Hope Spring

Author: Qiulai / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Our story begins on a cloudy afternoon in the beautiful city of Sydney in the Southern Hemisphere of Australia. The sky was so low, almost touching the ground. On this day, many nannies of different skin colors stood outside the gates of Santiago Primary School, waiting for their little masters to come out. The Indian girl, Masha, was the Hua family's nanny. She had beautiful dark circles under her eyes and thick lips that always moved, spouting endless playful words. People called her "a joyful old child." Usually at this time, she would nonstop boast to the other nannies about how she had traveled almost all over the five continents with her employers. But this time, she stood alone, completely immersed in worry. She frowned, her fists clenched at her chest, muttering to herself, "I can't tell her! But can I hide it? That little smart aleck. Oh, if she weren't so temperamental, poor child! What will I do when she throws a tantrum?" Masha was worried not for others, but for Hua Ling. Lingling was ten years old, the only child of the Hua family, a spoiled little princess. She was selfish and easily angered, often throwing tantrums for no reason, making her pretty face distort. Exaggeratedly, she was even more frightening than a little witch. If she knew her father's company had gone bankrupt, she would surely cry and scream, causing chaos at home—she had already broken many of Mr. Hua's expensive souvenirs. But the situation was even worse: Mr. Hua decided to divorce his wife and daughter so they wouldn't suffer with him. The wealthy and warm family was about to fall apart, with no hope in sight. Just as Masha worried, Lingling was fighting with her classmates in the classroom. Her face was flushed, her two neat braids standing stubbornly on either side of her head. She grabbed Maria's long hair, shoved her down to the ground, and walked out of the classroom proud, not even glancing at Maria, who was crying uncontrollably on the floor. But she wasn't happy at all; there was no joy in her victory, only a feeling of wanting to throw a tantrum. She didn't know the source of that feeling was—loneliness. P1-2