Children story about family
Grandma lives alone in the distant Perfume Village, and Ali hasn’t seen her for a long time.
One morning, Mom suddenly said she was going to take Ali to Grandma’s house.
Ali immediately took out his little backpack and happily said:
“Great! I can take the train. I want to show Grandma my excavator.”
When they arrived at Grandma’s house, Ali jumped up and rang the doorbell.
An old lady opened the door.
Mom said, “This is Mrs. Zhou from next door, say hello to Mrs. Zhou.” Ali stared at her blankly.
Mrs. Zhou said, “Come on in! Your grandma is not feeling well and is resting in bed.”
Ali clung tightly to Mom’s skirt as they entered Grandma’s room.
Grandma, lying in bed, looked much older than in the photos!
Ali kept hiding behind Mom, and Mom said:
“Weren’t you going to show Grandma your excavator?”
But Ali held the excavator even tighter!
Mrs. Zhou said, “You came at the right time, I’ll go home for a bit and come back later.”
After Mrs. Zhou left, Mom said to Ali, “I’m going to make some snacks. You stay here with Grandma.”
Ali stood at the door of the room, holding his excavator, watching Grandma from a distance.
“Cough, cough, cough…” Grandma coughed and said, “Water… water…”
Ali immediately ran to call Mom: “Grandma wants some water!”
Mom came in and poured a glass of water for Grandma, and helped her adjust the quilt.
After a while, Grandma turned over, and Ali thought she might fall, so he nervously ran to call Mom:
“Grandma is moving around a lot!”
Mom came in and touched Grandma’s forehead and said, “Grandma needs to take her medicine! Would you like to help her?”
Ali obediently waited for Grandma to open her mouth and fed her the pills one by one.
Mom went out to wash Grandma’s clothes. Ali sat on a stool, still not daring to get too close to Grandma.
A black cat quietly walked in and jumped onto Grandma’s bed. Grandma beckoned to Ali:
“Come! Pet Blackie, she’s very gentle and won’t bite.”
Ali slowly walked over and petted Blackie. “Meow~~” Blackie purred,
Ali petted her again, and Grandma gently patted Ali’s head.
On the table next to Grandma’s bed was an enlarged photo. Grandma asked Ali:
“Do you know who that is?”
“Uncle and big sister,” Ali replied.
Grandma shook her head and smiled:
“That’s your grandpa and your mom, taken many years ago… Your mom was very well-behaved when she was little. One time,
she stayed in the bathroom and wouldn’t come out. When I opened the door, she was scrubbing the toilet…”
Ali immediately said, “I can scrub the toilet too.”
Grandma’s dry lips curled into a smile.
Grandma gently pulled the curtain aside, letting the sunlight in. In a hoarse voice, she said:
“Grandma wants to go sunbathe, will you help me?”
Mom was hanging clothes in the yard. Grandma pointed to a large patch of oxalis and said to Ali:
“When your mom was little, she loved to compete with Grandma to pull oxalis. Every time she lost, she would cry.”
Grandma picked two oxalis stems and twisted them together. She and Ali tugged back and forth,
and Ali won every time, laughing happily.
Later, Ali asked Mom and Grandma to compete, and Grandma lost again. Ali asked her:
“Why don’t you cry when you lose every time?”
Grandma pretended to cry for a moment, but then she said:
“Because I’m happy that Ali came to see Grandma, I don’t want to cry.”
Seeing Grandma in a good mood, Mom prepared some snacks and flower tea,
and the three of them had afternoon tea in the yard. Ali took a bite of a cookie and happily said:
“Wow, this is so nice!”
After sitting for a while, Grandma felt unwell again and had to go back to her room to lie down.
Ali mimicked Mom by adjusting her quilt and took out his toys, saying:
“I’ll let the excavator keep you company while you sleep.” Grandma smiled and closed her eyes.
Ali walked out of the room and saw Mom talking to Mrs. Zhou, her head lowered more and more,
and she kept wiping away tears. Ali didn’t know what was happening, so he just sat down to watch TV.
When the moon came out, Mom said to Ali: “It’s late, we should go home.”
Ali packed his toys into his backpack and loudly said: “Goodbye, Grandma! Goodbye, Mrs. Zhou!”
Grandma handed the excavator back to Ali, holding his hand, saying:
“Be good! Come see Grandma again next time, okay?”
Mrs. Zhou walked them to the door, and Mom asked Mrs. Zhou to take care of Grandma.
Then they rushed to catch the last train.
After that day, Ali never saw Grandma again. Mom said:
“Grandma has left Perfume Village and moved to the sky.”
“Where in the sky?”
“Probably another Perfume Village! Your grandma always loved living in Perfume Village,” Mom replied.
Ali thought, the Perfume Village in the sky must be even farther away, unreachable by train,
so Mom often stared at the sky, or she cried.
Ali knew it was because Mom was “thinking about her mom.”
Once, Ali patted Mom’s shoulder and said:
“Don’t cry! Your mom went to the sky to have afternoon tea with her mom.”
Ali patted Mom’s shoulder while looking at the sky, saying:
“Grandma, is there oxalis there? Do you have someone to compete with?”
Hearing this, Mom couldn’t help but hug Ali and shed more tears.
Days passed by, and Ali couldn’t remember how long Grandma had been gone,
but every time Ali and Mom went for a walk,
seeing the golden sunset, he would smile and say to Mom:
“Wow, Grandma is making fried eggs!”
When the moon rose, Ali would smile and say:
“Grandma turned on the lights! It’s night time over there too!”
One day, it rained heavily, and Ali couldn’t go out to play. He worriedly said to the sky:
“Grandma, stop doing laundry there! The water is dripping down!”
This time, Mom didn’t cry, she just gently hugged Ali and said:
“I think my mom really moved to another Perfume Village,
where she does the same things like washing dishes, doing laundry, and having afternoon tea, right?”
Ali quietly listened to Mom, and suddenly thought of something important:
“But you can’t go have afternoon tea with Grandma! Have it with me here, okay?”
Mom nodded and hugged Ali tighter, gently saying:
“The Perfume Village in the sky is very far away! It’s not reachable by train.”
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
