It had been a while since people had forgotten about the legend of the golden arm in a little village in the central Taiwan. The streets remained deserted and people were silence at night. The lives in this little village changed slightly as seasons changed. However, there was a strange thing happening recently. It was a death of a three year old child, who fell down to a well. The mother didn’t look after the child was the cause of the accidence. But how could a child climb over one meter high wall and got drown inside the well? People questioned, but nobody wanted to talk in detail publicly.
There was a rite to somber the child’s death. People carried wooden carriage running back and forth, it seemed they all got out of their controls. They yelled time to time at the quiet and starless night. Paul, who was 12 and lived nearby the well in the end of the street, didn’t know why he went up the street and observed the thrilling and scary scene. He shook his head hard, but he didn’t want to make noise, apparently he didn’t like the rite at all preferred to keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t figure out why people doing this. The street seemed longer than usual, he thought. Then, for a moment, he saw a shadow running out from his back yard of his house.
He couldn’t see the shadow clearly. He ran after it, but lost its trace. He finally went back home to his peaceful bed, and fell to sleep right away. The next day, Paul’s aunt gave birth to a boy baby, who was born as pale as paper. The street people always related these two things together. One died, and his soul would find a place to reborn again.
The semester had begun for a month and they got a new teacher from outside of the village. The principal introduced her at the beginning of the semester. The new teacher looked young and charming. She rented a studio apartment room behind Paul’s house. Paul was able to look through his window and knew when her bedtime was as she turned off the lights completely every night.
Paul was a sixth grade student and knew the new teacher taught the first graded at the school. He wondered she could teach well because she was kind of young. She seemed to wear her gloves anytime. Sometime the weather got steamed, she might take off her gloves and showed gold like nail in her finger tip. Paul also observed her light went off quite early on Tuesday and Thursday night.
One night, the white skin baby cried soundly. Paul couldn’t fall to sleep and arose to drink some water. He peeked through the window and saw the same shadow disappearing into teacher’s door. With his peculiar, he sneaked out to his backyard, where he could hear some talking.
There was a low voice, “You have to watch out carefully about the small ladder every time you leave the well. Make sure you remove it from the well after immersing your nail to the well.” Paul thought, “ he must be an old man. Then, another voice, “Dad, I will be more cautious.” Paul recognized the new teacher’s voice. She continued, “I will give some money to repay to the lost of their child.” “Dad, how do you know the nail will become gold?” “Ha, ha, I had the secret book written. It was our treasure I inherent from our ancestor. The gold will grow and purify depending how long you put your finger into the well water.”
The next day, Paul was delighted, because he learned the secret of well and the death of the three year old baby. He told no one. He knew the new teacher might show up during the midnight. He planed to try his own luck. It was obvious that she would go there on Tuesday and Thursday night. Paul thought to himself, “Then, I shall go to the well on Monday and Wednesday night. I could build a wealth for my family.”
Paul went the well and dip his finger for an hour and then returned. The next day he found his finger didn't change. He thought he must miss something, the length of immerse, perhaps. He kept trying for other time, but his finger remain as usual. Then, something happened. There was a typhoon coming on Monday. The school was close for the sake of damage from typhoon. Paul had forgotten the date, and he went there on Tuesday night.
Just as he dipped his finger, he heard a voice, "What are you doing here?" "I, I drop my toy inside." Paul stretched more and his hand and arm were inside of the well. In a split second, he ran away from the well as fast as he could. The new teacher didn't catch me by any chance.
As the morning light shined to Paul's face, he found he couldn't move his left arm. The room was glittered. He was thrilled to find his left arm being heavy and the color was not the same.
~the end
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