Childhood

       Closing my eyes, slowly tasting and calmly listening, the past is like a colorful box, filled with candy and laughter. Recalling the past now, everything I did was just like shining raindrops, reflecting my shadow. The shadow that remains with me shows how absurd and ignorant I was. Many things I cannot do as an adult, it can only be my memories.

In China, many people believe life is a circle, everything will return to you based on what you did. Certainly, I believe it. Indeed, my experience made me believe it. I was very naughty when I was a child. One day, I climbed up 3-meter fences, and 5-meter trees which were not allowed of my father’s consent. Of course, I did it very covertly. A couple of days passed, it was nighttime, and my father came home from work. He called me and asked me if there was anything I forgot to tell him, I replied nothing to him and honestly I was recalling everything I did that day. My father grabbed a bamboo branch instantly, and gave me a physical and verbal lesson. I still don’t know how he knew that even now. Though, it was not the only thing I did.

        There was another stupid thing I did. In my village, we had a humongous field; everyone in the village owned a part of it including my family. The village was very quiet at night; you could hear crickets’ singing and fireflies dancing in the dark. It was very peaceful; neighbors sat in front of their houses and chatted. As you know, I was very naughty when I was a child. It was a clear night; my friends and I stealthily sneaked into the farmland, undermined some crops and took some carrots to eat. We lay in the field and watched those stars in the sky. 

The next morning, as soon as I walked into my house, I heard my parents talking about how someone destroyed my mother’s crops last night. My mother murmured about it all day long. I could tell she was very frustrated because whenever she murmurs about something for a whole day it is something that means a big deal to her. I knew who did it, but I did not tell her that person was me. I knew if I admitted, they will hang me up then use that bamboo branch again. 

       As time went by, I got older. Thinking about the past now, everything I did was so ridiculous. However, foolishness is one thing, having an adventurous childhood is another thing. Now, I cannot do that again, trying to be foolish does not exist for adults.