Nature Is Worth Preserving

Sikong Shu is distraught. Where is Arthur?

He asks Richie.

Arthur? says Richie. Dunno. Perhaps he got bored.

Sikong Shu runs to the Flying Pigeon, yanks it upright and tears off down the road.

Looks like we're going, says Richie. Goodbye Xui Li and Hui Zhong. It's been awesome. There's a whole world I hadn't.....

Yes, nature is beautiful says Xui Li. And worth preserving.

That too, says Richie, but I meant, you know..... writing.

Good luck, says Hui Zhong. With practice you will surely improve. Your writing is not ......

Richie is walking away.

What? calls out Richie.

...yet very good! shouts Hui Zhong.

Thanks! says Richie, waving.

........

Where is Arthur? Why did he go off on his own?

It is not Sikong Shu who is wondering. It is Arthur.

Arthur is lost.

He rides through a dark forest of black birch, hazel and larch. He hears birdsong but sees not one bird.

It is an undeveloped mountain. His phone is out of battery. The rose cake is finished. Sikong Shu is yet to give him the jam.

What is it? thinks Arthur. I keep sloping off. It wasn't the ecologists. It wasn't Sikong Shu. It wasn't Richie.

He continues to think introspectively.

He knows what it is. He is becoming far too reliable. Helping Sikong Shu with his poem, putting up the tent, helping Gaius remove glue from his fingers.

He forgets that he did none of these.

...........

Time passes. Arthur arrives in a clearing.

He sees a man and a woman standing by a pole.

Hello, says Arthur hoping they will speak English (or French).

Hello, says the man. We're recharging our phones. We'll be done in a minute.

I'll wait then, says Arthur.

Why not recharge his phone?

This is a locator beacon, says the man. In case you are lost. Make a call, tell them the number and someone will come to your rescue.

I'm not lost, says Arthur. Are you?

No, says the man. I'm Zhao Qinglin, expert butterfly breeder, and this is my wife Deng Xiumei.

Hello, says Deng Xiumei. We have cold pigs' ears in sauce. Are you hungry?

Thank you, says Arthur. I am.

He eats pigs' ears in sauce and recharges his phone while he learns about butterfly business.