“Dear, you’ve stood there for half an hour already. Do you need any help?” the corner store owner called from the entrance. I finally snapped out of my daze.
Half an hour? Had I been deliberating by the cookies and candy shelf for that long?
Ever since Kewei and I had signed up to be buddies for the field trip, I had been patrolling the corner store daily to see if there were any standout sweets. For example, candy that dyed the tongue, prank gum (with a fake cockroach when pulling out a stick) (although, Xie Yanzhi might be the only person who would like those. They didn’t fit Kewei), and cookies with stickers of the Sailor Moon characters that Kewei loved.
The school only allowed each person to bring one type of sweet, which really put me in a bind. I asked Kewei multiple times, and she always responded with, “Just choose what you want.” But I wanted everything to be perfect on the day that I got to hang out with Kewei. If I picked these Sailor Moon cookies and discovered on the day of that the sticker was of a character who Kewei hated, I would definitely cry my eyes out and curse the cookie company.
After being indecisive for so many days, it had suddenly become the day of the field trip tomorrow. And I still hadn’t made a choice on what snack to share with Kewei!!!
“Since you’ve been stuck for so long, let Auntie tell you a little secret behind these cookies.” The owner picked up a packet of the Sailor Moon cookies and raised the attached sticker pack up to the light. “If you look at the plastic pack from the side, see how there’s a color? If it’s deep purple, then that’s a witch. If it’s pink, that’s Chibiusa. And if it’s gold-”
I immediately found one with gold! And immediately paid for it at the counter!
The owner was such a nice person! Good things were definitely coming her way!
“Xiaorong, didn’t you come upstairs before the weather reporting was even done? Why are you still up?”
It was about midnight. Mom had finished sweeping, tallying accounts, and cleaning, and was about to sleep when she discovered me staring at the ceiling, wide-awake.
I had checked my bag five times: water bottle, Sailor Moon cookies, pocket money, and two rented comics that I was going to read with Kewei on the tour bus.
And then to ensure that I was perfect too, I had secretly washed with the rose shampoo reserved for customers and sprayed some of Mom’s perfume on my backpack and uniform.
However, once I was actually lying in bed, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had carelessly forgotten some detail.
“*Sigh* You wouldn’t get it, Mom.”
“Hahahaha, sighing at your age?” Mommy laughed. She pulled the blanket up over my stomach. “Don’t be nervous. You have to get more rest so that you have the energy to play with Kewei tomorrow!”
Mommy was right. In order to fall asleep as soon as possible, I dug out my ultimate secret weapon: the blankie that I had weaned myself off of in the first half of second grade!
I hugged blankie and started counting sheep. When I had counted twenty, it occurred to me that sheep didn’t mean much to me. I switched to counting the curly-haired cat that Kewei had drawn. Curly cat. Curly cat. Kewei said that I was like the curly cat she had drawn. Curly cat. Curly cat. I’d prepared for and been looking forward to this for so long. Tomorrow would definitely be the perfect day.
“…Taichung County, possibility of suspension of work and school, announcement forecasted at seven…”
No! No! This couldn’t be real!!!
At six, when I woke up and went to brush my teeth, I discovered that wind and rain were blowing around outside. The news said that a typhoon had changed course and was going to make landfall!
It was almost winter! Where did a typhoon come from?
When I called the school, it just kept ringing.
“Xiaorong? What are you doing?” Mom was up and found me wearing athletic clothes and putting on tennis shoes.
“Taking the bus to school.”
“Didn’t they say there’s a typhoon on the news? And it’s very likely school and work will be suspended.”
“But our house is far from school. I’ll be late if I wait until seven to leave.”
It didn’t matter if I was late on a normal day. But today had to be perfect. I couldn’t be late, and I couldn’t make Kewei wait a single second.
“With this rain, school’s definitely being suspended.” Mom grabbed onto me.
“Being punctual is a sign of maturity and responsibility.” I held up the biggest umbrella in the house. “I’m going to the bus stop now.”
“Okay okay, alright!” Mommy helplessly said, “At least let me drive you there, okay?”
“That’s too much work for you, Mommy. I can go by myself, really.”
“The neighbors will report me for child abuse if I let you wait outside in a typhoon for a bus that might not be running.”
Mom changed into her outside clothes, dragged me into the car, and slowly drove towards the school.
Had the heavens heard my earnest prayers? After we left, the rain began to let up.
When we got to school, it was barely drizzling. I ran to the classroom but become worried the closer I got. There wasn’t a single person at the school gate, on the field, or in the hallways.
In the third grade hallway, I came across the security officer sweeping water.
“Ack, hey! You scared me!” the older man yelled, maybe startled by my footsteps. His yell also scared me. “Which class are you in?”
“Class 3.”
“What are you doing at school at this hour? Don’t kids all love typhoon days?”
“But the rain’s almost stopped. And today’s the field trip.”
“Even if the rain stopped, the school can’t let a bunch of little kids go on a field trip in a typhoon. Did you see any tour buses on your way here? If the field trip was happening, there would be buses packed outside of the gate.”
I understood what he was trying to say, but I just couldn’t turn back. My feet felt superglued to the floor.
“Well, alright then.” The older man unlocked the classroom for me and turned on the TV to the news channel before continuing to work.
I listened to the sounds of water being swept away as I stared at the TV.
At exactly seven, a headline banner popped out: School and work suspended for Taichung County.
The older man quietly knocked on the backdoor of the classroom, “Do you need to use the security office phone? You can call your parents to pick you up.”
What should have been a perfect day came to nothing.
“Sorry, mommy. I ended up making you come here and back for no reason.”
“There’s no customers during typhoons anyway. I haven’t given you a ride in a long time too.”
Fields that had been picked bare could be seen outside the window, tracts of earthy yellow land.
Stopped at a red light, my mom touched my face, “You’ll still have a lot of chances to go on field trips with Kewei. Don’t be too sad, okay?”
At home, I sat alone in my room, spacing out holding the Sailor Moon cookies that I was originally giving to Kewei.
Before lunch, my mom asked, “Do you want to give Kewei a call?”
She took out the class contact list distributed on parents’ night. I found the number for Kewei’s house and made the call.
“Hello?”
A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone. I knew it was Kewei, but I wanted to be sure.
“Hello, may I ask if Kewei is available?”
“Xiaorong? Why did you call?”
“…I went to school in the morning.”
“What? When? Did you get drenched?”
“I scared the security officer and ended up making my mom take me there and back for nothing. I bought Sailor Moon cookies with a sticker of your favorite heroine. I also have comics about a girl acting in plays. My mom said that she read it when she was young and that it’s really famous…”
“Did you catch a cold? Your voice sounds off.”
“…I finally, had a chance to have fun with you…”
Kewei didn’t say anything for a while.
“Hello? Kewei, are you still there?”
“Xiaorong, did you return the comic?”
“Not yet.”
“What about the cookies? Did you eat them?”
“No.”
“After lunch, tell me which stop to get off at for your house.”
“Why?”
“I’ll ask my mom if I can go to your house in a bit. Remember to ask your mom too.”
“Really?”
“Yep. The rain’s stopped and there’s no wind. The weather report also said that the typhoon won’t affect Taichung. My dad said that the county executive was only worried about negative public opinion so that’s why things were suspended. I’ll go ask my mom now. You ask too, okay? Otherwise, it would look bad if I suddenly showed up without being invited. Hey, are you listening?”
“Yeah, I’m listening.”
“Okay, then let’s ask. I’ll call you back in ten minutes.”
Ten minutes later, the phone rang.
“Hello? Kewei?”
“It’s me. Did you ask your mom?”
“Yeah, she said yes. If your parents are worried, she also said that she could pick you up.”
“Your mom’s already had to make two trips, which is a lot. My mom told me to take the bus for now, and she’ll pick me up when I need to go home.”
“Are you sure?”
“The sun’s already come out. Did you not see?”
“Really?”
“Just how many times are you going to ask ‘really’? Hurry up and eat. I’ll call you before I leave.”
“Okay.”
“You have to wait for me. Meow.”
“Meow.”
“Meow. We’ll be having a field trip at your house soon.”
Normally when I went praying with Mom, I always felt the figures of the gods looked intimidating. But today, I was truly thankful to the heavenly deities, Guanshiyin, Buddha, Queen Mother of the West, and Jade Emperor…
Although it had taken a while to get there, today was still the perfect day.
riverFlower 
Leave a comment