Fiction: Group 2
The heart-wrenching pain of not seeing her parents this year has torn the little girl apart.
After finishing the one chance of communication, Xia Mei droops her shoulder and drags herself to
the first class. Counting bells... Knelling classes to end... Xia Mei’s ears are impenetrable.
Bell chimes like an arrow to the ear. Instead of sprinting home for another round of relentless
housework, Xia Mei trudges down the uneven cobblestone-paved road. And here, she finds herself at the
burial ground of her 4-year old brother, Tai Yuan. The toddler wandered off and drowned in a tributary
flowing into Bei Jiang last year.
Her family buried him in a grave overlooking one of the most scenic views. Perched atop on the
rice paddies, this is the view of heaven. The sky, sea, mountains blend into a work of art as the setting sun
descends in a reddish hue. But, the view is blurred by tears.
Xia Mei’s inarticulate sorrow can only be spoken to the dead. In the storm of thoughts, an old
Chinese maxim reverberates in her ear, “If you can’t eat bitterness, you can’t get anywhere.” But how long
will this bitterness linger? Can she follow her dream of becoming a doctor? Or she is destined to become
just another factory girl?
Her parents’ salaries have bought bricks and lumber to replace the grass and mud. They proudly
show off their televisions and refrigerators. However, the price is paid in absence, the price is paid in their
children’s loneliness, a lifetime of sorrow and regret…
