Rain Bell on Tihu Hall Notes

Rain Bell | Fufonfia

Fri, 20 May 2011 06:49:17 +0800

Rain Bell Extra | Fufonfia

Dark Fragrance

Thursday, December 16. PLA 452 Hospital, Surgical Ward Three, Orthopedics Inpatient Department.

This wasn’t originally Old Mo’s night shift, but since the weekend was coming and he wanted to head back to his hometown in Nanchong tomorrow, he traded shifts with another doctor.

Under normal circumstances, orthopedics at night either had nothing to do or a major operation. Small injuries that just needed plaster casts and bandages could always be put off until dawn under the excuse of “observation” and then dumped on the interns for practice. As for the really big cases, the sort that required plasma, power saws, and steel pins, those never fell to him. The department chief would certainly take the lead himself. So when Old Mo was on night duty, he played PSP and watched soap operas.

Rain Bell | April

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:59:59 +0800

2011-04-02 10:29 Over the past two days we risked passing through heavily irradiated ground, retracing our way along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway through the contaminated region of Gangca county, hoping to reach Hargai and find a rail line leading into Gansu. But by the time we reached the Qinghai Lake farm, my wife and both Blade and his wife had fallen ill at the same time, burning with high fevers. To make matters worse, Blade’s car finally ran out of engine oil and blew the block. Five people became two, and we were stranded on this dangerous scorched earth.

Rain Bell | March

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 23:59:59 +0800

2011-03-01 09:12 We spent another day sitting in the sun, and my leg wound is nearly healed. I learned from one of the young soldiers how to disassemble a Type 81 automatic rifle, and with my clumsy hands I ended up smeared all over with gun oil. Charging my gear with the solar panel brought trouble. At first a few people came over with laptops and flashlights to top up their batteries. Later someone tried to carry off my solar panel with a bucket of water in hand, and when I stopped him he said, “Didn’t I give you water?” I later found out he was the driver of Vice Mayor Xu.

Rain Bell | February

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:59:59 +0800

2011-02-01 00:45 Overnight the government set up porridge kitchens all along the main streets of the county town, serving pilaf and clear noodle soup. Unexpectedly, I even saw blue tents marked with the United Nations emblem. At last, medical vehicles were visible again, and my wife ran off to collect some glucose and cold medicine. It was already after midnight. The smell of roasting mutton was drifting everywhere, and for a moment I felt as though I had slipped back many years into a night market in the northwest. I have a feeling we’re going to be staying here for a while.

Rain Bell | January

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 23:59:59 +0800

Rain Bell

01-01 00:09 Scattered firecrackers went off around the compound, sounding oddly out of place in all this darkness. Most people must already be asleep. I kissed my wife on the forehead, watched her drift off, then stepped onto the balcony. The red light on the camera mounted to the tripod blinked steadily like the eye of a Terminator. Far below, the white steel helmets of the sentries caught the searchlights in cold flashes, as if to remind me that time means nothing. It is only a ruler with which we measure our own suffering.

Rain Bell | December

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:59:59 +0800

Rain Bell

Rain Bell is an ongoing Twitter-novel experiment serialized simultaneously on Fanfou and Twitter. It tries to tell a near-future story set in Chengdu by following a real-time timeline in the voice of someone posting as events unfold.

12-17 18:00 This week has passed neither fast nor slow. Tonight the company had a gathering at a hotpot place on Chunxi Road. These days you can no longer trust hotpot with free broth bases. Who knows what kind of chili essence and coloring go into them. Still debating whether I should drive later. Saw a news item today about an unidentified woman’s body found in a greenbelt downtown. News like that barely registers with me now.