Staring at me, he said with remorse, “I am responsible for the incident that happened back then. I shouldn’t keep it from Mr. Moore. If he learned of your existence, maybe he would bring you back to the Moore family.”
To me, that was all in the past now. Hence, I let out a faint smile and replied, “Boris, there is no such thing as ‘if’ in this world.”
Smiling, he took a quick glance at Amy, who was sleeping on my legs, and said, “This child will have a different life after encountering you.”
I shrugged in response and remained silent. It was too early to jump to conclusions now. No one could tell if this was a good or bad thing.
After about eight hours, we arrived at the village. At that time, all of us were exhausted. Although we departed early in the morning, it was late when we reached the destination.
The cold spell hit the village in December, causing a drastic dip in the temperature. Just as I got out of the car, I shivered because the cold wind blew toward me. After a while, Amy woke up and opened her eyes slowly. Looking at the environment that she was familiar with, she said, “Ms. Stovall, we’ve arrived.”
I gave her a nod and grabbed hold of her as we walked toward her house with the bags. Her house was not too far from our car, but the road was not easy to walk. Luckily, there was no rain recently. The soil was dry and hard, so it wasn’t that bad.
By the time we reached Ronald’s house, the sky was already dark. Hence, I couldn’t find the entrance. Looking at the dark house, I was a little worried. It’s already nine! Why there’s no one here? Where did they go?
Luckily, Amy was familiar with this place. She stood outside the door and called out to her parents. Not long after, someone opened the door slightly. A meek voice was heard coming from the inside, “Amy, is that you?”
After a short pause, Amy replied happily, “Ava, it’s me! Ms. Stovall brings me back.” At that, she rushed into the house happily.
There was no light in the house. Hence, Boris turned on the torchlight. When he saw a seven-year-old child, he furrowed his brows unwittingly and queried, “Where are your parents?”
Ava held onto Amy’s hand and replied, “They work at the farm and haven’t come back yet.”
At that time, the light from the torch lit up in the house, and I could see a pot of vegetable stew on the cement floor. The dish looked like it had turned cold. Besides, the fire in the coal stove that provided heat to the house was almost extinguished.
I turned to look at Ava, who was trembling from the coldness, and asked, “It’s so cold, and you’re only wearing so little? Why don’t you burn more coal?”
She tugged on Amy’s arms and touched the latter’s clothes in envy as she replied, “Mom told me not to waste the coal when they are not home. I just need to cover myself with the blanket to keep warm. I will start the fire after they come home.”
Hearing that, I was overwhelmed by an inexplicable feeling. I think that doesn’t seem appropriate, but I did not say anything else. Then, I asked Boris to take all the food from the car and bring her a heavy jacket. After putting on the jacket for a while, she took off the jacket and kept it.
I was confounded. “Why don’t you wear it? The weather is cold. You’ll catch a cold if you don’t wear a few more layers.”
She shook her head and answered, “I want to save it for Christmas. If I have new clothes for Christmas, no one will make fun of me anymore this year.”
At that, Boris stood up and passed her the jacket again, and said in a serious manner, “Just keep it on. Ms. Stovall will give you some new clothes too for Christmas.”
Upon hearing that, Ava was excited and put on the jacket as instructed.
About half an hour later, a sound came from outside. Ronald and his wife came back from work. Seeing that, Ava started the fire to heat the dishes up while Amy helped the former to add the firewood.
On the other hand, Boris and I walked out of the house. At the sight of us, Ronald was stunned before he could react. After that, he wore a wide grin and nervous expression on his face and queried, “Ms. Stovall, what makes you come here? Did Amy cause trouble to you? Don’t worry. Everything can still be discussed!”
I frowned at what he said. It seemed that to them, the children were always wrong. Looking at him, I said, “Don’t think too much. Amy didn’t cause any trouble to me. We are here to discuss something with you.”
Ronald’s wife listened to our conversation as she unloaded the dried grass and radish from the car. The children were helping her too.
Upon hearing my words, she heaved a sigh of relief.
As night had fallen, I didn’t tell him the purpose of my visit until the next morning.
The next day, Ronald’s wife got up very early.
She brought a huge basket and left the house with her children, saying that she wanted to collect radish at the nearby field.
Ronald knew I had something to discuss with him. So he woke up early too. I said bluntly to him, “It’s like this. I knew you haven’t register Amy as a citizen. So, I want you to get citizenship for her, and we will pay for the fee. This will definitely bring benefits to you and Amy in the future.”
