Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 69

The noonday sun was already blazing when Monkey awoke to Topsy’s raspy voice calling him, “Please
wake up, Your Majesty! A pig-like monster is at the entrance claiming that he knows you. He requests to
see you!”
Monkey bolted upright, “Pigsy, my Brother!” he cried, racing out of his chambers half-dressed to greet his
former companion. “Whatever are you doing here?”
Pigsy, clothes travel-stained and dust-covered, was looking ravenous and dishevelled. Seeing Monkey’s
joyful face, he opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish, but the words stayed caught in his throat. They
had not parted on the best of terms, and Pigsy was not sure what to say. However, he was glad to see that
Monkey bore him no ill-will.
Monkey grabbed Pigsy’s sleeve, “Come eat and drink with me, and tell me all the adventures you have had
since I left your company.” They gorged on a feast of roasted meats, candied chestnuts, jellied fruits and rice
wine, while Monkey entertained Pigsy with very rude jokes. Pigsy laughed like a drain and tried to retort as
wittily. However, he was not his usual wise-cracking and insulting self. There was a restless desperation in
his small black eyes. He could only eat a large dinner for three - which was like a fast for Pigsy. When he
could bear it no longer, the porcine fellow turned to Monkey and said, “Well, it’s been awfully fun being
here, but we should be getting back to our master now. He will be wondering why we’ve been gone for so
long,” He picked up his shabby belongings and started to walk to the cave entrance.
The rascal king guffawed out loud and shook his head vigorously, “Not me.”
Pigsy whipped around, looking horror-struck. He blubbered, “You’re not coming?! Whyever not?!
Tripitaka really misses you!! Why, he needs you!! He can’t do without you!!!”
Monkey’s eyes saddened, “Tripitaka definitely doesn’t need me anymore, remember? He said so loud and
clear when he banished me.” Monkey stood up to say his goodbye, “Say Hi to Sandy for me... Oh, and tell
Tripitaka not to bother me again. Tell him I’m very happy doing my own thing here.” And just to
emphasise the point, he brayed with laughter again. Stricken with fury and anguish, Pigsy was left bereft of
words as Monkey strode away without looking back.
******
Monkey was biting into his peach when he heard a distant voice crying, “Insufferable ape… dishonourable,
disloyal, disgusting...” A torrent of unrepeatable swearing ensued, bearing variations of Monkey’s name.
Temper rising, Monkey sprinted out of the cave to find the culprit, and there he saw Pigsy, halfway down
the mountain, profanities in full flow. “He knows that I can hear him,” Monkey muttered before yelling,
“Topsy! Get some monkeys and bring that pig back here!”
When Pigsy was forcibly carried back by eight monkeys groaning under his weight, Monkey roared, “You
have no right insulting me, my Brother! I’ve saved your no-good sack of flesh countless times! Have you
forgotten how I outsmarted the evil magician? Who cut of his own head and regrew it so that we could best
the Tiger Demon, hmm? Who s at in a vat of boiling oil for days to outwit the Ram Demon? I’ve
vanquished every enemy that has crossed our path! And yet none of you believed me when I said the White
Bone Demon had tricked you! You’re the ones who are insufferable!!”
“Stop being so self-righteous! It’s not all about you!” Pigsy cried, “I have been dragged from my home,
from my warm bed, my loving wife, my peaceful livelihood. This quest has robbed me of everything that I
hold dear!”
“Oh ho ho!” Monkey laughed venomously, “Do you think that you’re the only one who has lost
everything? At least you have Tripitaka. At least you haven’t lost his trust. At least he needs you!”
“Tripitaka’s gone!” Pigsy shouted, his voice breaking. The whole cavern suddenly filled with silence as the
chattering monkeys froze to listen to his words.