By LU YINGMO

On the Other Side of the Ocean

By LU YINGMO

HAI HU had been among the earliest residents of Longfeng Island. The German shepherd dog that had come here with the Marine Corps garrison a decade ago was now senescent.

The island – in size no larger than two football fields – lay at the southern edge of the South China Sea, the outcrops of its surrounding white coral reefs a spray of flowers afloat on the briny blue. Yet peril lurked beneath this titillating tableau– between these reefs gaped crevasses, dozens of meters deep. Any misstep might prove fatal. To navigate safely around this treacherous terrain, Haihu’s trainer, Wang Haisheng, who had come to this island seven years ago, depended on his canine colleague.

Then a visiting ship had offloaded the order for Haihu’s retirement, together with that for the instatement of his successor, Jingang – another Alsatian. Haisheng had long prepared against this moment, but hadn’t expected it to arrive so soon.

He approached the captain, with whom he pleaded to keep Haihu longer – on extended active duty, as he suggested.

“What nonsense,” the captain retorted after a brief pause.“Why, don’t you have Jingang now? Anyway, Haihu is too long in the tooth, and his eyesight is blurred. Why should the corps have to follow the guidance of a presbyopic dog?”

Haisheng knew that this was true about the dog’s vision, but had an ace up his sleeve. He called his buddy: “Comrade Haihu!”The dog trotted over to the trainer. Instructed to “Go get the eye chart!” he bolted away, returning in moments, chart in mouth.

“What in the hell are you doing?” The captain was nonplussed.

Haisheng hung the chart on a coconut tree, and seated the dog in front of it five meters away, fastening a pair of glasses with an elastic band to the dog’s head. The bespectacled dog wielded his right paw, following the movement of the trainer’s finger on the chart. It soon became clear that he correctly picked even the tiniest of symbols in this test after changing the fifth pair of glasses.

“See? Who says he has poor vision? There’s life in the old dog yet, and he’s still in fine fettle to go on defending our sea.”

The beguiled captain was convinced. “Alright: You can keep Haihu with you for a while longer. He can mentor Jingang during this time.” Haisheng was exceedingly pleased. “Give the captain a kiss, buddy.”

So the apparition of Haihu and his trainer circumambulating the island continued to be a daily sight in the days that followed.

The decision to retain Haihu soon proved wise when, two weeks later, a typhoon swept down on the region, lashing it with billows and torrents. Amid the commotion, a gust blew away the garrison’s log. It swirled off into the sea before the soldiers could snatch it up. Bearing details of the monitoring of foreign reconnaissance ships – which were becoming frequent in the region –the log might cause the Chinese military major trouble were it to end up in foreign hands, but the slashing waves and lashing rain made it impossible for human swimmers to go after and retrieve it.

But Haihu jumped to the rescue. He leapt into the water, and immediately went under, borne down by the surging swell. When he resurfaced, with the log in its mouth, and struggled towards the shore, Haisheng noticed the dog’s halting gait. He presumed the water had smeared the dog’s glasses.

The next morning, the trainer was alarmed at the lameness in Haihu’s right rear leg. An examination revealed a one-inch gash that was already swollen. With his temperature above 40 °C, such an injury could prove dangerous. Haisheng immediately went to the medics for iodine and anti-inflammatory medicines. When he applied the iodine to the wound, the irritation caused the dog to whine and wriggle, scratching the trainer’s forehead with his paw in the tussle. Blood abruptly streamed down Haisheng’s face.

With no rabies vaccine available on the island, Haisheng was airlifted to a nearby hospital. After he left, Haihu refused to either eat or drink. To tempt him to a few bites, the soldiers set out a dozen kinds of canned meats in front of him. But Haihu didn’t even give them a sniff.

Haisheng learned of the dog’s plight three days later. That evening, he boarded the first ship available in the direction of Longfeng Island, whose captain had consented to a detour to the islet at the officer’s plea.

On reaching the shore two days later, Haisheng dashed to the barrack. There he found Haihu motionless on the ground, surrounded by soldiers. On hearing his trainer’s voice, the dog’s ears cocked up, and his eyes brightened. Staggering, he stood up on his rear legs and flung himself into Haisheng’s arms.

“Buddy, I miss you so, now have something to eat...” The trainer’s eyes welled up. Before he could finish the sentence the large dog plopped down onto the ground, lifeless.

LU YINGMO is author of the short story collections Seeking My Marine Soul and White Handkerchief and Black Ribbon and the screenplay for Chinese Moon.