Xia of Tumen

Chapter 7

A few weeks went by like this, and they somehow survived. The school was still running, because the teachers hoped some of the students would have money, and would pay them. They knew it was unlikely, but the school teachers knew there were no other jobs to be had.

So Xia kept going to school. As Xia was walking to school, she saw Dasom. Xia hadn't seen Dasom in a while because they had both been busy getting food. So naturally Xia was excited to see her.

Dasom was sitting on the ground, and as Xia rushed up to her, she fell over on her side. Xia suddenly was afraid. What if? No... NO! At this point Xia was running to Dasom.

"Dasom!?"

Xia was relieved to see Dasom open her eyes. "Dasom?"

"Xia? Is that really you? We haven't seen each other in weeks! Why haven't you been visiting?"

As Xia helped Dasom stand up, she said, "I've been busy finding food. I was going to go to school today, since there doesn't seem to be any food to find. Are you okay?"

Dasom could barely walk, and was almost just a skeleton. "Yeah, I'm alright. I think I just fell asleep."

Dasom stumbled, then Xia just picked her up completely. Dasom should have been heavier, but she wasn't. "I'm taking you to my house. We have a little bit of food. We just sold the mattress (the bed frame was already gone)"

Dasom had apparently already fainted again. Xia didn't even want to guess how long Dasom hadn't been eating.

Xia came home, and cooked some "rice". It wasn't really rice, it was mostly corn, corn cobs, and even cornstalks. It had a few grains of rice. Xia saved the last of their food for Chung-Ae. She then stayed with Dasom until Chung-Ae came home.

When Chung-Ae got home, Xia knew he was hungry, and was glad there was a little food left. "I found Dasom, on the way to school. She was almost starved to death, so I gave her some of our food. There is still some left for you."

"No. That was your mattress we sold, you eat it."

Xia insisted, "No, no. You were working all day to get some food. It is yours. I'm going outside. I'll find something."

After they argued a little about it, Chung-Ae finally agreed to eat the food, "Oh alright, but tomorrow, you will eat something."

"Of course. We'll find food somewhere."

Xia wandered around outside for a while. She found a few acorns, and ate them. She came to the river and drank some. It eased her painful hunger some. It wouldn't last long though. She knew that.

Finally, she resorted to just sitting by the river and watching it flow by. She watched as a Chinese family set up their picnic by the river. The little children were swimming in the river. Xia suddenly wanted to go swimming.

... with her family

... and have a picnic.

A picnic sounded so wonderful, they had all the food over there. She wished she could swim across. But she couldn't leave. The memory of trying to leave with her father was as fresh as if it were yesterday... It would be so easy to just "fall" in the river and let it carry her away, and then... she could just... "wash ashore", and climb out and be free!

She stared across at China. She knew that the "accident" plan wouldn't work, but she could go over the border by night. She hadn't even thought of that. She could bring back food, and save Chung-Ae and Dasom from the terrible death of starvation. Or it might make the pain last longer. But somehow she just couldn't give up on the idea. They had a chance, why let it get away?

As Xia walked away from the river, back towards their house she decided. She was not going to give up now. She would not let Dasom and Chung-Ae die because she was afraid to cross the border. She would go across. And she wouldn't give up until she had gotten a job, and brought back food!