The lit mosquito-repellent incense burned sweetly next to the beds we had made outside of the Wang houses. On a table to my right sat an essential balm for soothing the inevitable bug bites. “You’ll need it.” Elder Wang told us. He bid Master Liu and I goodnight then promptly closed the front door to his house. I could hear him checking the paper amulet on the inside of the door before retreating further inside.

​

I fell asleep quickly, still thinking of the treats that Master Liu had promised. The hour was late and my breathing evened as I drifted off. Once I awoke to Master Liu’s voice. “He’s telling bedtime stories.” I thought, as the dark overtook me. Ice cream and cakes wiggled and danced on plates just out of reach in my dreams. The ice cream turned to me and blew a long breath out of a mouth that wasn’t there before. I could see a face appearing into the treat I’d always relished, and then the cold covered my entire body.

​

The gust of cold wind pulled on my mind until I realized that my skin was tight and chilled. My neck clenched to the side and I was all at once wide awake.

​

"Mom…” I called out.

​

Master Liu wasted no time in quieting me. He kicked me lightly on the rear, saying, "I saw you squirming boy, if you have to pee then do it now. Make it quiet." He pointed to the edge of the porch that we were camping on.

​

My eyes flashed open, remembering where we were. I stood up shivering and said, "Oh, I- well. Godfather, what time is it?"

​

"It is almost twelve o'clock.” He replied without looking at me. “The wind is cold. Our foul friend is almost here."

​

The day before flashed into my mind. An image of an overturned tractor, the pinched neck of another headless ghost, and the green man begging for scraps of cake danced in my head. I jumped into Master Liu, bouncing on the mattress he’d borrowed. “Well, quickly now! Empty your bladder before the spirit gets here!”

​

“I’m afraid.”

​

Master Liu laughed an adult’s laugh and said, “Fine, hold it. It may come in handy.” I looked at him not knowing what to say. “Remember the spirit that we pulled from you? Remember what Zhao Jie did to save you? The urine of a living boy has much Yang essence. It can be used to deter any number of things. If something gets passed us, aim your pee at the door.”

​

I didn’t say anything. Mom would never have let me pee on the Wang’s door.

Master Liu had lit candles while I slept and their flickering light caught my attention. I saw the half circle around us and followed them back to the master himself. He was fiddling with another paper amulet in his right hand. His left hand was held behind him, its thumb stroking the other four fingers in a fortune telling gesture..

​

"Is it here yet?" I asked Master Liu.

​

Master Liu said, "I believe so. He is still outside if that is the case. The safeguarding amulets are keeping him out. I imagine he’s looking for another way in. He didn’t seem so bad during the daytime. If he’s worse at night we may have to kill him."

​

I felt the surrounding temperature dropping and suppressed a shiver. Master Liu went on, "Xiao Yong, I will have to open the door to draw him in. I need to you to control your fear, no matter what you see. I don’t know what this particular creature is capable of. You may see something horrible.” He smiled at me, “Consider this your first test."

​

"Oh." My mouth wouldn’t make any other sound.

​

Master Liu slowly got up from the borrowed bed and walked around our half circle of flickering candles. I remembered the incense and checked my arms for mosquito bites. There wasn’t a single one. “Well ghosts are good for something…” I thought.

​

Master Liu moved swiftly to the Wang’s door and eased it open. I moved behind him, holding onto his loose pant leg. I peeked lightly around his leg but had to squint at a fresh burst of frigid air that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Two cold hands gently grasped my shoulders and I let out a whispered screaming gasp.

​

"Open your eyes! You’ll be of no help as a blind paper weight!" Master Liu told me, pulling his hands from my shoulders.

​

A needle of fear stabbed into my head and I remembered the ice cream from my dream, screaming a gasp of cold at me. I hugged into Master Liu’s leg and shouted, "I wanna go home! I don't want ice cream or cake. I wanna go home!"

​

The old man’s leg tightened and I expected him to spank me. The hand that replaced itself on my shoulder however, was comforting. "Come now, don’t cry my boy.” His voice was soft but demanding. “If you keep this up, our foul friend may swoop in and take you away. Spirits love the taste of crying children."

​

My tears caught in my throat and I felt a muffled scream roiling in my chest.

I opened my eyes slowly. A blood covered ghost stood headless in the doorway. The cold wind that seemed to be filling my body from the toes up was pouring from where the figure’s mouth should have been.

​

I couldn’t move, couldn’t even take my eyes from it. My fingers dug grooves into Master Liu’s leg. His gaze paralleled mine and he said aloud, "Xiao Yong, loosen your grip. I will need my feet for this. He might just take us both if you don't loosen your grip." The last four words came out with an emphasis and staccato that matched his jerking leg.

​

"Oh." I thought dumbly, “Of course.” I dropped my arms and took a step back, staying behind and close to Master Liu.

​

The old man shook out the yellow paper amulet in his hand, calling, "Why are you bothering us?" towards the doorway.

​

The headless figure before us released an unearthly wail that seemed to come from everything around me. My ears quivered and then stung. In moments I could not hear clearly. Master Liu didn’t falter. He nodded his head as if conversing about the weather or the Wang family’s dinner china. The noise fell abruptly away.

​

Master Liu spoke, more at the ghost than to it, "You want to find your head? It’s a pity that it was crushed in the accident. We may not be able to recover it you see...” He paused, not looking concerned, but sounding it. “The dog. Wang Qi’s dog ate what was left of it."

​

The almost tangible wail returned, making me squint my eyes and clap hands to my ears in pain. The spectral body before us moved in almost imperceptible little jumps. Its body flashed back and forth, jittering like a strung out addict. It was an angry movement, or a terribly sad one.

​

Master Liu raised his voice in a strong crescendo over the wail, "You'd better control your Ying essence! If you exhale it now, I will destroy you."

​

The room fell silent again. The impossible wail ceased as Master Liu finished speaking. The feeling in the air though, remained vacant and cold. “He’s so angry…” I thought, watching the minute jittery shakes the visage was making.

​

Master Liu frowned, saying, "Will you drop this obsession?"

​

Another cry, this one short and impossibly piercing, sang for a moment.

​

"Fine,” Master Liu said. “I will make you another body, a new body. Then I will send you away.” He raised the amulet and pointed at the ghost with one hand. “You will not linger here or harm anyone. The spirits will not mock you any longer.”

​

Translucent shoulders seemed to sag in front of us. The visage that couldn’t seem to stand still any more flashed and was centimeters before us, and then it was back in the doorway, now more still than I’d ever seen it. A calm settled on the room.

​

Master Liu laughed as if he hadn’t a care in the world. I looked up at him, my mouth still pulled down in a tense fear grimace. "Okay! You’ve agreed? It's done!” He clapped his hands. I gaped, open-mouthed. “Tell me a happy birthday fortune and I will make you a new body." Master Liu cocked his head as if listening. He grinned and looked at the spirit with a renewed interest.

​

"Okay, okay! We’ll see! In the meantime, you should come into my universal bag.” He gestured to the decorative pouch hanging from his hip. “I will send you away after I finish making your body. Tomorrow at the latest."

​

I stared at the master, who was now acting as if he was haggling with a car salesman on a sunny afternoon. The old man put a hand on his hip and gestured towards the spirit with his hand held out, palm up, beckoningly. I think my chin might’ve been touching my chest my mouth was open so wide.

Master Liu grinned another salesman’s grin and the headless ghost stepped backward. It seemed to refuse Master Liu’s proposal.

​

“What happened?” I asked.

​

"He doesn't want to come in my universal bag.” He told me, still holding that cocky grin. “He wants to find me tomorrow night and disappear with his new body. Our friend says he’ll give up his old hatred of the Wangs.

​

Master Liu’s old eyes flickered with what I saw as impatience and returned his attention to the headless figure. "It's not a bad plan. Okay! I accept. Don’t cause any trouble between now and then, you hear? I’ll give you a new body by midnight tomorrow."

​

In what could only have been a headless nod, the ghost shimmered again and was gone with a gust of its patented chilly wind.

​

Master Liu clapped his thigh as soon as it disappeared. "Shoot!” He said, “I forgot to ask him about the loony fellow.” He gripped his chin in two fingers. “It could be problematic if we can’t resolve his… situation. I don’t think even I have the power to dissuade a lunatic with a cause."

​

"Why don’t you call him back?" I asked, gesturing to the doorway.

​

Master Liu shook his head, saying, "I don’t think it’ll be that easy. The Wangs may have kept some secrets. If we summon our spirited friend back, he might change his mind about the new body. Better to not waste this opportunity."

​

I didn’t understand, but asked no further. Master Liu would never adjust his explanations to my level so I shrugged and let it go.

​

The old man slapped me on the back jovially and reminded me, "Didn't you have to pee? Go on! "

I walked outside and did a quick scout to make sure the headless horror had gone for the evening. Seeing a clear yard, I was comfortable watering the plants around the Wang house.

​

We resettled into our spot on the porch, adjusting our beds and fitting sheets over us to tackle the now temperate evening. I awoke up with the sun at six the following morning. Master Liu must have slept quite deeply as well, because neither one of us had remembered to relight the mosquito repellent. My skin was covered in billions of red bumps that itched like a monster. It felt like steel tipped dancers were cha-cha-ing across my whole body.

​

Even my eyelids were bitten. They fought me as I opened them.

​

Elder Wang received the evening’s events with a sour enthusiasm. He nodded and yessed his way through the conversation and then cleared his throat, asking, “Then it’s over?”

​

“Not quite over.” Master Liu told him. “I will be here tonight. You should set out a mosquito net for your porch. Last night was…uncomfortable."

​

Elder Wang readily agreed.

​

When we arrived back at my house my mother rushed from the kitchen to embrace me. “Xiao Yong you’re saf- what happened?” She looked from my red swollen eyes to Master Liu. “Was it the ghosts? Is this what happens to supernatural eyes?” A look of horror made her own eyes look strained and old.

Master Lie laughed heartily, swinging his arm about looking for something to steady himself. Between bouts of hysterics he managed to explain that it was only a reaction to a hungry swarm of mosquitos.

She ushered us inside the house and I went directly to bed. Trying desperately not to scratch at any of my skin with gritted teeth. Eventually though, I fell asleep. Master Liu woke me up that afternoon. “Call your friends, the Zhaos. I’d like to take you into the village and buy you something.”

​

My sleepy, itchy mind danced at the thought of ice cream. “Only this time, it won't have a mouth.” A voice in my brain whispered.

​

We trooped into the village. Master Liu bought us something to eat and then wandered to a nearby market where he bought paper at several stalls. He returned with a bowl of paste and a bundle of sorghum stalks. He passed these along to our parents who began working at them with private intentions.

​

Master Liu sat down and began to make a paper man in front of us.

​

His old wrinkly hands moved with a deftness that betrayed their appearance. He made the paper man's frame quickly out of a few sorghum stalks. Once assembled, he used paste and colored the paper man with a writing brush, depicting a face quite artistically.

​

Two hours later the paper man appeared in our yard. It looked unnaturally realistic, but we knew what it was, and whom it belonged to. I dared Zhao Jie to touch it, but he only shook his head. I wouldn’t go near it either.

​

Master Liu had written a row of characters on the paper man’s back. “What does it say?” I asked, pointing to the characters drying in the warm air.

​

“It’s our foul friend’s name and birthdate. This body will be his soon.” He told me.

“How do you know his name?”

​

“He told me.”

​

Master Liu looked fondly at the paper man sitting in the yard. He called, "Zhao Laohei, could you move him under the sun for more Yang air before sunset? I want it to look like a real person.” He started to turn away then flashed back to Zhao Laohei, who was already following orders. “And put this spirit gathering amulet on his back.” He held out an amulet. “It’ll give it a robust air so he doesn’t have second thoughts.”

​

Zhao Laohei did as he was asked.

​

“Would this paper man work?” I wondered to myself, “Would everything go as planned?”

​