Translated…
“Hello, is Principal Liao available?”, I knew the voice from the other end of the line, it was my uncle. It’s odd, that although I’m closely related to my uncle by blood, but, ever since I could recall, I can count out the times I saw him with just one hand. I’d often imagined, that maybe if I bumped into him on the streets one day, he wouldn’t, recognize me.
But, dad’s friends are totally different. Although they’re just friends, but, they’d, taken good care of us, they are, closer, than blood. My dad had seven daughters, and, the family of nine lived off of his measly paycheck as a teacher, you can imagine the economic duress we’d faced, but dad’s friends would always, lend him a helping hand whenever we’d needed it.
Like for once, dad took the test and got the position of a school principal, and needed to head to Taipei for his job training for a short while, and mom’s left with the seven of us, and needed to work on the handicrafts from home to make the money, she’d gotten, totally, stressed out. Dad’s coworker, Uncle Nan worried that mom may not carry the household, he’d come to my house, told my mother, “If you don’t have enough money, just give me a call.”, mom told me, that back then, she was, really moved, after all, there are barely those, who are willing, to offer a hand of assistance, during those harder times.
Other than Uncle Nan, another of my dad’s friend, Uncle Guo-Zhen, he showed a ton of care and concerns for us children too. Uncle Guo-Zhen knew we’d never had steaks before, on the year I tested into university, he’d treated us to a steak dinner in Douliu. Thirty years ago, having steak, is an extravagance, also, a huge amount of money too, it’d left me excited for days on end. What impressed me the most was, when my youngest sister was about seven, she’d not handled knife and fork before, and, as she’d used it, the eating utensil flew across the tables, shocked us all; but, this time, eating the steaks, that scent of being blessed, stayed for a very long time with me.
For me, although all of these uncles aren’t related to us by blood, but, their kindness toward us, I will remember, for my whole life.
So, this, is how much friends had, offered someone a helping hand, and, it’s important, that you have friends like these, to rely on, because, when you’re away from home, when you’re in a jam, you can’t possibly call on your families who lived faraway, to rush over, by then, it would be, too late, so, you have to, rely on your friends!