志异 Draft by Drama box december 2013 (english) | Page 22

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f e at u r e
m e m o r y x s p ac e
dr a ft v ol 2 i s s u e 2

As I was having coffee in a cafe, a lady in
a black gown came over and sat in front of
me, silent as a cat.
She had shoulder-length hair that was
black as night. Her eyes, dark and deep as
the abyss, her nails painted black. Her
complexion was fair, so fair it seemed as
if she was glowing, even though it was a bright,
sunny day.
The lady took a book out from her dark
handbag and opened it. I listened to her as she
looked at the pages, heard every word and every
sentence, even though her eyes were slightly
closed, her lips motionless, and she was still
as a marble statue. But I could hear her.
It was a story from The Book of Lieh-Tzu.
It tells of a man called Hua-Tzu who, in his
middle age, is inflicted by amnesia. His wife
looks for doctors who can cure him, and finally
comes across a learnt professor who manages to
cure her husband of the devastating sickness.
But once Hua-Tzu recovers, he flies into a great
rage, divorces his wife, beats his sons, and the
professor pursues him in the streets. To
people’s questioning, he says:

“Lately when I was steeped in forgetfulness,
my senses were so benumbed that I was quite
unconscious of the existence of the external world.
But now I have been brought suddenly to a perception
of the events of half a lifetime. Preservation and
destruction, gain and loss, sorrow and joy, love and

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