Chapter 1

Lunar calendar
Day 15 of each month
The full moon rises
But my heart sinks
To the bottom of an abyss…


“Okay, hold the rocket firmly and slightly twist it when you serve…” explained patiently Hui-Ching. “You must concentrate and always plan two steps in advance because the ball comes back fast.”
I nodded gently with all my strength gathered up to learn from this ping-pong master.
As I was trying to hit the ball back to Hui-Ching, the postman suddenly showed up with a big grin. “ Yang Hui-Ching! Letters! Gees! Another bundle of letters from Ping-Tung! How many have you gotten already?” asked the postman with beads of sweat on his forehead on this late summer afternoon.

Hui-Ching’s family just moved to our town a month ago. Apparently she was very popular in her class because each of her classmates wrote her a letter. As far as I was concerned, she had already received thirty five letters and twenty cards so far. Their house was two doors away from ours. The old banyan trees stood highly around the house, forming a natural fence thick enough to cut off any uninvited guests, especially the stray dogs in the neighborhood. I liked to play with Hui-Ching and her younger brother, Dong-Yu, and little sister, Hui-Ming. We would all go to the same elementary school in the fall. I was hoping Dong-Yu and I would be in the same class as we were both 10 years old. Hui-Ching was going to be in grade 6, Hui-Ming, grade 2.
“Hmm we have to stop here today as my dad was about to wake up from his nap,” said Hui-Ching while checking her pink wrist watch. “Perhaps we could play tomorrow after you finish your homework.” “Yeah, that would be nice. I must finish the calligraphy writing and some math exercises,” sighed I.

I loved summer vacations but teachers always gave you homework to do, so I didn’t really play all the time. The kids in our neighborhood all knew each other as our parents were quite familiar with one another. Now I look back, that was really something people don’t find in big city nowadays; even next-door neighbors don’t greet because they might not know who lives right next to them at all.

That year when we started the fall semester, I found out Dong-Yu and I were in the same class. We were so happy, shouting for joy and rushing to the shop to buy some strawberry popsicles for celebration after school.

“What are you doing? Moron! What in the world is wrong with your head?” shouted loudly Hui-Ching’s father as he used his right index finger angrily poking at Hui-Ching’s temple, almost knocked her out of balance. “Ai-ya, I’ve told you when cooking milk fish, you must pour some oil in the pan first and wait until it gets very hot and then you gently slide down the fish! So, the skin will not stick to the pan, UNDERSTAND?” “I just want to…” before Hui-Ching could finish, a slap came across her face faster than a lightning. “No excuses! And don’t even try to talk back to me!” yelled her father. “Now wash the pan and re-do everything! Hurry up! I want my dinner ready in half an hour!” Yang Yu-Fong, Hui-Ching’s father, walked out the kitchen and resumed to his wine-drinking. The cranky lad was addicted to alcohol ever since his wife divorced him five years ago. I heard he used to be a chef at a five-star hotel in the south but lost his passion after his wife left him for another guy. The drinking issue added another deadly bomb to his inherent bad temper in the family. Of course he didn’t know that and would never realize it even after his death.