intelligence design

A lawyer Mark called me, saying he represented Tane’s father. He asked for an appointment with me, which I did. I knew from Tane that his father was a scholar of intelligence design, whatever it means.

The time was before noon. Mark was a white man with good pronunciation. He said Tane’s father had heard, observed and known enough about me.

‘I heard about you, Gt.’ Mark said.

‘From Tane?’

‘Not only from him.’ He smiled slightly.

‘Oh.’ I said. ‘From the web?’

‘I was told about some security concern, and would like to share with you.’

‘Is it classified?’ I made a joke.

‘Yes.’ He took a firm look at me, ‘owing to the close relation of you two, his father encountered some inconvenience.’

‘Such as?’

‘Interrogation. Would that be enough?’

‘About what, the interrogation?’

‘Something about his work, not entirely for this country, from elsewhere. They don’t want you to get close to them.’

I was surprised. I nodded, ‘I see. I never knew... okay, I know what to do.’

‘Like what?’ Mark followed with inquiry.

‘Do not talk to Tane or get close to his family any more.’ I said.

‘You can do that?’

‘I can, sure.’

‘The boy wants to talk to you.’

I looked at him, ‘Then it’s your client’s problem. Not mine.’

Mark seemed contented. ‘Thanks. I have to go. Please stay for the lunch, it would be on my bill.’

‘No, thanks.’

Cancer man can be forever nostalgic

‘Well, it’s about Cancer. Its patron is Diana, Goddess of the Moon. That’s why it’s the mother. With mama at the side, kiwi man is normal, peaceful. But then if she’s not around...’

‘What?’ Tane asked eagerly.

‘They would go seeking, for something greater than the maternal. Maybe the moon, which can never be tangible. It can only be around, not as human.’

Tane held his breath. He can feel the melancholy, so heavy that he was forced to face the abstract burden. I knew it was the Cancer’s ingenuity to feel passionate for these intangibleness. He can even sense the words that I bear in mind and wouldn’t want to say it out, particularly to this boy.

‘And...?’

I held my silence.

‘Please.’

I finally said it, ‘They’ll be... forever nostalgic.’

There was silence. Finally he said, ‘I know. That’s why it’s the Papa.’

After I left, Tane’s words still lingered in my mind.

Parent. Singular form. For those children who never miss their parents, they probably do not know what this means. A boy without mother, in depth it would be missing his anima, the female soul for a male. Hard to grow up as a man intact. Don’t blame the kiwi man as home-borne; Cancer man couldn’t be happier than staying at home.

Or else they would seldom be at home. A wanderer. And that’s where the romantic comes from.

聽丹, listen to the red

‘What about the second word?’

‘丹, red.’

His eyes grew wide open, ‘You mean like red earth, the sacred red earth of Maōri ?’

‘If you take it that way, yes.’

‘Listen to the red.’ Tane looked at the green name on his shirt, ‘It’s neat, it’s here...’ Suddenly everything seemed meaningful. The things at their reasonable places. He had something to say but yet didn’t know how to say it.

‘Sufficient cause. As is.’ Then I pronounced the name in a slow tone, ‘Tan...丹.’

It seems the name weighed him confidence. ‘Teach me how to write it well.’

‘My pleasure...’ It was.

I asked him why he liked calligraphy. To my surprise but then not, it came from his mother, Elizabeth. She had noble origin, and well versed in with literature and fine arts. She used to do embroidery while occasionally looking at the baby boy Tane. In their house there used to be antiques and paintings. Now there was only one or two pieces left.

‘You must have something to tell me, Gt. I know from your look.’ Tane said.

‘About what?’

‘Me.’

聽 - listen with ear and heart

‘That’s me. I am a Cancer in a Cancer country.’ Tane said.

I tried to rectify. ‘Even the other one is Pisces, it doesn’t mean there must be the most romantic...’

‘I know. The supreme romantics comes from Cancer and Pisces, but a Cancer and a Pisce do not necessarily make it.’ Tane smiled, ‘not any Cancer nor Pisces.’

I smiled and nodded, ‘Good. You understand.’

Later, to his request, I wrote down the Chinese form of his name: 聽丹。

He looked at the first world with suspicion, ‘It looks knotty. What does it mean? It couldn’t possibly be the same meaning.’

‘You see, that’s the ear, the upper left, and it’s the heart down there at the lower right.’

Tane seemed getting something. ‘You add the heart to the ear? That’s...clever.’

‘Yeah, in Chinese, clever is 聰明, meaning good at hearing and seeing. So, you’ve got the ear with the first word 聽. And not only the hearing instinct, you listen with your heart.’

Tane remained silent for a while. I knew he was trying to remember and think about all these. What a great kid.

the most romantic thing is the rendezvous of a Cancer and a Pisces

‘I guess you’ve learned a lot from your papa.’

‘Te papa.’ Tane seemed enlightened.

I learned from his expression that he understood parenthood can reside on just a name, Papa. Yeah, by Papa it means mother here.

What have I taught this kid? To be a wanderer? No. Kiwi males by nature are mild. They wouldn’t want to fight for business success. The best they can fight is rugby, and before that comes haka. It reminds me of the Hakka people along the southeastern sea shore of Fujian province of the China mainland. Maybe they belongs to one of the descendants of the Pacific people. And not to forget the natives in Taiwan. I heard one of my Taiwanese friend says the beautiful people on mount Ali-San in Formosa belongs to the Pacific people.

And according to horoscope, the most romantic thing ever can happen in this corporeal world is the rendezvous of a Cancer and a Pisces.

The Pacific people are the sons and daughters of the wind

Tane listened with attention, a feature of adoration for the mother. I knew I needed to go on.

‘Soviet is Capricorn, so the Tropic of Cancer is near him. New Zealand should be Cancer, so the Tropic of Capricorn is here. There’s more. The Pacific people are probably the sons and daughters of the wind. They drift from islands to islands, never touching a continent. They don’t need to. They settle in the Pacific Ocean. Born wanderers. But that doesn’t mean they don’t value tradition and family. When they settle down, they have rigid customs and rites. Ambivalence.’

Tane was like a kid hearing bed time stories.

‘Cancer belongs to the wind. Well, some says water. I don’t think the water metaphor is neat. I’ll say it’s the wind.’

‘Yeah.’ Tane nodded, smiling.

‘And modern New Zealand was discovered by the English people. Britain is Taurus.’

‘They are?’

‘You know what nature does Britain belong to ?’

‘What is it?’

‘Earth. The concrete earth. They have long and rigid traditions.’

‘I see.’ Tane nodded, ‘they are.’

New Zealand is Cancer, linked with Taurus, Britain ?

From then on, we used to talk on the road, via cell phone and chat room. Gradually I knew more of him. His mother was a English woman, left some money for Tane before going back to Britain a few years ago. His father was a Maōri, a scholar, taking care of Tane.

From my life here, the people I met, including Tane, I was feeling New Zealand. Some people says a country can have horoscope of her own. NZ is...

Cancer, linked with Taurus.

‘You’re wrong. The Tropic of Cancer is on the northern hemisphere.’ Tane said.

‘I know, the Tropic of Capricorn is in the south.’ I tried to explain, ‘but don’t you know that things in the hemispheres reverse from each other? The water, the sunlit direction. You see, Capricorn and Caner are an interesting pair. The former represents the father, the latter the mother. People wouldn’t place father together with father, or mother with mother. So, where the Tropic of Capricorn is, the mother is with him. Where the Tropic of Cancer is, the father is with her.’