IS IT SAFE TO LOOK AT THE MOON?

In The Land of Hardship

There is a little story I would like to share.

Stella was a little five-year-old when I first met her. She lived with Mom and Dad in a little village in the faraway land of Asia, in South East Asia. They lived in a one bedroom home. Her Dad, a farmer, owned a half-acre farm land, a water buffalo, and a small garanary where he stored rice. Rice was the staple food in the village.

Stella, at a young age, had an ambition to leave the village one day, and seek her fortune in the City, which is a day's travel by train from the village. She hated to get up early in the morning when her Mom and Dad leave the home to work the farm land. She hated most of all to take care of her little sister.

Stella's Mom had to depend on her young daughter to care for the baby, even at a young age of five. She had to work the land beside her husband, especially when the field had to be tilled, or to be plowed to prepare it for the planting season. She and her husband had to start early because there are other chores that needed to be done at home, like cooking, laundry, feed the chickens and the pigs.

Stella hated to get up early, before the sun is up. Her anger is directed toward her baby sister. So one day when her Mom and Dad left to prepare the land for the planting season, she decided to go back to bed. She thought her sister was still asleep and everything was quiet in the house. Sometime in midmorning, she was suddenly awakened by a scream. She jumped out of bed and rushed to her sister's crib. The crib was empty. Where was her sister? She looked around the house, called out her sister's name, Elly, short for Elizabeth. She was nowhere in the house. She ran out of the house, her heart thumping against her breast. She was red in the face, sweat filled her brow, her mouth was dry, and the fear that filled her being almost suffocated her.

She heard a little cry that came from the kitchen, which sounded like her sister. She dashed to the kitchen. She stood at the door, ashamed and embarrassed. Mom was breast feeding her baby sister.

"Mom! You scared me!"

"Did I sweetheart? Sorry."

"How come you're home?"

"I felt terrible leaving you with the baby, so I came back."

"But ..."

"It's all right, Stella. Dad said he could shoulder the work on her own today."

"I'm sorry I have not been doing my share of work."

"Don't worry, dear. Dad and I understand you need your sleep."

Stella rushed to her Mom and hugged her.

"I'll do better tomorrow, I promise."

Mom kissed Stella, her smile said she understood how she felt.