Saturday, May 20, 2017

The Story of Two Male Mosquitoes - part1

Translator: ayszhang
Proofreader: Ying
A short story more thoughtful than you'd expect!


Part One


6.4
There were two female mosquitoes who each had a thousand babies each.
The mostagonists of this story are two of these two thousand babies.
Due to the deep friendship between the two mothers, the eggs of these two mosquitoes ended up side by side.
The small eggs housed two tiny lives, two sets of breath and beat.
They were still asleep.
It grew dark, and one egg suddenly showed signs of movement.
The little guy inside stretched for the sky.
He said, “Mom.” It was the first word he spoke in this world.
But little did the mosquito know, his mother had already died under the palm of a human.
Humans had their human sorrows, and this was nothing but the tiny sorrows of a mosquito.
Then, the egg beside it began to move as well. The slight wobble was not visible to anybody, after all he was simply too small.
He said, “Mom?” This was his first word and his response to him in their very first conversation.
This is the beginning of our story. June 4th, 2006.

Mosquito A greeted, “Hi…are you like me?”
Mosquito B replied, “Yeah…we’re the same.”
They were the same, living in a small house floating on water.
Mosquito A said, “How nice…we’re the same!”
Mosquito B replied, “Yeah…what’s your name?”
“Name? What’s that?”
“Erm…it’s what you use to call somesquito. Didn’t your mom tell you?”
“Huh? I don’t know.”
Mosquito A did not have a high IQ.
Mosquito B said, “Then I’ll call you Milk Monster.”
Mosquito A asked, puzzled, “Milk Monster? What?”
“It’s a kind of monster, duh! Since your IQ is too low, you don’t count as a mosquito; you’re a little monster,” Mosquito B explained seriously. Then he thought of something. “Wait, have you seen a monster before?”
Mosquito A said dejectedly, “I haven’t…I have never gone outside…”
“You idiot! I haven’t either. We’re still inside the egg! Seriously, why hasn’t your mom done any prenatal education?”
“Prenatal edu…what?”
“Okay, okay. You’re Milk Monster from now on, ya hear me?”
“Oh…what about you?”
“Call me Watermelon.”
“Waterme…what?”
“Good heavens, you are one stupid mosquito! Go to sleep!”
Thus, the slight ripples on the water gradually disappeared.
The silence was a bit frightening.
Little Milk Monster began to wonder, Where is my mom? And why didn’t she give me prenatal education?


6.5
It was always harder to fall asleep thinking about your mom than counting mosquitoes. Thus, the next day, Milk Monster was still drowsy when Watermelon gave a bright and cheery morning call.
Watermelon shouted, “Milk Monster! Milk Monster, Milk Monster!”
Milk Monster mumbled, “Prenatal…why didn’t I get…”
Watermelon spat in frustration, “Birdbrain…”

By the time Milk Monster woke up, Watermelon was about to take his afternoon nap.
“He…He…”
“Hey my ass! I’m Watermelon! I guess mosquitoes without prenatal education really do turn out retarded…”
“I actually wanted to say hee hee…”
More silence…
“Watermelon, are you hungry?”
“You know what hungry means?”
“No duh! I’m a mosquito, after all!”
The loud exclamation scared Watermelon so much that he shrunk back into a corner in his egg.
And more silence…
“Watermelon, I’m hungry…”
“Even then you can’t go out. It’s only the 5th today!”
“Then when can I go out?”
“Erm, let me think… Born on the 4th…5th, 6th, 7th…I think we can leave on the 7th.”
“We have to wait that long? I’m going to starve to death before I get out.”
“Were you a cow in your past life? But even cows ruminate. You’re so weak against hunger…hopeless…”
“Rumina…what?”
“It means throwing up what you ate and then eating that stuff again.”
A strange feeling stopped Milk Monster from speaking – he must have felt sick.

Thus, there was another long silence.
“Watermelon.”
“What?”
“Say, what’s the first thing we should do when we get out?”
“Take a wee-wee.”
“No, let’s have a fight.”
“Huh?!”
“Let’s have a fight.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t like you.”
“Erm…if you insist.”
This was their first agreement in this lifetime.

How much change can occur in the hearts of two mosquitoes?”

Only the floating algae knew that there were two indistinct voices in that night.
“Watermelon?”
No response.
“Are you there, Watermelon?”
“Watermelon?!”
This little mosquito felt fear for the first time.
Then came a tiny disturbance. That stupid mosquito was trying to get out and find Watermelon.
“I’m here. What’s the fuss?”
The voice put Milk Monster at ease. He began calling unknowingly, “Mom…”
“Why aren’t you asleep?” asked Watermelon in a tired voice. “You don’t think you can get out sooner if you don’t sleep, do you?” He yawned.
“Watermelon…what were you doing just now? Why did you ignore me?”
“I was thinking.”
“About what?”
“You, of course.”
Milk Monster experienced yet another strange feeling. What could it be?
He only said in that stupid voice of his, “Oh, hee hee.”
Watermelon ignored him and replied rudely, “Birdbrain.”
He turned to the other side and went to sleep.


6.6
The morning of June 6th, the trees reached for the sky and the stream trickled along merrily.
The tranquility of the water was stripped by a breeze. Floating along in the microlayer were the eggs of the mother mosquitoes.
Milk Monster awoke from a wonderful sleep, and he wondered, When can I get out?
Then he discovered. Watermelon was missing.
Out of the thousands of eggs, it didn’t matter to him if one or two or even hundreds went missing.
But Watermelon was missing. His Watermelon.
He couldn’t move as he wished and could only shout with all his might, “Watermelon! Where are you? Watermelon!”
From sunrise until dusk he shouted.
He was only a mosquito. A mosquito who hadn’t hatched yet.
So he made an extraordinary decision.

He decided to hatch.
This was the first thing he did for him and the thing that changed his life.
So Milk Monster tried his best to be hatched.
It hurt. After all it wasn’t time yet.
He didn’t understand why he had to do this. He just writhed and strove to be hatched.
Eventually he became a wriggler.
Racked with pain, he consoled himself, “I’m just a bit early, that’s all.”
After a while, he could finally move through the water, so without hesitation he began his search.
It was close to midnight, and the air temperature had dropped significantly. Milk Monster felt half cold and half warm at the surface of the water.


6.7
By the time he found Watermelon, the eastern horizon had lightened. Down to his last breath but glad, he gazed at the familiar egg and the little silhouette curled in slumber. He didn’t wake him, only flanking the translucent egg and falling asleep contently.
The warm sunlight fell on Milk Monster, and he dreamt he and Watermelon turned into big mosquitoes and flew and flew and flew…
“Who the hell?!”
Milk Monster was roused by Watermelon’s voice.
He said, “It’s me, Watermelon.”
“Milk Monster?!”
“Uh-huh!” Milk Monster was excited.
“Oh my Mosquito! You hatched prematurely?!”
“I…was looking for you…” Milk Monster had nothing else to say, and he felt aggrieved.
Watermelon said, “Okay. Okay. Don’t get hung up on it. Stay there and don’t move, you hear me?”
“Uh-huh.”
He saw that he was angry, but he was happy.
Thus, he stuck close to the egg that was slightly exuding warmth and remained absolutely still.
The pale light enveloped the two translucent bodies.
It was chilly, but Milk Monster felt warm. He was also a bit scared that Watermelon said he would be a retard because of hatching prematurely.
Only Watermelon knew what hatching prematurely meant.

It was about time for Watermelon to come out. He successfully stuck out his little head and breathed air for the first time.
“You’re so ugly.” This was the first thing he heard after coming out.
“To hell with you. You’re ugly!” Watermelon stretched a little before wiggling around in the water.
But Milk Monster didn’t want to move. He was tired.
Thus, the big-hearted Watermelon stayed in the spot and chatted with him.
“Are you hungry?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say you were hungry?!”
“Erm…yeah now that you mention it…”
“You birdbrain! Eat up!”
Thus, Milk Monster ate his first mouthful of food – unicellular algae that Watermelon fixed.
Thousands of their siblings were hatched…it was quite a grand spectacle.
Milk Monster and Watermelon swam to the edge of the water so as not to be separated.
Two wrigglers, perhaps the most content wrigglers in the world, slipped into a peaceful slumber.


6.8
The morning air was fresh and very cold.
Milk Monster snuggled close to Watermelon.
The itchiness slowly woke Watermelon.
He eyed the scrawny Milk Monster and wondered, Can this kid even become a mosquito?
Milk Monster realized that Watermelon had woken. He stretched and said with his eyes closed, “Good morning…”
“Good…good my ass. Only the early bird gets the worm!”
“The early worm gets eaten by the bird…”
“You’re a bird – a birdbrain!”
“Watermelon.”
“Mhm?”
“What’s this tube? It’s so weird…”
“Erm…you use it to eat, what’s so weird about that?”
“It’s so ugly.”
“What’s not ugly about you? It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
“You have one, too, but it’s thicker and bigger than mine.”
“Erm…what you got there is called malformation, got it? Birdbrain!”

“Why do you always call me birdbrain?”
“Because you’re stupid.”
“Oh.”
Milk Monster moped around the whole day because of that.

That night, there was a ray of light from the far side of the water.
“Watermelon.”
Having just finished supper, Milk Monster had nothing to do again.
“What?”
“There’s light coming from there. Is that the sun?”
“It’s fire.”
“Fire?”
Right then and there, a group of monstrous things flapped their way towards the light.
“Watermelon, what are those?”
“Moths.”
“They’re gigantic…”
“No duh, you’re just a wriggler.”
“But you are, too.”
“I don’t have as many questions as you, you bird…” He didn’t finish.
“What are they doing?”
“Flying toward the fire.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know.”
“What’s fire like?”
“Erm…I’ve never seen it, but my mom said it’s like the sun.”
“The sun?”
“Yeah, the moth’s sun.”
“Oh…”
Silence.

“Then what about our sun?”
“Our sun is in the sky.”
“Oh…it’s very bright.”
“No duh.”
“I like the sun. It’s so warm. When it’s here, I’m warm all over.”
“Really? Then it’s easy. When we grow up into mosquitoes and learn to fly, we’ll go to the Arctic.”
“Arctic?”
“Yeah, when the summer solstice comes, the Arctic Circle experiences constant daylight.”
“What and what? I don’t get it.”
“Erm…it means the sun is there the whole day.”
“Woah, awesome! When is the summer solstice?”
“June 22nd, approximately.”
“Perfect! We’ll be able to fly by then.”
“Mhm, but the Arctic is really far…”

“That’s okay. We’ll fly and fly and fly. We’ll get there eventually.”
“Yeah…”
Stupid Milk Monster, thought Watermelon.

Ever since, Milk Monster had something on his mind.
He wanted to go to the Arctic and enjoy a full day of sunlight.
I wish I can grow up faster. He shifted around and snuggled against Watermelon before slipping into sweet slumber.


6.9
June 9th, a very provocative date.
Milk Monster thought of an important question…
“Watermelon.”
“Mornin’.”
“Why do we have to go to the Arctic and not to the sun directly?”
“What?!”
“See, the sun is right above our heads. It’s so close.”
“You birdbrain!” Watermelon couldn’t help breaking into dialect. “Whoddaya think ya are?!”
“Huh?” Milk Monster was left very confused.

“Don’t you know the sun is very far?” Watermelon had calmed down.
“But…”
“No buts, you dumdum.”
“Then let’s look for fire!”
“Insane. You’re an insane mosquito.”
“Why?”
“You try touching fire, then,” Watermelon dared angrily. “You dumbass mosquito can’t tell right from wrong.”
The scolding made Milk Monster feel sad and also very lost.
“But the moths…”
“They are imbeciles!”
“Then I am, too.”
“No. No, you are not.”
But before Milk Monster could rejoice, Watermelon added, “You’re even dumber.”
Milk Monster sighed because he thought he was indeed stupid.
“Then…” He looked up and said dumbly, “let’s stick to the Arctic…”

When he looked up, he saw many of his kind flying above the water.
“Watermelon, they’ve grown up so fast!”
“Shut up, they’re our elders. They’ve come to lay eggs.”
“Oh? Then let’s go play with them.”
“Shoo, shoo. You’re so annoying.”
For some reason, Watermelon became very short-tempered. The air grew humid. Rain was coming.

The rain came in buckets that night. Milk Monster tossed and turned, unable to find sleep.
He called softly, “Watermelon?”
“I’m asleep.”
“Oh…”
Thus, little Milk Monster stared blankly up at the sky.
Where did all the stars go? he wondered.


6.10
When the sun rose, the air was moist and just as humid as before.
Milk Monster spotted many giant fellows, even bigger than moths, circling above the water.
Every now and then they would dip into the water with the lowest point of their body.
Milk Monster shook Watermelon awake. “Watermelon, Watermelon! Wake up!”
Watermelon rubbed his eyes. His worries had indeed followed the rain.

“Look, what are they doing?”
“Giving birth.”
“They give birth here, too?”
“Mhm.”
“Then let’s go play with them.”
“When they grow a little bigger, they will eat us.”
“What?! But why…”
“Why don’t you ask why your mom gave birth to you?”
“…”
“Some dragonflies already laid eggs here a few days ago. Those have probably become nymphs by now.”

“Nymphs?”
“They eat wrigglers.”
Watermelon grew solemn while Milk Monster grew dumb.
“So…do we fly away?”
“Fly away? We’re wrigglers not mosquitoes.”
Milk Monster grew anxious. “Then what do we do!”
“You’re that afraid of dying?”
“Yes! Very! We haven’t gone to the Arctic yet!”
How naive, thought Watermelon.

“Okay. Okay. Don’t fret. I’ll take you away.”
This was the first promise he made to him. As for their first agreement, it had long since dissipated into the summer breeze.

Thus, two little wrigglers, the strangest two wrigglers in the world, swam away from their birthpond.

After a whole day of swimming, they had finally left that pond.
Milk Monster was so tired he was about to kick the bucket.
He asked weakly, “Watermelon?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s just the two of us now?”
“Yeah.”
“Will it be just the two of us from now on?”
“No, we have lots of brothers and sisters. When we learn to fly, we’ll see them again.”
For some reason, little Milk Monster felt depressed for the first time.
Even though he had escaped – they had escaped.

When night fell, the surroundings became unfamiliar and eerie.
As for Milk Monster, the only thing he knew was Watermelon.
Thus, he snuggled even closer to Watermelon.
Then he noticed that Watermelon felt hot.
Milk Monster touched him, asking, “What’s wrong with you?”
“I think…I’m molting.” Watermelon sounded exhausted.
Not wanting to frighten Milk Monster, he explained, “We will molt four times before becoming pupae.”
“Pupae?”
“Yeah, then we will start to grow wings.”

But Watermelon did not explain the nature of a pupa.
“Wow, awesome. But why haven’t I molted?”
“You probably will soon.”
With that, Watermelon went aside to molt.
The curious Milk Monster wanted to watch but was scolded until he turned around.
Timid, he faced another direction comforting himself, I’ll just look at myself tomorrow…

But before tomorrow came, Milk Monster had molted, too.
It felt like he was leaving his body. He thought he had sublimed.
Of course, he didn’t know what sublime meant.


6.13
June 13th, they became pupae.
Milk Monster’s tiny body was encased by clear yet sticky chrysalis, only leaving a small breathing apparatus for oxygen.
He felt stuffy. The air was stuffy and so was his mood.
Where was Watermelon’s chrysalis? What was he thinking about inside there?

Watermelon was thinking from his chrysalis, What is the birdbrain doing? Is he hungry? Or is he thinking about useless stuff again?

That night was very quiet. Nobody knew of the secret thoughts going on in the two pupae.

And so, the first day passed, uneasily and depressingly.


6.14
June 14th, sunny, clear skies, gentle breeze.
But Milk Monster and Watermelon were still trapped in their ugly little houses.
The gentle breeze allowed them to have one beautiful encounter – they bumped into each other.
“Ouch.”
“Yeesh, would you mind?”
Neither knew that the tiny life form on their mind was right beside them.

Milk Monster started fantasizing about his beauty after breaking out of the chrysalis – even though mosquitoes were not beautiful to humans.
And Watermelon? He fell asleep.

After night fell, Milk Monster was disturbed by a chorus of insect calls.
He began tossing and turning, turning and tossing, and in the end – he broke out.
When his wet body touched the cool air, he couldn’t help but shudder.
I’m out? He could barely contain his joy. He cracked a silly grin as he looked at his new appearance. Skinny, long legs and tiny wing tips – he couldn’t fly yet.

Milk Monster carefully crawled his way out and steadied himself. Stepping on the leaves floating on the water, he found Watermelon’s chrysalis.
He poked the mysterious thing with a skinny leg and whispered, “Water…melon…”
The chrysalis wiggled and then let out a weird sound before finally cracking open.
Watermelon stuck out his small head and looked at Milk Monster.
Milk Monster was beaming wide with pearly whites (now, how would that work on mosquitoes?)

Paying no attention to him, Watermelon squeezed out of the casing and gracefully unfolded his body.
His legs were slender and long, and his wings were full and strong, the miniscule water droplets reflecting the moonlight.

“Hi, man,” greeted Watermelon.
“Hi…bug.” Milk Monster was kind of entranced by the sight.
“Hubbub?”
“Uh…no…”
Watermelon touched Milk Monster’s tiny head with a slender leg.
“You’re so small…” he said.
“Erm, and you’re so big…. Why is it like this?” Milk Monster was feeling depressed for the second time.
Watermelon thought, Premature hatchlings are all like this.
He patted Milk Monster. “I told you it’s malformation. You’ll get bigger in the future.”
But would he really? He had no idea.

Then they watched the stars together, speechless.

Milk Monster sighed contently, “I’ve finally become a mosquito.”

Then he happily went to sleep hugging Watermelon.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
ayszhang: Part One! :) Let me know what you think the secret message is!

For some reason the info page didn't get posted so.... anyway it's been posted now >_<

PART TWO

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The Story of Two Male Mosquitoes - English Translation by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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