Unlike most of the families, I lived with my grandparents since I was two years old. As both of my parents needed to work, my grandma had taken most of the responsibility of looking after me, and they came to visit every weekend. Her "duties" normally started at 7 in the morning, waking me up and making me a dull breakfast. Can you imagine eating a slice of chewy toast and disintegrating scrambled eggs every day? And it was every single day! After finishing my breakfast, grandma passed me my school uniform from the wardrobe, brought me to school and did the house chores afterwards. Of course, I wouldn't say I hated her, but she was so annoying and judgmental. I was sure that my life would be better, even without her assistance.
" Ah B" (that's what she called me. It means 'the little one' in Chinese), "why don't put your school uniform into the laundry basket?"
" Don't put your school bag on the floor!! Have you finished your homework?"
"Are you hungry now? Do I need to cook you some noodles?" She kept asking in a worried voice.
Blah blah blah! Her words were like thousands of buzzing bees in my ears. She threw me question after question, and I didn't even have time to think of the answers.
"Stop bothering me!", I screamed fiercely as I was sick of listening to all her nonsense. Couldn't she put herself in my shoes? After a hectic day, I really wanted some me-time and a quiet place to relax. Normally she would yell at me and tell me to show some respect. However, this time she chose to stay silent. She probably she realized how annoying she was.
On that night, sleeping right next to my grandma, I didn't know what I could do as a 10-year-old girl. Her face was terribly pale, quivering with great pain. I tried to comfort her with a gentle pat, but the discomfort didn't seem to lighten. She yelped with her hoarse voice to wake the rest of the family members up. Luckily, my mother was here, and she dashed to our room nervously. I told her everything I knew in a panic. After that, she decided to call 999 and sent grandma to the hospital. Both of us grasped grandma's hands and exchanged a worried look.
An ambulance arrived in less than 15 minutes, and the ambulance nurse swiftly transferred grandma on the wheeled stretcher. Only one family member was allowed to accompany her, and I was too young to bear this responsibility. Therefore, Mother went along with grandma. "Everything will be fine", she said, forcing a helpless smile to reassure me.
That night, I finally had some 'me-time, but I didn't feel happy at all. The house was empty, my room was empty, but I could still feel the warmth of grandma having laid on the bed. It was my first night without her company. I tried to tell myself to sleep as I needed to go to school the next day. Instead, I laid on my bed until the pigeons were cooing next to the windows. "Even though I didn't sleep well, at least I should get a fresh start!", I thought. So, I decided to cook myself a perfect breakfast. I took a pack of instant noodles from the bottom of the wooden kitchen cabinet and tore the package open. Most of the time, I wasn't allowed to enter the kitchen, not to mention to cook. I didn't notice the noodles should be dropped in after the water boiled, and I should have poured them out once the noodles softened. It was a clumsy and awkward experience. Fortunately, I didn't blow up the kitchen and the noodles were still...you know...edible. Well, cooking was not as easy as I expected, but practice would definitely make perfect.
After school, I received a phone call from my mother. She said grandma was suffering from a stomach ulcer and she had undergone an urgent stomach surgery last night. If we didn't send her to the hospital on time, the situation would have been a lot worse. To continue further observation, grandma was suggested to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. She finally got out of the most dangerous period. What a relief. However, that meant I had to take care of myself and do the house chores all alone.
At first, I thought it would be easy, probably nothing was harder than schoolwork. It's just wiping the floor, washing dishes and doing laundry. However, I had misjudged the difficulty of housework. It wasn't something trivial, instead, it's a folk wisdom that school had never taught. Since I had to go to school on weekdays, and I needed to work on my assignment and quizzes every night, so I decided to leave all the housework to do on the weekends. On the first 'independent' weekend, noiseless and carefree, I decided to start with the easiest task——wiping the floor. I found a random bucket in the toilet and filled it with water. Armed with the bucket and the mop, I started washing the floor. Yet, the floor didn't seem to get any cleaner as dust and strands of hair were still tangled on the floor. Rather than figuring out the reason, I tried to pour more water on the floor so that all the dirt could be washed away. Yet, it was in vain and the dirt still clung to the floor. Suddenly, I realized grandma had taught me how to clean the floor before.
"You should learn how to clean the house! I won't be here forever, and you have to be an independent lady" she had told me, and she started with sweeping.
I didn't know whether it worked or not, but I tried to follow her steps. Let the floor dry first, sweep it, and finally clean it with the mop. And surprisingly, the floor was perfectly cleaned. Since sweeping the floor removed all visible dirt like dust and hair, when I used the mop, it didn't stick on the floor or the mop, which made the cleaning process easier. Even though the crisis seemed to be settled, it was only the beginning of the story; more and more challenges were waiting in line.
One month passed in the blink of an eye. When grandma was discharged from the hospital and returned home, I dashed to her immediately and gave her a big hug. I don't know how I went through so many days without her.
"Ah B, do you want some noodles?"
" Yes, please!", I answered with a beaming smile.