Butterflies

Thu Way
Translated by Wai Yan Hpone

1.

This morning, he went to the polling booth in his neighbourhood. As he was about to cast his vote, he saw a butterfly inside the ballot box flapping its wings as it struggled to find its way out. He informed the security guard who came to check. The man didn’t get close to the box, and checked only from a distance lest he disturbed the other voters. No matter how he peered at the transparent box, the man did not see the butterfly.

He was sure that the little creature was hidden in the heap of ballot paper folds, with its wings entangled somewhere deep inside. The poor creature might be in need of help now so he asked the security guard to  free the poor creature. How come a butterfly is trapped inside the ballot box? It was unusual, quite rare. The man wanted to help, but said he wasn’t an authorised person to open the box.

Concerned about the butterfly,  he could not leave but loitered around the booth, and glanced at the box from a distance from time to time. After the voting hours, the boxes were opened, and the ballots were taken out for count. He approached the security man again, who replied that he did not see any butterflies when the boxes were opened, alive or dead, in the empty boxes. He left gloomily.

2.

On his way home, he dropped by a temple to regain his cheerful mood. But as he prayed before a Buddha statue, his eyes and mind were wandering. He saw some house geckos walking on the ceiling right above the Buddha statue. Would these geckos eat butterflies? As he finished his prayers and stood, his eyes stopped at a glass donation box that stood near the burning candles and flowers offered to the Buddha.

Four butterflies were fluttering inside the transparent box that had a sign: ‘TO REPAIR THE MARBLE FLOOR’. How come those four butterflies had been inside that donation box? Maybe the opening was too narrow for the creatures to squeeze their way out. What could they be feeding on now? The filthy currency notes inside the box? No, they couldn’t have borne sweet nectar to attract these beauties. He tried pulling the padlock with force, hoping it would break. But one of the trustees spotted him.

As he was taken to the office of the trustees, he tried to explain to the man that he was not trying to steal the money but just trying to help the butterflies escape. The trustee rebuked him, saying he found no butterflies inside the box.

As they argued, another trustee, who thankfully knew him, arrived. The second man intervened, vouching for his character. This young man belongs to a well-to-do family. His father once paid for the construction of the western stairway of this pagoda. There must’ve been a misunderstanding.

‘I don’t mind being accused of theft,’ he explained. ‘But I did find butterflies inside the donation box. We must rescue them.’

The three of them went back to the shrine, with the trustees unlocking the box and looking for the creatures amid the heap of small currency notes. But no butterflies!

‘Young man, you must’ve seen butterflies hovering around those flowers put in that vase,’ the second trustee said. ‘Probably you were confused.’

He did not say anything more, and left with a smile.

‘Do butterflies hover near the flowers that have been picked?’ He said quietly, shaking his head.

3.

As he left the temple and walked home, he saw a friend in a roadside teashop.  His friend asked him to join, and he did. As the waiter delivered his order, a regular sweet tea, his friend said, ‘You know… I cheated a village idiot today. He bought my repaired car without knowing it’d been crashed. I raked in quite a pile … ha-ha.’

He paid no attention to his friend’s words, feeling uneasy for having a friend who was okay with taking advantage of other people’s naivety.

As he picked up his cup of tea, he saw a butterfly resting on the rim of his friend’s tea cup. Surprised, he couldn’t help but stare at it. Do butterflies rest on a tea cup? As he shook his head gently, his friend flicked the creature with his forefinger. The poor thing was flung in the air to a distance, and then flew away. He shot his friend an angry look.

‘Hey … why did you do that to the butterfly?’

‘Butterfly?’ his friend was amazed. ‘C’mon… It was just a fly. Something wrong with your eyes? Go see an eye specialist.’

He sat there still. He surely saw a butterfly but did not want to argue. He saw a butterfly, yes, he did. He left the teashop.

4.

As he approached his home, he encountered a woman in a short skirt outfit. He knew her. She lived in the same neighbourhood. He had heard gossip that she was a scarlet woman.

She was walking ahead of him,  rather slowly. He wasn’t sure whether he should overtake her or just follow by keeping the same pace. It would not be a good idea to walk behind a slow-moving woman. As he was thinking this, a butterfly flew out from underneath her skirt. Then, another butterfly fluttered out.

‘Oh …’

Following his  exclamation, butterflies appeared from the lower end of her skirt one after another. Why… why is that so? Butterflies do not live in colonies as bees do, do they? Is there a colourful flower garden under her skirt? He wondered.

‘Leikpya …’

As he muttered, the woman appeared to have heard him, and looked back, frowning.

‘Do you know me?’ she asked. ‘Why did you call my name?’

‘No, I don’t know you,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t call your name either.’

‘You just called me “leikpya”. That means you know my professional name. Have you ever worked with me before?’

‘No way.’

Shaking his head vigorously, he walked on past her. The woman kept staring at his back grimly.

5.

As he stepped into his home, the TV in his living room was on, and  the international news was on air. A news anchor, a Caucasian, was reporting that butterflies around the world had been dying at an alarming rate for an unknown reason, and that all butterfly species might go extinct if this continued.

He went upstairs to his room, and slipped into bed. He recalled what had happened all day. The face of Leikpya, that rumoured woman whom he just met and talked to, appeared before his eyes. The voice of the journalist who broke the news about potential butterfly extinction still echoed in his ears. He wasn’t sure if it was a good time to sleep, but he relaxed anyway, and sleep came to him quickly.

6.

It was evening when he woke, feeling a little dizzy. He had slept off-schedule, and his body clock must have misaligned. Then, he heard buzzing sounds,  like so many winged insects outside that appeared to be heading toward his room.

Just as he was staring out through the open window curiously, he saw millions of colourful butterflies fluttering toward him like a flying flower garden. They stopped at the window, and took a human shape. That shape, formed with millions of butterflies, became more vivid—he saw a buxom woman. As he was looking at it, stunned, the butterfly lady spoke.

‘We are the last butterfly species on Earth,’ she said. ‘We are now migrating to a new world where only butterflies live. Will you join us? It’s okay if you don’t want to.’

‘Yes, yes, I do. I want to join. Please.’

He agreed quickly and eagerly lest he be left behind. The butterfly lady wore a beautiful smile, and extended one of her hands in his direction. As he grasped it gently, as if he was holding a beautiful, fragrant flower, he sensed the soft hairs of a butterfly wing. The butterfly lady took his hand and began her flight.

As he rose up, he turned his head back often to glance at the flower vase on his veranda. The flowers became smaller and smaller, and they faded eventually.