Matt Wixey Extract from King of Fleas

Matt Wixey

Extract from King of Fleas

prologue

Dialogue is in Mandarin in this scene. Darkness. A girl, Chinese, young, on an army cot. Beside her, on a low stool, is a Chinese soldier in military uniform. In the far corner is an older Chinese colonel. He smokes and observes the other two calmly. The screen flickers to life. Grainy, black-and-white, crackling with static, it begins to show subtitles.

Soldier: What else did he tell you? Girl: Everything he told us came true. He is the king. Soldier: You mean the emperor? Girl: He is the king of fleas.

Lights up.

Soldier: The king of / Girl: He will find them. He will never stop looking. He will part the roots of the grass to find them. Soldier: Where is he now? Girl: He lives by a field and the grass is red. Soldier: Grass isn’t red.

Girl: The grass is red. Soldier: People were killed in the field? Girl: Not there. Soldier: Killed somewhere else? Where? Girl: In the house. Soldier: What house? Girl: In the house there are rooms that do not open. Rooms with numbered doors and all the things I wish were not true. Nothing there is able to speak. Soldier: What’s inside the rooms? Girl: There are men who breed fleas.

The Soldier glances at the Colonel, who looks back at him, expressionless.

Soldier: Why do they breed fleas? Girl: The king tells them to. Soldier: How do they breed them? Girl: They wear coats and never take them off, even in summer. The fleas live inside the coats and the men collect them. Their tribute for the king. 100 fleas a day. His men come and put them in jars.

The Girl moans in pain, delirious.

Soldier: Who are the men who bring the jars? Girl: The men who made the grass red. Soldier: Grass isn’t red. Girl: They are the men of the sun. They march behind it. All the people in all the rooms are dead. There is only silence there.

The Soldier turns to the Colonel, who slowly pulls a folded piece of silk from a pocket. A Japanese imperial flag. The Girl sees it. Screams. She has a violent fit, bucking and writhing. For a few seconds, the Colonel watches, then crushes his cigarette. He puts the flag away. The Girl quiets down. The Colonel lights another cigarette.

Colonel: Continue. Soldier: Colonel, I / Colonel: Ask her if she knows what she has. Soldier: Do you know what made you sick? Girl: The sweets. The king gave us sweets. He said it was the Emperor’s birthday and we must honour him. Soldier: You think the sweets made you sick? Who is the king? This is important. What did he look like? Girl: They came on horses and in trucks. Smiling and handsome beneath the sun. We gave them flowers and they gave us sweets and we died. He led them. Soldier: Do you remember his name? Girl: Zhijiang Silang. Zhijiang Silang.

The colonel looks up sharply.

Colonel: Ask her again. Ask her if she’s sure. Soldier: Tell me his name again. Girl: His men called him ‘sir’. They came on horses and in trucks and waited for him to speak, and then the devil opened his mouth, and said /