Grateful for Hometown - 87 Sentimental Stories of Parting with Soulmates

Author: Teng Gang / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: A bright moon from hometown rests on a broken wall. I wonder if you’ve seen it? You see, one night deep into the year, I was woken by voices outside the door, as if I’d grown up into an adult. Barefoot, I walked to the door, pressing my ear against the crack to listen. The speaker was the old rickshaw puller, Lao Wang. I could recognize his voice and his appearance at once—tall, with white hair and a hunched back, and a pair of unusually large feet. Whether it was spring, summer, autumn, or winter, and whether it was sunny or rainy, he’d squat beside his broken rickshaw at the crossroads, waiting for passengers. His voice was sincere yet sorrowful.
“Second Grandma! I’ve been too afraid to tell you, but I can’t bear not telling you. Second Uncle really isn’t with us anymore!”
“You’d better keep it down, you’d better keep it down! The children haven’t slept well for over a year.”
“Last October 9th, just as it got dark, I was looking for fares at the train station when I saw a small group of Japanese escorting a person toward the east. I recognized him at once—it was Second Uncle, though he’d grown gaunt. He was wearing a summer silk gown, and as he looked at me, it seemed he recognized me, as if he had something to say but couldn’t. I followed them from a distance, watching where they were taking him! As I walked, they passed the railway. Beyond the railway lay the Yangshan Mountains, and I couldn’t follow them any further. I could only watch from afar. The Japanese shouted for them to halt at the foot of the Yangshan Mountains and shoved Second Uncle into a pit dug earlier in the day. Then those beasts piled the loose soil back into the pit.”
“You’re lying!” Mother shouted, her voice trembling.
“You’d better keep it down, Second Grandma! You’d better keep it down!”
“You saw wrong! Lao Wang!” Mother almost wanted to blind the old rickshaw puller with her eyes.
“You saw wrong!”
“Second Grandma, don’t get angry. You’d better keep it down, you’d better keep it down!” Lao Wang said, backing away as if fleeing.
Mother let out a loud cry, but as soon as she did, she immediately covered her mouth. The bright moon from hometown hung above the poplar tree outside the door. I wonder if you’ve heard it?
At the first crow of the rooster, Mother woke her twin sons, who were her eldest children at the time, aged 12. She led us to the veranda and, with her rough hands, washed our small feet in a large wooden basin. As she washed, she said, “Children, it’s not that Mother is heartless, but for your future. Your father, locked up in the, still sent messages asking to see your calligraphy. Lately, he’s been appearing in my dreams, urging me not to waste your studies. So I’ve had to send you out of the occupied zone. For families like ours, the Japanese schools won’t take us in. I don’t know if our relatives there can be trusted or not. Mother doesn’t know either. When your father is gone, the person is gone, but the bond remains. When the person is gone, the bond fades away! Both of you have two silver dollars sewn into the armpits of your cotton coats. If no one takes you in and you can’t endure the hardship, take out the money and start back. Come back to Mother, and we’ll suffer together.”
P18