Chapter 2

I have no magic
Turning wine into water
I am no saint
Being able to forgive
Every pain you made
Vulnerability
I did have
But it never prevailed



School outing was always something we were eager to have. I remember being unable to sleep the night before the big day, tossing over and over in bed, thinking about what we were going to see, the snacks I bought, and of course the box lunch! Yes, it was important to have a good box lunch full of vegetables, meat (chicken or pork), and a hard boiled egg. Speaking of the eggs, mom would always boil them first and take off the shells and soak in soy sauce with anise and other spices, simmering for hours. It was out of the world!

It was a sunny morning in the early autumn. I woke up and got dressed immediately, rushing to do my toiletry routine, then shouldering my backpack, and running to Dong-Yu’s house. “ Yang Dong-Yu! Are you ready to go?” shouted breathlessly as I arrived at their home. “ Hush! My father is still sleeping. Let’s go! My sisters have taken off already” said Dong-Yu.

On the way to school, I saw people were lining up at the one and only grocery shop in our neighbourhood, buying breakfast pickles. I kept swallowing saliva in thinking of those delicious dishes. Then we ran into a classmate whose mother always prepared him a lot of stuff for outings. And certainly the whole class became beneficiaries. That day we rode a bus to a ranch and then hiked all the way to Mount Peace. Teacher led us to play some games in groups. All I thought was when we were going to eat lunch. By noon, we were hungry and sweating like a dog although it was autumn, but an “autumn tiger” (Indian summer).

“Hey, Huang Chih-Hao, Yang Dong-Yu, do you guys want to join us under that tree for lunch?” asked Lin Yi-Yi, pointing at the verdant tree right next to a stream. “Sure! We’d love to!” replied I and Dong-Yu unanimously. As we started to ‘attack’ our sack of food, I saw Yang Dong-Yu pulling out something wrapped in newspapers. He unfolded layers and layers of papers and said “Do you know what this is?” “What ?” said the rest four of us. “ Hehe, it’s frozen juice! I wrapped it in the old newspapers; and look it is now still icy cold!” I reached out my right hand and touched the can, saying “Wow, it is really cold. So nice to have that on this warm day! You are so smart!” “My mom taught us this when we were in Ping-Tung. I was only five years old but I still remember this trick,” said proudly Dong-Yu.
As usual, we liked to compare what we had in our box lunch. “See my mom cooked me the best chicken leg and fried noodles!” Lin Yi-Yi said with a jolly tone. “Yeah, mine was dumplings and pickles” said another classmate. “What do you have, Yang Dong-Yu?” asked I. He was hesitant for a second and then gladly replied, “A Japanese flag! Plain white rice with a red candied plum! Isn’t it pretty?” “Oh my goodness! Why you don’t have anything else?” asked Lin Yi-Yi. Yang Dong-Yu answered that his father only gave him and his sisters each five dollars for shopping. We all sighed unbelievably.

That day in my life I first realized the difference between my friend’s world and mine. That day I asked many questions regarding Yang Dong-Yu’s family. That day he told me he wish he could turn wine into water so his father would not be drunk the whole day and get mad at him and his sisters and whip them with the leather belt. That day was also the first time I wept for a friend and I saw tears welled up in his eyes too…