In the Pond Read Free

the cartoon on the day of its publication. That night, someone even pasted a copy of it on the notice board at the front entrance. Because Bin was its author, people assumed he had sneaked to the plant at night and posted it there. In fact, he didn’t know of its appearance in the newspaper until he came to work early the next morning.
    On arriving at the plant, Bin was surprised to see his cartoon on the notice board. Several workers were gathered near it, chattering and smoking. They all congratulated him, but Bin nodded without showing anyenthusiasm. In his heart he was happy and couldn’t help thinking, Good, see how those bastards will patch up the whole thing. This will make them remember that I don’t forget an offense in a hurry.
    Entering the workshop, he ran into the director of Maintenance, Hsiao Peng, whose rank was not high enough to qualify him to compete for one of the four larger apartments; so Hsiao was among the outraged too. With a cunning smile he said to Bin, “That’s not a bad drawing, Young Shao. I’m impressed.”
    “I aimed it at some people,” Bin said, his jaw jutting out.
    “I know, you mean to correct the unhealthy tendency in our plant.” Hsiao was chewing a toffee, his round eyes blinking.
    Bin knew Hsiao was also one of the wolves, who grumbled only because he hadn’t got a piece of meat this time. Quietly he turned away to put on his work clothes.
    Within an hour after the morning shift started, the cartoon disappeared from the board. In the director’s office, Liu and Ma were restless, thinking how to handle this situation. Now they were notorious in the entire prefecture, only because they each had a faucet and an extra room in their new homes. Many leaders of higher authorities must have seen the cartoon and might have inquiries made about the people involved. That damn dog Shao Bin had turned upon his masters. No wonderpeople called him Man Hater. He simply hated everyone and couldn’t bear to see anybody better off than himself. They had to figure out a way to subdue him now; otherwise some workers would follow his example and make more trouble for them.
    That evening the plant held a workers-and-staff meeting in the dining hall. After everybody was seated, Secretary Liu began to speak about the allocation of cabbages, turnips, carrots, and rutabagas for the coming winter, and also about the coal that the plant would sell to its employees to supplement the fuel the state had rationed. After that, he turned to the main topic: the cartoon and its author. In a thick voice, the squat secretary announced that this was a serious political case and that Shao Bin, “a representative of bourgeois liberalism,” had to be responsible for all the consequences.
    Liu explained, “Comrade Shao Bin never expressed his dissatisfaction with the housing assignment. Then without the leaders’ knowledge and permission, he sent the cartoon to the newspaper. This is a sniping attack. As a result, he has damaged our plant’s reputation and slung mud in our faces. Besides, this is pure slander. You all know that only five single-story houses were built this year, but Shao Bin set up a tall building with his brush. In our commune no house is taller than White Mansion, which has only two stories. That’s a fact. How could our plant own a six-story building? If Comrade Shao is so constructive, we’d better invite him to build us a fewgreat mansions. Then everybody here will have a spacious, beautiful unit. That will solve the problem of our lack of funds. In a couple of weeks we’ll realize the ideal of Communism in our plant, and we’ll become a progressive model for all of China.”
    The audience laughed.
    Liu went on, “In the cartoon twelve adults, men and women, are painted as one family; this is an insult to those who have moved into the new apartments. Everybody knows that many workers got housing this time. How dare Shao Bin call the twenty-four families that live in the new houses