寄给远行的表妹
February 27, 2022•219 words
蓉蓉表妹你好：
当你看见这信的时候也许正在西行路上，或是已到达了那个世界……
我小时在抗战时期的重庆，曾看见爸爸在昏暗的灯下写字，妈妈说他是在在给我们的姑妈写信，妈还说爸爸和他的小妹很要好……
等到有机会见面时，已是上世纪六十年代初了，妈妈我去苏州拜望姑妈家，那是物资匮乏的年代，可姑父姑妈待我们极好。记得大表哥在外地，几位表妹，特别是大表妹、二表妹（高中女生）的光采令我不敢直视。
六三年初，我路过南京也曾去看过姑妈的新家，她和我长谈了一次，她握住我的双手撫摸着手掌上新长出的茧，语重心长的告诫我今后的人生之路。第二天又让大表哥、大表妹陪我去了中山陵，于是就有了下面这张照片。
寄给远行的表妹
Dear cousin Rongrong,
By the time you read this letter, you might be on your journey westward, or perhaps you have already reached that world...
I remembered seeing my father writing under a dim light when I was a child living in the wartime Chongqing. Mother said that he was writing to our aunt. She also mentioned that father and his little sister were very close...
We finally met in the early 1960s when mother and I visited our aunt's family in Suzhou. It was a time of scarcity, but our uncle and aunt treated us exceptionally well. I recalled that our eldest cousin was away, and the other cousins, especially the eldest and second eldest cousin sisters (who were high school students), were so radiant that I didn’t dared to look at them directly.
I passed through Nanjing and visited the aunt's new home in early 1963. She held my hands and feeling the new calluses that had formed on my palms. She then had a long talk with me and gave me heartfelt advice for my future. The next day, she had our eldest cousin brother and sister accompany me to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. That’s where we had taken the photo below…
- To my cousin on her journey