The Diary of Anne Ku
28 July 2000 Friday rainy, cloudy, not cold
My dear mother won a prize with this story. She is the new talent I discovered in my family.
A BOTTLE OF SOY SAUCE
He was told to go to the shop to get a bottle of soy sauce.
He walked down the road and sang the song:
"Great, great father and brother,
Fight for nation
Being a soldier. Ha Ha Ha..."
Then he saw a man coming out of a car and walking towards him. The man grabbed him and pushed him into the car. The boy told the man that his mother was waiting for him to bring back a bottle of soy sauce. The man said that he had nowhere to go but to fight for his country. It was 1944; he was only fifteen.
He left for Taiwan with the troops. Looking back at the direction of his hometown, he couldn't see a thing but dark clouds.
Standing in front of the mirror, he saw his gray hair. He missed his mother and thought of how he didn't get what she had asked for.
Homecoming at last. He returned home carrying a bottle of soy sauce. He was an old man with a boy's mind.
"Maaaaa, Maaaa," he called and called. There was no answer. He checked everywhere. There was no sign of her.
Finally he found her resting place.
He knelt down and touched the tombstone as if he was touching her shoulders. He said,"Maaa, here is the bottle of soy sauce. I am so sorry. I am forty-five years too late. Why didn't you wait for me?"
Mom at her engagement party some decades ago. All my life she's been a do-er. She would learn something and perfect it to the point where she could teach it. Such was her attitude: never stop learning. Become a master at what you do.