Bitter Summer Prose

The continuous hot weather has caused many people to suffer from heatstroke, and I was no exception. For many days, I suffered from fatigue and loss of appetite. I was reluctantly eating dinner when my second brother called me. The second brother on the other end of the phone seemed restless and unable to express himself. He said it was past seven o'clock and his father was not back yet! As soon as I heard this, I quickly put down my job and rushed out of the door without even putting on my clothes. Along the way, a sentence kept popping up in my head: Nothing will happen, nothing will happen!

When my father retired, his hair was gray and his teeth were loose. Due to weight loss, his originally tall body looked much rickety. But in front of us children, my father always showed his consistent strength and nonchalance, which is probably related to his experience as a soldier and carrying a gun. Therefore, we feel that the father does not appear old. Later, he was admitted to the hospital for treatment several times due to illness, and his health deteriorated. With my little medical knowledge, I understood that using injections such as asparagine and meridianin had no effect. Not only did my father's illness not get much relief, And he looks really old. Medication could not change his condition. In 2005, after eleven days in the hospital, his back became even more curved, and the left side of his body was not in control. Every few steps he took, he would always lean to the left. Tablets that keep the heart and blood vessels running fill the corner of the table at home.

Father probably won’t go too far. In the past two years, he would walk out of the Hardware Alley alone after breakfast or lunch. When he walked home sideways, he would always hold something in his hand, such as a bottle or a small wooden stick. In his eyes, these are properties that cannot be abandoned. My father insisted on not using crutches to show that his body was still strong. In fact, the small stool in his hand was an auxiliary tool that allowed him to walk far. After the Spring Festival of 2010, my father could no longer walk very far. If he walked, he would wander in the alley. It was obvious that the eighty-year-old father’s legs could no longer withstand the long journey.

Where did my father go? I hurried to the place where I had made an appointment with my second brother, and saw my second brother waving to me from a distance. I walked towards him. At an intersection in an alley, I first saw a bunch of people surrounding me, and I felt that something was not good. It seemed that something that I least wanted to happen had happened, and I suddenly panicked. I squeezed in quickly and saw my father. He sat on a plastic armchair, his hands on the armrests shaking. The skinny legs swayed back and forth in the wide trousers. At this time, my father looked so weak and helpless. I quickly grabbed his shaking hand and asked several times what's wrong with you? My father raised his cloudy eyes, looked at me feebly, pursed his chapped lips, and didn't say what he wanted to say. I could feel him trying to stand up, but he didn't even have the strength to speak. How could he stand up?

Later, I finally found out that my father had gone out at about three o'clock that afternoon. On this day, the temperature in the small town was as high as 30 degrees Celsius. As far as I know, there were very few people walking on the streets at this time. The sprinkler truck hummed a tune all the way, spraying wisps of cool water onto the road. The coolness disappeared in an instant. The heat evaporated from the road made the surrounding air even more stuffy and unbearable. In this kind of weather, many people are hiding at home and do not want to go out, or even go to work. There are also many units that purchase and store things like watermelon and Huoxiang Zhengqi water to protect their employees from heatstroke. My father went out during the hottest period. The hot weather must have caused heatstroke in his already weak body. He wants to go to China Construction Bank, which is nearly a thousand meters away from home. He came out of his home, walked to the small intersection of the alley, turned right, crossed Xuefu Lane, turned right again, and entered the North Ring Road. About an hour later, he stood in front of the counter of the business office. His weak body could not control his fingers to successfully complete the task of entering the password on the small keyboard on the counter. In the end, the passbook password was locked due to too many repetitions.

My father actually came out of the bank around five o'clock in the afternoon. The journey back empty-handed was even more difficult than when he went there. He didn't bring a cane, nor did he bring a small stool that he always carried with him. It's hard to imagine how he insisted on walking to the small intersection in Hardware Alley. My father didn't take it seriously, or he didn't feel it at all. He spoke unclearly but proudly, saying, "What are you afraid of? There will always be someone to help you along the way." My father was accustomed to this kind of expression and thought that everyone in the world knew him. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival last year, he still went to the bank, put two thousand yuan in his pocket, and returned along the road when he thought it was very safe. At this time, a young man touched the cigarette butt on his father's clothes, and another young man quickly stepped forward to pat away the ashes for his father. My father saw no flaws in this flawless performance. He kept smiling at the others, thinking they were really good. It wasn't until I returned home that my clothes were torn and my coins were missing, that I realized it was a trap. But his father didn't care. He still believed that someone would help him when he went out. So, I really have to thank those kind people today. A driver found his father who had a heat stroke and took him to the entrance of Xuefu Alley. Another small shop owner, when he saw his father who was teetering on the verge of falling, he quickly brought his plastic chair for his father to rest. At the same time, a kind-hearted female doctor from a nearby clinic gave him two pills of oral glucose. People extended these warm helping hands from all sides, which helped my father and us to get rid of more scorching heat waves in the long hot summer.

My father's illness does seem serious and may have the most worrying consequences.

As a result, our family's hearts became entangled and confused. First, the second brother called his eldest brother and his younger sister respectively and described his father's situation. The eldest brother’s family is far away in his hometown in the countryside. My mother originally lived with us in a small town. She returned to her hometown during the wheat harvest season, hoping to help her eldest brother and the others with housework within her ability. That night, my eldest brother called us and inquired about us living in the small town. My mother also said that she would return to the small town the next day. My younger sister’s family lived in a corner of the small town. After being laid off, she ran a small hardware store. She called me at night and was very worried. The father's incident has disrupted the family's aspirations. In fact, what needs to be solved now is the problem of infusion and energy replenishment for his father. But my father was resolute and refused to go to the hospital even if he was lying in bed. In his opinion, we were all making a fuss and even teasing him. He looked a little angry and scolded us for being unfilial. The second brother was helpless, and the younger sister was also helpless. I had to expose the seriousness of the situation to my father. I told my father that your illness is a bit serious and you still have a lot to do. If you don’t go to the doctor, you are tormenting yourself and making all of us anxious like you. I was a little excited and my voice was high. I feel very ashamed now that I think about it. Fortunately, with my persuasion, my father finally agreed to see a doctor.

My father and mother have lived with my second brother for a long time. After my second brother was laid off, he occasionally found some small-paying odd jobs to support the family. He could always be seen busy at noon and evening. Over the years, he seemed calm on the outside, but from his prematurely bald crown, you could tell that the pressure of life he was experiencing was really heavy inside. Because my father is old and has difficulty walking, I have always told my father that I should leave it to my second brother to take care of the daily life at home, such as going to the bank to withdraw money, and going to the street to buy groceries. But my father disagreed. He always said that he could do things without bothering his second brother. I understand that no one knows their current life situation better than my father. His stubborn decision stemmed from the financial constraints of our life. He was worried that his second brother's poor management would lead to him being unable to make ends meet and his life would be extremely difficult. Although this illness was caused by his father's stubbornness, his father still hoped that through his efforts, he could improve some of his life situations. Yes, our brothers didn’t go to school much, and we were laid off one after another. Maybe my father no longer had any expectations for us. But I firmly believe that he has placed our future on his growing grandchildren. For this reason, my father is very strong. Every time the disease hits him, it continues to destroy his body, but it does not make him collapse. I know that he lives by simple and strong faith, and I hope that he will not fall this time.

Accompanied by her eldest brother’s children, the mother returned to the small town the next day. The arrival of mother did not bring any psychological comfort to anyone. There was a shower in the small town that day. After the shower, the temperature rose again and people returned to the steamer-like environment. My mother is now nearly eighty years old, but she thinks that after working in the fields for a long time, her health is much better than that of her father. She has witnessed her parents and parents-in-law pass away, and has enough experience to make a judgment on her father's current state. My mother asked me to come to her and said, if you are free these days, go back to your hometown. Go around the mountains and see where the feng shui is, and pay attention to it. I kept looking at my mother while she was talking, without moving my eyes an inch. Her eyes were not as energetic as before, her sparse eyebrows hung above her eyes, her face was covered with age spots, and a strand of white hair fell from her forehead from time to time. Looking at my mother's slightly older face, my nose felt sore and I nodded in agreement. Mother said softly, your eldest brother means that if the situation is bad, he should be sent back to his hometown as soon as possible.

It’s not that we were unprepared for our mother’s proposal. There were always a few days in the past few years around our father when we secretly discussed his fate behind his back. This time when my mother mentioned it, I felt very sad. It was very hasty, so hasty that there was no transition at all, and so urgent that it caught people off guard. My nostrils were a little sore, my younger sister's eyes were red, and my second brother hid in the kitchen alone and cried. For many days, the brothers and sisters spent their time in panic. But I have a feeling that everyone seems to place all their hopes for my father on me. According to my mother's instructions, I used the weekend to return to my hometown. In my hometown, my eldest brother and I hardly talked about my father. We only went for a walk in the mountains with my eldest brother. My eldest brother remained silent many times, but I could tell from his eyes that he understood that I was here for my father. Not only my eldest brother, but also many fellow villagers in the village seemed to understand that I came here for my father, and their eyes shone with sympathy and helplessness. It was noon when I returned from my hometown. I didn’t go home and went directly to my mother. I knew that she had been in the hospital with my father who was undergoing an infusion. I came to my father's ward. My mother was sitting on the side and my father seemed to be asleep. The hospital bed was not big, and under the thin quilt was my father's thin body. If you are not careful, it will be difficult to find someone lying on the hospital bed. My father is too thin. I told my mother that I was back, but my father was actually awake. He heard my voice, struggled to raise his head, opened his eyes and asked where have you been? My mother quickly winked at me, and I quickly told my father that I had just come back from a business trip. My father said nothing and turned his head to the side as if he was going to sleep again.

My father didn’t have any hobbies. He couldn’t even understand simple games like poker and chess, so of course he didn’t like them. But he thought he was very popular, but in fact he had few friends with whom he could talk due to his stubborn personality and lack of adaptability.

From this point of view, we brothers have all inherited our father's weaknesses, doing our own things seriously and living our lives quietly like our father. In recent years, he has spent his time sitting in the sunshine by himself, appearing quiet and leisurely.

A few days later, my father got better and returned home again, appearing in the alley as he wished. These days, my father usually sits on the steps at one end of the alley, his hands on his knees shaking a few times involuntarily. The gums were getting shriveled day by day, and the dentures were no longer stable. My father had to move his slightly blue lips frequently. The alley is very deep. The messy buildings divided the sun shadow into pieces. I walked over and my father turned his head and looked at me. When he turned around, I saw the sunlight falling on the lenses of the myopia glasses that the old man wore on his eyes. The ray of light shone so brightly that it dazzled the eyes. With a smile on his face, my father invited me to sit next to him. This situation seemed to make people feel relieved, but then there were bursts of heart-wrenching pain.