How far would you go to help a friend? Jeremy Savage, aged 17, and Ian Marshall, aged16, both from Canada, had their friendship tested to the limit on a recent trip to the Rocky Mountains with their parents.

On Saturday morning, the two boys decided to climb Cathedral Mountain by themselves while their parents relaxed at the campsite. After three hours, they reached the top and enjoyed the beautiful view from the mountaintop.

However, trouble began when they started the climb down. On one very dangerous part of the mountain, Ian fell three metres off the side of the path. Jeremy climbed down to where Ian was and found him badly injured and not able to move. Jeremy had to decide what to do. He needed help but he did not want to leave his friend. He cleaned the dirt and blood from Ian’s face and hands, and then tried to help Ian stand up, but Ian’s right leg was hurting too much. They had to wait and hope that help would come.

Meanwhile, as darkness started to fall, their parents back at the campsite became very worried that the boys had not returned. They got in touch with park workers and began searching for the boys. Soon more than 20 people were looking for them on Cathedral Mountain.

While they waited for help, Jeremy gave Ian his food and water and let him lie on his jacket.

At sunrise, Jeremy decided that the only way to help his friend was to carry him down the mountain.

With a wide smile on her face, 15-year-old Sirin eagerly rushed to her mom to show off her new painting. But Mom raised her eyebrows with eyes wide open, and spoke impatiently, “No time, baby. Right now I am busy with an important talk. Just wait for some time, OK?”

Holding her oil painting, she frowned (皱眉),and then searched for her dad. “Dad, see what I have done,” Sirin exclaimed cheerfully. Her dad turned around while adjusting his tie, grinned at her, and showed his thumbs up!

Immediately, Sirin replied angrily, “Dad, you haven’t seen it yet.”

He smiled at her saying, “No time, baby. I will see it later.” He just patted her back lovingly, kissed her forehead, and rushed for his office.

She was not a kid to be pleased with simple gesture or smile. She stood there for a few seconds, and then stormed off to her own bedroom. Hot air was blowing from her nostrils (鼻孔) ; her face turned into apple red. She threw the painting on the table, slammed the door and threw herself on her bed.

“Why is everybody so busy?” She recalled thousands of incidents that hurt her in preschool, middle school and even in high school too! She assumed at least her own family members would give some values to her thoughts, but they were no exception. Unconsciously, her eyes were filled with tears.

The knocking sound on the door put a sudden stop to her thought. Her mom was calling her for dinner. Sirin deliberately (故意地) came late to join them. She kept silent and didn’t look at anyone, scratching the table mat with her nail. Her mom was puzzled at the unusual behavior. Suddenly the morning incident came to mind. Softly, she asked, “ Honey, did I do anything wrong? ”

At this very moment, Sirin could no longer resist her anger.

When back from school the next day, Sirin was surprised to see her beautifully-decorated paining on the wall.

Our friendship can be traced back to our college days when I first met Rishi. We had our own share of first impression about each other. Mine was—she’s a lovely and charming personality. Hers was—I look like an arrogant (傲慢的) personality. I don’t blame her for this. Many of my close friends had the same view when they first met me. Blame it on me being a shy person to some extent.

We became really close within a short period of time. Ours was a group of four people divided into 2 each during our final year when we both chose advertising as our specialisation and the other two journalism. Back then, I was a regular user of BBM Messenger and hardly used WhatsApp.

On one specific occasion, we had really bad argument about a failed project. The usual blame game was on. We decided to put it past us and focus on our studies. During this time, she once handed me her phone to show me a picture. While I was going through that, I came across a message from a particular WhatsApp group that comprises of her and my other two friends. I asked her permission to view the group. She had a blank expression on her face. But she allowed me to go ahead.

I was in shock while going through their messages. Not really positive things were said about me in particular. It shook me. Because these were the people I considered my friends. I broke down in front of her. She apologised. But I felt cheated on. I told her about my decision of not wanting to continue this friendship further. We both missed each other. But neither of us wanted to give the last try.

Then came our official last trip.

It’s been almost 7 years after graduation since we picked up our friendship.

Mike, my cousin, and I are very close and would share any secret with each other. He is a little naught (顽皮的) sometimes although my uncle, Mike’s dad, is very strict with him.

Last summer, I went to Los Angeles to visit him. My uncle chatted with us outside while he was smoking. And then my aunt called him into the house. He left his cigarette (香烟) on one front door step so he could continue smoking it when he came back.

Mike was curious to see what smoking was really like, so he picked up the cigarette to check it out. He held it between two fingers as if he were an experienced smoker and asked me if I had ever smoked before. “No way,” I said in a loud voice. “Never let my dad know about it, or he’ll beat me up,” he said. I couldn’t believe what he did next. Mike put the cigarette into his mouth and began to smoke. The next thing you know, he was coughing his head off. It looked like he was about to throw up, but he still reached his hand out towards me to offer me the cigarette.“Come on,” he said. “It won’t hurt you. I think smoking is really cool.”

I stood there, having no idea whether I should have a try. Then I remembered the advertisement that I had seen on TV a lady was so addicted to cigarettes that she had got really sick. I did not want my cousin to be like that at all.

I decided to do something and walked towards him.

Just then my uncle came back and couldn't find his cigarette.

Eight o’clock on a May morning, and Mary, my 17-year-old daughter, was in our study upstairs. It had served as her classroom ever since schools moved to remote learning due to the COVID-19.

From the kitchen, I listened to the sound of her tapping on the laptop or her communicating in their Google Meet session s with her friends and teachers. I resisted the desire to check on her. Way too often, I would find Mary texting friends and commenting on their Snapchat and Instagram posts about the fun they were having together. I felt it safer not to care. After all, we’d barely left the house for 10 weeks straight.

“Mom, everyone is hanging out today!” Mary’s voice came from upstairs. “Why can’t I?” I went up the stairs. Mary was lying on the floor, her laptop, school iPad and cell phone in front of her. “It’s unfair,” she said. “I have no one I can be with. I can’t wait until I’m 18. and can do what I want.”

We’d had this conversation before. Still, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. I was sick of isolating (隔离) too. Even though Mary and I were at home together more than we had been in years, we might as well have been living in separate worlds.

“Wanna watch Netflix later?” I asked. “Bake some cookies?” “No, thanks.” Mary shook her head,   as if the idea of doing something together was quite beyond her. I was used to Mary’s rejection, but it still hurt. Teenage independence is healthy, but I worried that if I didn’t find a way to bond with my girl soon, I might never be close with her again. She’d be 18 in the fall and had already convinced herself she didn’t need me anymore. Maybe she was right. No matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to reach her. That evening, I logged onto Facebook and saw a friend’s family playing with their new kitten together. My mind went back to the difficult period when I was in high school and our family moved to the new city. It was a gray tabby (虎斑猫) with which Mom surprised me that brightened my days and got me through that difficult, lonely time.

It suddenly occurred to me that having a cat in our house might help.

We immediately decided to take the cat from the shelter home.