C157 twelve-year-old Maureen

Outside, the sun shone on a few feet of fresh snow.

It was the first morning since Mohrén had arrived in the United States, and he could hardly remember ever having seen anything more beautiful. He took a deep breath of the snow-scented winter air of America and choked.

"Dear child, would you like some delicious sausage and bread?" The middle-aged man who had brought him from China to the United States asked him this question, smiling all the time. He had a tall and friendly voice, and when he stood in front of him, he looked very small.

Maureen didn't understand the meaning behind those words. In fact, in his pure heart, he had never thought about anything related to food. His eyes were only filled with beautiful scenery.

The beautiful scenery reminded him of Lin Qing, the little mischievous girl, and his mother. The American man said that he had sent his mother to a good hospital and would not see her again in the near future.

"Yes, I think." He answered truthfully.

"Very well, my boy, as long as you complete your task, you will be rewarded with delicious sausages and fragrant bread." The American man took two steps back, revealing a battered tractor.

Maureen looked at the battered tractor, a little excited. He had never come into contact with a real tractor. Boys always had a certain fondness for machines, so he wanted to reach out and touch them.

"Son, this tractor belongs to you. Take it to the other side of the river and your job will be done. " The American man's hair shone golden in the sunlight. His entire smile looked exceptionally warm.

Maureen ran excitedly towards the tractor.

As he fiddled with the axle and the steering wheel, he realized that he did not know a thing about the structure of the tractor, and there was no need to talk about how to start it. Slowly, his interest decreased, and when he turned his head back to ask for help, the middle-aged man — technically speaking, that person was called Sunny, his foster father, was already gone.

He continued to fiddle with the tractor for a while. The tractor did not comfort him by even a little bit because of the passage of time.

Winter was in the air, and the air was dry and hot.

Just then, Maureen heard a strange noise.

He thought he might have heard footsteps, intermittent, coming from underground.

Several times he heard the sound, like the sound of furniture being dragged, as if he could still see deep troughs in the snow.

But soon, he leaped up from the ground — it was the sound of rushing water!

It was only then that Maureen realized the danger. This was a river! A rapidly flowing river! What Sunny said before was to drive him to the other side of the river, but who knew how thick the ice and snow on the other side would be!

Maureen was panicking, and her stomach began to empty. Before he left the house that morning, he had eaten only a small piece of bread, a few sausages, and a glass of milk from the excitement of stepping into his new country.

The food, for a twelve-year-old child, was only enough to last two or three hours.

According to Sunny's departure, the amount of time the food's heat could last was long past his limit. He began to feel hungry.

"Hey!" Can anyone help me? " He cupped his hands into the shape of a trumpet and shouted into the empty snow.

His voice was almost inaudible, hollow and lonely. After a few shouts, he felt even hungrier and wisely gave up.

At least, he did not waste his energy on shouting, nor did he waste it on trying to find help — because, he had deliberately arranged that no one would come to his aid.

Maureen began to seriously ponder over the structure of the tug. She quickly recalled something in her mind and combined all her experience with common sense. After more than an hour, the tractor finally started moving.

It was currently around two in the afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. He drove the tractor out.

The tractor was moving in a zigzag pattern on the ice. He screamed excitedly. The air he exhaled frosted his eyelashes.

As he approached the shore, he had to drive through a great deal of snow, a few of which were higher than the plow of the tractor, and he had to pull the tractor back and sprint toward it. Several times, the plough was stuck in the ice because of excessive force, almost unable to be pulled out.

For the last time, he was really stuck.

Just like that, the tractor's rear axle was completely buried in the snow. He moved back and forth a few times, and the plough seemed to be stuck in a crack in the ice.

He refused to give up.

The rear wheel of the tractor spun rapidly, crushing the ice beneath it. However, the tractor was still unable to move, and sour black smoke began to emit from the engine.

Maureen stepped out of the tractor and into the snow, cursing her own stupidity.

He grabbed his sore wrist and looked at the other side of the river. He estimated the distance to the shore — it was only a few hundred meters away. As long as he passed through these snowdrifts, there would be no obstacles in front of him.

He glanced at the tractor stuck in the snow. In reality, it was as though he was answering a prayer that he had forgotten. There was a dull sound of crushing, as though a building was collapsing.

Crack! Crack! Crack! The crack quickly closed in.

He ran.

Suddenly, a violent cracking sound could be heard from behind him as he continued to run forward.

The shoes on his feet were already soaked through with water. It was as if his lungs were on fire.

The cracking sounds continued, and he continued to run.

There was a loud rumble in his ears, and he did not stop running.

When he could run no longer, he stopped, bent over, and raised his head to look at where the tractor had been – a huge hole in the ice.

He slowly regained his calm and continued walking forward, but he could still hear the cracking sound.

At any moment, he could fall on the unlucky ice and drown in it. The twelve-year-old Mo Lun didn't despair at the time of the change in his eight-year-old life. Looking at his mother lying on the sickbed without despair, his life without any sign of his father or despair, at that moment, he truly felt despair.

Finally, he plopped to his knees in the dirty yellow icy water. He whimpered. He was only two meters away from the shore. He was about to land.

This was his first day on American soil.

He fell into the icy water, his knees stiff and cold. He knelt there, looking up at the shore, prostrating himself there. As a child, he waited for a long time.

People kept walking up and down the shore. Previously, he couldn't see them because of the huge snowdrift. After the snowdrift, he could see them clearly. Those people spoke some incomprehensible words. The room was filled with laughter and sometimes they were singing dissonant songs.

These scenes were like a nightmare for these people.

Everyone was teasing him, except for him.

Sunny did not appear. His childishness, soaked in the ice-cold river water, slowly faded away. As the setting sun leaped and disappeared across the sky, Maureen realized that darkness was coming.

After waiting for such a long time, it proved that if he didn't take action, no one would be able to save him.

At the very least, he had to escape the icy water. He had to save himself.

Maureen appeared on the shore, wet and wet, her hair matted with ice, and before long, if he didn't rescue her in time, his clothes would be as hard and thick as steel.

Sunny finally appeared, but didn't bring him any food.

He led him into a warm room, kissed him on the cheek and said, "Darling, you didn't do well today, but you are still alive … So, as a reward, you'll have to spend the night in your room. "

With that, Sunny left.

Maureen still didn't have any food, but she wasn't going to freeze to death, after all.

In just a day's time, he had learned not to complain. In that warm room, he had thought of the Lin couple, thought of the Lin Family's little sister, and thought of the happy times when he wanted to study in the wutong tree … With this longing, he felt that he had to survive.

When his clothes were dry, he ran out and took the snow to quench his thirst. Fortunately, under the snow, he found a mouse that had frozen to death.

The rats weren't big, but they were better than nothing.

On the bonfire, the rat was smoking and emitting a fragrant aroma. Maureen wolfed it down.

Before this, he had never dared to eat such a small animal, not even a rabbit.

It was unknown whether it was because he was hungry, or because the rat had become even more delicious after being frozen in ice and snow, but all he had eaten was sweetness and deliciousness, nothing more.

At daybreak on the second day, Sunny once again brought him to the other side of the river. The only difference this time was that there was already a hole in the river.

"Darling, you're going to drive the tractor to the other side."

Sunny's face was full of smiles, just like a benevolent father teaching his beloved child.

Maureen looked at the surface of the ice and saw that there was still a hole far away. It looked like a huge wound that had been torn open. Her eyes were filled with doubt. "But the tractor is gone …"

"Darling, the tractor is in the river. You have to drive it to the other side. "…"

Sunny repeated with a face full of smiles.

"If you didn't drive to the other side, my dear, your luck wouldn't have been so good tonight. Without food, you would have had the honor of spending a pleasant night on the ice and snow …"

Sunny left again.

Mo Lun wasn't stupid this time, he wasn't in the mood to enjoy the scenery. He followed Sunny's figure all the way and watched him walk into the snow, then suddenly disappear without a trace.

His eyes widened as he looked around. He had truly disappeared. It was as if he was in a dream.

He ran over and looked at the land again and again. Other than the accumulated snow and ice, there were no other traces at all.

There was no one at the beginning of the river, only him.

And with his strength alone, he wouldn't be able to get the tractor up here.

Maureen roared across the river, a roar that didn't match his age, like a trapped beast.

Only by doing so could he release all of his doubts and depression. Not only was he puzzled and depressed, there was also fear. Because of this fear, he completely avoided facing the huge hole in the ice.

Apart from the ice cave, after a night of low temperature, the cracks had frozen over. However, the cracks were still there, and they spread out radiantly all the way to the other side of the river, where he had fallen yesterday.