The sharpest memory from my childhood

When talking about my childhood, I can’t help remember the stories of my younger female cousin, who is of the same age as me. We knew each other very well since we were born, but there is a saying, "Fierce wars always exist between two women". Yes, we usually quarreled with each other over some tiny matters. 

There was a day in my grandma’s house, when we were 4 years old. My cousin and I played together and we had an argument. My grandma arrived at the quarrel, and stated that I was the elder sister, and there had to be a bit of give-and- take on my part. After listening to her, I felt aggrieved: I was just directing my sister to act in our role play, then got angry as she rejected it. Then she  blamed that I was a bad girl! So we started quarreling. I didn’t think it was my fault. 

  So, I ran away from home. But I was too little to find a place to go, because I didn’t know the way to any sites. Then an idea came to me that I could go back to my house nearby and play with my neighbor. No sooner said than done!  I spent the whole day with my neighbor, even had dinner at her house. In the end, I forgot the time.

In the meantime, all family members were so worried. They thought I went to the kindergarten but it was empty as they arrived there. Then they called every relative and friend who I had mentioned before, but the answers were “I haven't seen her”. They even looked in the sewers, wondering if I had carelessly fallen into the dirty water. Some of them whispered: “Was she abducted and trafficked?” My mother almost burst into tears on hearing it , while my grandma was regretting and blaming herself for not taking care of me. At the moment, my uncle-in-law, half joking, comforted that the traffickers would release me as soon as they identified that I was a girl——because China has had a strong cultural imperative for males for thousands of years, that people in poor areas of China only wanted to buy boys illegally and there would be no market for trafficking girls at that time.

 Finally, it was my uncle who suggested to look around the neighborhood. He insisted that it was not as bad as they imagined. As my family came, I was just going to sleep with my little neighbor! My mother’s grip on me tightened and tightened. Since then, I will not dare to run away without telling my family. And how about my relationship with my younger sister? It changes as we age. Now we are very close and she had a baby just 9 months ago. The days of quarrels, have gone.