Five Spice Street

Everything happened behind his back. Indifferent, Madam X’s husband shut the door as usual and went on with his days, and as usual was haughty and cold toward other women. He walked with his head high and his chest thrust out, making it clear that he didn’t look at any woman except X. It really drove the women of Five Spice Street crazy. True, they couldn’t all be considered beautiful, but there were some who were sophisticated and elegant, and others who were warm and affectionate. The widow, for example. In no respect could Madam X-this skinny monkey-compare with her. And she herself said that although she was more than forty-five years old, she ‘‘had never been defeated by any man,’’ ‘‘she wouldn’t mind if as many as two hundred men showed up at once.’’ She whispered all this to X’s colleague, who broadcast it to all the residents of Five Spice Street. She made so much noise that all the middle-aged and young men (and even some of the old men) were squinting and itching to try. The widow also said (in a loud voice this time) that his haughtiness was a pose; she didn’t think it was genuine but rather showed his desperate inner struggle to keep his lust under control. Whenever-with her full breasts thrust out-she encountered him, she ‘‘saw with a sidelong glance’’ that he was ‘‘shaking all over’’ and ‘‘twitching as if insane.’’ Just ‘‘one look from her’’ would cause his line of defense to ‘‘collapse.’’ But, as everybody knew, she had always been an honest, straightforward woman. Ever since her husband died, she had cultivated herself through meditation, so now she had few desires and no interest in this sort of game. Consequently, his longing for her was nothing more than a hopeless dream. She would ‘‘never be moved by it.’’

There were many other opinions about Q’s appearance, but for reasons of space, we won’t mention them. The opinions of these five people produce a blurred, mutually conflicting impression: Q is a large man, either ugly or handsome, or with nothing remarkable about him, with a broad square face and an odd expression-he looks a little like a catfish.