Silk Coccoon

The long summer day is giving way to night. The sound of a thousand silkworms devouring mulberry leaves drowns out the summer crickets.

     "Xiao-Hong, why are you covering your eyes?"
     "Because if you close your eyes and listen, you can hear the ocean," she says to Father.
     "But, Xiao-Hong, you have never seen the ocean," Father replies with a smile.
     "Hush papa."

     "Come. Open your eyes. I'll tell you about all the wonderful things they will see when they grow up," Father teases her.
     "Will they see the ocean?" She asks him as her eyes fill with envy.
     "Yes, but on the other side of the world," Father replies.
     "The other side of the world?"
     "We will weave their silk into tapestries of gold and indigo, crimson and jade, and the silk merchants will use boats to carry these tapestries to Luo-Yang along the Yellow River. And then in horse-drawn wagons, other merchants will bring them to the capital city of Xi'an. They will pass by the Great Wall. They will be carried across the great desert on camelback. And beyond the sand dunes, the plateaus, beyond the snowy mountains, and the green valleys, they will see the ocean on the other side of the world," Father smiles triumphantly.
     "Papa, what's a camelback?" She asks.

Father laughs and lifts her up to hold her.
"That will be tomorrow night's story. Now, it is time for bed."

The midnight gongs are being struck. Try as she might, Xiao-Hong cannot imagine what a camelback looks like. So she tiptoes to the silkworm shed and carefully carries away a pair of silkworms in her hand. She lays them in a small wooden jewelry box together with some mulberry leaves. And she whispers to them,

"Don't worry. I will take care of you. You can have all the mulberry leaves you can eat. But when you grow up and see the camelbacks, come back and tell me what they look like."

And comforted by the certainty that the silkworms would keep their promise, Xiao-Hong falls asleep.

Autumn seeps into the summer air. The trees begin to shed their tired wings, and Xiao-Hong peers anxiously into the silkworm shed - not wanting to miss the moment the silkworms transform into tapestries of wondrous colors. She sees Father begin to take out the racks.

The sound of a thousand cocoons drowning in boiling water is silent, but deafening.

Xiao-Hong is frozen at the window, gripped by a sudden and nameless agony. As the air fills with a warm acrid scent, Xiao-Hong dashes to her room.

She sits huddled with the small wooden box held against her. Warm tears trickle down her face. She opens the lid slowly. Two moths with cream-colored wings are resting calmly inside. Holding back her tears, Xiao-Hong speaks softly to them as they flutter away into the autumn day,

"Beyond the great dunes, beyond the snowy mountains and green valleys is the ocean on the other side of the world. Let your wings carry you away, so that you can see with your own eyes what I will never be able to see. And if someone tells you that you could have become a wondrous tapestry of gold and indigo, tell them that you were meant to see the ocean on the other side of the world."