Childhood best friends, translated…
The other day as I was cleaning out my past letters, I’d accidentally, found a rope made with rubber bands stringed together, and, it’d made me, slowly, recall, the past, that’s already been, diluted, in the river of time.
I was friends with Xiang from my kindergarten years, there are a surprising limited number of students in our class, and, as the teacher divided us into groups, we were often the ones who were the “leftovers”. And, the two of us who were left out, were assigned to the same group by the teacher, although we weren’t like the other groups, with three members, but, we’d worked, at the same paces, and, we’d, cherished one another’s company even more so, shared everything with each other. After school, we’d held each other’s hands, and went strolling at the park nearby.
playing jump-rope with friends, not my sketch…
Back then, there weren’t any things to play with in the park, at most, the swing sets, the monkey bars, and, Xiang and I would play on it from time to time, but mostly, we’d played jump-rope, with the stringed together rubber bands, we’d not needed to buy them specifically, just picked the ones left by people off the floors, and, we’d stringed together, a decent length rope; after that, we’d hung on to one side, and, count to three, then, started jumping through it, with the unknown nursery rhymes, until we can’t jump anymore, then, we’d, stopped, but, we can’t seem to sit still either, so, we’d gone around and about the parks, to pick the flowers, then, we’d placed the flowers we’d picked, onto each other’s ears, laughing, as we gazed at one another.
In our first grade year, Xiang left Hsintien, our place of three, to four years, moved to Tainan with her parents. Before she’d left, Xiang used a tissue, and wiped away my snot and tears, then, handed me a piece of paper with her new address in Tainan, told me to remember to write, that she would, write to me too. I’d, stared at that piece of paper with her address, spelled phonetically, said that I wouldn’t know how to write it, as I’d not recognized enough characters yet.
not my photo or words…
“Then, just tie a rubber band, and send it to me, when you’re happy, tie a red one, when you’re not, tie a blue one, if you’re having an ordinary day, then, use a brown one, that way, I’d know, how you’re doing,” Xiang told me.
After that, I’d started, tying the knots, and whenever a month was up, I’d sent the rubber bands, with a short letter to her, and waited for Xiang’s letter back to me too. We’d written letters to one another, until she’d gone abroad after high school, then, we’d stopped, attaching the rubber band ropes, and just, shared our thoughts and feelings on paper with each other.
And now, seeing all of our old toys, the colors had faded out in my memories, and time had, eroded the rope badly, until they’re almost all broken off and discolored, I’d taken one end up lightly, and, felt that ripple inside of my mind, it was, as if, I’d seen us jumping the rubber band ropes with Xiang again when I was younger…
So, this, is a memory you’d shared with a friend, and, the two of you were very close, even after she’d moved away, and, the rubber bands became a way for the two of you to know how each other is doing, it’s a secretive thing the two of you shared, because of how close the two of you were as children. It’s amazing, to have such a friendship of depth as a child, someone you can share your feelings with, and even though you’d lost contact, you’d still held the memories the two of you shared very close to your heart…
Life, the Obstacle Course 