Standing around got harder and harder as the years went by. I finally got a walking stick and stopped talking to others and people think I’m a old bad guy. I mean yes I can be stubborn, but when my son-in-law got executed in the counterrevolutionary I became a little more obstinate sand solitary. One afternoon I became a target to the Red guards I got scared. When one of the red guards asked to borrow my bicycle I knew that meant keep it. I was scared but stood up for myself, I said a proud no! I knew they were shocked, but I was hopeful that they would just go bug some other person, but of course without a doubt they will never let anyone who disagrees leave happy or not hurt. Instead they just started swearing like sailors. Without me looking upset they finally left. I was hoping that was all they were going to do.
But not to my surprise they turned up this morning with drums and making loud noises. My heart rate was moving. What are they going to do to me, now I thought? They dragged me like if I was a piece of trash. My wife was sitting there I knew she wanted to help but if she did she would get hurt, I didn’t want her to have to go through pain too. They laid a wash board down, I was hoping that they just wanted me to clean laundry or clean fabrics. They bent me to my knees. “I’m an old man please if I go any faster by bone might pop out”, I whispered. One of the red guards kicked the cane out from under me and I fell slowly with my hands on the ground to catch me. I fell my knees down on the edges of the washboard. I was silent because I knew I couldn’t say anything to stop this harassment. I knelt there silent for a while looking down in pain. The sun was beaming the warm air was hitting me and I felt hot. Seeing the Red guards caring out my stuff putting it in a truck and then going to get more was too painful to watch. Even more painful than me kneeling on the wash board. After a while my wife came out to give me water. I took slow sips trying to save the taste of the cool water in my mouth. I was in heaven for a few minutes until a red guard kicked it out of her hands. I stayed in the hot sun for a few minutes until it started getting black and then blacker and then finally I fell over and passed out.
I woke up with a face so sunburnt it was peeling. In my empty house all I saw was my wife sitting there crying, an enamel cup, the wash board and my walking stick.