My synthesis

Time passed fast in happy moments. Soon came the winter vacation before we realized. It was the end day of the term. Most of the students were busy packing things and ready for home. The front door was flung hospitably wide, and surrounded it, crowed many parents to pick up their children.
In their secret garden, Lily had a tearful parting—–on her side—with May. She was more dismayed to discover that Lily would stay at the school alone for the holiday.
“Why would you not go home?” Lily asked.
“I prefer to stay here.” May answered in her nonchalant voice. But Lily heard a tad of suppressed emotions and realized that she’d better not dig into this subject. No matter how close they were, May never talked about her family. It somewhat became a taboo.
“It’s dreadful to think you’re alone here.” Two big tears rolled down by Lily’s nose.
“Well, don’t be silly. You should be happy. You can go home now. You are always so homesick, aren’t you?”
” Yes,” Lily hesitated with a sign, ” But I dread to see my father.”
” Perhaps he changed his mind, you know, it’s really not your fault.”
From the conversation between Lily and May, I knew Lily’s story but I should admit I didn’t quite understand. Lily’s father always wanted a boy, as they put it, to carry on the family’s name. Up until the actual delivery of Lily and her twin brother, everything had been smooth. Lily’s mother was a healthy woman in her prime. If things had been moving along according to schedule, it would be a different picture now. But life allows no ifs. Lily was brought into the world half an hour before her brother, healthy. But the delivery team was not so lucky on another baby, a boy Lily’s father wanted so much. The umbilical cord compressed between the baby’s body and the maternal pelvis, cutting off the baby’s air supply. They tried their best, and he died two minutes after he was born. Outside the door of the operating room stood nervously Lily’s father. This should be the happiest day of his life. A son would carry on his name as well as his strong personalities. He would bring him up in his own to a great man. Then the doctor came out of the room, said: ” I’m sorry to bring you a bad news. The boy didn’t make it….” Lily’s father’s face went white, and the rest part of the sentence: ‘but you have a healthy daughter.’ relapsed into meaningless words. He went out of the hospital without turning around his head. Another news came several days later, completely shattered his dream of having a son: Lily’s mother could never have a baby again. This tradedy also rang the death bell of a once happy marriage. After that, Lily’s parents led a cat and dog life. Lily seemed to become the one and only reason to ruin the partnerships and cause instant fury between the couples. Lily’s father insisted that his daughter was responsible for the death of his son. He didn’t like her, and in some way he even hated her. Secretly, Lily felt that she was guilty too. She blamed herself for the death of her brother, for the cause of the fights between her parents. She was haunted by this fact, and it colored all her actions. She was always watching herself, always in fear that she might say something wrong to upset her father. If Lily were a daring and cheerful child, perhaps she would not be so bothering to her father. But she was so helpless shy and always wore a terrified look. In his father’s eyes, she was useless creature who was not matched for his blood at all.
That’s Lily’s story. But I couldn’t understand. Human being is so beyond comprehension I don’t understand what’s the significance of carrying on the family’s name. I don’t understand why a father would hate his own flesh and blood just because she was a girl not a boy. Of course, gender means nothing to our violin. We can choose to be a male or a female. It’s really not something mattered.
We finally came back home. It is not so far away as I expected. It took about half an hour from the school to this anonymous bungalow, where I finally met Lily’s father—- a strong and silent man. He greeted his own daughter with a chilly Hi, and then he went back to his work. From the way Lily held me, I could easily sense the nervousness of Lily.
The first ten days passed by peacefully at home. While her mother went out for work, Lily usually stayed alone at her bedroom for fear her presence might upset her father. She found the shelter in music. She spent a lot of time with me. Practice, practice, and more practice. She had another secret motive for wishing to do well. She wanted to be a good player, so maybe her father would finally feel proud of her. That, Lily felt, was something it would be foolish to hope for even in the wildest dreams. But she still couldn’t drop it.
Despite all the ill feelings towards his daughter, Lily’s father showed his tolerant at best while he was himself—but unfortunately at unpredictable intervals, he was not himself. One night, Lily’s father was invited for a baby shower —– to celebrate a boy’s birth of his friend. Sometimes the most difficult thing was to happy for the others. Soon he gave his well wishes the slip, tanked himself up, and made a beeline for home. Lily’s mother was away on a business trip, and Lily was alone in her narrow little room. She was playing ” Donna Donna” on me. Cheerful melody filled the whole place while her father broke in.
” You noisy rat! Could you give me just one minute of peace?” He shouted at poor Lily, with strong smell of alcohol.
Terrified, Lily murmured the only world she could grasp out: ” Sorry, dad, sorry…”
” Shut up! Except sorry, what else you could say?” He suddenly snatched me away from Lily and he headed out of the room. Followed her father’s unsteady steps, Lily tried not to cry. Opened the door, Lily’s father flung me heavily down the floor. It was a really ugly fall, all I could sensed next was Lily’s scream: ” No, father, please not!” While Lily headed for me, the door shut down behind us cruelly.
The door was closed. It had a look of pitiless finality about it, as though it would be closed like this from now on. Lily was standing still in front of the door. Perfectly still for quite a moment as if she was so terrified that she had forgotten about moving. ” Father, please let me in.” She said desperately. The door remained silent, obdurate, closed. Lily’s head was down a little, as though she were tired of carrying it up straight. Or as though invisible fears had lowered it. I didn’t remember how long she stood like that in front of the door, perhaps eternity. She moved at last. She took a slow step away. Then another. She moved slowly away from the door that refused to open. Her hand on me was so cold and weak.. For several times, I thought she could no longer hold me. where we were heading, I had no idea. I was still under the shock of that ugly fall. I couldn’t think things clearly. That night was chilly and frozen. She didn’t put on her coat. The road, covered by the shadow of the night, stretched out into our unknown destiny.
Many, many times passed by. Finally I realized where we were heading—-Star. Of course, it is the only place we could go. But could it be possible for a dreary, hopeless little girl to make it through? With her step more and more unsteadily, she went on and on under the cover of the night, alone.
Finally the school appeared in the mist of night, then the boarding house. She climbed up the stairs and we came to the door, another closed door. She knocked at the door. For a few minutes, like a miracle, it opened, inside it, stood May. Her sleepy eyes opened wildly when she registered Lily’s face. ” Lily! What’s up!” cried May.
Lily stared at May. Then she started to shake a little. At first without sound. Her face kept twitching as if her expressions were struggling to burst forth into some kind of emotion. For a moment or two it seemed that she was going to cry. But she wasn’t. She burst into the laughter. She was still laughing when she entered the room and placed me atop the bed.
” I just realized it is my birthday. So happy birthday for me, May.” She said in hysterical laugher. Laughter should be merry and alive. But this wasn’t.
May stared at Lily. Without another word, she put her arms around her friend. ” Oh, God, you are frozening!”
The other day, Lily’s mother came to school for Lily. She was furious.
” How could he do this to you!” She broke off, her voice fall as if the words were too painful to speak aloud.
” It’s Ok, mum. He was drunk.” said Lily. Something in her vioce startled the mother. It’s was the first time Lily called her father as He.
” Let’s go home. I won’t let him do this to you, I promise.”
” No, I prefer to stay here.” said Lily. Her voice was soft but there was finality about it.
“It’s ridiculous. You can’t stay here!” Lily’s mother stared at her own daughter as if she didn’t even know her.
” I will take care of myself here. Besides, I’m not alone.” said Lily, her voice holding the quality of somebody making her mind.
For a moment, Lily’s mother didn’t know how to do about it. Looking at her little daughter, she suddenly realized that Lily was not that timid girl who never dare to voice her own opinion any more. She had grown up over that chilly night.

You were born at 15:02 on August 13,2007, measuring 51CM, 7 kg. It was the day nothing would go wrong, nothing dared to go wrong. I should have remembered every single detail about that day, but when I looked back, even a month later, I found I had only scattered memories of what’s going on. It was as though I had been through too much to take in all. I remember that I had been edgy all day. Probably because I was hungry (I was not allowed to eat anything before the surgery); probably I was just scared. Then the nurse came in and told us it was about the time. Suddenly and strangely, my worries seemed to melt away. I felt relief, relief that all the pains from waiting so long were gone, and relief that within an hour you would be there and no need to worry any more. Grandma wanted to take the glasses off me, but I refused firmly. I knew the nurse would hold you close to me after you were out of my body, then you were sent to the nursing room and I could not see you again for another 48 hours. So how could I ruin this precious chance to give you a good look?

Finally I was there, the operation room, alone. Under spinal anesthesia, everything around me became hazy. I tried to focus, tried to remain head-clear though my body was totally paralyzed. I didn’t feel the pain, but still suffering from an extremely uncomfortable feeling as if I was tore apart, and something most important was dragged out of me. Then I heard a cry. “ It’s a boy!” someone exclaimed. I heard the hum of busy activities. “What a good kick! He must be a sport man someday.” One of the nurses seemed to say something like that. I hold my breath, dreading to miss a word. With a kind of numbness and a sense of unreality upon me, I really didn’t know if it really happened or I was just imaging things.

Finally the nurse came to me:” See, is a boy or girl?” As she asked, she held a bloody tiny creature close to me. I tried to look at your face, but all I could see was your back covering with blood, “ A boy.” I murmured. My voice was week and weird. “Congratulation! Now give mummy a kiss.” She held you even closer. For some reason, my tears welled up. I am a mummy now!

The doctor gave me an injection to send me to sleep. I was so exhausted. I never knew I could be so physically, emotionally and mentally drained. But strangely, I couldn’t fell in sleep though I didn’t even have the energy to open my eyes. When I was ushered out of the operation room, a whole of group was waiting there. Your dad, your grandma and grandpa, they were all there, anxious to tell me how much you look like me. Things had been a blur to me from there until some nurse came in and asked your dad to the nursing room. Something wrong? I was alert again, all the drugs and exhaustions suddenly lost their power to carry me off to sleep. A few minutes later, your dad came back and said that the nurse had found you were groaning. Probably it was not a big deal, but they need to watch you over further. We could do nothing but wait. Groan? What a funny word! Certainly it was just a practical joke, perhaps you were just scared. Time seemed to be frozen. I didn’t know how long it had passed, perhaps an eternity. Suddenly we decided we could not wait any more and you dad rushed to the nursing room again. He came back with something really great. When I heard him say that you were better now and no need to worry, I suddenly shivered like a leaf. The nurse had to give me another injection, this time I felt drowsy at once. The lamps around the hospital seemed to wink at me in a faraway place, and my body was sinking deeper into the warmth of the bed. Before the nurse could finish the injection, I was carried off to sleep.

  This week, our teacher asked us to write an English poem. To be honest, I had never written a poem before, let alone an English poem. But I regarded it as a challenge—I liked taking challenges. I tried hard, and finally I finished it. Here I want to share it with my friends.

To my Dad and Mum

They give me life

They watch me grow up

   They try to make sure I can be fine

They are my Dad and Mum

They tell me to be kind

They are guides in my life

They give me wings to fly in the sky

They are my Dad and Mum

They cheer me up when I grieve

 They support me whenever I need

                        They help me pass through trouble and difficulty

They are my Dad and Mum

They are the ones I care most

They are the ones I love with my heart and soul

                   They are the ones I will always keep in mind

They are my Dad and Mum