Piecing together a past

Tonite, Wu Yi told me a bedtime story.  Its late and I'm tired and wounded by the story, but I don't want to forget any details, so I'm writing it down as best I can remember now.

Once upon a time, a daughter was born in China.  Initially her "Mommy" rocked her and loved her.  But one day, the daughter's Mommy put the baby girl down in the street and ran away.  She was a "naughty Mommy" for doing that.

A "Grandma" and "Grandpa" happened upon the baby girl in the street and together they exclaimed "Who is this?  Who is this?".  They took the daughter home with them and were very kind to her.  They lived in a tiny home, with a small dog and two small cats.  One of the cats was "very beautiful" and slept next to the daughter every night.  The daughter misses the beautiful cat so much, even to this day.

Eventually, when the daughter was bigger, she came to live at a new home.  This home was very large and very cold inside and, in addition to many "Mamas" and one special "PoPo", the daughter had four new friends there that became her brothers and sisters.  One brother was unable to hear or speak.  One brother was unable to walk.  One sister had feet that were backwards (but she could still run quickly and rarely fell down).  One sister was a baby and needed heart surgery.  The daughter held the baby's hand while she was learning to walk.  One day the baby stopped holding her hand and started walking all by herself!  The daughter was very proud!

Her favorite sister and best friend was Yu Cheeong.  They slept in the same bed together, feet to feet.  It was fun to share a bed.  They also walked to school together each day with one of the "Mamas".  It was a long walk to school and the daughter got tired very easily.  That "Mama" was not patient with her and the daughter was frequently spanked, slapped across the face, and had her ear twisted by the woman.  Despite her best friends club feet, she managed to walk to school fine and was rarely punished in this way.  Once at school, the two friends shared a desk and school supplies and they loved each other very much.

Most of the "Mama's" were very kind.  They put the daughters hair up in ribbons each day, fed her, let her watch TV, and played with her.  They had to cut her hair on occasion and she always hated that.  She thought she looked ugly with short hair.  She also thought she had a very ugly nose.

The story ends there.  I asked if the daughter got a new Mama and Baba and came to America.  She shook her head "no".  She looked fairly confused about what happens to the daughter next.  All she could say, is that when the daughter gets bigger, she is going to finally get her nose fixed.