During the summer vacation, a former friend returned from London. We arranged to meet in a coffee house on the fifth floor of Jinshidang on Xinyi Road.
On summer afternoons, when the heat is unbearable, I hold my daughter’s hand and walk along the crowded streets, and I feel as if the whole city is about to burst into flames. My daughter’s little hand, often because of the pedestrian walking against the direction of the rush and from my hands loose, however, soon, and will come forward. We chatted intermittently amidst the sounds of merchants yelling and pedestrians bargaining.
My daughter asked me who I was going to meet, and I said, “It’s a colleague of my mom’s who stayed at the school as a teacher’s assistant after graduating from college, and she’s coming back from far away in England.”
My daughter asked innocently, “Is it true that when people come back from far away, we have to meet them and buy them coffee?” “That’s not necessarily true! Mom had the best relationship with her at that time, when we worked together as teaching assistants, she took good care of mom.”
My daughter persistently asked, “Do adults need to be taken care of, too? How does she take care of you? Is it like Tsai and Chun take care of me? Teach you your homework?”
Cai and pure is her classmate. I couldn’t help but laugh and say: “Probably about the same! No matter how big you are, you still need someone to take care of you! Right? Like when Grandpa got sick, he needed us to take care of him! Right?”
“So you were sick? Then?”
“Not sick. But that year, there was a period of time when my mom was in a bad mood, and she felt that she was very disagreeable and poorly liked. Just a few days before Christmas that year, I found Auntie Wang secretly put a greeting card she had made on my desk, which read: ‘I don’t know how to describe how much I like you, I wish you a happy holiday.’ Mom was so touched. This card changed the bad mood of my mom at that time. More importantly, it gave me a lot of encouragement and made me feel that I wasn’t so annoying!”
My daughter listened, thoughtful, and bowed her head.
My friend and I met and had a great time talking about the past and asking each other questions about the present, while my daughter listened quietly, not squeaking and snatching at us like she usually does, and we almost forgot she was there.
After a while, my daughter asked to go to the third floor stationery department to take a look. Ten minutes later, my daughter, red-faced, panting up the stairs, quietly said to me: “lend me a hundred dollars first, okay? I want to buy a thing, go back and then get money from Pouman to pay you back.”
I was so happy talking to my classmates that I didn’t have time to think about it, and knowing that she wouldn’t spend it frivolously, I took the money and sent her away. Not long afterward, she came up again. In the face of friends, bowed upright, hands holding a box of beautifully wrapped gifts, a serious: “Auntie Wang! A small gift for you, you came back from so far away.”
My friend and I were shocked at the same time. My friend was at a loss for words and mumbled, “That’s not possible! How can I accept your gift! I came back from England without a gift, so I’m already embarrassed. Besides, I’m an adult, you’re a child…”
The daughter very seriously and together with her heels, infinitely affectionately said, “My mom says you’re her best friend, thank you for taking such good care of my mom in the past.”
A hot air to the head straight up, my throat suddenly choked up, eyes all of a sudden and wet and hot, I can not do anything, never thought my daughter would do so.
My friend’s eyes reddened, and his lips trembled, but he could not say a word, only hugging his daughter tightly and murmuring, “Thank you! Thank you…”
It was my daughter’s turn to feel embarrassed. She crouched on her friend’s shoulder and awkwardly reminded her friend, “Do you want to see what kind of present you get?”
My friend opened the gift and hung a key ring with a fluffy white rabbit on it. My daughter said in an old-fashioned way, “A person who can take care of people must be very gentle, so I chose the white rabbit, white and soft, do you like it?”
My friend was touched and said: “Of course I like it, what a lovely gift. When I go back to England, I’ll hang up all my keys and think of you every time I open a door. Thank you so much…”
The daughter was so happy that she jumped and went downstairs, leaving the two women to appreciate the camaraderie that was even more flavorful than coffee in the house that smelled of coffee.