Grandma Lives in Perfume Village Written by Fang Suzhen Illustrated by Sonja Danowski Tanslated by Huang Xiumin
Xiao Le’s grandma lives in the far-away Perfume Village, it’s long time since Xiao Le saw her last.
One morning, however, it suddenly occurred to mum to pay a visit to grandma, and she took Xiao Le along. Putting a small backpack on his shoulders, Xiao Le said happily, “Great, I can take the train again. I will take my excavator along and show it to grandma.�
At grandma’s gate, Xiao Le jumped for the doorbell. The one who answered the door, however, wasn’t grandma. Mum said, “This is next-door neighbor Aunt Zhou. Say ‘hello’ to Aunt Zhou!” Xiao Le looked at her, disappointed. Aunt Zhou said, “Hurry in! Your grandma is not feeling well. She’s in bed.”
Xiao Le followed mum into grandma’s room, clinging to her dress. Grandma was lying in bed, looking much older than in the photo! Xiao Le hid himself behind mum, so mum said, “Don’t you want to show your excavator to grandma?” Xiao Le, however, held the excavator more tightly!
Aunt Zhou said to mum, “You’ve come at the right moment. I’ll go back home, and return in a little while.” Mum told Xiao Le, “I’ll go to the kitchen and make some snacks. Stay here and look after grandma.” Xiao Le stood at the door, hugging the excavator, and looking at grandma from afar. “Ke, Ke, Ke…” grandma coughed and said, “Water…water…water” Xiao Le immediately went to call mum, “Grandma wants to drink water.” Mum came in, poured a cup of warm water, and helped tighten grandma’s quilt.
A moment later, grandma turned over in bed. Thinking grandma might fall off the bed, Xiao Le nervously went to call mum, “Mum, mum, grandma is moving about!” Mum hurried in, touched grandma’s forehead, and said, “Grandma has to take some medicine. Feed her, OK?” Xiao Le carefully put the pills into grandma’s mouth,one by one.
Mum went out to wash grandma’s clothes. Xiao Le seated himself on a stool, still not daring to go near. A black cat went in silently, and jumped onto the bed. Grandma beckoned Xiao Le, Here! Come and pat Black Girl. She’s meek and won’t bite you.” Xiao Le slowly moved over and touched Black Girl. Meow! Black Girl mewed. Xiao Le touched her again, and grandma gently patted Xiao Le on the head.
On a desk near the bed, there is an enlarged photo. Grandma asked, “Xiao Le, do you know who they are?” “My ncle and his little sister”, Xiao Le answered. Grandma shook her head and smiled, “They are your grandpa and your mother. It’s a photo taken many years ago… Your mum was a good child. She once kept herself in the bathroom for a long time. When I opened the door, I found her cleaning the toilet…” Xiao Le immediately cut in, “I can clean the toilet too!” Grandma grinned, her dry lips cracked.
The sun casting its light softly over the curtain, grandma said in a husky voice, “I’d like to take a bath in the sun. Give me a hand, good boy.” Mum was hanging clothes in the yard. Grandma pointed at a large area of wood sorrel and said, “When your mother was a little girl, she was fond of pulling wood sorrel with me. Anyone whose wood sorrel broke first was the loser. Your mother had less strength and lost the game every time. Then she wept.” Grandma picked two plants of wood sorrel, twining them together, and the game began. The wood sorrel was pulled back and forth. Each time Xiao Le won and he laughed with great delight!
Then Xiao Le asked grandma to play the game with mum. Grandma lost again, and Xiao Le asked, “You lose all the time. Why don’t you weep?” Grandma pretended to weep a little, but then she said, “Xiao Le has come to see grandma. She is so happy that she doesn’t want to weep.” Grandma was in a good mood and mum was preparing snacks merrily. The three of them had afternoon tea in the yard. Xiao Le took a bite of biscuit and exclaimed, “Wow, I’m so happy!”
After sitting for a while, grandma was not feeling well again and had to return to the room to lie in bed. Xiao Le tightened the quilt for grandma in the way mum did it, took out his toys, and said, “Grandma will not be lonely. My excavator sleeps with you.� Grandma closed her eyes with a smile.
Xiao Le walked out of the room and saw mum talking with Aunt Zhou. Mum was drooping her head lower and lower, and wiping tears. Xiao Le didn’t know what had happened. He could do nothing but sit down to watch TV.
When the moon rose, mum said, “It’s very late and we should go back home, Xiao Le.” Xiao Le tucked the toys back into his backpack and said aloud, “Goodbye, grandma! See you, Aunt Zhou!” Grandma returned the excavator to Xiao Le, took him by the hand, and said, “Xiao Le is a good boy! Come to visit grandma next time, OK?” Aunt Zhou saw them off at the gate and mum begged Aunt Zhou to take good care of grandma. Then they hurried off to catch the last train.
From that day on, Xiao Le never saw grandma again. Mum said, “Grandma has left Perfume Village and moved into heaven.” “What place in heaven?” Mum answered, “It might be another Perfume Village! Your grandma loves living in Perfume Village all the time.” Xiao Le believed that the Perfume Village in heaven must be farther away and couldn’t be reached by train, for mum often stared into the sky in a daze or shedding tears. Xiao Le knew that “mum is missing her mum”.
Once he patted mum on the shoulder and said, “Don’t weep! Your mum has gone into heaven to drink afternoon tea with her mum.” While patting mum on the shoulder, Xiao Le looked at the sky and said, “Grandma, do you have wood sorrel in heaven? Does anybody play games with you?” Hearing his words, mum couldn’t help hugging Xiao Le into her arms and shedding more tears.
Day by day, Xiao Le couldn’t remember how long grandma had been away. However, whenever Xiao Le took a walk with mum and saw the golden setting sun, a big smile would come onto his face, “Look, mum, grandma is frying an egg in heaven!” When the moon rose, Xiao Le would happily exclaim, “Look, mum, grandma has turned on the light! It’s also evening there in heaven.”
One day, there came a heavy rain and Xiao Le couldn’t go out to play. He looked at the sky fretfully and said, “Grandma, don’t wash clothes! Water is dripping!” This time, mum didn’t weep, but softly hugged Xiao Le and said, “I believe my mum has really moved into another Perfume Village. She washes dishes, does laundry and drinks afternoon tea as usual, doesn’t she?”
Xiao Le nodded vigorously. Then, all of a sudden, he thought of something very important, “Mum, don’t go there to have afternoon tea with grandma! Just stay here and drink tea with me, OK?” Mum hugged Xiao Le tightly, and said gently, “The Perfume Village in heaven is too far away to be reached by train…”