LEVITATE

“Cold Noodles” by Sascha Matuszak is an intimate, melancholy, and beautiful story about a boy named Liu Peng whose town has just been through a major earthquake. Following the disaster, the government has issued fliers telling everyone in his town that they will have to move because they will be tearing down the old family homes to make way for new apartment buildings. His family is devastated at the family history they will be leaving behind, while Liu Peng himself is devastated at the fact that his girlfriend, Douzi, who he has been set on marrying for years, will be moving extremely far away from him. 

I was particularly drawn to this story due to its language, which is strung beautifully from a third person perspective that somehow seems to feel as intimate as if it was in Liu Peng’s own voice. We see his sorrows, his anxieties, and how witnessing a community tragedy has made him want to hold onto things more dearly, creating a reluctance to accept change. We also see, in a slightly more distant way, the impact of culture and history on Liu Peng’s family, adding to their devastation at leaving the home they had been in for generations. 

After we follow Liu Peng and Douzi through the landscape of their neighborhood—talking to neighbors, taking pictures over bridges, and eating noodles at their favorite restaurant—the two have a devastating, but incredibly realistic, conversation. Douzi tells him that she’s going to be moving, going to attend a new school, and, as she directly says, will continue loving him, but will not be his bride. She says, “I love you Ah Peng, I really do, but I don’t want to get married right now. I already told you that. I don’t want to stay here in this village and be somebody’s wife. That’s not for me.” They both know the inevitability of the ending of their relationship, but it’s bittersweet, because for now, they have to keep on loving each other as if nothing ever happened or will happen. 

I’m extremely grateful that we get to showcase this story in our latest issue of Levitate. I think it’s beautiful, and brings a tear to the eye, without being at all overdone. It’s a unique perspective, and at the same time it creates a very relatable story, even if you are not of the same culture, or if you’ve never been in a situation exactly  like this—everyone understands what it is to lose loved ones, what it is to know that you’re about to lose loved ones, and what happens when elements of your previously perfect community seen to be falling apart around you.

Charlotte Hensley, Editor-in-Chief