Wen 〡孙道荣
Source: Pin Reading, No. 2, 2022
My sister's little grandson is over 3 years old, and you have to be careful when you walk with him.
You can walk to his left and right, or you can walk in front of and behind him; you can take his little hand and, of course, he may also break free from your own walking... It doesn't matter, but you can't step on his shadow.
"You stepped on my shadow," he said disapprovingly, "and my shadow will hurt." Said, resolutely pushing you away from his shadow.
His shadow, spread on the road. The road is flat, the shadow is stretched, he is happy; the road is uneven, the shadow is discounted, layered, and he is happy.
The shadow is in front of him, he likes to chase his own shadow, he runs fast, the shadow runs fast, he stops, the shadow also stops, just can't catch up. But he wasn't angry, muttering that when I was older, I would be able to run faster than shadow.
Sometimes, the shadow followed him, which made him very uneasy, take a few steps, must turn his head to look at it, afraid that the shadow can not keep up with himself, if not careful will be lost.
He liked the shadow to walk flat with himself, to catch a glimpse of it, and on the left, he took his left hand to hold it, and on the right, he took his right hand to hold it—just like his parents held him.
There are shadows under the sun, and he likes the sun; there are shadows under the moon, and he likes the moon too. The city is full of lights, bright and dangling, where can you still see the moonlight? He could see, and could clearly tell which shadow was given to him by the moon and which was illuminated by the street lamp.
When he walked in the moonlight, he looked up at the moon, and this was unbelievable, and he found that the moon was following him. He goes east, and the moon follows him; He retreated, and so did the moon. Dad said that the moon was also following me. He didn't believe it, because he followed his mother to the supermarket, and his father came home by himself, how could the moon follow me and you? Dad held him, and in Dad's arms, he saw the moon moving in Dad's footsteps, and there was a new discovery: Dad, you are with me, the moon sees, and follows you.
His favorite is still the shadow under the street lamp, suddenly long and short, suddenly fat and thin, like a trick. Once, the adults took him to a friend's new house, which had a lot of lights, and when they turned them all on, they made him happy—he saw his own shadows everywhere, and as he spun around, the shadows around him followed him. He excitedly chased his own shadow, turning and turning, turning the whole house unconscious, on the wall, on the floor, on the ceiling... Everywhere there were shadows flying out of him.
One day, he was getting ready to go to bed, and I asked, "You're sleeping, what about your shadow?" "He lifted the quilt and said, 'It sleeps with me, and you see, it's already in the bed.' I didn't see his shadow, but I saw his ass.
I teased him, and you fell asleep, and as soon as you rolled over, didn't you press it down? He looked at me in surprise and said solemnly, "Grandpa, if I turn over, it will also turn over, it is not as stupid as you, so it will not be suppressed by me." "I just like the way he looks, a 3-year-old child, a serious book, very interesting."
Every time I went to his house, he would pestered me to play with him for a while. This little grandson of my sister is the first third generation of our brothers and sisters, and his arrival has made our big family suddenly return to childhood with the collective, at this time, I found that I was already a kind and playful uncle in the eyes of a child.
I played the oldest game with him, with the index and middle fingers of my right hand side by side and placed at the table for him to see: the left finger was short, and the right finger was long. Then, I raised my hand, "snapped", and two fingers slapped on the tabletop, and at a glance, it became the left finger long and the right finger shorter. One more beat, it changed back, still short on the left and long on the right.
He looked at me in amazement, grabbed two of my fingers, looked left and right, and couldn't see why they were so long and short. He didn't know, I just quickly switched my index, middle and ring fingers.
This little trick, 70 years ago, my grandfather did it for my dad to see; 50 years ago, my dad did it for me; 25 years ago, I did it for my son to see; now, I play with it again to tease my sister's grandson. When there are no children in the house, you will not be stupid to play this little game, there is a small child next to you, you are not stupid to play anything.
He's not going to play this, but he has his own way of playing. He heard I was a little uncomfortable and was going to give me an injection. Let's ask first, is it on the arm, or on the buttocks? I said, on the arm. He rubbed my arm, while rubbing, while comforting me, grandpa is not afraid of pain, the baby injection is very fast.
"Snap!" Fingers poked at my arm. I pretended to grin. He quickly patted me on the back, and grandpa didn't cry. He showed me the sick, got the injection, and I had to cooperate with him, so that he would be like a divine doctor. So I picked myself up and continued to play with him.
After dinner, when I left, he suddenly pulled me aside and said very seriously, Grandpa, just injections are not enough, I also gave you medicine, you go back and remember to eat. Saying, let me open my hand and take his medicine. In fact, there was nothing, but I took it very seriously and promised him that I would take the medicine when I went back.
I took back from a 3-year-old child the childhood that had been gone for more than fifty years. As long as there is one child in the family, we are all childhood.
Wen 〡孙道荣, original title: "You stepped on my shadow"
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Chu | Proofreader: Qin Daixin