Childhood - the neighbor

The family of our childcare neighbor in Deng Shi Ko Street (Latten Market Entrance Street) had four members, parents, a grandma and a boy of my age. My mom mentioned that the childcare was privately owned and operated by a family of a former member of Kuomintang Party (Party of the Republic of China) who was now considered educable by the Communist Party, and that made me wonder if they had been the owner. I never saw the father while the other three were the frequent visitors to our place.

 

In sunny days, we would be taken to the outside, sitting in a circle in the front courtyard, enjoying the sun and the weather while the teachers chatted away joined sometimes by the mother and grandma if they came by. The mother was a big-figured, fair-skinned and over-weighted woman, showing two glittery golden teeth when grinning. The extra weight made her look even bigger and her skin even finer. Sitting in a small chair designed for a small child demanded her back staying upright with one hand rest on a knee to complete a supportive triangle formed by her arm, lap and side of upper body, giving freedom to the other hand to do jobs on behalf of both. She laughed a lot for no obvious reasons and we liked her for that. The grandma, on the contrary, was skinny, having all her hair pulled back neatly and secured into a bun. She would sit quietly with one leg crossed over on the other and both elbows resting on the top lap with shoulders forward and neck disappeared between them as if she was tempted to save space for the woman next to her by drawing herself into a ball. She studied her shoe tips more than enjoying the surroundings or stared blankly to one direction, drafting away. I had wondered if she had been always this quiet and had ever smiled. The boy was quiet, too, and most of the time kept himself busy by stuffing his mouth with food that I could not name. I once believed that it must have been the chewing that had kept him from talking. He seemed to prefer standing and leaning to the safety of his mom's wide shoulder, completely ignoring his own chair. Once a while he would venture a small move to break away from his mom to join the kids in the circle, but stopped by a quick and firm glance from his grandma. I was little envious of his luxury of picking his own food and eating at his own time.

 

One day, the Red Guard came to their home, broke things, shaved the two women’s heads, leaving only two tiny turfs of hair on the top of their heads, and eventually took them away to where we did not know. They had not been seen since. I have thought about the little boy at times, wondering where he would have been these days. I hope he has a good life of his own regardless what had happened to his family.