Picture 2
Kimberly Gould’s Picture Choice: Both
Title: Family and Friends
The door slamming behind her Xiao jumped on her bicycle and pedalled as fast and as hard as she could. Her parents could catch her quickly by car while she coasted down the hill and around the corner. The road was wide and solitary, the only way from their little corner of nowhere, population 15, to St. Andrews, population 300. It was amazing what a couple hundred people can do for allowing yourself to get lost.
She didn’t blend in, of course. In their corner of nowhere, all fifteen residents were Chinese, just like Xiao, and in either her family or her father’s cousin’s. Despite having yellow skin amid the white, she was able to relax and stop looking over her shoulder. Her mother wouldn’t risk making a scene in public and her father wouldn’t stoop to coming after her.
“Shar!” Xiao turned at her English name and found her classmate, Marie, approaching. “I thought you had a big party tonight. It’s the New Year, isn’t it?”
Xiao and Marie weren’t good friends, but the plump girl with her brown braid had always been kind. Her kindness now made Xiao break.
Tears began falling down Xiao’s cheeks and Marie, without hesitation, wrapped her classmate in a hug.
“Oh, Sharlene, don’t cry. Come with me. Mom made hot cocoa. It’ll make you feel better.” The early spring night was still chilly.
In Marie’s house, Xiao found what she needed so badly at home. Marie’s mother was every bit as kind and welcoming as her daughter. She even set out candied fruit, pineapple and mango, which made Xiao cry again.
“Oh, dear,” Mrs. Cunningham said, patting her shoulders. “I can find something else.”
“No, please,” she said, reaching out to snag a pineapple tidbit. “It’s perfect.”
Without judgement, without reprimand, and without family, Xiao welcomed the new year.
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Kimberly Gould is the author of Cargon: Honour and Privilege, and it's sequel Duty and Sacrifice. She can be found most places as Kimmydonn, including Kimmydonn.com
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