THE DOCTOR WITH TWO FACES



Boof! Boof! Boof!

Luan heard the strong and regular sounds of cutting wood from the outside. That day was Sunday, the nice weekend, so Luan’s father tried to cut all the wood of rubber trees into pieces which Luan’s mother could use in some months.

Boof! Boof! Boof!

Luan cleaned up all his plastic toys then he walked out to see his father cutting the rubber wood. His father was half naked with a pair of boxers which made of thick cotton and bare feet. His left hand put a piece of rubber wood in vertical, his right hand held a sharp axe tightly, raised it high then beat it down strongly. After being cut, the rubber wood looked like the shape of cow bones and all of them had the same size.

Luan’s father piled the cutting rubber wood into a big heap at the corner of the kitchen. Then he put away the axe and went out to take a shower. Seeing no one in the kitchen, two house-crikets crawled out from a hole of a wood and then they spied around the kitchen. The black criket called itself Siu. The dark brown criket called itself Bonner.

“Hey, I’m very hungry. I want to eat some cold rice,” criket Siu talked to criket Bonner.

“The rice pan was covered, how can you open it and eat rice?”

“If I can’t eat rice in a pan, I can eat stale rice in a bowl. Let’s go to the washing-place,” cricket Siu said.

Two crikets crawled to the washing-place, climbed up the pile of dirty dishes, looked for some stale rice on a dirty bowl. After eating some, suddenly two crikets got bigger and bigger until they were as big as Luan’s fist. Looking at two giant crickets, Luan was scared. “Uh… Uh…,” he called his parents.

“What’s wrong with him?”, cricket Siu asked.

“He’s got the syndrom of lacking of memory since he was born. And he can’t talk, he can’t speak.”

“So how can he sing songs?”

“That’s it. Just you and I can sing and it’s ok,” cricket Bonner answered.

Cricket Siu and cricket Bonner crawled back to the pile of rubber wood, climbed up to the top of it, stood with the way as if they were singers on the stage, played their violins, singing:

“How lovely the life is!
We just sing and play!
Who are sad, come here and listen to us!
Wipe your tears and sing with us!”

There was a noise of stamping, then Luan’s father appeared in the kitchen with his wet body on which there were all of water and white bubbles of soap. “What’s wrong? Why do you scream terribly?”, he asked anxiously.

“Uh… uh…”

“You’re hungry? Poor you. Your mom will feed you later, right? You make me scared to death.”

Luan’s father quickly came back to his bathroom. Luan wanted to tell his father that he didn’t scream but two giant crickets in the kitchen and they had just sung a duet very well. But he couldn’t say a word. Cricket Siu felt sorry for him. “I want him to sing with us,” it said.

“He doen’t know how to speak let alone how to sing with you.”

“Uh-huh, so I must find a way to make him speak.”

Cricket Siu flapped its wings then it flew down from the top of the pile of the rubber wood. It looked like a black raven more than a cricket. It clinged on the helix of Luan’s ear, bit him fiercely. He startled. “Uh… Uh…,” he shouted. Then he bursted out crying.

“Holycow! What ’re you doing, Siu? Why do you bite him?”, Cricket Bonner yelled.

“I bite him so that he can speak…”

“Oh, you ‘re very crazy, Siu! He’s sick! He can’t speak because of his sickness! You must cure him first! You bite him and you make him hurt!”

The helix of Luan’s ear was bleeding. A drop of fresh red blood was spreading. Cricket Siu tasted it and said that it was as sweet as sweet-soup. But how strange, after cricket Siu tasted that blood drop, Luan’s body began shrinking, smaller and smaller. First, he looked like a five-year boy, then a two-year boy, then a doll, then a bottle of coke, and finally, he was as small as a can of beer!

Cricket Bonner bursted out laughing. It flapped its wings, flying down. After that, two crickets and Luan played with together as if they were close friends. Luan chased, both the crickets hid. Cricket Siu chased, Luan and cricket Bonner hid. Cricket Bonner chased, Luan and cricket Siu hid. Luan felt very happy and he laughed a lot for the first time in his life. He turned his face upward, “Uh… Uh…,” he said merrily.

Cricket Siu remembered something, “we must take him to the doctor,” it said.

“We take him to the doctor with two faces, ok?”, cricket Bonner said.

“Ok, we will take him to the doctor with two faces. He can cure any deseases let alone this “nothing” desease!”, cricket Siu agreed.

Two crickets pulled Luan into a small cave under the floor. The more they went down, the brighter inside the cave was. In fact, it was as bright as the daylight. And finally, the cave widened into a large and square room. In the room, there was four beds along the wall and a desk was in the middle. The doctor was a dwarf, very fat and very short, with his green face, sitting seriously behind the desk.

Seeing two crickets bring Luan to him, the doctor looked up. “What’s wrong with this patient,” he asked.

“Doc, he’s got the syndrom of lacking of memory since he was born. And he can’t talk, he can’t speak.”

“Hum,” the doctor said. He used his two hands to turn his head around so that his green face was in behind and his blue face was in the front.

The blue face looked at Luan carefully. “His health is fine. Just the net at the voice section is stuck. Give him a tongue of a parrot and a tongue of a mockingbird. After that he can sing whatever he wants to,” he said.

The doctor used his two hands to turn his head around so that his blue face was in behind and his green face was in the front.

The green face knitted his brows, shook head. “There’s to no effect with a tongue of a parrot and a tongue of a mockingbird. Putting four pieces of camphor into his head may be hopeful,” he said.

The doctor used his two hands to turn his head around so that his green face was in behind and his blue face was in the front.

The blue face clicked his tongue, “I used up camphors when I cured a patient who had got a traffic accident. Can I replace them with four pieces of agate? I think agate is as good as camphor.”

The doctor used his two hands to turn his head around so that his blue face was in behind and his green face was in the front.

The green face looked into the drawer, nodded his head pleasedly then talked to both of crickets, “luckily I still have four pieces of agate. You two take the patient to a bed.”

Cricket Siu and cricket Bonner took Luan to an empty bed. Two crickets lifted him up then threw him down. Luan felt hurt and scared therefore he cried, “Uh… Uh…”. Criket Bonner soothed him, “hey, stop crying. After the doctor cured you, you can speak right away,” it said.

The doctor with two faces jumped out of his chair. At that time, he looked like a big, walking gourd. To the bed where Luan was lying, he raised his right hand, blew “phooo… phooo” into the fore-finger then he used it to poke at the top of Luan’s head. He put four pieces of agate into Luan’s head through that hole. One. Two. Three. Four. That was done. The doctor bent down, blew “phoo… phoo…” again. The skin there was healed as good as new.

Two crickets clapped their hands, jumped up and down, expressed their compliment to the doctor.

Few minutes after that, four pieces of agate completed their function, automatically turned themselves into the new brain replacing the old one which was malfunctioned!

Luan opened his eyes, winked at the doctor. “Doc, I thank you for curing me,” he said.

The doctor pretended to pout his lips. “It’s nothing, boy. I can cure any deseases let alone this “nothing” desease!”

“Now he can sing, can’t he, doc?”, cricket Siu asked.

“Of course. Ok, you take him back home, then three of you can sing whatever you want to.”

When two crickets pulled Luan to go out, the doctor called them. “Hey, you two?! Where’s my money? You intend to run away?”

Cricket Siu didn’t answered yet then the doctor used his two hands to turn his head around so that his green face was in behind and his blue face was in the front.

“They are two crickets singing songs without pay, how can they get money? Huh? Besides, few pieces of agate are nothing,” the blue face said with a sympathetic voice.

The doctor used his two hands to turn his head around so that his blue face was in behind and his green face was in the front.

The green face sighed, gave a sign to three of them to go, “ok, if you don’t have money to pay, that’s ok. Maybe next time, right?”, he said with a sad voice.

The three followed the path, popped up on the ground, completely became three different and new characters. Luan was as talkative as a sparrot, a mockingbird. Cricket Siu had to yell to stop him. “Stop! Listen, now we sing a song before we say good-bye, ok?! Would you like to sing with Bonner and me, Luan?”, it asked.

Luan grinned, “yeah, I’d love it. But both of you must teach me how to sing, please.”

Then three of them hid themselves in a luxuriant bush, sang lots of songs with together until Luan heard his mother’s voice to call him to have dinner. Luan startled and he stopped singing. He whispered to two crickets, “hey, I must go. I must have dinner with my parents. They will be worried if they don’t see me.”

“Ok, good bye, Luan,” both of them said at the same time.

“Thank you very much, Siu and Bonner. Thanks to both of you, now I can talk, I can speak, I can sing.”

“If you need anything, just call me and Bonner, ok?”, Siu said.

“Ok.”

After Luan walked some steps, cricket Bonner shouted louder, “wait! How can we resize his body as big as before?”

“Duck soup…,” cricket Siu grinned.

Right after that, cricket Siu jumped up, bit Luan’s ear fiercely. Feeling hurt, Luan screamed, “eewwhhh!”. Two crikets bursted out laughing because of that.

Five minutes later, Luan was at the dinner table. “Mom! Dad! Look, now I can talk and I can sing!”, he shouted cheerfully.

Luan’s parents opened their eyes to look at him. Luan’s father was so surprised that he dropped a chicken head down to his bowl of rice…

 
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. Updated: 13.12.2008 .