Mom, I’m hungry （妈妈，我饿）

This story happened in a remote village before electricity was available. Oil lamps were the only light source after dark.

There were four villages situated in one extended area. The story happened in one of the villages: Zhao village, which was about a mile and half distance from other villages.

The villages were connected by snaking dirt roads which were deeply rutted by repeated passing of people and wood-wheeled wagons pulled by horses or people. When it rained, the roads became nearly impassable, and one would often need to tread through the road in order to get somewhere. These days, people did not go anywhere much beyond the four villages anyway.

People did almost all the work needed for their livelihood during the daytime. When night fell, everyone retreated to their houses. Chickens went back to coops. Pigs, cows, and sheep went to sleep. The streets were pitch dark on moonless nights. Few oil lamps flickered in some houses only for necessary chores. If you look up, stars and galaxies were the brightest. It is true to say that one will not see his own fingers in this darkness. By today’s terms, there was no light pollution then.

When the night was young, sounds could be heard from neighbors’ houses: adults’ arguing over money to buy essentials, babies crying for attention or comfort, siblings bickering for food or maybe finally a new set of clothes. Then villages soon were covered with almost complete silence, except you could hear occasional sound of wild cats or wild dogs or other animals scurrying through to try to find food.

If it were not for urgent reasons, no one would come out in the evenings.

However, on one of such pitch-dark nights, a 23 year old young woman by the name of Rui-Xia was hurriedly walking alone on the treacherous dirt road. She was actually feeling her way forward because she could barely see anything in front of her. She needed to take great care not to be tripped over by anything that could be already on her path, like a hole, a ditch, or even a piece of rock or a stick. She seemed scared, desperate, yet determined. She was on her way to call a “doctor” in the nearby village, more than a mile away. Her daughter had been sick for the past few days with a high fever of nearly 40 degrees. The poor two-year-old had not had any food or water and had been in and out of consciousness. Then today, her condition seemed worsened as she remained sleeping all day. The young mom was extremely fearful of her little girl not going to wake up. For the first few days, Rui-Xia thought that her daughter would get better soon like always before. The little girl’s name was Min, she was her 2nd child. Min was a tomboy by all means. Before she got sick this time, she would spend most of the days running barefoot in the dirt yards and on the dirt roads. Minor scratches and cuts would never bother her. Whenever she got sick, she would recover quickly and start running again. Very occasionally you would hear her cry. She was always happy. She was such an easy child. Until today.

Rui-Xia felt something was not right. By evening, Min was still unconscious. Rui-Xia’s husband was working as a high school teacher in Town and only came home on Saturday afternoons. He would not come home for another few days. The nearby hospital was a few hours away by walking, which was the only transportation tool for most of the village people. There was no telephone or service of an ambulance (what was that?!). There were no nearby doctor’s offices to visit. Furthermore, sick little children did not get to be sent to hospitals because they were not worth the effort or money. Only severely sick adults get to be rushed to hospital by makeshift stretchers (a few years later, Rui-Xia’s own life would be saved by being rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night due to a head injury inflicted by a young boy’s rock-throwing game). It was common for young children to die of sickness. Children were supposed to pull through their sickness themselves or die.

But for Rui-Xia, her children were her life. She was not going to watch her daughter die and do nothing. She had to do something. She had dropped her older child earlier in her mom’s house in another nearby village a few days ago so she could concentrate on taking care of her daughter.

She called her mother-in-law over to watch the little girl. Then she set off for the doctor’s house in the nearby village. The “doctor” was not a doctor who qualified through training. Rather he was a village “doctor” with a good heart to help people in need, who learned his trade through family tradition and self-studying. He was respected and trusted by many people from all nearby villages. If he gave a diagnosis, people believed him.

When Rui-Xia finally fumbled her way in the dark to the doctor’s house, it was nearly midnight. She pleaded with the doctor to come to check on Min and make her better. The kind-hearted doctor picked up his medical kit and trod back with Rui-Xia to her house.

Once back in the house, the “doctor” immediately held Min’s wrist and felt her pulse. She had a pulse, a faint one, but a real pulse! that is good, he thought. But she was still unconscious, and the thermometer showed that her body temperature was still 40 degrees! There was one more thing he could do to make sure if the little girl was still alive. He started gently rubbing the bottom of Min’s foot, a supposedly very sensitive spot. One minute, no reaction from her, then two, then three minutes. Still no reaction. The doctor’s face grew paler with each rub. Finally, he turned to the horrified Rui-Xia: “She does not respond. I am afraid there is nothing I can do for her anymore. I am so very sorry! Please start necessary preparations. She will not last through tomorrow.” Then the “doctor” left!

One can only imagine how helpless Rui-Xia felt at that moment! The only solace for her was that she was not alone in that small dark house, her mother-in-law remained with her for that night. They were to face Min’s final moment together.
Rui-Xia remained sleepless and heartbroken for the rest of the night.

The daylight just started breaking through the window when she heard a small but clear voice: “Mommy, I’m hungry! I want food!” Oh, thank god, my little girl woke up! she is alive! Rui-Xia was elated! Her days of bottled up agony and despair suddenly erupted into tears of enormous joy! She pulled Min close and tightly wrapped her little girl in her arms and whispered: “whatever you want, baby, whatever you want.” Miraculously, Min fully recovered after that.

Min grew up to be the first girl ever in the family to finish high school and went on to be the first person in the family to finish college and get two master’s degrees.

I am Rui-Xia’s daughter, Min.