It was a sunny morning, and I accompanied my elderly mother to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, but I was always nervous. My mother was going to Canada for two days and then accompanied by my niece to Germany to visit my second brother and sister, but I was unable to accompany her because of my work, so my mother, who was in her seventies, had to fly alone.

On the way to the airport, my mother hid her worries and put a smile on her face so that her family would not be worried. But I couldn’t help but think about what my mother was going to do when she got through customs, which exit she was going to take when she arrived in Canada...Not to mention a big suitcase of luggage and a box of souvenirs. A few days ago, my mother cooked some of the children’s favorite foods, store in a refrigerated box and prepared to bring them to her children and grandchildren to taste. Since my sister got married in Canada, she has missed my mother’s cooking. This time, if it weren’t for the fact that my second sister was too busy to get out in Germany, and my mother could visit her son who had settled in Germany for more than 20 years at the same time, I am afraid that she would never have traveled alone.

Originally, I planned for my mother to only carry small luggage, so that she did not have to check it in, and it was easier to enter and exit. But when I packed her bags, I picked up more than two-thirds of my things for my younger brothers and sisters. The mother is like this; she always thinks that she is not enough to think about her children. As long as she sees the children happy, she can be happy for a long time.

I accompanied my mother to the counter, seeing a couple talking and laughing.

I was so moved that I couldn’t stop thanking them.

“The package is from Uncle Aaron in Scotland,” Rylee told her father. Her uncle travelled a lot on business, so Rylee seldom got to see him. Her father’s only response was to raise an eyebrow (眉毛).

Rylee opened the box. She pulled out a large necklace (项链). One side of the necklace had a symbol of circles. It looked like writing on the other side, but Rylee did not understand what the words meant.

The box also had a letter from her uncle. He explained how he had found the necklace at a curious little shop. He described how the elderly storekeeper had told him that the necklace had special powers and warned him to be careful with it.

Her uncle ended the letter with “BE CAREFUL!!!” in big letters and a “laughing” emoji (表情符号). He did not seem to take the storekeeper’s warnings seriously. “Let me wear it to school today, Dad,” Rylee said. “Maybe it will bring me luck on my history test.” “Good grades come from studying, not from luck,” Dad said. “I did study, but everyone thinks this will be a hard test.” Rylee put her fingers around the necklace she still held, “I wish you’d let me wear it.” “Yes, you can wear it today.” That made Rylee stop to wonder, because her dad had never given in that fast before.

At school, Rylee heard a group of kids talking. Some said her necklace looked ugly, while others thought it silly to believe in good luck necklaces. She wished her classmates thought the necklace was as cool as she did. Without warning, all eyes turned to Rylee and her necklace. Students began to push to get a closer look. Everyone seemed to talk at once, telling her how cool it looked. All Rylee’s friends wanted to borrow her lucky necklace. That made Rylee stop to wonder why everyone changed their minds so fast.

Sitting at her desk, Rylee watched the teacher pass out their tests.

Rylee looked down at her test and found that her score was one hundred percent.

“Alice, you spend too much time on your phone,” her father said. “You need to focus on your studies.”

“But Dad, I’m doing my best,” Alice replied. “I’m balancing my phone time with my studies.”

In the tense meal, Alice and her parents argued about her recent changes. They were focused on her increased attachment to her phone and its impact on her studies. Her parents were concerned that she was neglecting (忽视) her studies and worried about the impact it might have on her future. They felt that her attachment to the phone was taking her away from her studies.

Alice said, “I know you’re worried about me, but I’m trying my best. I just want to have some fun with my friends and take a break from studying sometimes.” However, her parents didn’t seem to understand or accept her explanation. They felt that she needed to focus more on her studies and less on the phone.

The argument escalated (升级) when Alice announced that she wanted to leave the science club she had been a member of for years to join a new social media club. Alice explained, “I’m not sure if leaving the science club was a right decision or not. I just feel like I need a change.” Her mother was shocked and said angrily, “You made this decision without thinking it through. You’ve done well in the science club, and you have a lot of potential to go further. You’ll regret it if you don’t keep going.”

After that argument, Alice, feeling increasingly frustrated, withdrew into herself and spent more time in her room. She started to avoid her parents as much as possible and didn’t want to talk to them about anything related to her studies or her future.

Her parents saw that the little girl who had come back laughing and talking was gone, and now they saw a face that was alternately angry and sad. She did spend less time on her phone, but she became increasingly unhappy.

One night, Alice’s parents knocked on the girl’s door and said they wanted to talk to her.

At this point, Alice seemed to see some hope of joining the social media club.

Every Sunday, June, a six-year-old girl, tied her sports shoes and walked to Grandpa’s house. Grandpa lived around the block(街区), and June was allowed to walk there by herself. Grandpa often told her stories. They also ate ice cream together while they talked. Sunday was June’s favorite day.

This Sunday, June got dressed. She put on one sports shoe, but she could not find the other shoe. “Mommy, where’s my shoe?”

“I’m sure it’s in your room. Look carefully until you find it. You can’t go until you have both shoes on,” June’s mother said.

June sat on her bed and looked around. Her room was quite messy. There were clothes on the floor and papers on the desk. She wasn’t sure where to start.

Then June remembered a story Grandpa told her. When he was little, he lost a coin that he planned to use to buy his mother a candy. He walked back over every place he had been to that day until he found it. He had to go in order so he wouldn’t miss anything.

June stood up. “I’ll start in the corner and go around the room in order,” she thought. “That way I won’t miss anything.”

June began in the corner where her desk was.

June quickly put on her shoe and ran out of the door to Grandpa’s house.

Pimple on the Nose

“Nooo!” screamed Asha as she saw a huge pimple(痘) on her nose. She didn’t have time to cover the pimple as she was running late to school. She gobbled her breakfast, grabbed her bag and got into her school bus just in time. As soon as she entered, kids started laughing. Nobody was willing to make her sit beside them. Even Anita, her bus mate acted a bit differently with her.

Asha was lost in thoughts. A new thought popped in her mind every second. Once she thought “Great! As if homework and exams were not enough, I have to worry about my pimple as well.” The next minute another thought popped in her mind. “I am tired of using that face wash. I still wonder how I agreed to use that horrible thing! How can…” Mr. Shetty, the bus driver said “Asha, do you want to miss the class?” Asha was so lost in her thoughts that she did not even notice that everybody had got down the bus except her.

She did not want to step into the campus. She thought, “What will my teachers think? What will my friends think?” After some time, she gathered courage and entered her class expecting that she would be laughed at.

It was a very hard day at school for her. As soon as she got home, she hugged her mother tightly. As she did so she felt all her worries were not even a dot in front of the warm and loving hug.

Later that day, she went to the supermarket with her mother. While coming back she heard people commenting on her pimple. A small child cried, “Daddy! My cherry is on her nose! Get it for me.” She heard some boys murmuring, “If she would have been in our school, she would definitely be chosen as the joker in the dance.”

Asha wondered why people cared so much about her appearance.

Finally it was time for bed story, and mom asked her to choose a book.

Her mother asked her never to judge a book by its old cover but to pay attention to the details.