Diary+Entry+1+(Shelley+Ant+Farm)


 * DIARY ENTRY 1 **

November 11th, 1937 Rubber Plantation Farm, Vietnam Dear Diary,

It has been a very long day. I had to work double shifts in the factory today because Penny had the flu and couldn’t work today. So many of us are falling sick these days. I imagine it’s because of the changing weather. I can feel the chill every morning when I wake up and get ready to work.

After work today, the French woman, Ms. Barnard, asked me to come to her room to tell me something important. She has been a mother to me ever since she adopted me from Shanghai when I was two years old. My parents had died from the plague and she had taken me with her to Vietnam. As soon as I entered her room, she made me sit down on her bed and drink a cup of warm tea. I started feeling uneasy because I rarely came into her room to talk to her except when I was in trouble. I started going over everything I had done the past week that might have earned me a scolding. However, Ms. Barnard began talking about Shanghai and about the Japanese army that had reached Vietnam two days ago. I was lost but listened to her attentively because all that Ms. Barnard said was wise and reasonable. I started to doze off as she explained the current situation in Vietnam with the entrance of the Japanese soldiers into the country. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I gazed up to see Ms. Barnard's hazel eyes burning into my own. She asked,

“Xiao Jing, will you consider moving to Shanghai next week?”

I was confused and lost. What did she mean? Return to Shanghai? Vietnam had been my home for the past fourteen years. Yes, it was true that my hometown was Shanghai, but I didn’t remember anything about that place except the language the people used. When Ms. Barnard realized that I had not listened to everything she had said, she re-explained herself and asked me the same question again. After a moment of hesitation, I told her that I would have to think about it and went up to my room.

Return to Shanghai? Go back to China? How could I...all alone. It was true that the Japanese soldiers were a huge threat and liked to enslave young girls for their personal pleasure, but did this mean that I would have to move to China to escape from this danger?

It has been an extremely tiring and confusing day so I must sleep. I will write again in a few days.