Excerpt from "1985"

Here is an excerpt from my life story titled "1985."  I revised and presented this portion of my life story at Oakland Word Reading held at Caesar Chavez Branch of Oakland Library earlier this month.  The full story will be published in the Oakland Word Anthology book set to publish in June, enjoy!

Six months after my first accident, Aunt Song and I were walking back from a bathhouse when I got hit by a taxi.  I was living in Song-Do with Father, and Aunt Song came to live with us for several months before following her parents to Florida.  Our one-room home in Song-Do was not equipped with a bathtub or a shower stall.  Our bathroom consisted of a communal out-house and two buckets, one to wash our faces and the other to pour water over our backs when it got sweltering hot in the summer.  I loved the neighborhood bathhouse with its numerous temperature-controlled pools where I dog-paddled around for hours.  One day, on our way to the bathhouse, I said proudly, "Aunt, I can run fast!"  Without looking, I dashed across the road bee-lining for stairs leading up to the bathhouse.  I heard a loud screeching of car breaks and Aunt screaming, "HyeJin!  You crazy girl, your dad will kill me if you got hit!"  I laughed off the incident.  On the way back home, I wanted to show Aunt that I was indeed an excellent runner.  "Aunt, this time, I can really run!"  I dashed across the street, not seeing a taxi speeding downhill.  For the second time that year, everything went BLACK.

I woke up to a stench so powerful I gagged.  I had thrown up Kimchi soup Aunt Song had cooked for lunch all over my shirt.  Seeing me stir, Aunt exclaimed, "HyeJin, why did you have to run across like that, not once but twice?  I'm in such trouble!"  I had broken my right thigh bone upon impact, flying up over 20 feet.  I could not open my left eye because that side of my face skidded on the concrete road to break my fall, resulting in a huge scab covering my face for weeks to come.  Doctor told me, "You are lucky to be alive; you would have died if you fell on your head instead of on your face."  I ended up in a body cast and lived at the hospital for several months.

During my hospital stay, Mother paid me a visit.  Every year, Mother got her fortune told by a famous fortune teller.   Forbidden to see me after her family's refusal to take me in following the divorce, Mother started getting my fortune told, to check up on me.  In 1985, the fortune teller predicted my two near-death events.  In panic, Mother tracked me down to Song-Do.  She knocked on the door of our house only to find out from our landlady of my accident and the subsequent hospitalization.  Mother made a secret visit to the hospital late one night while I was asleep.  Aunt later told me that Mother silently cried by my bedside.  I wished I was awake then, to see my mother again, and also to tell her, "Mother, please don't cry, I am a big girl now.  I survived 2 car accidents, I can survive anything.  I cried too, Mother, the last time I saw you.  You were hiding behind a bus stop, watching, as your mother and your brother walked me to my uncle's restaurant and left me there inside, without a word.  Father came later, yelled and carried on.  I missed you, Mother, but I am alright now, so don't worry about me.  I will be careful, I promise."