somewhere on my way, Anna N. Schnieden [best summer reads TXT] 📗

everything seemed to flow in, such as rotten food, rotten vegetable, fish heads, and kids’ toys! Everything that people could not sell in a day or two went into the drains as well! I had no doubt about the smell; it was a redolent scent and if I needed to get myself vomiting for some reason, there was a good place to start! Walking for a while, the sidewalk was getting cleaner and I thought, “Finally, we are close to civilization.” Light bulbs from the streets and shops were becoming illuminated, I was stunned, one by one

 

 

 

they lit up, and eventually all the bloody streets and shops were bright and shiny. “Wow, I wondered what Jack would say about my adventure?”

 

We stopped at some children’s clothing store, just about at the end of the sidewalk; the mother was looking for some clothes…for me. Mine had been dumped at the bus station, so this was an appropriated action of hers! I was looking at the clothes; they were very pretty and colourful. At the corner of the shop, there were all kinds of skirts; I had never had a skirt before, I saw it once in some papers, so I was hoping that the mother would have picked one or two.

 

A moment of excitement had come; I watched the mother pick some clothes, suddenly, it felt like…when you have a lotto ticket in your hand, listening to the lotto’s radio station, announcing your first few numbers of a big win, your eyes are getting wider and the next minutes of your life, you would say “yessssss” or “fuckkkkkk!” Well, mine was fuck!

 

That day was the first time I was in the mother’s house; the house was a 4storey business building. The first floor was her beauty shop where she worked; the second floor was a skin care section, looked like beauty and spa this day. The third floor was for stock; and the last floor was our apartment. It was also the first time I had a bed, and it was the first time I found out I had a brother, brilliant!

 

Everyone had his or hers a moment of a first time. I was so lucky, I had so many moments of a first time in one damn day. A brother…wow, I could not imagine! What an astonishment! Well, he was lucky because he was going to be in….a character!

 

Sometime after I knew the brother, I was thinking about the definition of being a piggy and a bony, somehow it was implicated with cultures. The Chinese’s culture is extraordinarily characteristic between boys and girls. The Chinese utterly believe if a family is given a first child as a boy, it means abundance, efficacy, and fortune. The first boy is birthed upon a spirit of a dragon, especially if that year is the year of the dragon.

 

 

 

Even though, all boys who are not the first child or birthed in the dragon year, they still mean good fortune…Wow. After listening to that…shit…I was thinking, “I'm absolutely fucked!”"

 

Blimey, the brother was born in the dragon’s year so…cool! And moreover, an old lady who was supposed to be my grandmother said, “Having a son is a blessing! Having a daughter is like…having a toilet at the front porch.” Well, I was sure she had a penis under her pretty skirt…wasn’t it?!! So, I was a toilet and the brother was a dragon, but I was not sure what the fuck was the grandmother? Bitch??

 

According to Chinese mythological symbolism: way long and long ago in 3000 BC, the dragons were believed to ward off evil spirits. In the ancient day, dragons were regarded as the most sacred animal, and used to be the imperial emblem of Chinese emperors. It is the first of the four Divine Creatures to the Chinese. The others were the unicorn, the phoenix, and the tortoise. The powerful yet gentle “Long” that brings rain to the earth, hastens the crops and the toiling framer, and also represents the Yin dynasties, which mean happiness and heaven. The dragons’ symbolic meaning based on their colours, were often red, gold, turquoise, or white. The turquoise dragon was the symbol of the emperor, the East, the rising sun, and the rain as well, but the white dragon on the other hand stood for the West and the…no longer alive!!

 

I was sure the brother was a white dragon!

 

 

As we were children, the brother always had prohibited experiments. He took me out, in order to show me a specific tree, called Toi-Tring. It is a small tree, and produces small black seeds. The seeds can explode by any kind of wet and they feature little tiny brown kernels after the explosion.

 

“If you want to be a good sister, put it in your mouth and suck. Don’t swallow it. It tastes very good. Trust me!” The brother.

 

 

 

Another incident was back in 1974; most people in my country had black-and-white televisions, except some rich bitch might have had a coloured one. The television companies were excessively developing better options, such as hole-link-earphone, in case someone wanted to listen alone. Furthermore, the bloody hole-link-earphone was pricey; it must have had a good sound, according to our neighbours! I had never thought anyone would watch television with…an earphone…looked obviously odd! However, the brother was curious, particularly about the mother’s television and the earphone holes. He was concerned if one hole could cause an electric shock or, in fact, if it needed both holes to produce an electric shock that…suddenly acute medical attention! How could he know for sure? Well, making an experiment is a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, so he gave me a tiny little old wire and said,

 

“If you want to be a good sister, put it in this hole.” The brother.

 

 

So, I did exactly what he said with my no-safety glove…hand and my other hand was…on one of his legs…Oops! The result of his experiment was definitely an electric shock! Oh, how did I survive to this day? It was the mother’s high-heels that kicked off the white dragon, the old wire and me apart! Later on, there were so many experiments that he had made, such as putting lemon juice into my eyes while I was sleeping, or fart on my face while I was eating …nice white dragon!

 

Let’s get back to piggy and bony, the brother was handsome, short, and loved eating, and because he was a white 14-year-old dragon, he had a lot of acne on his face; it made him a perfect handsome and he was allowed to eat…anything! Once, our neighbour gave the mother a compliment about my bones, he said that I should have been in a model of anatomy for medical students! The mother was furious about the compliment with an anxious feeling, she went to talk to a local pharmacist, asking what he could do. He gave her some vitamins, which were supposed to be for my nutrition and the taste was unbelievably delicious, so as fast as I put them in my mouth, the faster they came out!

 

 

 

In general, all vitamins are colourful in order to deceive all children and, of course, some adults! All medications seem to be more and more colourful these days and I cannot wait for the black one! I thought how thoughtful of chemistry scientists, especially the blue pill which were Valium and other sleeping drugs; according to artists, blue colour means calm, cool, and emotionally peaceful…good for a checkout…like…see you on the other side!

 

Although, the concept of colourful pills is a wonderful idea, but I am not quite certain what the hell is happening with the taste? I was sitting in the mother’s kitchen, pitiful, miserable, suffering, sorrowful, whatever, because I had been commanded to take the vitamins until they were gone, and that would be 14 days! The commander (the mother) said,

 

“Take it! Or I’ll shove it into your mouth.” The mother.

 

 

While I was in the mood, which I could not describe how sad I was, the white…fat dragon walked in and he asked me,

 

“What is the matter?” The brother.

 

 

So, I told him about the vitamins and the order of the commander, but I did not mention about…the taste. Next thing I knew, 2 of 400 ml liquid, which were orange and purple colours, had vanished from the bottles into a natural oily mouth like in a blink of an eye and, in that moment, I thanked God for sending me a fat angel when I needed it the most!

 

Two weeks later, I did not hear any kind of question from the mother and she did not bring more of those shitty vitamins, so think in a good way…I was getting fat!

 

A month later, I was shipped to a private school.

 

 

 

Back in 1974, Catholic churches organized most of the private schools in Thailand and, so a private school, where the mother shipped me! It was on a river with a long large brick fence…with some holes cut into the bottom. There were two, 9-storey buildings, facing each other with a basketball field in between them. My eyes were popping out like some cartoon character when they are in shock. I thought this was more likely Jack And The Giant Beanstalk! Also, there was a 6-storey dormitory building that stood behind one of the 9-storey buildings, but it had no elevator…lucky me, I was 6 years old, I only had to climb up to the third floor.

 

The mother and I were standing in front of one of the buildings, waiting for someone. I was thinking about where the students were? I tried to come up with some reasons, but a nun interrupted my thoughts. She introduced herself as the principal of the school, so we followed her to her office. I was getting worried about what the mother said that I had to stay in the school…But it was no pond and…what was going to happen if I was to end up with eggs and noodles? Maybe, I had to check up on the fence’s holes; they might come to be handy! While I was wondering with my thoughts, I heard some questions,

 

“Do you understand what school means, Arya?” The principal nun.

 

 

I jumped out of my thoughts, looked at the principal nun and attempted to answer her question before…

 

“Oh, she doesn’t know anything. She’s just a stupid girl.” The mother.

 

 

And that was an aggressive inappropriate manner, don’t you think? After the answer, there was…silence. I wanted to defend myself from the mockery, but at the time, defending myself seemed like a cockroach trying to defeat a shoe coming down on its body to…deform its original figure, therefore I just shut it! I did not know that the questions were important either the school would accept me or kick me out on that very day.

However, the principal nun explained to the mother and wanted to talk to me alone! Oh…

 

 

 

After the mother took her leave, I felt like my blood pressure was a force exerted on me because if they had not accepted me, not only I would have had to stay…home, but I also would have had to be the brother’s experiment doll, and I could be dead sooner! I was not sure at the moment, which way was better, have the mother here, in the room, or no. Thinking about my own intelligence, how could I possibly have any? I just came out from the underworld 2 months ago!

 

“How are you feeling, Aye?” The principal nun asked with a friendly smile.

 

 

“Oh, I’m all right ma’am. Thank you.” Me.

 

 

“How old are you?” The principal nun.

 

 

“I’m 6 ma’am.” Me.

 

 

“Do you know what school means, Aye?” The principal nun.

 

 

“I suppose so, ma’am. School means knowledge, given facts, information and skills, ma’am.” Me.

 

Her expression was astonished, caused by something unexpected, I was getting nervous, I was not sure what I had said wrong, but before I could think of anything else she said,

 

“How do you know those words? And do you know what they mean?”