For My Fleeting Youth
――They are something when I think of, I smile at.
（1） The green lawn
What impressed me most in my childhood was a fight on the lawn of a village near ours. I don’t remember exactly how old was I at that time. Maybe it was ten or eleven. My two younger sisters, one of who was two years younger than me and another eight, followed me to the lawn and played there. Gradually, little buddies came one after another. They were all children from the nearby village. Some were my classmates, some were yet younger.
I can’t call to remembrance how the fight started. However, the girls did scrap with boys. It was no surprise for me to fight with them, because they had always taken me as a fighter, a strong fighter, and they liked to provoke me to fight, too. In the nature of things, I won, thought I also had blows all over my body. I beat all the boys who came near to me, with my fists and feet swinging crazily. However, when I came back to my younger sisters, I found them crying ceaselessly. And then strangely, I cried, too. How oddly children behave!
（2）Budding love
I wonder whether everyone has ever fancied love. I did do that now and then, and it may date back to elementary school.
Pupils at that time often made fun of those who seemed fall in love with someone else. Some would be very angry and some would care nothing about it, or perhaps they hoped so. I thought the boy, who was given an alias of Chapped-nose Ox by us, maybe for his strong body, was of the last kind. I wonder how he is now. Does he own many girl friends?
He was popular in the class, and most of the boys followed him. He wooed for every fair girl in the class, but not at the same time. He dangled after the girl who he thought the most beautiful during that period. And views changed all the time, so he pursued different girls in different terms.
Perhaps I should say I was so honored to be ever wooed for by him. However, I had to admit that I cared for him. That might be my budding love. Aha!
（3）About my name
When I was in elementary school, I disliked my name very much. Because, first of all, the family name was the same as many classmates, it was not special at all. Secondly, my given name overlapped with one of my classmates. Therefore, in order to separate us, she was called big YF, and I small YF. I felt awkward to have to sign a word “small” after my whole name. In fact, there were still much more people who had a same name with me, and that I knew was several just in the nearby village.
Now I don’t need to sign an extra word after my name any more. However, I yearned for the childhood when I had to do that, I yearned for the childhood when we laughed without any worry, without any suspicion. Time will never return. All I can do is to sigh and work hard to live and let live.
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