Memories of the childhood years, translated…
Based Off of My “Field Researches”, Those Bigger Porcelain Figures Can Never be Rounded Up, Their Either with Heads, Too Big, for the Diameters of the Rings Tossed, Or that Their Arms Extended, and Blocked the Rings………
School’s off, the rest of the classmates headed off, in the various directions of their homes, and I, ran straight, into the night markets.
so many things to do in those night markets, not my photograph…
The sound of my steel spoon, clinking against my emptied packed lunchbox, called out for hunger with my stomach! “Boss, give me a bowl of rice noodle soup!”, I’d put my backpack down, hollered out.
The chubby body turned around, with his bent index finger, knocked against my head, “Homework first! You little thief!”, the owner of the stand is my dad, and I, was a “child of the night markets”.
The Children Raised in the Night Markets Wanted Book, Getting Help from the Central Bodyguard Agency
Back then, dad had set up a food stand in the not-so-rowdy and raucous Le-Hua Night Market—although it was called the “night market”, but at three in the afternoon, the stands are all set up and ready for business. I’d especially loved the pork bone stewed rice noodle soups, as he’d scooped it up, he’d added a pinch of celeries, that was, aromatic and mouthwatering. “But, I’m hungry!”, I’d pretended to pull out my homework, and, I’d been able to, “earn” a small bowl of the rice noodle soup served by my father with my “acting skills”.
the games and the prizes! Not my photo…
The stand next to ours sold female ginseng, and, the Chinese herbal medications, they’re, NEVER a top choice for children. The opposite side, there was an All-Beef shop, with the picture of a bull’s head, but, I’d suspected, that the shop sold other meats; and, I’d once watched the shop owners, slaughter the four-legged animals, and it’d, left that horrible imprint inside of me. Anyways, my homework sessions were, mixed with an assortment of aromas.
In an hour, my desk would become someone else’s dinner tables, and, I’d needed to, hasten and finish my homework, before my “desk” shape-shifted. My parents didn’t graduate from their elementary years, and from early on, I’d known, that I’d had, nobody but MYSELF to rely on for my own assignments.
What I’d done the most, was after I’d done my assignments, when the day’s still light, bravely, cross the roads, to that bookstand, to flip through the pages of the comic, “Old Instructor”. And, as I got older, I’d heard several writers talked of how they first started their writing careers in that small bookstore, and I was so very envious of them, for being able to meet the owner of the bookstand.
the lamb soup, photo from online…
A small noodle stand, kept all six of us, I’d never had a taste of wealth in my younger years. My allowances, is for the sake, of some known purposes. And so, buying an inedible book, especially a comic that won’t be on my exams was, out of the question, an extravagant. But I’d always, gotten chased off by the owner of the bookstands, and I’d wanted to, throw my money down, and buy me a volume.
It was, during the time when my father was into watching “Bodyguard” from Chinese Television System, every night he’d come home at eight sharp, turn on the T.V., I’d told my mother I wouldn’t mind, watching the stands, and I’d earned a dollar a night for my work, and saved up the money, and finally, I’d bought my very book I bought. Seeing how the cash I’d saved inside that cigarette box exceeded $200, I’d hoped, that the show “Bodyguard” can last forever, I would certainly, become a MILLIONAIRE because of it!
The Gains of Having a Set Place, Making a Friend Who’s a Fox
Being a shy kid, I felt like a fish in water in the night markets, squatted by the fishing stands for hours on end, watched as the owner skillfully, caught the fish using that paper-made net, wondered how that gentlemen with the glass had, cracked the codes and won; from everybody else’s battles, I’d, gotten my share of fun too.
“Hugging the rings”, was what I’d called the ring games. Based off of my squatting there and observing a long time, I’d found, that those largest porcelain dolls, they can never get rounded up, either the heads are way too big for the rings, or that the arms extended to block the rings, as for those rings that were tossed, I suspected, that they were, altered.
The night market dogs, was my special companion of childhood, they’d normally distanced themselves from people, quietly, moved around the stands. I’d once met one, whose coat was messy like a mop, with that forceful gaze, out from underneath the messiness of his coat. He usually shows up at after nine, and, had brushed shoulders with me, who was headed back home to take my baths, then, we’d, accompanied one another, to stroll the markets for a short passage, sometimes, he’d watched me walk into the closed down local marketplaces (my childhood home), and at other times, I’d watched it, turn the corner of some alleyway, and disappear into the nights.
Later, as I’d “met” “Le Petit Prince”, I’d realized, that I was, blessed enough, to have met up with my friend, the “fox’.
And now, the Lehua Night Market is very rowdy and full of raucous at night, but, what I’d missed the most, was the leisure time my father had, that he’d hummed the songs from the traditional Chinese operas, along with that four-legged friend who would, accompany me home quietly.
the assortment of foods you can enjoy! Not my photo…
So, this, is how you grew up, surrounded by everything that’s very noisy and rowdy, and, yet, you’d managed, to capture the more memorable moments, and allow it, to guide you into adulthood!
Life, the Obstacle Course 