out of sync.

Fu Hsi struck the ox, and the bellowing animal raised its head. Its hoofs kicked up dust as the cart rumbled along the winding road.

Teddy looked at the back of Fu Hsi's clothes. Lines, circles and triangles, all making various patterns that looked like planets and Stars, faded out of sight as the cart topped a hill and descended out of sight. Teddy's feet began to tap; he wanted to run after the old man. He heard the sound of bells, and a faint high then low humming noise. Smoke drifted in the air.

The scene cut to a valley, where Fu Hsi was setting up his traveling show. As dusk settled in, he unfurled his banner of odd symbols, and then lit the lamps. More carts creaked along the road and families gathered. Their chatter and laughter filled the night air. A light breeze swayed the treetops, and Stars began to twinkle between the branches. The show began with a red plumed falcon soaring through the sky and lighting on Fu Hsi's shoulder.

"Good evening to you all, young and old, those who are frail and those of good health," Fu Hsi said. "I know you have all come for some entertainment, and I will not disappoint you. Say hello to Horus the falcon. He will be my assistant tonight." Fu Hsi smiled.

The people laughed and settled in for the show. Teddy wished he could be as close as they were, just a few feet away from Fu Hsi.

Dressed in a dark blue robe and a yellow tasseled hat over his jet-black hair, Fu Hsi commanded attention. Though Teddy couldn't see the color of his eyes, they had a piercing quality, as though a surreal light was shining out of them. Fu Hsi's movements were smooth and rhythmic; he seemed to bounce along the ground rather than walk.

Teddy leaned forward, resting his elbows on the seat in front of him, his chin on his folded hands. He felt those same movements when his lean body ran to center field after a well-struck ball. At those times Teddy moved like the ball, sailing along as though his body had become the wind.

Horus the falcon darted from Fu Hsi's shoulder and disappeared into the night sky. Fu Hsi called the audience's attention to a glass of water in his hand. He asked a young girl who was dressed in red to step up and taste the water. She looked at her mother for encouragement and received an approving smile.

The girl giggled as Fu Hsi held the glass in the palm of his hand and presented it to her. Her sip lit up her face. "Your water tastes so good. Where did you get it?" she cried out.

"Ah, special water," Fu Hsi said, almost in a whisper. "It tasted like water?"

"Oh, yes, very good water," came the reply, sharp as the falcon's talons.

"Now watch very carefully," instructed Fu Hsi.

He lifted the glass of water and began to drink slowly, the fire of the lamps illuminating the glass. As the last drop of water passed his lips, a light darted through the glass and pressed against the bottom, growing brighter and brighter. In a flash, the glass floated away from his hand, carried by the brilliant light, and came to rest in mid-air over the red-dressed girl.

Tem's eyes widened. It reminded him of other lights that flashed.

Laughter and applause rang out as the girl jumped high, reaching for the glass. After her third jump, the glass tumbled into her hands and the light entered her eyes; a smile as wide as the world filled her face.

Fu Hsi bowed to the clapping throng as the night wind swirled.

"More magic!" cried a little boy, reaching out to Fu Hsi from his mother's lap.

Fu Hsi winked at the boy. Blue light shone from his eye, danced in the air and darted off, circulating high overhead. The little boy inhaled delight, raising his hands to his face and burying his head in his mother's breasts.

Everyone's hats began to wave in a single direction, along with the campfires. A high wind blew the hats into the air and held them aloft before they began circling the audience. Everyone reached for the hats, which moved quickly, tantalizingly, out of reach.

Teddy reached up for a hat. Tem did the same thing. They looked at each other and laughed.

On screen, shouts broke out and circulated with the hats.

"Look above," a man in the audience called out, "it's the falcon circling."

Horus the falcon had returned, floating on the wind, soaring around and around.

"No, the Stars are circling," said another man.

"No, it's the falcon flying around," said yet another.

People shouted out their awe of the Stars, and Horus the falcon, and the transforming night sky. Around and around went the circling of the falcon and the Stars.

A young man c****d his head at a slight rumbling sound. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Is it the wind?" another questioned.

"No, it's the sound within the wind," someone answered.

"What do you mean?" an old man bellowed.

"It's the voice of the wind."

"No, it's just the wind," the old man said.

Finally, a young boy asked, "Fu Hsi, is the voice of the wind moving the Stars?"

"Ah, the voice of the wind—"

A rainbow of lightning, followed by a tremendous clap of thunder, cut short Fu Hsi's answer. The wind rushed upwards, taking all of the hats beyond sight into the dark of the night sky.

"I hear the thunder in the wind," a woman called out.

"I hear it, too," said her daughter.

At that moment, the wind and thunder ceased. The hats fell back toward earth, humming, onto people's heads. The blue light melted into the darkness as applause spread through the night.

Mesmerized, Teddy gazed at the screen. He barely moved. "How does Fu Hsi work his magic?" he whispered.

"I don't know," Tem said, "but I wish I was there." Tem had also seen those gorgeous colors of light before, but he had never told anyone, not even Teddy.

"I've seen Fu Hsi before in my dreams, and sometimes in the distance," Teddy whispered. "I think I can see him in the movie; but when I look right at him I can't see him. All I see is the actor playing Fu Hsi." Teddy let out the barest of breaths.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you more after the movie." Teddy pointed to the screen. "Look at that."

Fu Hsi was raising his hands. Something reflecting the light of a crescent Moon shone far off in the starlit night. Fear overtook the children in the crowd, and they huddled close to their parents. Silence hung in the air; the shimmering filled everyone's gaze.

Teddy held his breath.

"I see and smell water," a little boy said to his father.

"No, it can't be," the father said. "This is a valley. There's never been a lake here."

A whoosh and a splash silenced the conversations. Horus the falcon circled overhead with a fish in his talons. Water dripped over the enchanted throng, and the falcon suddenly swooped down.

"Unbelievable," shouted a young woman.

"Let's go to the lake," the little boy yelled, but his feet wouldn't move.

None of the people could move their feet. They were all firmly planted in the earth up to their ankles. Stunned faces looked down and around. They gazed out into the distance, expecting to see the shimmering lake, but instead the outline of a vast mountain appeared.

"Oh my," an old woman said, "this can't…" Her words failed, and she fainted to the ground.

A little girl turned to her father. "Daddy, what's happening?"

"I don't know," he said. "Never in my life have I seen such sights."

"Who else can see the mountain?" a young man asked.

"I can, I can!" rang the response of the crowd.

"Half the sky is missing, and the mountain is huge," thundered an old man.

The falcon returned, flying just out of reach of the crowd, and they could all see what looked like white trim on his wings.

"It's snow," a woman shouted.

Teddy shook his head and whispered to Tem. "Fu Hsi is so powerful. I'd love to have his power to change things."

Tem shook his head, too, but for a different reason. "But things can't really change into something else, Teddy."

Horus the falcon landed on Fu Hsi's shoulder. Fu Hsi called to anyone who wished to touch the snow to come forward. Their feet now free of the earth, the crowd clambered around this wizard of a man and the powerful bird, their eyes reflecting snow in summer.

Fu Hsi dropped his hands, and there was a deafening thud.

The Stars returned to their rightful place, the mountain disappeared, and the lake was no more. The falcon shrugged off the snow onto Fu Hsi's shoulders and took off into the starry sky.

"Truth is magic!" roared Fu Hsi. "Let the Stars, Sun and Moon guide your lives. We will meet again." Then he disappeared with the ox cart and the falcon.

The people wandered away, asking each other whether Fu Hsi had flown into the heavens or sunk into the earth. They left feeling excited and astonished, wondering: What is magic? What is truth?

Teddy rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the seat. Had the Fu Hsi of his dreams really winked at him from the movie? What a crazy question. But the Fu Hsi on the screen had definitely pierced him with his parting words.

Teddy remembered his thought before falling asleep last night. He closed his eyes, made a decision to follow Fu Hsi's advice, and sent a silent request: Dear Moon; help me find Jean.

Chapter 3