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picking up the vegetables or old man worked in the garden. I saw a man, possible a woman’s husband, who fixed something in front of their house once.

I did not know the purpose of either my brother or sister to take a 4 or almost 5 years old small child deep into the forest up the mountain with them as I could not help them or do anything yet I had never said “NO” even I did not want to go as long as either one asked and I had never been a burden for them as I had always followed either one closely. Perhaps, either one felt safer to have me to go with or vis-à-vis. I went with my old brother who was about or over 15 years old twice and many times with my sister who was about or over 13 years old.

Hiking up the mountain, there were all kinds of tropic large trees, windmill palms, sago palm, and beautiful large white, not golden or other colors, heliconia, hibiscus rosa-sinensis, soft hygrophila pegonocalyx and bright yellow titanotrichim oldhamii flowers as well as large leaf taro or elephant ears as well as Taiwanese agave schottii alongside the trail. There were egenolfia appendiculatas on rock along mountain creeks. There were butterflies swirls and dragonflies. Butterflies were most colorful. Butterflies’ color is on the wings. There were blue butterflies with white stripe, white with rose stripe, orange with black stripe, yellow with green stripe and purple with yellow stripe etc... Some of butterflies had beautifully colorful spots on their colorful wings. The dragonflies’ colors are on the body. Most dragonflies’ winds in Taiwan are clear and I could not tell if it had a color. Dragonflies’ bodies like butterflies’ wings are colorful too; rose, pink, blue, yellow, purple and green etc… yet dragonflies usually do not have stripes or spots.

I saw an orange or other fruit fields but there were not any fruit fields in the deep forest. However, in the forest, there were colorful plumage of nuthatch-Serbia-somber and Muller’s barbet birds on the tree with unique calls as well as Taiwan blue magpie, whistling thrush and mikado pheasant passing overhead. Mikado pheasant made a cheeping noise or and blue magpie and whistling thrush sang sweetly from the bushes in the wild wild forest. I did not appreciate the beauty of the nature as I was too little and too scare because everything were big and tall in the eyes of a late 4 years old child, besides I made sure that I followed my brother closely as he usually walked fast. However, with my sister, I was always ahead of her for the reason that she was weak and malnutrition. She must had had 5 to 7 minutes break for almost every 100 feet with her hands clasp together on the top of the one end of carrying pole and the other end on the ground to support her body and her chin resting on back of her hands with an apologetic smile during hiking up the mountain. She was feeble and a pitiful look. I commiserated with her on her unfortunate life and even I was only a late 4 years old child but my life and my sibling’s life just so unbearable sufferance. So, I developed maturity of mind and mental endurance and strength at my early age. I asked the God or myself why she was born here or in this family. I asked the God to take away her pain and suffering and then gave it to me. I often asked myself if I am a person who had been sent here for purpose of a penalty or for purpose of other destiny or if I was incarnation of some one and what I had done in my previous life? So I must had suffered the sharp mental and emotional pain of fragile young mind even I was a little child who did not even know what life was all about.

I felt sadly downcast and helpless yet I always stayed with her closely. I was scared all the time that she may have collapsed on the way up or down. We were safe in the mountain even only two of us. The mountains did not have aggressively large animals such as wolf, black bear or Formosan wild boar during the day but small one such as Formosan pangolins or animal resembling to the raccoons. Those small animals were shy of people.

There were all kinds of harmful insects and poisonous snakes in forest. Especially, we, either with my old brother or 3^rd sister, wore ragged clothes which mended or patched up over and over countless number of times and we went barefoot. I had never worn shoes or sneakers, which were considered luxurious and I would not even dare to imagine, until I was 12 years old. I wore wood flipper which was repeated repair upon repair before went to bed or during a festive holiday and it was a luxury to me. My feet were developed thick and hardened, callous layer to protect from the sharp edges of stones and rocks that I walked on. However, it would not protect from harmful insects and poisonous snakes bites or frostbites in the winter.

I saw wild poisonous green snakes many times coiled around the branch of trees and stretched out half of its body length with sticking out the tone and poising to attack. I also saw a most poisonous brown snake very slow movement crossing over the trail once. There was a small group of hikers, who either picked up fruits or yams or took care the fruit or yam fields in the mountain, in front of us talking about that brown snake and they wanted the brown snake crossing over the trail first. Poisonous snakes usually would not make an attack on human if they would not be in shock or not have accidentally been stepped on it. I had never been bitten by any poisonous snakes in the forest, nor my family, relatives, or neighbors. My body must had also developed with naturally immune or anti-allergenic to poison as I was frequently in contact with or bitten by various insects.

First time, my brother took me into the forest up the mountain. It was sunning day, he let me wait for him in the meadow with grass and bush up to my belly or higher surrounded by forests while he had gone into the forest to collect the firewood. The sky was clouded; it was dark, shortly, after he entered into the forest. I was so scared. I was crying loud and hard for about ten minutes. Then, I saw a big dark brown bird flying over and stay in one of the trees, not too far from me, looked at me. I felt better and stopped crying as I had seen that bird almost every night in my dream. The large bird was gentle and wavelike motion to put me to sleep with its wings every night.

It also gave notice of something that caused rapid movement of bushes and grasses toward me. I saw a large, possible the same size as my body, a white snake covered with either dark blue or black floral, it could be daisy pattern, slithered on the ground beside me toward this other side of the forest. The snakes usually made me and it still make me nervous and creepy. At first I was shock. However, this large and beautiful floral snake slithered gentle and smooth motions did not scare me. The white snake disappeared from my sight.

I raised my head and the large brown bird was not longer there. The sky cleared up and became bright again. However, I have never seen this large brown bird again either in my dream or a physical sight.

Who am I and where am I from? ---------TO BE CONTINUING-----------------

Jennie PC Chiang/江佩珍 01/27/12 美國