This book is dedicated to my parents, who love me the most.
Finally, It was that day. The day I would count with my small fingers on the calendar to see how many days I have left till that day would come. In Math class secretly I would write a list about things I‟d do: shopping, eating fabulous food in a luxury restaurant, riding bikes, looking around and more and more. That day. It was holiday. During the summer break, my family and I went to a small place in Korea. We were sightseeing, buying gifts for our grandparents and also had a pleasing dinner. Everything was perfect and fun and we were going back to the hotel. When we arrived, I was too tired. „Uh! I should take a bath and go to sleep quickly!‟ I rapidly went in and took a bubbly vanilla scented bath. There, I found a toy with sparkling wings on the corner of the bath. ‘Oh! So pretty!’ As I looked and pressed the toy over and over again, I thought that this was the just right toy for me! So I wanted to show this to my mom and ask her if I can have this toy. “Mom! Moom~?” With it, I came out of the bath with all my attention on the toy, not even noticing all the water drops that were falling off my body. It was then, by accident, I slipped on the water drops that fell, and BANG! I had hit my head on the sink! I couldn‟t see anything. The shock was too hard that it didn‟t even hurt a lot. I thought that this fantastic holiday was over. No, I thought that my life was over. There was nobody in the bathroom, but it felt like everyone was staring at me as my cheeks got redder and redder. With all my strength, I stepped out to the living room walking side to side like a drunken person. “Yugyeong! What happened?” My parents were in shock. They stared at me then each other. I was bleeding. My mom dragged me on her lap and laid me down. She took a tissue and pressed it down as hard as she could to stop it from bleeding. But it didn‟t stop. “Mom is it bad?” my trembling voice asked her. “No! It will heal, don‟t worry!” she said it confidently but her face and the cold sweat all over her forehead told another story. I really wanted to cry, because I knew it was serious and she just said it to calm me down. “Call the hospital near here and the taxi,” mom whispered, “the blood doesn‟t seem to stop.” At that moment I was really scared that glittering tears fell off on the red cheek and to the ears from a 6-year-old girl. We were all so anxious and were just waiting for the taxi to come. Then, the taxi came. The sound of the taxi made my heart thump faster and faster. “D... did... they... Arrive?” I said nervously. I cried without sound because I was too scared to even make a sound. 15 minutes later, we arrived at the hospital. When my mom rushed to the door and we stepped in, all I could see was just plain 5 beds and a tiny, broken TV at the corner of the wall which some of the paints were stripped. The hospital was very old but in fact, it was very clean. Also, it was very small, and there was nobody except me. I was really frightened because I felt like I was all alone. First, they laid me down on the white bed and except for my left eye; they covered my whole face with a mask. ‘What are they going to do with my eye? What’s going to happen? Stitches? Lasers?
When my head was full of these crazy thoughts, I could feel something sting on my right arm. An hour later, I opened my eyes to the world again. It was like getting out of the theater after watching a 10 hour movie. I couldn‟t open my eyes well. Maybe it was because I slept for a long time or because I had stitches near my eye. The doctor said, “Well done, little lady!” “Is it done? Really?” I could taste my dried salty tears on my lips while I realized. Then he nodded. After he‟s „O.K‟ sign, I ran to my mom. “Mom!” I cried. It felt like I haven‟t seen her for years! “Yugyeong! Are you okay? Oh, come here, I will give you a hug.” She hugged me tightly. When I smelled her sweet perfume, then I knew that this insane drama was over. After, my mom got a slip from the doctor while I was choosing the candy from the doctor‟s desk. That orange flavored candy and my mom‟s warm hand made me forget everything. From that point on my life has been good. Except for the scar. But now that scar is my reminder for the “perfect” holiday we had, that I should be more careful, and lastly, my parent‟s love for me.
It was then, by accident, I slipped on the water drops that fell, and BANG! I had hit my head on the sink! I couldn’t see anything. The shock was too hard that I didn’t even hurt a lot. I thought that this fantastic holiday was over. No, I thought that my life was over. Yugyeong has been honoured with many of the US’s top awards for memoirs, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the Smarties Prize, the Red House Book Award and the Children’s Book of Year.
Yugyeong Kim is one of Korea’s most outstanding writers for young readers. She is the most borrowed author from Korean libraries and has sold over 20 million books in Korea and also, in America. As a child, she always wanted to be writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling countless exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Yugy magazine (which is named after her) before turning to writing memoir. www.randomhouse.com/teens Cover art ©Yugyeong Kim Cover design by Yugyeong Kim