I also had lots of questions. Surely some people must die on the Wall. Where did they put the dead?
Did they give them a proper burial or just throw them in a ditch somewhere? Did they put on a nameplate so that
their souls wouldn’t forget who they were when they left? Did their souls go up to heaven or stay on earth as
ghosts? Was my father among them? I shuddered at the thought and tried to think about something else at that
point.
Shouting and flashing lights interrupted my thoughts. There were also heavy footsteps that were
coming ever closer. Just then, there was a loud knock on the door. I knew from the footsteps and the knock that
the people outside were the last people I wanted to see. The soldiers! What were they doing here? They must be
recruiting more people. But there were no more men in our house! Or were they so short of workers that they
didn’t care anymore if whoever worked for them was a woman or a child?
I ran to the door with Mama and I saw that I was partly right. There were three soldiers outside the
door, but they didn’t seem interested in us.
“
We need to check your home. We have a runaway worker from the Great Wall,” ordered the tallest one. They
didn’t give my mother a chance to speak. They just barged in and pushed outside. They forced the crates and
boxes open, kicked down doors and ripped cupboard doors off their hinges. Mama and I could only watch in
silence.
It only took half an hour before the soldiers were convinced that we weren’t hiding anyone, but it
seemed like forever. By then it was time for Mama to go and work in the fields. She left me at home. I looked
around. The soldiers had destroyed almost everything. I decided I should at least try and get some sleep. I had
two hours before my shift started and I hadn’t slept much.
I was lying on my bed when I felt a crackling under my pillow. I turned my pillow over and found a
scrawled letter under it. Whoever wrote it was in a big hurry. I unfolded the letter and found a small drawing of
a jade ring in the bottom left hand corner. I cried happy tears when I realized who it was from and read the letter.
When Mama came back I read it to her and she cried too. From then on, we knew there was hope. This is what
the letter said;
My darling daughter,
Happy twelfth birthday! I hope you remember me. I’m sorry that I had to leave many years ago, but now I’ve
escaped from that horrible prison known as the Great Wall. I’ve got enough money to get by for now, until the
heat dies down and nobody remembers me. I’m sorry I had to part without seeing you, but I’ve done a drawing
of my jade ring in the corner. I’m sure you remember giving it to me. So, if sometime in the future you hear a
knock at your door and see a slightly aged and scruffy man wearing a jade ring like the one in my drawing, then
you’ll know that I’ve come home.
One thing that Mama always told me about my father is that he always kept any promises he made. I’m sure that
she’s right. It may take some time, but I’m sure he’ll come back.
* * *