House of Trembling Leaves, The Read Free

At the dam face, water began to spray out from tiny chinks appearing all along the log wall, bursting through the gaps like needles of light through black Peranakan lace.
    The timber dam began to tremble. It began to groan. And then with a deafening CRACK it gave way.
    The torrent gushed forth, tossing logs about as if they were toothpicks. Like a ravenous sea monster, it came barrelling onto the banks, flattening all that stood in its path. It consumed a drove of bullocks in a giant cloud of spray. It smashed against a lone fisherman, devouring him in one like Leviathan swallowing Jonah. It gobbled up a small house and carried away its contents, including a child who was still inside. It obliterated everything in its path, growing higher and higher with each passing second and it was heading towards the main village.
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    She reclined on her front, his face resting on the small of her back.
    It was a beautiful and clear evening. The mosquitoes stayed in the tall grass and the low sun hung in the sky like a copper penny. She could hear the laughter and sigh of the festival crowd not far away. Through the canopy she saw the lines of rubber trees reaching out for miles beyond. ‘‘I remember when my father first took me down to the plantation,’’ she said in a wistful tone. ‘‘I must have been five or six. We made a cutting in the bark of a tree and teased a dribble of milky sap into a bowl. I used to do lots of things with Ah Ba.’’
    â€˜â€˜But not any more.’’
    â€˜â€˜Not any more. The business has taken over his life.’’
    She draped her head over the edge of the tree house to listen to the sounds of the forest and to allow the breeze from a distant sea to tingle her skin. She heard a swish of leaves. At that instant she thought she saw a human figure at the fringe of her vision – a faceless man looming momentarily out of the elephant grass. A knot in her stomach tightened. Her eyes scanned the forest floor. She tensed. Was that a silhouette plunging into the darkness? She couldn’t be sure. There was a snap of twigs and a quick, sharp whistling, a call to someone, followed immediately by a whistled reply.
    She sat up straight and reached for her clothes. She wanted to flee.
    â€˜â€˜What’s wrong?’’ he asked.
    â€˜â€˜I want to go.’’
    â€˜â€˜You’re trembling.’’
    â€˜â€˜Someone may have seen us.’’
    They dressed and climbed down from the tree house. A chill went through her bones. And that’s when she heard it – a rumbling, crashing noise, like rocks shifting under the weight of a hundred waterfalls. There was no way of knowing what it was but the vibrations could be felt through the soles of her feet. At first she guessed it was an earthquake or a thunderclap; then she thought of cannon fire. Running was the only way she knew to ward off the fear.
    She ran downhill towards the village, tearing through the tall weeds and lalang thickets, towards the growing mass of sound. Her cotton shoes squelched with every step. She couldn’t understand why there was water rising up above her ankles. Each stride she took the water got deeper. The cold crept higher up her legs and then to her bewilderment she found dozens of silver-scaled fish sprawled out on their sides, gasping in the marshy shallows.
    She rushed through the elephant grass and stopped dead at the perimeter of the village square. The river was overflowing, unloading cargoes of mud. Everything was swamped. Staring in disbelief, trying to catch her breath, she watched the torrent sweep past her at a ferocious speed, carrying flotsam and stubble, bullock carcasses and uprooted trees. Choking, goggle-eyed people clung to walls and windowsills and knolls with the current tearing at them; hands ripped fistfuls of grass from the earth before vanishing. Someone was screaming to get the children to higher ground. A woman searching