Along the River by Adeline Yen Mah

Author:Adeline Yen Mah [Mah, Adeline Yen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-375-89669-9
Publisher: Random House Children's Books

“My relationship with Niang never recovered after this. Nor did the toes in my foot. The fractures healed, but my toes remained crooked, summoning up my ordeal each time I put on my shoes. A few months later, Baba spoke to me vaguely about hiring a professional foot-binder to bind my feet. I told him I would stop eating and drinking if he forced me to submit to this torture again. The whole matter of my foot-binding became a contest of wills between the three of us. Eventually, Baba must have sided with me, because my feet remained unbound. But Niang never forgave me, and from that time on she deliberately made my life as difficult as possible—but only if we were alone. When my father was around, she was as sweet as honey, but the memory of what happened on that ‘auspicious’ day lingered on between us like a stinky fart.

“I tried to talk to Nai Ma, but she refused to discuss it. For once, she was unsympathetic and stubborn. Since there was nobody to talk to, I described the incident to myself in my notebook. I felt much better afterwards. From then on, I began writing whenever I had a spare moment.

“So now you know everything. Niang broke my toes, but I got away. That’s why I have big, ugly feet,” I said defiantly.

“Your feet are not ugly,” said Ah Zhao, looking into my eyes. “They’re beautiful, just like the rest of you. Is it permissible for a servant to tell his master’s daughter that she’s beautiful?”

A pang goes through me when I hear him, and I start to tremble. “Don’t say such things!”

“You’re right! I should not have said that to you … but, surely, even a servant has eyes? Seeing is knowledge. What we see remains with us. One day, I’ll paint the images I’m carrying in my mind. That way, even though I have no home, I’ll create one wherever I go.”

I think of our “playroom” and know in my heart that neither Gege nor I could have built it without him. What he says is true. He’ll be able to effect his sanctuary wherever he goes; establish an oasis where things come together; install a tranquil retreat at will. But we, the ones left behind, will be lost without him.…

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