“Acknowledged, Detective. This is my...”

He hung up and told the driverless UNATS Robotics car to get him down to the railway station as fast as it could, angry with himself and with Ada—whose middle name was Trouble, after all—for making him deal with a robot before he’d had his breakfast. The name had been his ex-wife’s idea, something she’d insisted on.

His ex-wife. He hadn’t thought of her in years. Well, months. Weeks, certainly. She’d been a brilliant computer scientist at the UNATS Robotics school at the University of Toronto. Now she was settled in her own research lab in Beijing, providing the kinds of software solutions for robot applications.

He itched to wiretap her, to read her email or listen in on her phone conversations. He could have done that when they were still together, but he never had. If he had, he would have found out what she was planning.

He could have talked her out of it.

“And then what, Artie?” said the nagging voice in his head. He couldn’t stop her from chasing her own dream— making the smartest robot in the world, especially with their little daughter in her belly.

“Shut up!” he told the nagging voice.

In a few minutes, he was at the front gate of the railway station.

There she was, standing by a teenage girl who had the same blue eyes as his.

I was sitting at the dinner table with my mother and step father discussing two different family drama situations when my mom held her breath and her mouth was hanging wide open. She wasn’t speaking so I went and looked on her phone, and it was a friend request on Facebook from my elder sister who we both hadn’t spoken to in four years when all of my sisters got annoyed with my mom because of her lies about their childhood spread by their biological father. They abandoned me too since I was still living with my mom.

I leaned over and hugged my mom over the shoulders and tucked (把……塞入) my head in between her jaw and shoulder as I myself started getting teary eyed. She said, “I don’t want to accept it right away. That would be odd.” And as she finished saying this messenger was ringing and it was my elder sister calling.

They talked for over two hours. And it was the best thing that I heard my sister who I haven’t met or heard from in four years, and my niece and nephew speaking words and full comprehensible sentences. The last time I saw them, they were so little, only one and three years old. Now, four years later, what will they be like? Maybe a lot taller? Maybe getting cuter? I am very excited and happy and looking forward to seeing them soon.

I told my mom after the phone call was done that I was going to wait for my sister to add me and gave her space. I needed this more than I actually knew.

About thirty minutes later, the message popped (出现) up on my phone.

I just never thought I would get to see her or hear from her again.

Curious About Everything

Jackson did not feel good so he stayed at home from school today. He did not like to be sick. It was no fun at all. He got out of his bed and walked into his brother’s bedroom. Carter, his brother, loved cars. He had them all over his room. Jackson touched one of the black tires. He wished Carter was home. Carter liked to talk about the model cars as he was putting them together.

Jackson left Carter’s room and walked down the hall to the room his twin sisters shared. Ella liked wearing pretty clothes and Madison liked riding her horse. Ella decorated the wall behind her bed with pictures of girls in fancy clothes. A big poster of a horse was on the wall behind Madison’s bed. Jackson turned and walked back out of the room.

He walked back down the hall and into his little sister’s room. Sophie was the youngest kid in the family. She loved to dance and you could sure tell that from looking at her room. A big poster of a ballerina (芭蕾舞女演员) was over the dresser. She was wearing a funny pink outfit with a special skirt. Sophie told him what the dress was called, but he couldn’t remember right now.

As he stood there, trying to remember what it was called, he realized all of his brother and sisters’ rooms looked like the things they loved. Carter had cars in his room, Ella fashion, Madison horses, and Sophie ballet. Jackson wondered what his room said about him. He walked back down the hall and stood in the doorway of his room.

His bed was a mess. There was a racetrack on his floor, a plastic hat that was part of a magic trick set he got for his birthday, and a couple of plastic dinosaurs lying on their sides. Some clean clothes were stacked (堆放) on his dresser. His walls were bare. No posters of any kind.

“Are you feeling better?” his mom asked as she walked into the room.

Jackson asked his mom why his room looked different from the others’.

“A person doesn’t have to like just one thing. Some people, like you, are just curious about everything.” the mom said.

David is a 22-year-old man. Not having received a college education, he found it difficult to find a job. He worked at a small company and wasn’t paid well. He thought life was unfair and often complained.

One day, his boss asked him to go to his office. To his sadness, he was told he didn’t need to come to work again.

That day, David didn’t go straight back to the small apartment he shared with another man. He wanted to find a quiet place and sit there quietly for some time. Having lost his job, he had no idea what to do.

He walked and walked. Finally he stopped in front of a beautiful house. The house had a very big garden behind it. He saw an old man sitting in the garden.

“The old man must be a millionaire,” thought David. “How I wish I were him! If I were him, I wouldn’t have to work and I’d have a large amount of money. I would be the happiest man in the whole world.

Thinking how poor he was, David was even sadder. He hurriedly walked forward and found a place and sat there quietly.

Finally, he became hungry and decided to go back home. On his way back home, he passed the old man’s house again. This time the man was sitting in his front yard. When David passed by him, he noticed that the old man was looking at him. The old man looked as if he admired him very much. David was confused. Why would such a rich man admire him? He was so poor while he was so rich.

Finally, David decided to have a talk with the old man. So he stopped and walked to the old man.

”Hello,“ he said.

”Hello,“ said the old man.

Then they started talking. David told the old man he really admired him.

”You have such a beautiful house. You’re so rich! How I wish I were you!“ said David.

Hearing that, the old man smiled and said, ” And I admire you, too! I wish I were you! If I were you, I’d still enjoy my youth. Now I’m so old. Wealth doesn’t mean much to me!“

What the old man said struck David.

David stopped complaining about his life.