When Dr. Gullikson was assigning project mates for his introduction to experimental psychology class, I secretly hoped he would pair me with my best friend or at least a classmate I could have some fun with. Above all, I hoped he wouldn’t assign me to work with the fiercely competitive, extremely serious fellow who always wore dark clothes and apparently had a personality to match. As fate would have it, Dr. Gullikson very deliberately matched everyone in class and announced that I would be working with the one person in class I wanted to avoid.

I went up to my new lab mate and introduced myself. He looked at me as if I weren’t there. I felt he treated me as if I would hold him back and probably make him fail to get an A in the course. He wasn’t mean or abusive (恶语相向的). He just gave me the impression he could do whatever project better if he did it alone.

Needles to say, I didn’t look forward to an entire term of being brushed off (冷落), but I tried to make the best of it and didn’t say anything for fear that I would make things worse.

The project required each lab team to develop a hypothesis (假说), set up an experiment to test the hypothesis, do the statistical analysis and present the findings. Whatever grade the team received would be shared by both students. When my teammate and I met to discuss our project, I was uneasy. Here was this challenging student who had a reputation for single-mindedness and good grades—the exact opposite of me. I was outmatched. I actually wanted to drop the class at one point, but stopped short because I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of my chickening out.

After long discussions, we somehow agreed to do a study on the psychological well-being of teenagers. I wasn’t sure what it meant exactly, but at least we had a topic.

We started to meet regularly to draw up our plans.

One day in the middle of our project, I got word that he was admitted to hospital for a serious disease.

I was a proud mother of three children, my last little one being delivered in the middle of this pandemic. She was born in August and her name is Aida.

Shortly after having Aida, my mother-in-law showed me something she learned from her friend’s mother in an art class she attended weekly. She had shown me how to knit a scarf. She showed me stitches and gave me her half done project.

I spent a lot of time breastfeeding my sweet little girl, so I had some extra time to do something with my hands throughout the day. I enjoyed making the scarf so I purchased tons of yarn (纱线) since it was winter. I wanted to make scarves for my three children as Christmas gifts.

There was a new family that moved in down the street. The only daughter of the family was Jane, a shy girl, aged 14, the same age of my oldest son David. It seemed that she came from a financially disadvantaged family, for she always wore old clothes. Worse still, in such cold days, she had no more clothes to wear and trembled with cold.

Due to the pandemic, society was thrown into crisis mode. Schools were closed, food supplies and deliveries were suspended and children were stuck at home. In such discouraging times, however, they became good companions, talking and playing at home or around the houses.

It was dreadfully cold this winter. Every time David came back from outside, with red face, he always cried, “Mum, it’s freezing outside!” then he came over to see whether I finished the scarf. I could tell how impatient he was to wear my scarf sooner! I had to speed the project to satisfy his expectation. But David comforted me saying he could wait a few days. What a kind and considerate boy he was! Then my great project finally was accomplished on the morning ahead of Christmas.

Mary waited anxiously for her turn in the empty dressing room. Never had she been so nervous before. This competition was of vital importance to her comeback .“If I can win today,” she said to herself, “I can dance on the national stage next month.” Three months ago, her left arm was seriously injured in a car accident.After the medical treatment , she began to recover slowly. She practiced over and over again in order to regain her dancing skills.

“Hi, Mary,” in rushed her friend Jessica.“How is your arm? Is it going to influence your performance?”

“I guess it can be tolerated for I am to win the match . ” said Mary with a determined look.

“Admirable! But I hear that a girl called Linda is really gifted and strong.She can be your real well-matched competitor.Come on!”

After Jessica left,Mary decided to practice her most difficult spin . “If I don’t try harder, I won’t grasp this chance.” She thought. But her arm began to hurt, making her worried. “Mary, what makes you think you have a chance tonight?” she said to herself. After the pain was gone, she continued to warm up.

A slim girl hurried in and put down an equipment bag on the chair.Then, she took out her dance dress quickly and put it on skillfully. Seeing Mary, she smiled politely and said “Hi, I’m Linda. I am the next one!” Mary nodded in reply but felt uncomfortable. “This is just my competitor. Because of her, I may lose tonight.” Her mind was wandering when Linda let out a scream, “Oh, God, I can’t find my music tape!” Linda searched her bag but in vain . “It may be missing on the way.”With these words, she then rushed out.

Suddenly, Mary caught sight of a black box under the chair where Linda put her bag.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hearing her name called, Mary walked on the stage with her heart beating faster and faster.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This was it.

Today was the day.

Finally, she would be able to see her again.

It’d been five long years. Her university days now felt like a lifetime ago. When Jennifer thought back to it, she didn’t like the girl she had been then, but when she thought about Yui Fay,   that discomfort disappeared and her whole life lit up.

Actually, the exact time and place for meeting was yet to be appointed. Yui Fay promised to call her instantly the flight landed. Jennifer couldn’t be more excited. She kept imagining their meeting —how they would run towards each other, hugging and talking of the old times. As she imagined, happiness spread through her body.

It was time to get dressed. As she was struggling about what to wear, she spotted a red summer dress, which she bought that day in Barcelona. She would never forget that day five years before. After a hard week at university, Yui Fay and she spontaneously(心血来潮地) bought bus tickets to Barcelona. They slept on the bus and then spent the whole day exploring the city. Walking past a shop, they were attracted by the red summer dress. Yui Fay said it would look perfect on Jennifer. In fact, every day with Yui Fay was wonderful.

After university Yui Fay went back to China where she took over her family’s business, while Jennifer took the job in an office. They promised to keep in contact. But then life happened. The occasional calls faded with time and they had not talked for over two years. Yet, of all her friends, Yui Fay was still the one she felt the closest to. She knew all her fears, dreams, and her wildest stories. She knew that if something happened, Yui Fay would be there for her no matter what. And viceversa. Some friendships just survive the passage of time.

Yet the idea of meeting her was also terrifying. What if…? The idea was too hard to put into words. What if the person she was so fond of was no longer? What if this dinner turned out to be nothing more than a meeting between two boring businesswomen?

She put on the red summer dress and kept checking the phone anxiously.

At that moment, she received a message on the phone.

Just then, someone came into the restaurant and walked straight towards Jennifer.

A Dream Come True

For many years, I kept having the same dream. I was a little girl again, rushing about, trying to get ready for school.

“Hurry, you’ll be late for school,” my mother called to me.

“I am hurrying, Mom. What did I do with my books?”

Deep inside I knew where the dream came from. It was about some unfinished business in my life. As a kid, I loved everything about school. I loved books, teachers, tests and homework. Most of all, I longed to someday march down the aisle (走廊) to receive my diploma (毕业文凭). That seemed more appealing even than getting married.

But at 15, I had to drop out because my parents couldn’t afford tuition. My hope of getting a diploma was dead, or so I thought. Years later, I married and had three children, and I thought, “There goes my diploma.”

Even so, I wanted my children to be educated. But Linda, our youngest child, had juvenile arthritis (幼年型关节炎) in her hands and knees, which made it impossible for her to function in a normal classroom. I felt really sorry for her and I didn’t want her to live her life with regret. I didn’t give up hope of her going back to school in some way.

One day, I saw an ad. in the newspaper for evening courses. “That’s the answer,” I said to myself. Linda always feels better in the evening, so I’ll just sign her up for night school.

Linda was busy filling out enrollment (登记) forms when the secretary said, “Mrs. Schantz, why don’t you come back to school?”

I laughed, “There’s no way. I’m 55.” But he persisted, and before I knew what I had done, I was enrolled for classes in English and art. “This is only an experiment,” I warned the secretary, but he just smiled. So, I told myself to try for just a semester and to see if it would work. Anyway, my dream was still there in my heart.

It was exciting to go to school again but it was no picnic (不轻松).

Linda and I helped each other through this difficult time.

When I heard that huge waves crashed against large rocks that formed a jetty (登岸码头), I was full of fear. Nothing scared me as much as water. Just the sight of the sea made me sick to my stomach.

I’d always loved water and been a good swimmer until last summer, when I’d decided to climb up to the highest diving board at the pool. I’d jumped from that height and hit the water. I got out of breath and blacked out. The next thing I knew was that my brother was pulling me out of the pool. From then on I was really frightened of water.

“Jason, are you coming?” my friend Mat called.

“Yeah,” I said, wondering if they might laugh at me if they knew about my fear.

Suddenly I heard shouting in French. A crowd of people were running into the sea. I saw a little boy moving up and down in the waves! His head popped up, then a wave crashed over him and he disappeared for a moment. Some rescuers fought against the tide (潮水) but they are too far away. I had to join in the rescue.

I looked around and found the boy was close to the jetty and maybe I could help from there. I raced down the beach and it hit me: Water! My palms got sweaty and my fear appeared. I stopped immediately.

The people in the water weren’t making any progress. I was the only person who saw that going out on the jetty was the fastest way to reach the boy. Yet in the middle of this emergency, I was extremely frightened. I tried to remember the lifeguard training I’d had as a teenager. I forced myself to move forward.

Taking in a deep breath, I threw myself into the water.

As we made our way to safety, I realized something unbelievable.