Little Green by Chun Yu

Author:Chun Yu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books

There Was a Time When Everything Was Rationed

Baba got sick after a while;

he was coughing day and night.

I thought,

It must be the bother in his heart

that Mama was talking about.

One day he went to the hospital and

they told him that he had a sickness in his lungs.

Mama said Baba needed nutrition to get better,

but everything was rationed during that time:

one and a half pounds of meat per family every month,

one egg and a small bottle of milk per family every week.

Early in the morning once in a while,

Mama made poached eggs in milk for Baba

before she hurried off to her school.

Baba took Gege and me by our hands and

led us to the kitchen in the back of the apartment.

On our small dining table

there were two small bowls of hot milk, each with half a poached egg.

The milk was a little burned on the bottom of the pot,

but smelled really good.

The cut half eggs were soft and golden inside

and looked really delicious.

“Quick, eat it before it gets cold,”

he urged, and pushed us gently toward the table,

turning his head while coughing.

His thin back bent away from us

as he tried to regain his breath.

Something was swelling inside my chest,

my throat tight and nose sore.

I loved my dear baba;

he was no longer the stranger.

I wanted the bother in his heart to be gone.

I wanted him to laugh with us someday.

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