Translated…
Don’t know when it was, that children in Taiwan started running through the towns, tackling the obstacle courses, I’d just known, that as this game entered into our village, I was in the fourth grade…
Glancing on the Jeep
Don’t know when the kids in the locality of Taiwan started playing the game of tackling the obstacle course, I’d just known, that I was in the fourth grade by the time this game made it to my hometown village.
picture from the papers…
My elementary school was called, “the school for the children of the Donggang Airforce”, located on the side of the freeway, on the way to Linbien, very far from my house. Every day, there would be jeeps that came and picked us up for school then dropped us off afterwards. On the days of school, my older brother of a year and I needed to wake up really early, after a cup of milk from the American Armies, we’d gone to the shop at the entrance of our village for a piece of Sandong buns, where we would wait, for the Jeeps to come pick us up for school.
There were no seats on the jeep, and, kids from first to sixth grades all, cramped in, and, we’d easily gotten into arguments, in such a small, tight space, I’d once gotten into a fist fight with a boy who’d laughed at how hillbilly my shoes looked, that was, a pair of hand-sewn shoes by my mother I’ll have you know!
But, after we’d found a game, on the way home from school, I’d be in a better mood, I’d worked hard, to squeeze into the spot next to the door, and, scanned the rivers, the hills, the forests, then, toward the entry of our village, my heart started racing, before the ladder to help us down was steadied, my older brother, I, and a few of the other playmates, all, rushed down, in a few short steps, made it home, tossed our backpacks at the entryway, took a gulp of water, then, we’d, rushed outside again.
The setting sun made the shade of the banana tree imprint onto the kitchen walls, my mother who was busy, cooking the suppers made it outside, called out, “Don’t you have homework assignments?”, and, her words got lost with the evening breezes, and was, drowned out by the chatters of the birds in the woods.
Tackling the Obstacle Course Through the Towns, a Challenge for All
Tackling the obstacle course through town was a group game that’s fit for boys AND girls, first, we’d drawn six huge rectangles on the sand with the rocks, and, there were, halls between the boxes, with the keepers, trying to catch others, each large box is a course, it’s a place, those running the obstacle course, can rest up a bit.
Whether or not we’re on the offense or the defense, the team leaders decide in a game of paper-scissors-rock, then, the leaders picked out the members, I was often, the first girl picked by either of the leaders, because I was a fast runner, and I give credit to my older brother, that I’m a fast runner.
In the countryside, after supper, the entire village became, saturated, in the darkness, there was, a yellow streetlamp still on, with a swarm of mosquitoes, circling underneath. As my mother finished picking up in the kitchen, she’d had my brother and I run an errand, to go to the only small grocery shop at the forefront of our village, to get her a pack of salt, or a bottle of soy sauce. As we’d just, finished our mission, my older brother would holler abruptly in the midst of the frogs croaking, “Ghost!”, then, he’d run like hell, it’d scared the shit out of me, as I ran like my life depended on it. And that, was how I’d been able to, become such a fast runner.
The games that the girls loved playing, like tossing the sandbags, jump rope, it’s all too individualistic, tackling the obstacle course however, relied on teamwork, we’d needed to know when to attack, to cause a diversion, to make way for our runners to rush in, and, we’d needed to have good hand-eye coordination, quick to react, so we can keep the gates, it’s a game of high intensity. And, we’d not drawn those squares without any guides, we’d personalized them based off of our statures, it couldn’t be so large, that nobody gets caught, running from one to the next, or, too small that the moment you’d stepped in the boundaries, you’d gotten caught. And, what’s amazing was they were, just the right size, we’d all had half a chance of successfully, catching someone, or making it pass the guards, and we’d become, so crazed about the game. Until the red setting sun rolled off into the western skies, the light from the sunset, completely gone, Mrs. Chang, Mrs. Wang stood on the outside of their houses, kept urging, “Time for supper now, kids!”, would we all, unwillingly, walk toward our separate homes, with sweat covering all over our bodies.
In the second semester of my fifth grade year, my father was transferred to a teaching post in the Gangshan Airforce Academy, and, I’d left this place I grew up in, and, in order to, cope with the examination systems, I’d started going to cram school sessions in the middle school years, and, tackling the obstacle course through town became buried, underneath a huge stack, piles of practice Chinese and math exams, and thus, ended my happy childhood years in a hurry.
Many years later, my husband and I accompanied my parents who are now, gray-haired, to visit our old home, Da-Peng Village in Donggang. I was so surprised, that most of the village was still intact, but, most of the houses became vacant, and, there were, a handful of those outsiders smiled and asked us where we were from. In the silent alleys, my gaze drifted back to the moment in my childhood years, but, there were no, photograph footages of those moments, so, how can I make the moments live again?
My parents had passed away, and the game of tackling the obstacle course also, vanished, with the retired army villages. In the gentle breezes, it’s, as if I could hear my mother, running out from the kitchens, hollered out to us, “Don’t you guys have homework assignments?”, and this time, the voice didn’t get buried by the chit-chats of the birds in the woods, instead, it’d, echoed around in my heart.
So, those, were the days of your childhood years, when you had the chance of running, wild and free, and you’d missed those days where you’d just, played so happily, without all the worries of the world, and, working up a good sweat, that’s always good, isn’t it?