scruta

[It’s morning. ZHOU walks into the office. He is late, and noticeably flustered.]

LI

You’re late. What’s going on?

ZHOU

Did you see the crowd outside?

LI

No. [Looks outside the window.] God! What’s going on out there?

ZHOU

There was an accident. Some girl on her scooter got hit by a truck. She’s pinned by her legs. They don’t know what’s going to happen.

LI

Is she alright?

ZHOU

She’s lost a lot of blood. There’s a doctor there. I heard him say that she’s going to lose her legs.

LI

God.

ZHOU

She’s beautiful too. Her boyfriend is there now. I heard him crying that she was only 19.

LI

What will she do?

ZHOU

I don’t know. [Sighs.] So what’s new today?

LI

Well. [Hesitates.] No—

ZHOU

No? What is it?

LI

[Walks over to his desk, and reads.] “During a routine traffic stop in Chongqing Municipality, police officers discovered a man driving without a license… and his legs. The paraplegic gentleman had rigged a number of hand controls to the clutch, accelerator, and breakpedals to allow him to drive. In a country where cars are becoming more and more prevalent, the number of physically challenged drivers continues to grow. Another legless Chongqing man was stopped recently for driving 153 km/hr. Two legless men in Nanjing and Harbin respectively, were stopped for operating illegal taxis.”

ZHOU

They can’t publish that.

LI

I know. The limitations of the Chinese legal system with regards to the disabled are restricted.

ZHOU

Correct.

LI

I read in the official media that they’re planning to redress the situation.

ZHOU

So did I.

[ZHOU distractedly shuffles through the papers on his desk, and turns on his computer.]

LI

153km/hr! He was certainly going fast.

ZHOU

[Curtly. Sternly.] If you couldn’t walk, wouldn’t you?

LI

Yeah, I guess you’re right.

ZHOU

Excuse me.

LI

It’s alright.

[They work in silence for a moment.]

ZHOU

[Looking at the computer screen, almost to himself.] I keep seeing her ending up like one of those beggars on the street floundering at knee level on a cart with Styrofoam padding on her hands, her teeth rotting, waving a cup at my hand.

LI

You don’t know that.

ZHOU

If her family has no money, what else is there for her?

LI

There will be something. They can help her.

ZHOU

You know, I want to believe that things in China are changing. That people’s lives are getting better.

LI

They are. You know that.

ZHOU

But how fast will they change?

LI

As fast as they can.

ZHOU

Not all things. Sometimes we need to push. Things are changing too fast for them to keep up.

LI

Them?

ZHOU

You know, our employer.