作 者：龔如仲（美國）
海外頭條總編審 王 在 軍 （中國）
海外頭條副編審 Wendyh溫迪（英國）
海 外 頭 條總 編 火 鳳 凰 （海外）
圖片選自百度
命運被轉移的男孩
第二部分：快樂而迷茫的男孩
文/龔如仲（美國）
在父母的經(jīng)心呵護下，我一天天成長著。盡管那個年代可供孩子們選擇的玩樂方式實在有限，但精力過于旺盛的我依然可以找到不少享受快樂時光的辦法。除了“斗雞”--- 對陣雙方均雙手抱起左腳使左腿彎曲，右腿獨立，然后雙方用左腿膝蓋作“武器”，攻擊對方，把對方拱倒者為贏家?！岸ｈF”，就在在地上畫一方格，一方將一塊廢鐵放入格中，另一方站立，用一塊廢鐵垂直叮向地上的鐵塊，如能將其砸出方格外，就可將此鐵塊收入囊中。如不能成功，則將自己的鐵塊放入格內，由另一方來叮。“拍香煙牌子，就是地上畫一方格，一方將處理平整的香煙紙放入格中，另一方用手掌用力拍地，將其拍出格外。如成功，就可將拍出方格的香煙紙占為己有?！?/span>打彈子”，就是用玻璃球彈擊另一方的玻璃球?！疤R”，就是一人彎腰，雙手扶腿，半蹲成“馬”狀，另一人或多人從此人身上跳過。這些都是“小兒科”級別的娛樂方式。除此之外，偶而冒點險也是時有發(fā)生的。
記得十二歲那年的一個夏天，我瞞著父母，偷偷地把五六個十歲左右的小男孩帶到離家頗遠的、上海近郊一個叫頭道橋的地方。到了那兒之后，大伙兒便跳進一條不太深的小河中玩起了戲水。等到我們玩夠了，套起半干半濕的衣褲，拖著疲乏的腳步，于傍晚時分回到各自家中時，那些男孩的父母們馬上便發(fā)現(xiàn)了我們擅自下河玩水的秘密。于是他們先后來到我家，紛紛在我父母面前“”控告”我這個“帶頭大哥”的“罪行”。家長們氣憤地對我父母說道：”如果有孩子淹死在河中，誰負得起這個重大責任”？我父母自然是誠惶誠恐地向人家不斷道歉。等到告狀者悻悻離去，氣急了的父親把我狠揍了一頓，那是我由生以來受到的最重的一次體罰。
不去玩水了，干脆練跳高。由于缺少運動場地和器材，愚昧的我竟把一根結實的細竹竿的兩端分別插入弄堂口兩邊的墻縫中，竹竿被死死地固定了。然后我便從遠處起跑、奔向竹竿，試圖征服這一高度。想不到自己跳得不夠高，我不但未能越過竹竿，反而被它擋住，于是我便頭朝下、重重地摔倒在石子鋪成的路面上。等母親把我這個滿頭鮮血的“運動員”送到醫(yī)院施救時，這才發(fā)現(xiàn)，我的前額被磕開一道不淺的大口子。直到今天，我對著鏡子仍可依稀看到這道傷疤的痕跡。
當冬天來臨時，我有時會趁到姨媽家做客的機會，拿著長竹竿和比我小五歲的外甥女雨笙玩“竹竿敲冰”的游戲。我將竹竿伸向屋檐，設法把垂掛在那兒的冰柱敲下來，而雨笙小姐則小心翼翼地用雙手拉起衣襟去接掉下來的冰塊。收獲冰塊后，我們會把冰塊納入口中，津津有味地享用著這些免費的“棒冰”（北方人叫“冰棍”）。
隨著時間的推移，我從小學生變成了中學生，我已不再留戀那些兒時的游戲。由于臭味相投，我放學后經(jīng)常和班上四個和我一樣愛讀神鬼、俠義小說的男生玩在一起。等大家越玩越投機之后，我們五個人干脆就跪倒在我家觀音大士的畫像前（我母親信佛，家中供奉觀音），結拜為如同“劉關張?zhí)覉@三結義”般的異姓兄弟。
雖然我們當時沒有“戰(zhàn)呂布”、“抗曹操”的“英勇壯舉”，但我們五個少不更事的渾小子滿腦子琢磨的是如何逃離家門，到四川峨眉山找“高人”學道術、練武藝。后來終于決定：大家提前準備點衣服和銀子，在一個星期六的清晨到我家弄堂口會合，然后一起前往峨眉山。想不到其中一個兄弟星期五晚上臨睡前偷家里錢時露出了馬腳。于是乎，他的父母連夜緊急通知了其它四兄弟的家長。其結果，我們兄弟五人不但學道未成，反而人人挨了一頓暴打，“上山修練”的夢從此了結。
在我少年時代，除了玩耍、冒險、享受快樂外，有時也處于迷茫之中，因為我常常弄不懂在大人們中間到底發(fā)生了什么事情。
比如，全國大煉鋼鐵期間，馬路上滿墻貼的都是“大煉鋼鐵，超英趕美”的大標語，有的地方還張掛著“十五年超過英國，二十年趕上美國“的大橫幅。那時候的中國人顯示出來的是異乎尋常的愛國熱情。家家戶戶都把家中可以找到的鐵器捐獻出來，甚至連家中作為備用的鐵鍋、菜刀都統(tǒng)統(tǒng)繳了公。我親眼看到弄堂口那扇用于保護居民安全的大鐵門也被“積極分子們”拆走，和其它鐵器一道，被送到位于街口的“土高爐”里去煉鋼。但可惜的是，從“土高爐”里煉出來的卻是一坨坨廢鐵。
又比如，轟轟烈烈的“消滅四害”（也叫“除四害”）運動開始了，我們這群小屁孩興奮地跟在大人們后面，拼命地對著樹上棲的、天上飛的麻雀們大聲喊叫。大人們則玩兒命地敲鑼打鼓、揮舞紅旗，一波又一波地驅趕著那些可憐的小鳥。經(jīng)過一天的喊叫和無休止地驅趕，許多累極了的麻雀便從空中摔到了地上?？墒沁^了不久，又聽大人講了：雖說麻雀偷吃稻谷，“損害人民的利益”，但它們吃得更多的卻是害蟲。所以不能再把這功過相抵的麻雀與罪大惡極的蒼蠅、蚊子和老鼠同列為“四害”了。為了湊齊四種害蟲，于是人們便把蟑螂列入四害之中。所以中國人心目中的四害便是蒼蠅、蚊子、老鼠和蟑螂。就這樣，我在快樂與迷茫交織的環(huán)境中漸漸長大成人。
***此文選自拙作【歲月如重---兼談華國鋒】之第一章“命運被轉移的男孩”
Chapter 2: Young Adult
Posted by Ralph Gong
(1)
Under my foster parents’ loving and meticulous care, I was growing healthily day by day to be a naughty boy.
Back in the early 1950s in China, there were few entertaining facilities available for kids. Boys of my age therefore were forced to find our own ways to kill the time.
We played such games as “Hide-and-Seek”, “Street-Running” and “Tree-Climbing”. For me, two games were particularly interesting. I had so much fun with them. They were “Roosters Fighting” and “Scrap-Iron-Dropping”.
Roosters Fighting follow these rules: two boys must stand straight, facing up to each other at a certain distance. Then each boy should use right hand to grab his left foot to right above kneecap of the right leg. As a result, his left knee would be pointing out. Both parties, thus, could use their pointed left knee as a weapon to strike against each other while supporting their bodies using the right leg hopping around. The one who won the game was the one who struck down the other.
The game of Scrap-Iron-Dropping allowed only two players involved. Those two boys must collect in advance some small pieces of scrap iron either from their homes or on street corners or elsewhere. One of the two boys should start the game by drawing on the ground (mostly the cemented ground) a reasonably-sized square. And then, Boy A would put a small piece of iron in the center of the square. Boy B, the opponent, would stand straight and take a small piece of iron in his right hand and aim at the targeted iron-piece inside the square, making sure that his iron taken by his right hand would accurately strike the targeted one on the ground. Once the above-mentioned actions were done, Boy B could drop his iron naturally and vertically on the targeted iron with the aim of getting it out of the square by gravity. If Boy B successfully did it, he won the game and he could have the right to possess that piece of iron. If not, Boy B should place his scrap iron in the center of the square and let Boy A do the same action of iron-dropping.
The reason why I was fond of playing the above-mentioned two games were partially that Roosters-Fighting could show my bravery. Not to boast of myself, I was indeed one of the best fighters among my fellow players at that time. And Scrap-Iron-Dropping could help me earn a little bit pocket money. If my “dropping gains” were big enough, I could even sell the waste iron to a reclamation depot in our community.
Recalling those times, there was an “insignificant incident” which lingered in my mind throughout the years. It occurred when I was twelve years old.
One sunny afternoon during my summer vacation, I summoned five or six neighborhood boys, aging from nine to eleven, to a place called “the First Bridge” in the suburb of Shanghai. We went swimming and played some water games in a river there.
Though the river was not far away from our homes, none of us dared to tell the parents where we were going and what we would do before setting off.
It was indeed a wonderful and amazing feeling jumping into the river and starting to swim and frolic at random. Out of the river and putting on our half-wet clothes, we walked slowly back home. As we were very tired, we did not get home until sunset time. Not long after I got home, something really bad happened.
The parents of those boys who were with me in the afternoon, discovered the “secret” of our going to the countryside for water games. They rushed to my home one after another with the purpose of meeting with my parents and complaining about me, the “Culprit”, who was those boys’ Leading Brother. They declared to my parents that my “venture” of leading their kids to a dangerous country river was big wrong-doing, and warned my parents in a serious manner that if any kid were drown in the river, we would be responsible for the tragedy.
Under such circumstances, my parents could do nothing but made humbly and sincerely apologies to those “prosecutors” while promising to them that the “trouble-maker” would be severely punished.
After seeing off the “prosecutors”, my father was so furious that he couldn’t help himself any longer. He gave me a good spanking.
So be that the end of water-frolicking. But I quickly decided to engage myself in another passion: high-jumping, which led to more incidents in my life.
I got passionate about high-jumping because I believed that with my height, it was promising for me to become an “outstanding high-jumper”.
In the early years of 1950s, China was still quite poor. Public sports facilities were rarely available. To find a suitable place around our community to practice my high-jump was almost impossible. But I was such a “smart young adult” that I easily found a solution to that: a narrow alley adjacent to my home. As per my eye measurement, the width of this alley was less than three meters apart. I managed to obtain a tiny and thin but durable bamboo pole, chopped off a few inches on one end of the pole so that the amended pole could well fit the alley width. I inserted one end of the pole into a hole in one alley wall, and placed another pole-end to a hole of the opposite wall.
When the pole was firmly fixed in both holes between the two alley walls, I began the warm-up exercises before embarking on the actual jumping. When ready, I walked to a certain spot which was about four meters away from the pole. Then, pumped up with enough self-confidence that I would easily jump over the height, I “gracefully” dashed towards the fixed bamboo pole…
Unfortunately, I failed. By trying to jump over the fixed pole, I fell down to the gravel ground and hit myself heavily.
I did not realize that there was a big cut on my forehead. By the time my Mom sent me to the community hospital for the first-aid, the face of the proud “sportsman” was bleeding terribly. Even today, one can still see the scar indistinctly if looking carefully.
From time to time in winter, my mother would take me to visit my aunt, whose home was not far away. If the weather was extremely chilly, say after snowing, I would invite Yusheng, the grand daughter of my aunty, to go out to have fun in the cold with me. What we loved to do together was to use a long and thin bamboo pole to knock the small icicle from the eaves of our next neighbor’ house. When the icicle was loosened, ready to be knocked off, Yusheng would be always most happy to pull her cotton-padded overcoat out in order to catch and hold the icicle. Once having collected enough of it, we would share the gains, respectively putting the icicle into our mouth, tasting the icy stuff as if they were delicious ice bonbons.
(2)
As time went by, I grew from a pupil to be a middle-school student. Passion for kids’ games took a turn and left me. Instead, I started to find big pleasure in reading Chinese classic literature, especially those mythical novels.
There happened to be four boys in our class, who shared the interest with me. This “common language” strengthened our friendship and made the five of us into intimate friends. We even decided to become the so-called “Sworn Brothers”. One day, I invited the four boys to my home. As my mother believed in Buddhism, the Five of us knelt down piously in front of a portrait of Buddha Guanying (the Goddess of Mercy), going through the ceremony of becoming Sworn Brothers by swearing into “brotherly relationship”.
A Chinese saying goes like this: “Things of a kind come together, people of a mind fall into the same group”. None of us five brothers was a hard-working student who would concentrate on his classroom learning. What we really liked to do was to learn the Chinese “Gongfu” (martial arts) well. The reason was simple: all of us five were crazy about those heroic figures who appeared in the Chinese classical or mythical novels.
In those times, people did believe that the true Chinese Gongfu Masters could only be found in the deep forests of some well-known mountains, like Mount Emei in particular. Mount Emei is situated in Sichuan Province in China. It is as high as 3000 meters.
In order to go to Mount Emei to learn the true Chinese Gongfu, we five brothers reached an agreement that we would play truant, leaving Shanghai for Mount Emeil as soon as possible. A few days later, we decided to take the train to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province. From there we would get to Mount Emeil quickly. We also decided that we must do some preparation work, such as having enough money, taking some solid food and getting some warm clothes. It was planned that we would gather together at my alley’s entrance on the early morning of the coming Saturday. Thus, all our preparation work must be done on or before Friday night.
The plan seemed to be carried out perfectly! But nothing could be perfect.
It sounded like a joke but exactly on that Friday night, one of the us was caught red-handed by his Mother when he stole the money from his home. After questioning her son and coming to know about the secret, the hot-headed Mother immediately visited the other four families. One after another (at that time, no home had the telephone facility), she told the parents of the other 4 brothers about the bold plan.
As a result, our “fleeing plan” went up in smoke. What’s even worse was all Five Brothers were badly beaten up at home.
（3）
Being indulged in game-playing, naughty venturing and pleasure-seeking during my early youth, I sometimes felt a bit confused about things happening around me. I couldn’t understand why the adults around me would sometimes embark on strange or unreasonable matters.
Starting in the year of 1958, for example, Chinese government began to implement a so-called “Big-Leap-Forward ” policy. One important thing related to the implementation was to mobilize the citizens all over the country to try as hard as possible to produce steel and iron. The main argument for the policy at that time was, we should make a lot of steel and iron to industrialize China so that it could be powerful enough to surpass or catch up with those major capitalist countries in the Western World.
At that time, if you walked out, you could see an interesting phenomenon. Everywhere, in the streets or on the residential buildings, were such political slogans as “Striving to produce steel and iron in order to catch up with the USA and surpass the UK”, or “Surpassing the UK in 15 years, and catching up with the USA in 20 years”.
For the sake of making more steel and iron to support the country’s policy, the Chinese people across the whole country showed unusual enthusiasm. Almost every household in my community did the utmost to search for some scrap iron at home. If no waste iron or steel could be found any more, people would contribute some of their daily-using iron-steel-made tools or utensils such as knives, pots or even hammers to the community authority. The iron-steel-made stuff would be regarded as the raw material for steel-making, being sent to a refractory-brick-made furnace for “steel-making”.
One such steel-making furnace was just located on the roadside near the entrance of my alley. I saw with my own eyes the whole process of how some “activists” in my neighborhood dismantled and crashed the huge and heavy iron door into pieces, sending the iron pieces to the furnace for steel-making (for your information, the iron door was installed for the purpose of protecting the residents inside the allay. After the door was dismissed, the safety of the residents was no longer guaranteed).
But even if the Chinese people worked so selflessly and passionately for the country’s “Steel-Making-Project”, the result was not ideal, because none of the steel or iron billets or products coming out of those backward furnaces was qualified. In other words, they were themselves scrap iron.
The other national movement, called the “Campaign of Wiping out the Four Pests”, confused me, too. In the year of 1956, the Chinese Committee of Patriotic Health Movement declared that the four creatures of Mouse, Fly, Mosquito and Sparrow were pests and must be killed. It was understandable that mice, flies and mosquitoes were malicious because they could transmit diseases to the human bodies. “But why treating sparrows, those poor little birds, as pest or bad creature, too? Why must they also be facing the death penalty”? I couldn’t help wondering.
On the morning of a summer day, I followed a huge group of people, like other kids, to see how the adults wiped out sparrows.
They waved big red flags, beat gongs and drums while shouting loudly to the sparrows that were resting in trees, on house eaves or catching worms on the grassland. Overwhelmed by the noises, those poor birds were so scared and frightened that they could think of nothing more than flying into the air, trying to escape. But people kept on waving the red flags, beating the gongs and drums while shrieking loudly for hours. Thus, many tired-out sparrows would simply fall down onto the ground, half dead.
Later, the Patriotic Health Movement Committee changed the policy by releasing a statement, saying that “even though sparrows eat crops and grains, harming people’s interest, those birds also catch and eat bad worms. The account of sparrows’ merits and demerits, so to speak, was square.” After a while, a new list of “the Four Pests” came out. They were Mouse, Fly, Mosquito and Roach.
The incidents of those years never left me, accompanying me and witnessing my growth. I was sometimes happy and sometimes confused, an unforgettable teenage time, indeed!
(END)
About the Author:
Ruzhong Gong (Ralph Gong), born in Shanghai, China, now living in the USA.
Graduated From the English Department of Universityof International Business and Economics, Beijing, China
Before retirement, President of an USA overseas company under China National Light Industrial Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of a joint-venture company in USA, jointly owned by Australia’s Lief Group Company and China National Chemical Products Imp. & Exp. Corp.; President of an American Brach Corp. under China National Foreign Trade Bases Corp.; Chief Representative in Beijing Office under Trade Am, an American Carpets Wholesale Company.
Author of 6 books, including “My Life—Family, Career & VIPs”, “How to Do Business in Mainland of China”, “My Leisure Time”, “My Leisure Time—Poems & Articles” , “Poems and Essays from Leisure Chamber” and “Flowers By My Side”.
Member of the Chinese Poetry Society (CPS), Free Lance Writer for Austrian Sinopress, and Senior Consultant for Taiwan Caiwei Publishing House.
龔如仲：生于上海，中國對外經(jīng)濟貿易大學英語系畢業(yè)，畢業(yè)后奔赴非洲任鐵道部援建坦贊鐵路工作組總部英語翻譯，中國國際廣播電臺英語部英語播音員、記者，外貿部中國輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司出口二處業(yè)務員、副處長，外貿部輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司駐美國公司總裁（處長）。
有關作品：
自2012年至2016年，臺灣采薇出版社出版自傳【歲月如重】（該書已被香港中文大學圖書館、美國紐約市立圖書館和澳大利亞國家圖書館作為自傳體作品正式收藏），【東西南北中國人---細談如何在大陸做生意】，【悠然時光】和【悠然時光---如仲詩語】。
2018年4月，中國國際廣播出版社出版【悠然齋詩文選】
2018年9月，中國國際廣播出版社出版【花兒在身邊開放】
2019年4月，臺灣采薇出版社出版英文書【My Life—Family, Career & VIPs】
作者現(xiàn)為中華詩詞學會會員、中國經(jīng)典文學網(wǎng)特約作家、臺灣采薇出版社資深顧問、奧地利英文網(wǎng)Sinopress特聘專欄作家、北美北斗星文學社副社長、副總編輯。
