I was ten years old. I stood facing the innocent girl from next door called Juki, she said, “Big brother, when I grow up I want to marry you. I’ll be good to you; one day you’ll know.”
I was twenty years old. I sat facing the Joint University Programmes Admissions for the second time. Every day my father would repeatedly say, “Son Chi, if you don’t start working hard to get into university, how can you find a good job in the future? I don’t know why you’re so busy, you’re never at home, and the result is…, Umm, one day you’ll know.”
I was thirty years old. I had my first date. My auntie introduced a girl to me and said, “Xiao Ya is a good girl, she’s pretty and clever, has a good figure and what’s hard to find, is that she’s a good cook; the fortune teller said that she’ll bring luck to her husband. If you marry her, you’ll be lucky in your whole life…, one day you’ll know.”
I was forty years old. I received my medical report marked full with negative red ink. Charles, one of my secondary schoolmates who was a doctor, told me, “Lui (surname), you should slow down your social life; you have to eat less meat and fresh seafood; do more exercise and rest on a regular basis. Let’s go swimming in a couple of days, shall we? If you don’t look after yourself now, one day you’ll know.”
I was fifty years old. I entered the General Manager’s office and she said to me, “Joseph, when I once pleaded you to start this company with me as a partnership, you didn’t give me an answer. Now, you give me your resignation letter. Why? Joe, shall we get married?”
I was sixty years old. I was at my adopted son’s wedding. Sitting next to me was Celine, one of my secondary schoolmates, said to me, “Congratulations! Even though you’re not married, you’ve an adopted son and you’ve now got a foreigner as a daughter-in-law. Oh, it may be difficult for you to keep an eye on her. It should be alright though, as long as she does the housework. You don’t have to worry too much, one day you’ll know.”
I was seventy years old. I attended the funeral of one of my primary schoolmates. On that day, I stared at the blue sky, full of white clouds, I thought it said to me, “Juki has passed away, Charles died in a traffic accident, Celine also died of cancer…, one day you’ll know….”
At present, all I have is a photo album, containing a few photos which have already turned yellow; a piece of paper with “I love you” written on it, but I can’t remember who I supposed to give this to; three suits that I wore to weddings and one suit that I wore to several funerals; a folder with numerous school reports; a few of my favourite books and a red bank account booklet. My pension, accumulated from decades of hard work, has been spent long ago. The existing sum, which is printed in my bank account booklet, is the income from the Comprehensive Social Assistance Payment by the Government’s Social Welfare Department.
From the middle of the mountain I hobbled towards the top. My coat was slightly damp. As I welcomed the gentle breeze and light drizzle, I shouted, “Remember, grasp the present moment!!!”
