True Love & Care

I was born in a secluded village on a mountain.
Day by day, my parents plowed the yellow dry soil
with their backs towards the sky.

I have a brother who is 3 years younger than me.
I wanted to buy a handkerchief, which all girls around
me seemed to have. So, one day I stole 50 cents from
my father’s drawer. Father had discovered about the
stolen money right away.

He made me and my younger brother kneel against the
wall as he held a bamboo stick in his hand.
“Who stole the money?” he asked.
I was stunned, too afraid to talk. Neither of us
admitted to the fault, so he said, “Fine, if nobody
wants to admit, you two should be beaten!”
He lifted up the bamboo stick.

Suddenly, my younger brother gripped father’s hand and
said,” Dad, I was the one who did it!”

The long stick smacked my brother’s back repeatedly.
Father was so angry that he kept on whipping my
brother until he lost his breath.

After that, he sat down on our stone bed and scolded
my brother, “You have learned to steal from your own
house now. What other embarrassing things will you be
possibly doing in the future? You should be beaten to
death, you shameless thief!”

That night, my mother and I hugged my brother. His
body was full of wounds from the beating but he never
shed a single tear.

In the middle of the night, all of sudden, I cried out
loudly. My brother covered my mouth with his little
hand and said, ” Sis, now don’t cry anymore.
Everything has happened.”
I still hate myself for not having enough courage to
admit what I did.

Years gone by, but the incident still seemed like it
just happened yesterday.
I will never forget my brother’s ___expression when he
protected me.

That year, my brother was 8 years old and I was 11
years old.
When my brother was in his last year of secondary
school, he was accepted in an upper
secondary school in the central. At the same time, I
was accepted into a university in the province.
That night, father squatted in the yard, smoking,
packet by packet.

I could hear him ask my mother, “Both of our children,
they have good results? very good results?”
Mother wiped off her tears and sighed,” What is the
use? How can we possibly finance both of them?”
At that time, my brother walked out, he stood in front
of father and said,”Dad, I don’t want to continue my
study anymore, I have read enough books.”

Father swung his hand and slapped my brother on his
face.
“Why do you have a spirit so damn weak? Even if it
means I have to beg for money on the streets, I will
send you two to school until you have both finished
your study!”
And then, he started to knock on every house in the
village to borrow money.

I stuck out my hand as gently as I can to my brother’s
swollen face, and told him, “A boy has to continue his
study; If not, he will not be able to overcome this
poverty we are experiencing.”

I, on the other hand, had decided not to further my
study at the university.
Nobody knew that on the next day, before dawn, my
brother left the house with a few pieces of worn-out
clothes and a few dry beans. He sneaked to my side of
the bed and left a note on my pillow; “Sis, getting
into a university is not easy. I will go find a job
and I will send money to you.”
I held the note while sitting on my bed, and cried
until I lost my voice.

That year, my brother was 17 years old; I was 20 years
old.
With the money father borrowed from the whole village,
and the money my brother earned from carrying cement
on his back at a construction site,finally, I managed
to get to the third year of my study in the
university.

One day, while I was studying in my room, my roommate
came in and told me,”There’s a villager waiting for
you outside!”
Why would there be a villager looking for me? I walked
out, and I saw my brother from afar. His whole body
was covered with dirt, dust, cement and sand. I asked
him, “Why did you not tell my roommate that you are my
brother?”

He replied with a smile,” Look at my appearance. What
will they think if they would know that I am your
brother? Won’t they laugh at you?”
I felt so touched, and tears filled my eyes. I swept
away dirt and dust from my brother’s body. And told
him with a lump in my throat, ” I don’t care what
people would say! You are my brother no matter what
your appearance is?”

From his pocket, he took out a butterfly hair clip. He
put it on my hair and said, “I saw all the girls in
town are wearing it. So, I think you should also have
one.”
I could not hold back myself anymore. I pulled my
brother into my arms and cried.

That year, my brother was 20 years old; I was 23 years
old.
I noticed that the broken window was repaired the
first time I brought my boyfriend home. The house was
scrubbed cleaned.

After my boyfriend left, I danced like a little girl
in front of my mother, “Mom, you didn’t have to spend
so much time cleaning the house!” But she told me with
a smile,” It was your brother who went home early to
clean the house. Didn’t you see the wound on his hand?
He hurt his hand while he was replacing the window.”
I went into my brother’s bedroom. Looking at his thin
face, I felt like there are hundreds of needle pricked
in my heart.

I applied some ointment on his wound and put a bandag on
it, “Does it hurt? ” I asked him.
“No, it doesn’t hurt. You know, when at the
construction site, stones keep falling on my feet .
Even that could not stop me from working.”
In the middle of the sentence, he stopped. I turned my
back on him and tears rolled down my face.

That year, my brother was 23 years old; I was 26 years
old.
After I got married, I lived in the city. Many times
my husband invited my parents to come and live with
us, but they didn’t want.

They said, once they left the village,they wouldn’t
know what to do.
My brother agreed with them. He said, “Sis, you just
take care of your parents-in-law. I will take care of
mom and dad here.”

My husband became the director of his factory. We
asked my brother to accept the offer of being the
manager in the maintenance department. But my brother
rejected the offer. He insisted on working as a
repairman instead for a start.

One day, my brother was on the top of a ladder
repairing a cable, when he got electrocuted, and was
sent to the hospital.
My husband and I visited him at the hospital. Looking
at the white gypsum on his leg, I grumbled, “Why did
you reject the offer of being a manager? Managers
won’t do something dangerous like that. Now look at
you, You ar suffering a serious injury. Why didn’t you
just listen to us?”

With a serious ___expression on his face, he defended
his decision, “Think of brother-in-law. He just
became the director, and I being uneducated, and would
become a manager, what kind of rumors would fly
around?”

My husband’s eyes filled up with tears, and then I
said, “But you lack in education only because of me!”
“Why do you talk about the past?” he said and then he
held my hand.

That year, he was 26 years old and I was 29 years
old.
My brother was 30 years old when he married a farmer
girl from the village.

During the wedding reception, the master of ceremonies
asked him, “Who is the one person you respect and love
the most?”
Without even taking a time to think, he answered,” My
sister.” He continued by telling a story I could not
even remember.

“When I was in primary school, the school was in a
different village. Everyday, my sister and I would
walk for 2 hours to school and back home. One day, I
lost the other pair of my gloves. My sister gave me
one of hers.

She wore only one glove and she had to walk far. When
we got home, her hands were trembling because of the
cold weather that she could not even hold her
chopsticks. >From that day on, I swore that as long as
I live, I would take care of my sister and will always
be good to her.”
Applause filled up the room. All guests turned their
attention to me.
I found it hard to speak, “In my whole life, the one I
would like to thank most is my brother,” And in this
happy occasion,in front of the crowd, tears were
rolling down my face again.

Love and care for the one you love every single days
of your life. You may think what you did is just a
small deed, but to that someone, it may mean a lot.