A new term is coming.Shunmin is going to grade three in Middle school,and her younger brother Derong will be in grade one. She is so happy to have Derong in the same school with her.Shumin blieves that as long as Derong works as she does,they both could enter university later on.And then Mom will not suffer any longer. Shumin will never forget whathappended when she was five.One day,she was expecting her father at the table with Mon and brother Dad had promised that he would b back for dinner but he failed his promise.Mom called but got no one answer.They had prepared Dad"s favourite dishes,fish and shrimps,but finally they stayed there, untou-ched and cold. Mom saw the children were hungry so she said,"Eat children,I"m not hungry yet.You have your dinner and I will wait for you Dad." She had a lump in her throat and could not contimue. Too young to unders-tand her Mom,Shumin comforted her by saying, "Don"t worry, Mom, Daddy cares so much about us, he will be back,probably he"s just delayed because of a traffic jam." These words made Mom cry. Shumin and her little brother where frightened,"What"s wrong,Mom?Did I do anything wrong to make you feel sad?" After a few minutes,Mom regained her calm and managed a smile, "Shumin is a good girl.Mom is so happy to have you two,is are tears of joy." The two children went to bed after dinner. Some time at mid-night, Shumin heatd someone quarrelling. She peeped through the slightly-opented door.Mom was hit by Dad and a strange woman, is seems Mom was so seriously injured that she could not tesist. Shumin was shocked, she dared not to look any more and kept hidden behind the door and listened. "Why should I drive her out?THis is my house, I can have anybody here is I wish.If you know your place, go and sleep in the living room tonight, don"t disturb us, or I will drive you out ...."said Dad. Mom cried, "I have always forgiven all you did out of this house, why do you keep pus-hing?Now you take her here, what about the children?" "Stop bluffing about the children, I have had enough! Go and take them if you like, I don't care!" uttered Dad coldly. Shumin and Derong sobbed behind the door. Suddenly the door was opened, Mom stepped out and said, "Shumin, Derong, go quic-kly and get all your stuff, let's go to your arandpa's, we can not suffer any longer !" Shumin walked towards the gate after Mom, carrying her schoolbag, and dragged Derong with her. Passing through the living room, she saw her father flirting with the other woman. They never saw their father since then. Mom worked over ten hours a day. Grandpa had retired so he could take care of us. Mom had su-ch a low salary that she often worried about the tuition fee when a new term was coming. The neighbors helped with Shumin's school dress and textbooks. Sometimes the dress did not fit her or the books were old ones. Every time Mom saw them wearing old dresses, especially when t-hey didn't really fitted, she could not help crying, "It's all my fault, if I ha-d have the ability to keep your Dad stay with you, you won't won't have to suffer in poverty." Shumin was then eight or nine years old, she answered promptly: "It's all right Mom, being poor is no problem. The dress is nice. If we wash it carefully. it will keep another two or three years. It would be a pity to throw is away." (该帖作者修改过1次，最后修改于2008-11-10 19:41:42) 自:Club.ChinaRen.com ------------------------------ [复制本贴地址] http://club.chinaren.com/136450486.html ------------------------------
Influenced by his elder sister, Derong lived frugally. He went to sc-hool on foot with Shumin even in midsummer in order to save the bus fare. They both liked reading novels, but never bought a single one ex-cept for the textbooke. Duting the summer vavation, they went to the t-extbooks. During the summer vacation,they went to the library and borrowed a lot of books, They went to the youth centre nearby to work on the computer. Not until recently did their mother buy them a PC,si-nce Shumin had to do her homework with a computer. Mom saved ev-erything possible to be able to buy it.
The old grandpa often felt sorrow, while seeing his grandson in old schoolclothes, and he said, "Come, I will buy you new chothes." Mom always answered, "Dad, what are you talking about? I do hope you co-uld afford the money. You have no income and you're retired. Having supported us for so long, you even spend out all your reserves. Now t-he whole family has to live on seven thousand amonth, it's really aust-ere."
Then grandpa would say, "Really? Then no new clothes. Is it all ri-ght for old ones, out Shumin will still do well in her studying."?
Now Derong has entered MIddle school, it costs Mom several tho-usands to buy the textbooks and school uniform. Shumin knows Mom has not much money, so she dares not to ask for new dress and sho-es, even she has grown taller and has bigger feet.
Shumin is taller than girls of her age. The old dresses the neighb-oring girls gave her are too short for her. She has to let down the ma-rgin of the skirt again and again while it's still not long enough.Her br-other shakes his head after seeing it,"You look pretty in this mini-skirt, but I am afraid the school won't allow it. Why not asks Mom to buy you a new one? We can choose a bigger one then you can wear it till ara-duation.Sooner or later, you've to buy new school dress, If we buy it now, you can wear it one year longer..." ------------------------------
In fact Mom has asked her once, "Shumin, you look much taller, d-oes your dress still fit?" All she could say is, "It's okay." While when sh-e put it on, Mom will cry, "How could it be okey? It's so thin and short, how can I let you go to school that way? Wait for a second, I will give y-ou some money to buy a new one. What about your shoes?"
Habitually, she would answer, "A little bit tight, but it's okay." Caug-ht her painful facial expression when truying on those shoes, Mom so-bbed and said, "Shumin, I know you are a good girl, but there's no ne-en for you to be so frugal. These shoes are too small, they will hurt your feet! We will buy you another pair before the new term." ------------------------------
not romantic at all, Vike, what are you trying to prove, mid-school is no longer free, the gov. are no longer helping the poor kids ... ------------------------------ 寻觅 寻觅 寻寻觅觅
