Free The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi Page B

saw Alice pour coffee cold from the pot and drink it looking out the window toward the Seaside House. No, now that the sea had risen the name had changed: it was now called the Sea House.
    Hafay knew that Alice had stepped into a kind of spirit trap. For the time being she was only watching, figuring out a way to get her out. She knew that at a time like this she could not try forcing it open or she would only end up tearing Alice apart.
    Hafay eventually decided to put on her nightgown and go out and have a drink with Alice. She quietly made a fresh pot of coffee. They did not even make eye contact in the darkness. Hafay brought out a candle holder a friend had carved out of a piece of driftwood and lit a candle, giving the two of them something to stare at. Hafay had a funny feeling that
kawas
was near, which she found reassuring. The two of them faced the firelight, and the sea. Finally Alice said, “Hafay, I’m sorry, I’ve barged in again to steal another cup of coffee.”
    “Barge in any time you like. Whatever you see here is yours.”
    Alice’s spirit had left her body. She was just sitting there, living off lingering warmth. The day she cooled off completely might be the beginning of a new life, or the end of everything. It was like the millet: it might ripen or wither, depending. Hafay could tell that was where Alice was at. She could just tell.
    “Hafay, I don’t mean to be nosy, but do you have family somewhere?” Alice turned her cup around in her hands. “If you don’t feel like talking about it, forget I asked.”
    “Yeah, I had parents, and I loved a fellah once. I often thought about having a kid, no matter who the father was.”
    Alice was looking out to sea, and Hafay too. They both knew that sometimes it’s better not to look right in someone’s eyes. “Hey, you know no one’s alone in this world. Don’t look at me now: when I was young I weighed all of a hundred pounds, and all male eyes would veer my way whenever I walked on by. But now time’s passed, and I’ve lost everything I had, ’cept I’ve gained a few extra pounds.” Hafay laughed cheerfully. Her laughter was contagious, and Alice even managed a laugh in return, just to be sociable.
    “But you’ve got this restaurant.”
    Hafay nodded. Yes, figuratively speaking, the Seventh Sisid had given Hafay a skeleton on which to hang her thoughts and memories.
    The two of them were drinking
salama
coffee, a fusion of Brazilian beans with a dash of sorghum, and certain fragrant herbs picked wild in the hills. The typical customer didn’t pay too much attention to it at first sip, not expecting to be drawn farther and farther, sip by sip, into the
salama
trap. Customers would smell the aroma left in the cup after the last swallow, a melange of rainforest, dusk and the burnt smell after a forest fire, and from then on would drink nothing but
salama
at the Seventh Sisid, almost without exception. Alice put the cup under her nose and her face opened up, like a window that had always been shut but was now letting in a bit of light.
    Hafay was still gazing out to sea when a gecko stopped on the glass. A glimmer appeared in her eyes. As if awakening from a long dream, she started to sing.
    Long long ago Nakaw and Sra came down from Mount Cilangasan
    to found Kiwit, the place where the Pangcah began
,
    for each of Nakaw’s children was the founder of a clan:
    Tapang Masra settled by a river in the north
    by the coast, in Ciwidian
.
    Tomay Masra erected two stones that have stood henceforth
    in the valley, in Sapat
.
    Calaw Panay stayed right at home
    and lived her days in Kiwit
.
    Karo Korol went off to roam
    and made it up to Tafalong
.
    Proud children of Mother Nakaw and Father Sra we’ll always be
.
    Just scent the wind and trace the stream and face the sea
,
    and you’ll find growing there the scattered seeds of Pangcah posterity
.
    As Alice did not understand a word of Pangcah, all she could do was follow the notes and let images