Sisters From The Last Century 姐妹情

From left to right: Jennifer's sister, Jennifer, the daughter of our neighbor, who often helped to look after us when my parents were not home. Every times when she came to sleep with us to keep us company, she always used a very long bamboo stick to go over the dark space underneath the bed to make sure that no one was hiding there.

這張照片從左自右分別是：我的大妹妹，我，和我鄰居家的姐姐。我小時候，父母經常同時出差不在家，這時我母親就會央隔壁的這個姐姐過來給我們作伴，陪我們過夜，免得我們害怕。這位姐姐警惕性特別高，每次來時，必先拿一根長竹竿把所有的牀底下等暗黑角落都捅一遍，以確保沒有壞人藏在那裏。

Her high sense of vigilance always made me more nervous; so later on I said to my mother, "Please don't ask the sister next door to come to sleep with us when you travel again. I was more scared with her here."

我本來不怕的，被她這麼神經兮兮地一搞，反倒害怕起來，所以後來我就跟母親說，以後別讓她過來陪我們了，她來了我更怕。

After that I became the big "boss" of the house and looked after my two little sisters when both my parents were gone. I seldom felt scared, or became suspicious that somebody could be hiding underneath our bed.

從此後我終於「擺脫」了她，父母不在家時，我就是老大，照顧兩個妹妹的起居，督促她們學習等。我也不知爲何，並不害怕，從來沒覺得應該拿竹竿把牀底下捅一遍。

However, we remained good friends with this sister for many, many years. That's why we went so far as to spend a fortune to have this photo taken at a professional studio, when there were no iPhones, no family owned cameras.

不過，我們跟這位姐姐一直是好朋友，所以專門跑到照相館花錢照了這張合影。在那個沒有相機，更沒有手機的年代，合個影不容易呢！