Every single family is a miniature of a society. And almost all families have at least one reactionary. I was born the reactionary in our family. The following are examples.
1. CIGARETTE ENDS CONFLICT
The "cigarette ends incident" happened during the end of my first elementary school year, 1961.
The distance between where I lived and the school, was about 3 kilometers. It took a 7-year-old child more than 30 minutes to walk. When I say "30 minutes" that only meant in the morning on my way to the school. But in the afternoon, from school back home could take me hours. The reason being, I wanted to pick up cigarette ends to meet the need of my father. (My father was a heavy smoker and, for a period of time, back home from countryside errands.)
When I say, "pick up cigarette ends" it was not in all cases that I simply picked them up from the ground. Instead, I would follow a smoker, sometimes for quite a distance, wait until they finished their smoking, and then pick up what was left, if there was any left.
Back home from school, the first thing for DanXin and me to do was put our booty on the table. I always wanted to compare his with mine, to see who the winner was. The pity was that he seemed not so enthusiastic in such competition. "OK, you're the winner again" was what he said most of the time. That very much weakened my feeling of satisfaction. Next, we would separate tobacco from papers and mix the tobacco together before handing it over to our father.
Father put the "second mouth" tobacco in a frying pan infusing a little alcohol and then heating it up for a few seconds, for the purpose of disinfection I suppose. Then, the loose tobacco was ready for my father to roll his own speaking trumpet shaped cigarette.
One day, I invited a classmate to do the "pick-up" together with me. Although older than me he looked younger as he was smaller. Our deal was to put our pick-ups together and split it 50/50 in the end. That day business was unusually bad. I put the blame on him and broke the deal by saying I could only give him 30%. He disagreed. I ran away. He chased me tightly all the way to where I lived.
My brother DanXin appeared by chance. After listening to his complaint of my wrongdoing, through tears and snivels, DanXin gave all the cigarette ends that he had collected during the whole day, to my classmate! In addition, DanXin walked him back for about 10 meters comforting him by promising, "I will report my brother's wrongdoing to our parents."
While I was thinking what my brother did was extremely stupid, especially towards such a small fellow, something unexpected happened. My classmate turned his head, staring at me. As soon as our eyes met he threw a cigarette end on the ground. I pounced on it like a tiger. He walked some distance and threw another. Again, I dashed up. Again and again it repeated. Half an hour passed and we weren't far from where he lived. Then he laughed with victorious satisfaction and poured everything he had left in his hands on the ground!
Though I was exhausted when I got home, I showed off my achievement to DanXin with excitement. I thought I deserved praise, yet DanXin made no comment. Later he told me coldly, "Your classmate's father does not smoke, not at all." I was woodened with no words, only second thoughts that I should not have taken advantage of a smaller classmate in the first place.
In the evening, DanXin kept his promise to report my wrongdoing to our parents. As a result they doubled my housework as punishment. I was very badly affected, and decided to quit the pick-up business forever. I imagined Father running at his nose caused by lack of smoking, I could not help laughing. Somehow I had my moment!
In fact, what I really should be proud of were those speeches written by my father for some important provincial leaders. Speeches such as, "The situation of our country is not only good, but also getting better and better!", for sure derived from my picked-up cigarette ends, at least a part of them.
YOU ARE READING
Father, Son & Violin
Non-FictionWhat does the year 1960 mean to the Chinese people? "Three-Years of Natural Disaster", in which it is said more than 30 million Chinese lost their lives. A surviving boy aged six, is taken from his extended, countryside family with whom he has b...
