Shall I tell you about my friend Mary? I wrote it down a year ago. Please ignore some awkward sentences in it. I know I need to work hard to improve my English. I copy straight from my original file and paste it here.

An adopted girl
I was born in Shanghai and my memories are happy ones. When I was seven my neighbour Mr. and Mrs. Wang adopted the foster child of a poor relative’s family. The girl’s name was Mary and it seemed like they loved her as if she were one of them.
Mrs. Wang had a son and a daughter, Gray and Elizabeth. Both of them were bigger than Mary. All of us were in the same school which is close to our houses. Mary was such an agreeable little creature. So very soon, at school my greatest friend was Mary because we were also in the same class. Therefore she told me all about her life not only before coming here but also now in this family..

Family
By the time her family was in XinJiang, Mary’s mother died of cancer. For the days she became very ill, her husband Mary’s father nursed her day and night. It was her dying wish that Mary would come to live in Shanghai one day. So Mary had been sent here in her Aunt’s family. Gary was a spoiled brat and a bit cranky. He was amused of playing tricks on Mary so she was scared of seeing him. On the contrary, his sister, Elizabeth was a beautiful, clever and most understanding girl. Her pleasing and ladylike manners were always adored by teachers and adults. Everyone was in a wish of being better acquainted with her. By us, this attention is enough to be admired and make Elizabeth’s image as our model.

[ 本帖最后由 Emerald 于 2009-3-31 18:37 编辑 ].

Housework
However, things not like we saw in their treatment of Mary; though their kindness to her. She had been told to do a lot of chores from the first day she was in this family. She was busy in making beds, clean windows, mop floor, polish shoes and iron shirts. Poor Mary, She became a little servant in Aunt’s house and never had much time to do homework or play like us. At the time, we were having some close friends who always played together. I was the biggest in the gang. Not long after we observed the impossibility of pulling Mary out from the chores, I had an idea. One day in the summer holiday, all of the members in the gang went to help out. Imagine that, what a racket as seven nine-year-old children crammed in Mrs. Wang‘s house tried to help but didn’t know how. It became a chaos as every child was like a squirrel in the quickness of his movements. The swift little figure had been seen everywhere in the house. The next day, parents complained about their children were filthy when back. My mother was furious as she found out it was my rotten idea. She blamed me but I exclaimed we just want to help. After that, I was not allowed to step into Mary’s home again.
Meanwhile, I studied hard at school, and from an early age, extensive reading became my passion, and I read many books on my father’s bookshelf..

My Birthday
One day, Mary’s father wrote to say that he and his new wife, Mary’s step-mother would be leaving XinJiang for Shanghai. It was an unhappy reunion for Mary because she didn’t know about her step-mother at all. Time slipped, we were ten years old. Mary had been invited to my birthday party. The party was as plain as it can be. Mum cooked some dumplings for every child who came, and delivered some to the neibourhood as well. We all sang Happy Birthday. I noticed Mary tried to hold her tears back but it was in vain. “What’s wrong？Darling.” asked my mum softly. Mary sobbed because she had neither had a birthday party, nor a mother to love ….

Farewell
Two years later, I was exceptional good in my academic achievements. I had been sent to a boarding school in the other side of the city. Upon my word, at that time, it was an ultra-good one. But for some reason not revealed, Mary’s family had decided to go back to XinJiang. We said farewell to each other. I promised to write to her. I read her eyes were full of sorrows. I could only remember she said her heart, like mine, was made for love, but no one would let her love except me.
I was thrilled to be in a middle school. I decided to continue to study hard. I liked all the subjects and my goal became more and more clear, it was this: I must attend the university and work hard for my promising future. My mind was filled with my obsession. For the first two years I could think of nothing else---except my work. The seasons passed unnoticed outside my window, I grew cold with neglect of Mary in the distance. However, she never stopped writing to me. From her letters, I found her new surroundings helped to dim the sad memory of the world she had left behind her. But I didn’t really care about her anymore, for I was making some new friends. I was as busy as a bee, took part in all sorts of school activities. I had grown therefore all the memories in childhood, realistic or imaginary, means nothing to me. I knew I didn’t keep my words to write to her often and to my relief she was well..

After twenty years
In the long progress of fulfilling my dreams and on forth, time fleeted. It has been about more than twenty years since the last time I met Mary. So much has changed! For the time being, my own sweet family in my eyes became the entire world for me. From deep bottom of my heart, I thanked God to let me deserve so much. I’ve heard Mary returned and married to a decent man who was an athlete before, running his own business of a Gym now. She has got a son, and just like her mother wished, she finally settled down in Shanghai..

Illness
In the peaceful and happy days, one thing she was perfectly unaware of is the health. New research said cancer is hereditary. To my astonishment, Mary has got the same disease like her mother. God blessed her; an operation had been done successfully in the first place. I grieved of hearing she was ill. I couldn’t wait to see her again. It was mixture odd feelings of excitement and sadness of seeing my dear friend, I have been prepared to the day, and for heaven’s sake, I did hope she was getting better and at least strong enough to be able to talk. All the fondest memory in the childhood once again filled with my mind. It was a pleasant morning I stepped into the door, I was a bit nervous with my heart pounding and pounding. Mary looked at me with her eyes sparkling and smiled. She welcomed me with the liveliest pleasure. And to my surprise, I could feel her spirits were in a state of joy, though she was still a bit weak. In this case, I couldn’t speak out a single word I have prepared to comfort her. We were then; spent hours and hours to talk about things had happened since she left. She just mention casually on her disease. She said however small the chance might be of striking lucky; the chance of recovery was there. She had suffered more than us, but she had no fear to face the fate, as she has already got the most treasured possession, her husband and son.

[ 本帖最后由 Emerald 于 2009-3-31 18:39 编辑 ].

End

We talked delightly and had dinner outside. Street lights flickered, the shadows of trees dangling, the night was full of mistery. We took a few walks and I insisted on calling a taxi for her. I stood still, the taxi carried her away and she was lost in the darkness..

It is good to see a happy ending, God bless the people who don't give up themselves.
just as like the famous line of Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going to get.".

It's a moving story. God bless Mary!.

what a soulful story!
make me recall a bub in my childhood who suffered from a fatal illness.we lost touch with each other because of my family's transfer. Unexpectedly we came across in an international exhibition years ago.I was so shocked that I couldn't believe my eyes-----he was healthy and active,full of energy.We chatted a lot about each family,kid and work,etc.
He is now in charge of a mid-scale advertisement company ,his wife is a high school teacher with a nine-year-old son.Everything goes well.
Thank god ! deeply bless him and his family!.

good story

no matter who we are, what we do, we all should be grateful that we are the ones still alive....

引用:

原帖由 nice妈妈 于 2009-3-20 08:29 发表
It is good to see a happy ending, God bless the people who don't give up themselves.
just as like the famous line of Forrest Gump "Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you are going t ...

Yes. sometimes you could never have dreamed what surprises lie in store..

Yes. It's a true story..

In a lot of cases, family gives one strength.

[ 本帖最后由 Emerald 于 2009-3-20 11:25 编辑 ].

Yep. me think so..

引用:

原帖由 Emerald 于 2009-3-20 10:52 发表
In a lot of cases, family gives one strength.

Totally agree with you!.

My heart was deeply touched..