the Hour of Beginnings (MF rom) I. The Hour of Beginnings Anea woke up hours before the sunrise. For the past few weeks, she never slept more than four hours at a time, and she never had any dreams. She stretched her thin arms, heard the joints of her elbows crack, and left the hut without washing. The coral stone necklace that her future husband gave her was still in the hut. She had been working very hard for the past few weeks, and seven days ago she fell ill and became feverish. A large red blister appeared in the center of her forehead, but she never stopped to rest for long during the day. She needed to make twenty more pieces of cloth as part of her dowry. Her wedding was the next day. She went to the tub where she soaked strips of bark from wauke and mamaki trees, took several strips, and began scraping off the green outside skin with a shell from the beach nearby. Anea felt sleepy and to help keep herself awake, she sang a song her father had taught her. my tiny children laugh my tiny children grow playing in tall fields of flowers... Her father used to make up songs and stories for her when she couldn't sleep at night. In her mind, she saw once again the time when her father fell asleep while telling her a story about a playful, magical monkey. I remember this story, she said, and that's not how it goes. And she told her father the rest of the story as he fell asleep. In her mind, she heard her mother's voice: "Your father was always dreaming and never working. Now he's dead and we have nothing." She slapped herself on the face to wake herself up. She took a wooden mallet and started pounding the white insides of the bark so that it would flatten into a strip of cloth. Later, after the cloth dried, she would paint it like her mother taught her. Anea remembered how pleased her future husband looked when he first saw the cloth she made, and how he took the cloth in his black and calloused hands and touched it to his salt-wrinkled face. "My family, and other people on the other islands, will give much for this," he said to her mother. She was starting to fall asleep, and so she started to sing again. my tiny children laugh my tiny children grow playing in tall fields of flowers... She couldn't remember the rest of the song. It felt like something that happened a long time ago and she couldn't remember the words, exactly. She thought about the cloth she had to finish by the end of the day. Often, the kapa was still damp at nightfall, and then it had to be brought inside and sometimes the delicate pieces would smear. Anea straightened her aching shoulders and rubbed her eyes. "I wish the day would last longer," she said. Just then, a rooster flew next to her, and the rooster spoke with her father's voice. "If that is your wish, then I will help you," he said. He took a long cord made of coconut fiber in his beak and he flew from one end of the island to the other before returning to her side. "Take this cord," he said, "and when the sun comes you must catch him with it." Anea was happy and eager as she waited in the darkness. She felt well for the first time in weeks and she felt wide awake. When the first ray of sunrise appeared, she pulled the cord and caught the sun. The sun was furious and burned hot. He demanded that she set him free. "You have to promise to go more slowly today so my kapa will dry. If my kapa isn't dry, I won't have a dowry and my husband won't marry me, and my mother will starve." At that moment, she remembered the rest of her father's song. She made another demand: "Also, you have to promise that you won't burn as hot, or you'll kill the young flowers." When the sun realized that Anea could sacrifice herself for her mother and yet still have compassion for even the smallest flowers of the island, he fell in love with her. "If that is your wish," he said, "then I will help you." He vanished, leaving a blackness the in the sky, and reappeared next to her as a man. "Thank you," she said. She was happy he agreed, but she realized there was something else in his eyes. A question. She down looked at his chest, his legs. He was wholesome in a way that her future husband was not. He looked strong and gentle, and that made her smile before she could think. She reached out and touched his cheek with her hand, felt the stubble beneath her fingers. He let her explore his body, let her map the ridges of muscle and bone with her light touch. When he knew she was ready, they lay together and she opened her legs to him. He entered her slowly and she felt a stab of pain that melted away, and then she was full and warm inside. Her inner lips moistened him as he slid into her again and again. Something, some instinct told her what would happen -- when he came she laughed with joy at how right it felt. When the sun reappeared in the sky, he moved slowly and gently as a man sated with love. Anea's cloth dried completely that afternoon and the next day she married. Nine months later she gave birth to a child. The infant's skin was golden. Her husband was furious, but there was nothing he could do. He and his men eventually took over the island, but he feared that one day the descendents of the golden-skinned infant would reclaim the island for themselves. The sun loved Anea for the rest of her days, and even after she died he would sometimes disappear out of the sky to look for her. He remembered his promise to her, and for six months of the year he would move slowly across the sky so that the women of the island could dry their cloth, and for the other six, he hurried so that the young flowers could grow and flourish. Many generations later, the descendents of the golden-skinned infant placed a single giant stone at the site of her grave and carved her story into the face of the rock. my tiny children laugh my tiny children grow playing in tall fields of flowers my children cry my children weaken tending fields of golden flowers my children sleep my children lie buried under fields of young flowers * * * Julie was already waiting for him near the giant sundial. Even in the early light of dawn, Tom Kuo could see that she had many more freckles than she had when they first arrived on the island, and he knew that even his own Chinese complexion had grown darker. Julie stood motionless on the stone walkway. Her body weight was centered over her right foot, precisely over an acupuncture point called "the bubbling well." She held her arms in front of her in a gentle embrace. Tom admired her discipline. His tai chi teacher had taught him that standing meditation posture many years ago, but it was still very difficult for him to stand that way for more than a few minutes. She stood motionless for half an hour. And then, as the first rays of the sun appeared in the sky, she began to move almost imperceptibly. Her back relaxed forward and it seemed as if a great wave of molasses flowed outward and carried her arms with it. A muscle in her hip relaxed and caused her body to turn on an axis that went with mathematical precision from the tip of her head straight down along her spine and into the ground through the bubbling well point on her foot. She changed from moment to moment, liquid swirls flowing around forms of perfect geometry, but her body gave the illusion of being motionless as the shadows of the stones. Sunlight broke into colors as it filtered through the strands of her red hair. Two decades ago, Tom had heard that the Wu style of tai chi she was practicing was lost forever. He wondered where she learned it. "Want to join me?" she asked. Tom stood in front of her and let her place her hands on his arm. He closed his eyes. Her push felt like an ocean wave. The wave came at him so slowly he didn't notice it at first, and by the time he did it was too late. He knew he should turn like a matador dodging a bull, but his body felt light, as if he were floating, and then the wave picked him up and threw him. He stumbled backwards a few feet. Tom opened his eyes and stepped up to Julie again. "I'm out of practice," he said. The last time Tom practiced was several months ago with Amy. He was seeing Amy at the time. On that day, while they were practicing, he told her that it's impossible to lie while doing the exercise. Your body language would give it away instantly, he said. And then he felt Amy's muscles freeze as she tried to hide from his touch. A few questions later, the relationship was over. "You know, it's impossible to lie while doing this," he said as he put his hands on Julie's arm and pushed. Pushing on Julie's arm felt like pushing a cork with a finger while it's floating on water. She kept slipping away and coming back. She has nothing to hide, he thought. "Do you think I'm cute?" she asked. Tom hesitated for just an instant, but that was enough for her to bounce him like a basketball off the stone slab at his back. She grinned. He stepped up to her again, but this time he stood right next to her. His right leg was between her thighs. As he pushed forward, his leg brushed against her inner thigh. She quivered slightly, but managed to slip away again. Tom took a deep breath and closed his eyes again. He imagined that his weight oozed down into the ground like water flowing into soil. She leaned forward and pushed, and he felt her shorts slide down slightly as it rubbed against his leg. He sank downward and her push flowed above and around him. She missed. He pushed back, and this time she took his hand and placed it on her breast. "I'm getting warm," she said. "Would you take off my shirt?" Tom pulled her shirt up until it covered her head. She had small breasts with tight nipples. Julie swung her hips into his and knocked him off balance again. "Gee, did I distract you, Tom?" She laughed and took off the rest of her clothing. "Alright, you asked for it," Tom said. He made a show of taking off his shirt, and then his shorts and underwear as Julie watched wide-eyed. "Hey, no wonder you keep losing. You're supposed to be soft and yielding like water, but you're stiff," she said. She took his penis in her hand and pushed and pulled gently. He stood up next to her, fitted his hips into hers, and entered her. She rocked back and forth, pushing very, very gently, and held her arms around him. After a few minutes, Tom felt her tense up ever so slightly; and then she came suddenly, jolts shooting up and down her body, hands clenching and unclenching, legs thrusting her hips into his. Tom grabbed her around the waist and held her against him as he came into her. They stayed that way, limp and spent, holding each other and rocking back and forth, pushing ever so slightly. * * * "Where did you learn tai chi?" Tom asked. Julie told him that her father was very religious. Her father took her from temple to temple, from monestary to monestary, across China and India and Tibet. She had learned tai chi when they stayed in China. She almost told him that she learned about the legends of the sundial, but instead she got up and pulled on her shirt. Tom watched her as she started to put her clothing back on. Her red hair was sweaty and tangled and he wanted to ask her for a few long strands to remember her by. Instead, he asked her another question: "Why do you stay with your father? Don't you wish you had a place that felt like home?" "Because I don't know what else to do, and besides, he needs me," she said, wobbling slightly as she put on her sock. She hopped to regain her balance, then put on her sneaker. She knew that was not the entire truth. Her father would be furious when he found out she got pregnant. He would tell her to leave him and never return, but it would break his heart. Her son would have light-gold skin. Tom Kuo pretended not to see her lose her balance. He noticed that the shadow of the center pillar had already moved past the first stone.