We lived in a small village near the sea. The farthest place people here had been was the noisy dirty town center 15 mils away. They knew little about the outside world.
One day early in the morning, I heard my mother saying “take care”. My parents used to go to fishponds together and work there all day long, but not this time. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the front door. My father hugged me and told me to behavior like a young man and to look after my mother. He promised me he would be back and then left quickly. I cried loudly. I did not know where he was going and when he would be back. I tried to catch up with him but the door was locked. Though the key was just hanging right on the door, I was not tall enough to reach it. I did my very best to move a chair so that I could stand on it and turn the key to open the door. But it was too heavy for me to move. I was still crying, hoping he could come back and hug me once more. For a moment, I saw my father stopped. However, he went on without turning around.
My cry did not stop my father’s footsteps and days tasted bitter and bitter since he went away. My mother and I had to get up before the sun rose and walk miles to find the freshest grasses with morning dew on the leaves and mow them into gunnysacks. She then had fishes to feed and I had kindergarten to go. So we said goodbye to each other with miles of road waiting ahead.
I was never absence from kindergarten or late for classes. I did not care about my classmates’ laughing or rumors about my father’s leaving away because I knew he would be back. I liked my teachers. They cared for me just like my mother. And they were as knowledgeable as my father. They taught me how to write and how to do arithmetic. I learned very fast. They praised me, saying I was the smartest boy in the kindergarten. I knew that. I just sometimes missed my father and dreamed how wonderful it would be if he knew I was as smart as him.
One day, a neighbor hurried into our house and whispered my mother something. My mother’s face went deadly pale. She threw her arms around me as soon as the neighbor went away and burst into tears. Later that evening, I learned from her what happened on earth. There was a piece of news on TV that a ship ran into a typhoon on the way home and no survival was found. My father and the other five villagers were supposed to be on board. I was totally shocked. I knew my father had been away for years but I had never imagined that I would not see him any more.
However, my father came back safely a week later. He explained they were stopped by the customs officers and did not get on that ship. My father hugged me as he used to, saying I was a good boy and would go and study in the best school in the town. These words were almost the same as what he said to me when he left. It was not until then did I realize why he left away.
My father was still talking lying in bed and my mother weeping. Now I understood my father’s leaving away and my mother’s hard working better. He was the backbone of the family and wanted his family a better future and she had to take up family responsibilities too.
All in all, my parents love me, just like any other parents on earth. And downstairs was the party continued on till late at night.
