| Subject: Maggie's farm (Part 23) |
Author:
taxi driver
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 00:39:08 09/01/03 Mon
On my fifth week in Chongqing, I had grown accustomed to the bustling morning routine. I could never tell whether it's day or night when I woke up in that pitch-black room. But it must be around 6 in the morning when the toilet next door started sending me wake-up call, or should I say, smell. Most of our neighbors worked at the wholesale market, and they always got up much earlier than us.
"Wake up, Iris! Time for work,”I brushed her naked breast gently.
"Hmm….5 more minutes…ZZzzz…,’she answered, half sleepingly.
We had been awake since 2 a.m. for sex, so she had every reason to be asleep at that point. And I didn't really mind that I awoke only four hours later to Iris snuggling up to me.
"Iris, shall we take a break for one or two days?”I asked her when eating the noodles delivered by Grandma to the stand in lunchtime. Actually, we hadn't taken a single day off since the business started five weeks ago.
"No, the business is just getting better and I don't want to waste any time staying at home,”she replied flatly.
During the past few weeks, we finally obtained several regular customers and managed to sell half of the stock. Trying to make a share amongst the established competitors was not an easy task, but we had made a small profit of RMB 2,000 after all. Not a promising venture in Hong Kong standard, but it would be a good start for a low-educated, 20 years old girl like Iris.
"The business can always wait, Iris. I don't want you to get sick for working so hard. Why don't you ask Jiu Niang to take care of the stand for a couple of days so we can take a break?”I suggested.
"Jiu Niang?! She doesn't know a thing about the business. How could I let her mess thing up in our stand?”she answered bluntly.
Iris's right. Jiu Niang had been a housewife all her life. She couldn't read and write, didn't know how to count and she's helplessly shy. Nevertheless, she always wanted to get a job in order to improve the life of her family. I had been asked so many times if I could find her a job in GD. Any job at all, the middle-aged woman said, desperately.
"Can you ask Jiu Jiu to help her out?”I asked.
"Forget it! He's a drunk. He'll only make thing worse at the stand,”she sneered.
Jiu Jiu had been drinking all day since he lost his job. He's a nice fellow when he's sober, but he would even beat his father up when he's dead drunk. I didn't believe that when Iris first told me about his drinking problem. It's until Grandma came to me one day and complained that her son stole the RMB 300 that I gave her for providing our meals, then I realized Jiu Jiu really need some sort of help.
"What about Grandma?”I asked, stupidly.
"Are you kidding? I might as well ask my friend instead,” she concluded.
"That'll be great! We can go for an excursion. Perhaps we could take a cruise to Cheng Jiang (Yangtze River) and visit Feng Du the Ghost City. Isn't it nice?” I said excitedly, like a kid longing for a trip. In fact, I was planning to book a first-class cabin so that we could make love on a decent bed in a more private place. It would be a nice change after making love in our filthy room for such a long time, I said to myself.
'It's nice. We can bring Dai Ming (Jiu Jiu's son) along with us. I had promised him a long time ago that I would take him to a trip,”she said.
"Dai Ming!? Staying in the cabin with us?”I asked, with my jaw almost fell to the ground.
"What's wrong with that?”she wondered.
Seemed like my dream of making love in the ship had been shattered, I said to myself.
"Nothing. That's fine by me,”I replied sadly.
Four days before leaving Chongqing, Iris, Dai Ming, Siu Wai (yes, he's a neighbor and buddy of Dai Ming) and I got on the ship heading for Feng Du.
"Uncle Driver, have you ever seen a rainbow before?”Dai Ming asked when we were watching the foggy sky on the deck.
"Of course! I've seen it all the time. And you?”I answered.
"No, I have never seen a rainbow before. Actually, I have never been to anywhere except my home and school,” Dai Ming said, sadly.
"I don't believe you. How could anyone have never seen a rainbow before?”I said.
It's hard to tell whether an 8 years kid was telling a truth or not sometimes.
"It's true. His parents never allow him to go play with us outside the neighborhood,”Siu Wai confirmed.
At that point, I couldn't help but feeling terrible sorry for that little kid.
"Hey, do you want to go to GD someday? You could see the rainbow over there. The sky in GD is much clearer than Chongqing,”I tried to make my little friend happy.
"Thank you, Uncle Driver, but I would rather give the money to Grandma for the surgery of her eyes. When I get older, I can earn some money to take her to GD and we can see the rainbow together,”Dai Ming said quietly.
I couldn't believe what I heard from an 8 years kid. And I tried hard to hold back the tears in my eyes.
The day before going back to Hong Kong, I handed over the money we made plus the money I didn't have the chance to spend in Chongqing to Iris.
"Iris, take Grandma to the hospital as soon as possible,” I told her.
"Thank you, Driver. Please come back soon,”she said.
"Take good care of Grandma and yourself! I will send more goods to you next week,”I smiled.
Looking out the window from the plane, I believed I saw a rainbow across the clear blue sky.
To be continued……
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 