He Said He’d be Waiting
2018-05-15ByMoXiaomi
By Mo Xiaomi
The girl put on a blue skirt and slipped covertly out of the house unnoticed by family, her big ponytail swinging across her slim, attractive waistline.
She clutched a small note in her hand that she unfolded and eyed from time to time. Prompted by the small note, she took two turns,got on the bus, rode five stops, got off and crossed the street, where there was a river. Along the river,she saw a bridge crossing from afar. Her destination was an alley on the other side of the bridge.
She beamed with a beautiful smile.
Two months ago, she couldn’t read the note, as she hadn’t yet attended the literacy class and met the man of letters.
After class the previous night,he gave her a small illustrated note. On it was sketched a bridge,at the end of which was a figure marked with the three characters of his name, indicating there he’d be waiting for her.
However, before she could reach her destination, she felt a pair of strong hands grab her holding her back. It was her older brother. “Mom wants you to go back home.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know. But you have to go back.”
The girl was 18 years old that year. She had been proposed to by a fiancé who turned out to be her maternal aunt’s son in Shanghai.She had no choice in the matter,although she was sweet on the young teacher in the literacy class.
She gave in to her parents’wishes and gave her hand in marriage the man in Shanghai.She gave birth to four children in ten years. It goes without saying that she was a good wife and loving mother who provided a home with a simple life and all the basic necessities, but her husband was the technical wizard of the factory. He was needed to help support the great Third Front Movement, designed to reinforce China’s interior, so the whole family moved with the factory to the mountain region between Yunnan and Guizhou.
Living in poor conditions, she still managed to keep the family’s day-to-day life running like clockwork. As the children grew up, her only wish was that they could leave the mountains and go back to Shanghai or return to their hometown in Hangzhou.
她特意换上一条蓝花裙子,背着家人出了门,大辫子在好看的腰身上一甩一甩。
她手心攥着张小字条,不时展开看一看。按小字条提示,拐两个弯,上公交车,坐五站,下车,过了马路,是一条河,沿河走,远远看见横跨的桥,桥对岸的一条弄堂,就是她的目的地。
她抿嘴笑了笑,很美。
两个月前,这张字条她还看不懂,她还没上扫盲班,还没认识一肚子墨水的他。
昨晚下课后,他给她这张图文并茂的小字条,在桥的那一头,他画着一个小人儿,写着三个字,是他的名字。他在那里等她。
她没有到达那个目的地,一双大手用力把她拉住,是她的哥哥。哥哥说:“姆妈叫你回去。”
“回去做啥?”
“不知道,反正要你回去。”
姑娘那年18岁。家里来了提亲的,对象是上海姨妈的儿子。父母已经答应这门亲事,她毫无办法,尽管她喜欢扫盲班的年轻老师。
她顺从父母远嫁上海,10年生育4个儿女。本来做个温饱型的贤妻良母也不错,可丈夫是工厂技术骨干,支援大三线建设时,全家随工厂迁移到云贵大山里。
生活条件差,她还是把一家人的日子打理得井井有条。等儿女长大些,她唯一的愿望就是他们能离开大山,去上海最好,回家乡杭州也行。
晚年,她跟着小女儿在杭州生活,丈夫已先她而去。
这天,她特意系上一条碎花丝巾,背着家人出了门,一头银发梳得一丝不苟。
她走得很慢,不时停下脚步,若有所思。拐两个弯,上公交车,坐了不知道几站,下车,有条河,沿河走,小桥流水,白墙黑瓦,浓香四溢,是一条美食街。
她咧嘴笑了笑,满脸的皱纹都荡漾开了。
那天,从早到晚,美食街上人来人往,没人注意这样一位老婆婆走走,停停,坐坐,不吃不喝,流连一整天。
直到天黑人散,一家小面馆的老板看着心疼,招呼她:“奶奶,进来吃碗面吧。”
吃完面,她没有要走的意思,自言自语:“他说在这儿等我的。”
面馆老板只得打了“110”。警车来了,她不肯上车:“他说在这儿等我的。”她快要哭了。
一个女警察和颜悦色地问:“老奶奶,仔细想想,是谁在等你?我们帮你找他。”
她在口袋里东摸西摸,她想起来,出门时她带着一张小字条,在桥的那一头,他画着一个小人,写着三个字,是他的名字。说好的,他在那里等她。
这条路是那么长,她竟然走了一辈子。
女警察讲给我听时感叹地说:“只上了几天扫盲班的老奶奶记性真强,竟能把那三个字记得一点不差。老爷爷的确曾经住在这一带,可惜我们找到他家时,他已经过世了。”◆
(摘自《青春》2018年第1期)
Later, her husband passed away and she went back to live in Hangzhou with her younger daughter.
That day, she left the house with her silver hair meticulously combed, and a floral scarf tied fastidiously around her neck..
She walked slowly, pausing thoughtfully from time to time.She rounded two bends, got on the bus and passed by several stops, before getting off. She walked along a small bridge over a flowing river, lined with white walls and black tiles. The place was filled with a delicate aroma,as it has evolved into a restaurant row.
She grinned, wrinkles rippling over her aged face.
That day from dawn to dusk,people were bustling all about this street lined with restaurants and vendors peddling their gourmet food sand snacks, but no one paid any mind to a single elderly woman lingering there the whole day, walking, pausing and sitting without food or drink.
Once the night fell and people scattered, feeling sorry for her,the owner of a small noodle restaurant greeted her, “Ma’am,come in and have a bowl of noodles.”
After the meal, she didn’t have any intention of leaving. She kept on muttering to herself to herself,“He said he would be waiting for me here.”
The owner had to dial 110.When the police car came, she refused to get in. “He said he would be waiting for me here.”She was on the verge of bursting into tears.
A policewoman said cheerfully,“Think hard ma’am, who is it that’s supposed to be waiting here for you? We’ll help you look for him.”
She fumbled around in her pocket. She remembered that when she went out, she took a small note. On it, at the end of the bridge that had been drawn years before by her literacy class teacher, there was a figure marked with the three characters of his name. As promised, he would have been waiting for her there.
This road was so long she had gone for a lifetime.
When the policewoman told me the story, she said with emotion,“The old lady who had only been in the literacy classes for a few days had such a strong memory that she could even remember the three characters off the top of her head. The old man had indeed lived in this area, but it was a shame that he had passed away before she found his home.”◆