In the Pond by Ha Jin Page A

with Secretary Liu,” said Ma. “We’ll let you know of our decision soon.” He waved his cigarette, a skein of smoke encircling his hairy wrist.
    “Thank you, Director Ma,” the couple said in unison.
    “Young Shao, let me give you a piece of advice. You should learn to be modest and prudent. One always loses by being proud and gains by being modest.” Ma was referring to an instruction from Chairman Mao.
    “Yes, I will remember that,” Bin said and grinned.
    Ma then asked him what textbooks were more useful for the exams. Hesitating for a second, Bin told him he had used the set published by Jilin University. Ma made a mental note to tell his daughter to look into those books.
    As Mrs. Ma stepped in, wiping her hands on a towel, Meilan opened her handbag and took out four green apples. “These’re for the kid,” she said, shyly avoiding Mrs. Ma’s eyes. She handed one of them to the baby boy, who was playing with a toy tank on the floor. He looked at the apple but didn’t touch it.
    “No, we have a lot of fruit,” Mrs. Ma said, trying to put the apples back into the handbag.
    Meilan stuck the bag under her own arm and said, “Just for the kid, Aunt. They’re Indian Green.”
    Bin didn’t want to stay long, he was afraid of being seen by others, so the Shaos took their leave.
    After they left, Ma’s face sank; he was not pleased with the apples. “What a bookworm,” he said to his wife when the young couple were out of earshot. “He doesn’t even know how to give a gift. Just four apples, crazy.” He tapped his cigarette on the rim of an empty honey jar he used as an ashtray.
    He got to his feet and stretched his hands, yawning. With the apples in his jacket pockets, two on each side, he left for Liu’s to discuss the college admission.
    Bin was working at a welding machine the next morning when Hsiao tapped his shoulder and told him that the plant’s leaders wanted him to attend a family-planning meeting in the union office at four in the afternoon. Bin was puzzled, because Meilan and he hadn’t done anything violating the one-child policy. He guessed that perhapshe was being invited to help enforce the policy. If so, this wasn’t a good sign; in the normal course of events, if he was going to leave the plant soon he shouldn’t be assigned any official role. Another thought unnerved him a great deal, namely that the leaders might know his exam results and meant to use this opportunity to ridicule him.
    At four, in the union office, all the heads of the workshops and offices were present, in addition to the women representatives and the four workers who had second-born babies. In total, about thirty people sat around six long desks grouped together. Bin took a seat at a corner of a desk.
    The union chairman, Bao, started by reporting on the situation of family planning in the plant. He was almost illiterate and couldn’t speak well, so in a halting tone he was reading out the report prepared for him by his assistant. He declared that the plant had intended to become a model of implementing the family-planning policy, but four second-born babies this year had spoiled the plan. The Third Workshop alone had three second-borns.
    After Bao was done with the report, Secretary Liu stood up and announced that all those with second-born babies would lose a whole year’s bonus and wouldn’t get a raise for two years. Groans came from around the table.
    “I’m not coldhearted, comrades,” Liu said. “The punishment for a second-born is clearly written in the most recent document. We have no choice but to implementit, unless you can prove that your firstborn is retarded or from a previous marriage” He stretched out his right hand, wiggling his fingers, as though inviting somebody to stand up and argue with him. No one moved except Ma.
    Ma rose to his feet and waved to Nina, who was sitting in the next room. She came in, carrying a large string bag of National Glory apples with both hands, and put