In life, I rarely interact with my father. I feel that he has nothing to do with me. My relationship with him is like a child watching an outdoor movie on a winter night. I am in the dark, he is in the light, and the images of life are the same.

I could barely see his shadow as I passed by frame by frame. He would appear occasionally, smoking, drinking tea, and quarreling with his mother on the screen. I couldn't touch him through a layer of void. He looked busy.

Complain constantly.

Sometimes he suddenly steps off the screen and appears in my life, like a troubled stranger.

One afternoon, my mother was sleeping on the kang, with clear saliva flowing out from the corners of her twisted mouth. I was awakened by my dream, and listened to the sound of cicadas outside the window and the snoring indoors, which made me feel bored.

The inheritance and accumulation of human genes for adventure and curiosity make a five- or six-year-old boy restless all the time.

I sneaked out and decided to take a bath in Sai Wan. I had long forgotten the drowning experience when I was 3 years old. Compared with the distant and nihilistic fact that water can take away human life, water is full of infinite attraction for me.

In the hot summer, when there is no electricity or cold drinks, there is nothing more refreshing than jumping into the water and playing.

Anyway, the courtyard walls have collapsed, and the fence gates are so rotten that they almost don’t exist anymore. Nothing can stop me. My neighbors are either working in the hot fields or repairing sickles and sharpening knives under the shade of trees in their own courtyards. There is no one around.

Watch me, I'm as free as a stray dog.

I walked forward quietly, with every pore reminding me to prevent anyone from prying or watching. I was not confident in myself and could not judge whether what I was doing was right or wrong. I was cautious and silently adjusted my behavior based on the eyes of others. As I walked,

As I walked closer to Sai Wan, my mind suddenly wandered and I remembered the heavy rain a few days ago.

That day, it was close to noon, and my father had not returned from his early morning trip. The sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds, lightning and thunder, and strong winds violently shook the big elm trees in the yard. My sister and I hurriedly ran from the yard into the house and hid behind our mother.

They each held her thighs and looked outside the house. The big hen in the yard with its chicks foraging for food immediately began to cry "cuckoo", gathering the little yellow chickens around it one by one.

A curious chicken poked its head out, and the hen crowed a few times. The chickens shrank their heads and disappeared.

At that moment, the hen was like a big umbrella, no less than a hero. Look again, there are roosters everywhere.

"Boom, boom", a huge thunder exploded in the sky, and an "N" shaped lightning crossed the entire sky in an exaggerated way. "Wow...", the rain suddenly fell and poured down. My sister and I pointed outside.

Shouting, "Mom, look, it's raining!" My mother said, "Yes, it's raining a lot... It's raining, it's time to rain!"

Standing under the eaves, I could hear the heavy raindrops hitting the thin roof made of reeds and soil. Gradually, a faint and sad sadness appeared on my mother's face.

After a while, I heard a "pop" sound behind me, like the sound of water droplets hitting the wooden board. My mother quickly turned around and muttered, "It's broken, it's leaking again... I was just thinking about this..."

..." We followed her gaze, listened, and waited for a while. There was another "pop" sound, and we saw a drop of rain falling on the mahogany box in the corner.

"This rain...this broken house! I told your father so many times but he didn't listen and didn't find time to mend the roof..." Mother muttered. She pushed us away and went to use broken bricks between the earthen stove and the fire pit.

I picked out a white porcelain bowl from under the cupboard made of earth, turned around and placed it on the mahogany box. The rainwater fell down drop by drop, hitting the bottom of the bowl, and water splashed everywhere.

We didn't realize the significance of this drop of rainwater passing through the house, but we just thought it was fun. The sound of the raindrops hitting the bottom of the bowl and the wooden board were different, pleasant to the ear, like music.

The rain fell harder, and for a moment it seemed as if the sky was falling and the earth was falling. It was impossible to distinguish anything a few steps away. The shadows of the elm trees dancing crazily in the strong wind in the yard seemed to be diluted by quicksand, like dragons flying in the clouds and mist, either missing or missing.

You can't see the end, and you can't tell the beginning from the end. Thunder and lightning roar one after another, pressing down from the sky, and the rain curtains are one after another.

It seems that the rain god must have been angry. He beat the ferocious-looking little devils hard and moved the rain tanks, and poured the water into the world. A flash of lightning was followed by a huge thunder, and a huge thunder was followed by another flash of lightning.

Lightning watched as the sky exploded, tearing open a large hole from which more rain fell from the sky and poured down.

The rain swept towards the ground like dense bullets, first stirring up dust on the ground, and then quickly flooding the ground. The bullets fired again stirred up clusters of bubbles on the water. The rain mixed with sawdust, grass blades and mud passed through

The depression next to the gate rushed outwards, and the bubbles were like small boats, pulling full sails down the river.

After a long time, the lightning and thunder weakened, the strong wind calmed down a lot and became softer, and the rain was no longer so fierce. I looked up at the sky and found that the sky was much brighter. Then I looked down at the yard.

, a thick layer of rainwater accumulated, forming a small pond. The raindrops were like hair, entangled in the breeze, and sounded on the water surface from time to time.

I suddenly wanted to go out, so I stepped forward with my left leg.

My sister grabbed me and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"I want to go out and have some fun."

"It's full of water outside, what will you do if it's freezing!" After all, my sister is three years older than me, so she is like a little housekeeper.

"I'm not afraid of the cold!" I said, looking back at my mother as I said, "Mom, I want to go out and play!"

My mother smiled and said, "Okay, 'The rain won't hurt anyone.' You can go out and play." I was excited, tilted my head and smiled at my sister, turned around and ran into the rain.

I was only wearing one pair of shorts, no shirt, and was barefoot. I had been dressed like this all summer, and my skin was tanned. As soon as I got outside, I lay down in the water, splashing into a sea of ​​waves, which were not all finished yet.

When I landed, I heard my sister's scream behind me.

There was too much rain, and I was too thin. Lying on the ground, the water in the yard completely covered my shoulders, waist and butt. This is really not bad. I thought, this is completely a natural pond! Besides, the bottom of the pond

It was flat and not dangerous. I stretched out my fingers to grab the ground, straightened my feet and kicked forward suddenly. My body slid forward like an arrow, drawing out a wide and beautiful water line.

I sat in the water, imitating the flapping ducks in the pond, constantly beating the water with my arms, and my body rose and fell with the rhythm, as if I was flying on the water.

I laughed and asked my mother and sister in the room, "Look, do I look like a duck?"

The heavy rain came and went quickly. It stopped. The water in the yard flowed out of the courtyard and out of the alley. The water from hundreds of houses met on the street and finally poured into Sai Wan Pond. When the water came out, I was embarrassed and sat there.

In the mud puddle in the yard, it looked like a small fish stranded, with its head, face and body covered in mud and water.
Chapter completed!