Page 43 - October 2020
P. 43
Taste of Sweet Plum Power
The sun shone on the roof. Lily helped
feed the chicken – Ahmu [mother] had
gone to work on the farm. Lily and her
younger sister were picking hair lice
for each other on the porch. She
Miao-Yi Tu knocked Ahmu’s bamboo hair comb
onto the terrazzo floor, scaring away a
few fleeing lice. Little sister chuckled,
which made Lily happy too.
Translated by
Dr. Shuhwa Shirley Wu Like a noisy sparrow, her younger
sister then began speaking close to
Paintings by author
her ears: The old yellow cow of WU Tu
Shui was sold and gone. The dad of LI
Chuen-que Rose had earned a lot of
money working in the city. TIEN
Shuhua had a new pair of shoes, a gift
from her older sister.
And SU Shoulan Orchid . . . .
“Ahjie (Sister),” it seemed as if her
little sister had suddenly thought of
something and asked thoughtfully,
“Are we very poor?”
Lily stared at her younger sister,
surprised. To be honest, she had never
thought of this question; she did not
know how to answer. Lily was
embarrassed, and squished a lice with
her fingernail. The lice splattered
against her nail and the terrazzo floor.
It made a feeble sound, a cry of death.
The lice was crushed to paste; blood
stains her nail red. The sun shone onto
the water vat. Soon the sisters forgot
their conversation, and strolled hand
in hand to play at the temple yard
(note 1). The girls had fun playing at
the yard everyday.
