Age of Innocence

Mei was the girl next door.
We were instant good friends the first time we met.
We played together, ate together, sometimes, slept together. We were five.

Mei was holding my hand at uncle's wedding.
We announced that we were getting married.
Everyone laughed. We were six.

Mei was a lot taller. Most of the time, she was my guardian, till one day -
Her dad was taken away for not listening to Chairman Mao - grandma said.
I became her guardian - fighting off bully kids in the neighborhood.
One time I threw a rock to the crowd and one kid got a nice crack in the head.
Grandma beat me up for the first time.
No one ever harrassed Mei from that day on. We were seven.

Mei was very ill one day. She had to quit school for a while.
I did not want to go to school without her.
Everyday, I brought books back from school and read with her. We were eight.

Mei was crying the day I moved to another city.
Grandma passed away and grandpa was not happy.
Grandpa passed away before long.
I had to moved to another city. We were nine.

Mei was visiting with her mom, mom told me.
Dashed home, I was covered with dirt and sands.
She was there, still a lot taller, in her homemade new dress - white shirt and flowery skirt.
Moms talked and talked but we did not. Boys don't talk to girls.
She left, unhappy. We were ten.

Many years later, I received a letter from Mei.
She was in a college in the south and I was in a college in the north. We were twenty.

Mei stopped by the day before I left the country.
We had not seen each other for fourteen years.
She was still a lot taller.
We talked and laughed. We forgot the time.

Many more years later, mom told me Mei was married, divorced, and married again.
We are a lot older.