Shengliver’s Note: The mother passed away in the early summer of 2018.

 

The last day of 2017 will stick in my memory forever.

The evening before that day, I was on the way back to the dorm when my brother popped up out of nowhere. It was so eerie to see the very person on campus, because he was a PLA man serving in Tibet. Brother told me that he was taking me to the hospital on a visit to Mum the next day. Having been taken ill several weeks ago, Mother was still under treatment there. My brother asked me not to cry when I saw her. I agreed, but my brother’s coming back from his active military service for this visit got me extremely edgy.

The next morning, I rose early and went out to have a quick breakfast with my brother at the hotel where he was staying. Then we headed for the hospital by bus. At a shop on a street near the hospital, my brother got a fruit basket for Mother. With the fruits in hand, we went to the ward.

When I saw my parents, I could hardly believe it. I strained my eyes. How did it come about that they had changed so much? My mother was alarmingly emaciated and haggard. My dad seemed much older than his age. When my mother was holding my hand and touching my head, I was on the verge of tears but I refrained. That morning in the ward there were some relatives visiting Mum and talking with my parents. My mother was always carrying a smile but I saw a tear or two rolling down Dad’s face. The moment I heard Mum saying that she had been worried about me, tears trickled down my cheeks despite myself.

“Don’t cry, son,” Mother said comfortingly. “You are no longer a child, are you?” Reassuring me that her condition was nothing to worry about, she did not forget to remind me to put my heart into my lessons at school.

I stayed with Mum the whole morning and later had lunch with my family in the ward. Mother ate very little. That afternoon I came back to school.

Never will I forget the morning of the last day of 2017.