the pronunciation using the broadcasts, the spelling and definition using my dictionary, and the
grammar, a mix of both. I then flashed forward, to my future life. Realising I’d never considered
getting out of that camp alive, let alone having a future – my education stopped at 16! But I
imagined a wonderful future – I saw myself teaching law at Harvard, with a beautiful, amazing
wife and two children, a boy and a girl. I saw myself as an old man, having returned to China,
forgiving, but not forgetting, living in a cottage on the outskirts of Beijing, holding hands with
my wife and watching my precious grandchildren run around the garden – ‘this’ I thought to
myself, ‘this, will be my future’.
I tapped on the door and my mother was the one to approach, my father following close behind.
