When Dylan was just seven years old, he moved to the United States with his mother, Khadine, and his twin younger brothers. The family hoped that their new home would allow them to start over and find success. However, their dream didn’t work out exactly as they imagined it would.

Life as a single mother supporting three kids is incredibly difficult, but Khadine had a particularly difficult time after her twin sons had been diagnosed with serious heart conditions. As a result, the boys suffered from dangerous symptoms and required 24-hour care. As Khadine had to work three jobs to support her family financially, it became Dylan’s responsibility to look after his young brothers. To relieve Mom’s stress, Dylan also found a part-time job at a recreation center.

While Dylan never considered his family to be a burden to him, seeing his mother and brothers become vulnerable (脆弱的) made him determined to plan his future out correctly. He believed education was the only way out of their struggle, so he made a promise to his mother that he would be the first one in the family to go to college.

For that promise, Dylan made use of each and every minute to study while taking care of his brothers. He soon became an honor student at Henry High School and took several advanced classes to keep his grades up. The College of New Jersey was his top choice. He was determined to put that admission letter in his mother’s hands.

However, weeks before Dylan’s college entrance exam, both his family and his determination were tested again when Khadine fell ill and was unable to work for a while. Soon, the bills became unmanageable and the landlord evicted (驱逐) Dylan’s family after Khadine couldn’t pay the rent. The family had no choice but to live in the shelter. The place wasn’t an ideal place to study. It was often noisy and crowded, and the lights would go out at a certain time after 11 p.m.

But Dylan continued to follow his dream.

Weeks after his application, an envelope carrying good news arrived.

The weather was extremely hot as the midday sun shone with all its might. 23-year-old Richard had just gotten down from a truck he hitchhiked(搭便车)and could barely stand on the hot road. His feet were getting baked in his smelly sneakers. He panted heavily, looking around for a drink. But as far as his sunken eyes could see, there was not a drop of water.

Since Richard’s band in Los Angeles broke up several weeks ago, he had to come to reunite with his parents. Just as he finished a two-mile hike on the deserted highway, he stopped on the roadside. Suddenly, he noticed a little bike lying there.

When he approached near, he saw a water bottle and a small helmet lying nearby. He leaned closer and noticed fresh little muddy footsteps disappearing into the woods. Richard’s brows shot up in terror as he hurried toward the entrance of the dense forest. It seemed very unusual for a little kid to be all alone there.

Imagine a little kid out there alone! Richard’s instincts(直觉)told him something was wrong, so he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to the child. Suddenly, he heard a faint cry from the heart of the woods. It was a little girl’s cry for help.

“Don’t give up! I’m coming!” Richard ran quickly after noticing a little girl and her dog holding onto a log(原木)and floating on the river.

The current was washing away almost everything on its course, and the girl was lucky that the log was stuck onto something under the surface. But that would not hold on for long as the current grew faster and stronger.

Richard wanted to pull the two out to the shore before they were washed toward the edge of the waterfall, which was just meters away. However, he couldn’t think of anything immediately. Just then, his mind acted fast, and he ran back to get something.

“Hold on…I’ll be right back,” he assured her.

Moments later, Richard returned with a long vine(藤).

“Thank you so much!" the girl cried as she finally fell on the muddy shore.

When I found out that my new friend Karina did not share my opinions about some stuff, I was very upset. It was hard to imagine disagreeing with her about anything because when we first met, we got along so well. It was as if we’d known each other forever.

“No way!” I said, as I sat next to her on the first day of karate (空手道) camp. “Are those banana chips in your lunchbox?”

“You like banana chips?” she said in a surprised voice. “They’re my favorite snack.”

“My aunt brought some the last time she visited, and I’ve been craving (渴望) them ever since,” I said.

“I guess today’s your lucky day,” she said, handing me the bag. “We have a big box that’s kind of taking up space in the cupboard. So, you’d actually be helping me out!”

Right then is when I knew that Karina and I were meant to be friends forever. Whenever we got to pick a partner at camp, we picked each other. Whenever we had a break, we hung out together. The more time we spent together, the more we realized how amazingly alike we were. We both had two adorable cats, we both had an awesome younger sister, and we both had the same favorite song.

But then something happened. Karate camp was next to a piece of beautiful land that had a bunch of large old trees on it. Whenever it was nice out, we’d get to eat our lunch at picnic tables that were right by some of those trees.

After we finished lunch, our coach, Miguel, reminded us to keep the forest as clean and perfect as it was when we got here.

And that’s when things got complicated.

Sam, one of our teammates, asked us, “Have you guys heard that shopping mall rumor? They want to cut down a bunch of those trees to make room for a shopping center.” To my surprise, Karina said, “My parents told me the shopping center would make new jobs for people who really needed work and people’s jobs were more important than trees.”

I completely disagreed with Karina about cutting down trees.

Later, I suddenly realized Karina had her reasons for believing what she did.

The sound of breaking glass was immediately recognizable. Hearing the sound, I turned around and froze. “Oh, no, not the vase,” Lisa said. “Why? What did I do?” My face turned red. “Abby, that glass vase is our family heirloom (传家宝),” Lisa replied nervously. “If you broke anything else in the apartment, I would gladly say ‘I did it’. But this time you have to tell my mom that it is your fault.” I was afraid and regretful. Why did I have to jump around like that?

We gathered up the pieces. I kept saying maybe it could be fixed but Lisa said gently it didn’t look possible and that her mom would be home soon. Would her mom shout at me or punish me? I couldn’t stop playing those seconds over in my mind. The only thing I could think of to say was “I’m sorry”.

Soon, we heard the key tun in the lock. Her mom was home. We could see she was in a good mood, “Hello! It’s hot today. I want to treat you two to ice cream. Let’s go!” her mom said. “Before that, I need to tell you something.” I said. “We can talk later.” “No, I need to tell you now. It’s important,” I insisted. I could feel my voice shaking. “What is it, dear?” Her mom walked closer to me. I could feel she studied my face thoughtfully. My heart beat faster.

“I’m sorry. I broke your vase by accident. I’ve leaned it is your family heirloom. We have save the pieces, and if it can be fixed, I will pay to fix it. I’m so sorry.” Her mom looked at me expressionless and saying nothing. This scared me even more. Then she let out laughter and hugged me, kissing me on both cheeks. “Oh, thank you! I always hated that ugly vase, but I had to keep it because it was passed down in my family. Now it’s gone! You’ve done me a huge favor!” she said and kissed me again.

I was so relieved to have apologized, but I was also in shock.

When I reached my adult years, I understood Lisa’s mom’s behavior and kindness.

Melia and her father had just finished building a tree house in the backyard. Melia wanted to decorate the walls, and instead of buying things, she decided to make her own art.

Melia enjoyed making collages using a combination of photos she had taken and pieces of fabric. For her tree house, she thought she would use pictures from magazines instead. She could collect used magazines from neighbors, so the pictures would be free. And to create a collage of all her favorite things, she could add pretty leaves, and fruits of pine tree from the yard.

For several days, Melia collected bits of nature to use for the collage. She also collected magazines from the neighbors. She piled both at the front door, as her plan was to make the collage over the weekend. Oddly, though she added to the piles each day, many of the leaves were gone, and the pile of magazines was a mess.

“Dad? Mom?” Melia asked. “Have either of you been taking the supplies for my collage off the door?” “Now, why on earth would we do that?” her dad answered with a question. “I don’t know, but what I do know is that someone is spoiling my art project! It’s my mission to find out who and why!” Melia declared.

Who would want to steal this stuff? She had a plan. She cleaned up the rest of the leaves and threw the ruined magazines in the recycling bin. She started collecting old magazines again, hoping to set a trap. Even if she had to stay up all night, Melia was determined to solve the case.

Once she had collected a large pile of magazines, Melia formed several piles at the front door. She placed them close to the window so that she could catch the thief. She asked her parents if she could sleep on the sofa. “I know they’re used magazines, but I need them for my art project. I have to solve this case!”

Melia was determined to catch the thief, but she had a difficult time staying awake. Within a few hours, she nodded off. Just as the sun was rising, a slight sound awoke her.

Melia looked through the window, and her eyes opened wide!

Melia ran back into the house, shouting, “It’s a squirrel! Wake up! Come to the tree house and look!”