A Time to Live, a Time to Die Page #4

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Don't let me run into you

in the street. Watch out

Not happy?

Ah-mi

"Grandma, it's time to eat"

Come

Open the door

What happened?

Hurry up!

What's going on?

The West Gate guys are coming

this way

Take the samurai sword in your house

Freeze!

"Ah-mi, did anyone come looking

for me?"

No

Ah-mi

Ah-mi

Get up!

Ah-hsiao

Ah-hsiao

"You forgot to make our lunch boxes,

right?"

Mom

Mom

"Mom, sit down and rest awhile"

Put the bags there

Put the suitcase over by the cabinet

"Ah-hsiao, start up the fire"

And start boiling some water

Mom needs to take a bath

Ah-shui

Ah-shui

What?

Did anything happen yesterday?

No. But Hsienbao got nabbed

So what happened?

His father went to the precinct

to see him

Hasn't come back yet

Where are you going?

My mother is back.

I'm going to buy groceries

Did the Pig's come by?

Haven't seen them

I heard that they really cracked down

at the West Gate last night

Ah-hsiao

Take this in for me

Okay

I put the groceries here

Ah-chung wrote a letter

saying that you spent a lot of money

Did you go gambling?

No

Don't become a gambler

How's Mom's condition?

The doctor intended to cut out her

whole tongue

But Mom wouldn't

She can't speak without a tongue

Then?

Then they gave her

Cobalt 60 treatment

It's not useful

"You don't have to go to school now,

right?"

We're on pre-exam holidays

So you've almost graduated

Any plans?

I want to enter Military Academy

The military teacher said

I could enroll without taking exams

Ah-chung

You said in your letter that you were

going to take a physical exam

When do you have to go to the army?

The results of the

physical exam already came

I weigh 39 kilos

That's "C" classification

So you don't have to go to

the army this year?

There may be a follow-up check

next year

I heard one has to be

checked 3 times

What about your application to transfer

to Tseng-gong Elementary school?

There's no one to transfer with

Ever since he was a baby

Ah-chung's health has been poor

He was born premature

I was teaching then

and had to cook after I got home

and had water filled in

It was different when I had Ah-hsiao

We had more money then

and milk to drink

That time your father went

to Guangzhou

He carried him to the doorway

and said his face was so round

So like your Grandfather

Ah-hsiao

Go get some tissue

Ah-ha

Ah-ha

Ah-ha

"Ah-ha, hurry up!"

Ah-chung got hacked

Just now in front of the theater

Hurry! In front of the theater

I can't today

My Mom's sick. How could I go?

Otherwise give me

your samurai sword. Hurry!

Sleep with the Lord

What bliss

What comfort

No more tears. No more burdens

"Enter into freedom, luminous joy"

Rest in the bosom of Lord Jesus

Return to the Lord forever

Sleep with the Lord

What bliss

What comfort

No more tears. No more burdens

"Enter into freedom, luminous joy"

Rest in the bosom of Lord Jesus

Return to the Lord forever

Wang Cha-he gave 35

Wu Yi-han gave 40

Uncle A-Huo

"Haven't seen him for so long,

and still he gave 60"

Ah-chung

The jewelry is for you to use

when you get married

What's this?

Mother's trust money

Mother was supposed to collect

the final pool of money

"But the woman who organized

the trust, Mrs. Yeh,"

borrowed Mom's share.

This is the I.O.U.

You mean the Mrs. Yeh who lives

in North Gate Second village?

Yes

She borrowed it without even asking

This is father's autobiography

Dad originally planned

To stay in Taiwan for only three or

four years before going back

So he bought bamboo furniture

because it was cheap

and he could throw it away

when he left

Later Mom wanted to buy

a sewing machine

It took so long to persuade Dad

Dad had tuberculosis

So he kept his bowel

and chopsticks away from ours

He kept a distance from us

Avoiding us when he coughed

because he was afraid that we might

be infected

Looks like this one

Mrs. Yeh

Mrs. Yeh

Mrs. Yeh

Mrs. Yeh

Who is it?

Aren't you Hsiao-yen?

Have a seat

Have some tea

Have some tea

Is there anything I can do for you?

"Grandma, time to eat"

Ah-chung

I went to Mrs. Yeh's house today

Their house is even worse than ours

I think we should forget about

that trust money

Let's wait until you pass

the University Entrance exams

"That summer,"

I really took the

University Entrance exams

I didn't go to Military Academy

All because of the words Wu said

"Later, Ah-chung wrote me a letter

from Shiao-kang"

He said he wrote a letter

to Mrs. Yeh

saying that she needn't return

the trust money

Mrs. Yeh wrote back

She was very grateful

And said she will pay us back

when she gets the pension

One year later

"Grandma passed away, too"

I failed the

University Entrance Exams

Wu Su-mei moved to Kaohsiung

with her family

The month before Grandma passed away

she kept lying on the tatami mat

She couldn't control her excrements

At the time my two brothers

and I were the only ones home

We called a doctor

But he said she was too old

"It wasn't until one day,"

when we noticed that ants crawling

on Grandma's hands

did we find out she had died for

who knows how long

Ah-mi

Ah-mi

Get the water and a towel

Hurry up!

Hurry up!

We called the undertaker to clean up

When they turned Grandmother's body

around

they found that the other side

had rotted

The undertaker

gave us a dirty look

Unpious descendents!

He must have cursing that

in his heart

"Even to this day,"

I still often think about Grandma's

road back to the mainland

Maybe I was the only one who ever

walked with her down that road

I remember that afternoon

we picked a lot of guavas home

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