#55 I dreamt of my dad

I dreamt of my dad.

He looked wet as if he was in the rain.

 

He was in front of the door, and I was surprised to see him here.

He’s been dead for several years.

 

Two years or three years or more. I never count.

I remember it was a holiday. Everyone was celebrating Taiwan’s birthday.

I was in the hospital. My dad lay on the ward bed. 

His heart stopped beating.

I was holding his hand, and we were waiting.

Waiting for someone to drive him home.

 

“Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t know. I need to take a shower. I need to change clothes.”

He walked straight to the bathroom.

 

Is it okay for him to be here?

 I’m not devoted to any religions, but won’t any of Gods feel pissed off?

 

I have hundreds of questions in my mind while he’s showering.

 

Can he still be my father? Does he need a new identity?

Is he dead or alive? Which world does he belong to?

His name has been removed from our household certificate.

Maybe the government would think we cheated them.

 

However, he’s right here. 

I can see him. I can touch him. I can hear him.

 

Then I woke up.

I hope he won’t get punished for getting lost in my dream.

#54 Eat your words

     This is Mom. That is Son. Mom is a fat woman. Son is a grumpy boy. Son broke many things, such as vases, glasses, windows, and so on. Son made fun of people. He spoke out lots of bad words. People don’t like him. They are angry with him, but he doesn’t care about them. He keeps breaking things, teasing people, and cursing a lot. He has Mom. Mom is a word-eater. She eats people’s criticism, gossip, and murmurs about Son. The more she eats, the fatter she becomes. She is swelling like a balloon.  

     “Bang!” Mom breaks into pieces.

#53 Suggestions for girls who want to be loved

The girl said,
“Tie your hair. Boys like playing ponytails.”


The boy said,
“Smile more. No one likes such a long face.” 


The woman said,
“Find a good dress and put some makeup. 
Bold lips and sexy legs will help you hunt for men.”


The man said,
“The less you wear, the hotter you are.” 


The old lady said,
“Learn to cook. Your cooking skills will lead you to the men’s hearts.” 


The old men said,
“Be sweet and elegant. Don’t yell or gossip.”


The one who loves you said,
“Forget the above suggestions and remember I love YOU.”

#52 Dee

     She always wears a medical mask. Maybe she's sick, but no one knows. She never talks. Maybe she has talked a few times, but no one remembers when they've heard her talk. She may have a name, but no one knows. Some people call her Teen, Tin, or Tim. Some people call her Dee, Dim, or Ding. A lady claimed that she told her that she is Teen, or Tin, or Dee... Whatever, she is ... okay, let's just call her Dee.

     Dee doesn't have any family. She looks young, but no one knows her exact age. She lives alone in a deserted house. Dee has planted many flowers and trees around the house, so it still looks nice. No one knows how Dee earns money for living, but Dee usually takes a bus to somewhere.

     In this small village, people take her as a weirdo. People like to gossip about her. They are always imaginative to fabricate her new identity. Sometimes she's an orphan, sometimes she's a divorced teenager, and sometimes she's a psycho. Is she one of the characters which they've described? No one knows.

     "Hi, is anyone home?" a lady yelled and knocked the door. "Hello! Hello!" the boy beside the lady tried to help her.

     Dee came out to see who they were. Dee has already lived in this village for a long time, but she's never had any visitors. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Melody, and this is my son." the lady said.

     Dee nodded.

     "Oh, are you sick? I just came to say hello to you. We just moved here yesterday. Here are some handmade cookies."

     Dee nodded and smiled.

     "You seem to like cookies very much. That's so nice! Okay, I still have lots of things to sort out. Talk to you later. Hope you get well soon."

     Dee nodded.

     "Ben, what should you say?"

     "See you, Miss." Ben waved at Dee and said goodbye to her. Dee nodded and also waved back.

     "Mommy, is she dumb?" Ben asked.

     "I don't know. Maybe she gets a bad cold."

     "May I buy some apples for her?"

     "Why?"

     "Miss Lee said apples are good for our health. She said "An apple a day keeps the doctor away.""

     "Sounds like a good idea. Okay, let's get some apples for our new friend."

     The next day, Ben brought some apples to Dee's house and told her to eat apples to keep away the doctor. Dee took the apples and gave him a note. "What's this?" Ben asked, but Dee just smiled.

     The note says, "謝謝."
                              (thank you)     

#51 A 7-Year-Old Mystery

    

      I have a disturbing name with good meanings. 

     I’m from Taiwan, and we speak Chinese, so of course my real name is not Jamie, but 張惇雅 (Zhang DunYa). When it’s written in English, it looks good, but in Chinese, it’s a damn difficult name. 

     It was my dad who gave me the name, and he hoped to give his kid the most special name in the world, so he opened the Chinese dictionary and found this character 惇(dun). It’s an ancient word, so it means nowadays, no one uses this character. It exists in ancient Chinese literature only. 

     So, I didn’t know how to read my own name correctly until I was 7. Everyone called me wrong. Yes, literally, “everyone.” Mostly, they called me 淳雅(ChunYa). Sometimes they called me 諄雅(ZhunYa). As you see, all of these characters look so similar. They just chose one of similar characters to call me, including my dad, the one who gave me the name. 

     On the first day of my elementary school life, I was so excited to make new friends and meet my new teacher. When my teacher came into the class, she took the board and started to call our names one by one. She was the first one who called me correctly in my life, but unfortunately, I didn’t know then. 

     “Zhang DUN-ya," she said. 

     I felt so funny because I thought my teacher called me wrong. It was the first time that I heard someone call me this way. I raised my hand and responded proudly,  

     “Sorry teacher, I’m Zhang CHUN-ya.” Other students looked at me and I thought I might look smart correcting the teacher. 

     “No, you’re Zhang DUN-ya,” she insisted. I felt so weird. I’d had this name for 7 years, how could it possible that I made such a mistake? Then she added, “Check your dictionary after school.” 

     When I got home, I told my dad the whole story, and he felt shocked as well. I looked up the character 惇(dun) in the dictionary which I got as a prize from the kindergarten, and that dictionary even didn’t have the character. Suddenly, I felt as if I was in chaos. I’d lived in the world for 7 years and the first time I doubted who I was. 

     My dad drove me to the nearest bookstore right away to find out the answer. We both felt surprised about my “new” name. I felt a little sad then because I loved my old name so much. From then on, I corrected everyone who called me wrong. Many of my friends thought that I “changed” my name. One of them even asked me why I did so. “The previous one sounds better,” she said. 

     And now, I’m already a grownup. There are still few people who know how to read my name, but I don’t mind it at all. I love my name and I appreciate that my dad gave me such a good name. It contains my dad’s hope and expectations for me. My name is 張惇雅 (Zhang DunYa). Zhang is my family name, Dun means kind-hearted, and Ya means elegant. 

#50 deadly love

     Steve had lived with his girlfriend, Julie for several years. They lived in a small apartment but they were happy with their simple life. It was the happiest thing of the day for Steve to see Julie on the bed when he woke up in the morning.  They believed that if they worked hard, one day, they could afford a big house. At that time, they would get married and have their cute kids. They deeply believed so.



     However, life is always unpredictable. They got a bad car accident. Julie unclipped her seat belt right away and held Steve tightly to protect him from being hit directly. Steve just got some abrasions, but Julie got badly hurt. She couldn’t walk from then on and what’s worse, the doctor said that she couldn’t bear babies afterwards. Her world collapsed when she knew that the picture of being with her love and her lovely kids would never come true. Julie became deeply depressed.



     Steve felt sorry for her. He worked harder to support their expense. After the accident, Julie had never gone out. She just stayed home every day and waited for Steve coming back. Steve told her many interesting stories to make her happy, but he failed. Whenever Steve got home, he felt the house was filled with sorrow and depression. Soon, Steve didn’t like to go home any more. He steeped himself in his work and he came back home later and later. Therefore, Julie became insecure and grumpy. She doubted if he cheated on her. They quarreled with each other more and more often, more and more badly.



     One day, they started to fight as usual. She yelled at him madly with lots of bad words. “CAN’T YOU JUST SHUT UP?” Steve shouted back.  He threw down the clock on the desk, and the air became dead suddenly. Julie was crying. Steve took two glasses of water and asked her to sit down. “I think we need to talk.”



     Lots of beautiful memories jumped out of his mind while they were talking. He felt happy at first, but soon he was deep in sorrow. He looked into her eyes and thought, “She is not the girl I love anymore.”



     “I love you, Julie.” Steve said. He drank the rest of water, and then he held her hands. “I can’t see you suffering more. Let me help you, okay?”



     Julie nodded.



     He stood up and got close to her. He choked her more and more tightly. Julie fell down from the chair.



     He held her up and put her body in the closet. “I’m sorry, Julie,” he said. He went to take her crutches and put them beside the closet.



     He needed to calm down first. He lay on the bed and recalled what just happened. He still couldn’t believe what he had done. It seemed that he was just in a dream. He curled himself and turned to the wall. He found two notebooks beside. He opened one of them and started to read. They were Julie’s diary.



     He just realized how much Julie loved him, and he couldn’t help crying loudly. The guilt suddenly covered him.



     He sat up and seemed deep in thought. Then he looked as if he just made up his mind. He went to the desk and wrote a long letter.



     He hanged himself.

#49

     A youngster felt so lonely although he was satisfied with his job here. No one understood his loneliness and no one cared about it. People just took him as a working partner.

     After work, sometimes they sat and drank together. They complained about their wives, the government, and their boss. They didn't talk about dreams which never existed in their lives. Normally, the youngster just listened to them. He was so quiet.

     However, this time, he stood up and said, "I won't go to work tomorrow." Then he left. Other people were shocked and thought that maybe he got drunk. They kept drinking and joking a lot.

     The next day, the youngster really didn't come to work, but no one discussed about his absence. The boss asked another youngster to take his job. The world still goes on as usual.