Childhood Fragments

May 2^nd is usually considered to be my birthday, but it is not exactly that day.

When I was young, my parents told me that I was “picked up” from the roadside, and before they “picked me up”, my “legal guardian” was depicted by my parents as an ugly old man. Bad-tempered, and being an alcoholic, he would abuse me whenever he got drunk. I was supposed to be sent back to this imaginary man if I cried all day long. So each time I cried without being sent to that old man, I felt I was blessed. I really like this explanation of my coming to this world. If your child ask you, “where am I from?” What would you say? You tell him/her what is sperm, what is egg, and how the two combine…… You will spoil a supposedly good story by telling him the truth.

I still remember that chilly winter afternoon when a heavy snow had just stopped and everything was covered by snow. I played alone on a slope near my village, hands red and shoes wet, I happily enjoyed myself in the snow. I was about 8 or 9 years old then, so it seems that I have been able to appreciate solitude and really enjoy it since I was very young.

I had a beloved dog that had accompanied me during almost my whole childhood period. I grew up, it grew old. I told it many of my childhood secrets which could be shared with nobody but only my dog. It was a little black dog, I lost it when I was 15.

4 or 5, almost every night I dreamed of ferocious dragons and monsters and vampires. I was really frightened by those terrible nightmares. I would wake up and ask my mother,“what’s the time now?” or “how soon will the sun come out?” My mother would reply, “ it’s still very early now, just go on sleeping.” Then I would be so disappointed to hear that, but my sleepiness would soon overcome my fear and again I would dream of ferocious dragons and monsters and vampires……

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