One day after her market run, before leaving for work, Mother was eating porridge and radish with us. "Mingming,” she said to me, “tomorrow maybe we could have peanut butter instead of radish."
"No, Mom. We finished off the peanut butter a while ago."
Since Father left, we hardly had any goodies for breakfast. Porridge was an inexpensive combination of rice and a lot of water. Picked vegetable added flavor. As an alternative, peanut butter mixed with salt and a little water could enhance our breakfast. "On my way home, I saw that the store in the street corner was selling peanut butter,” Mom said.
"Oh. Why didn't you get some?"
"There was a long line, and I can't be late for work. Maybe you can go to buy some after breakfast.”
I gulped down
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It was a cold, windy deep-winter day when we were called upon to serve the families of servicemen. Gathering outside of our school playground, our class was divided into several groups. Three girls and I walked to a nearby house. A sign declaring, “Honored Family,” in large inked black characters on red paper was posted at the front door. We were there to clean the windows.
Before I left home, Mother instructed me to dress as warmly as possible. I wore a thick coat with a cotton-filled liner. I also had a thick scarf wrapped around my neck and ears.
The house was a typical old Shikumen with no indoor plumbing. The only water coming from an outside faucet was icy. We used damp towels to clean the windows. No one had rubber gloves, and I hand-washed the cloth in a big metal bucket. After painful stinging, the freezing water numbed my fingers. But I could not stop working because I refused to appear less capable than others. I determined to be as strong as my father had asked me to be.
I laid my frozen hand on the towel and continued wiping the front window. My hands felt nothing and all sensation disappeared. Next thing I knew, the world started spinning and my vision blurred. Sparks and dark shadows crept in front of my eyes, and then everything went