Saturday Morning Burst of Life Essence

I am on my way to aikido practice on Saturday morning, a cup of Yiren (薏仁; Coix Seed) milk in my hand. I walk into campus and toward the big university gymnasium. There is a beautiful lawn with benches on campus, a sort of small park, bordering the track in front of the gym. I like to go there to sit and relax sometimes after class.

Today I sit on one of the benches, eating my breakfast, an egg sandwich and my Yiren milk, and watch a father and his son kick a soccer ball around. The boy must be about eight, the dad in his mid-thirties. The boy's sister is there, chasing her brother, laughing and smiling, making her eyes become small slits, like the ones we cut into the light brown construction paper we used in elementary school.

The girl leaves her brother and approaches the small garden on the left side of the lawn. She is drawn to a plant the looks like a fern. She looks at it and then begins purposefully pulling down the spines on the plants with one hand, so that in the other hand, she is able to collect the small drop-like leaves.

A part of me wants to tell her to leave the plant alone. I want her to have some kind of ecological consciousness, you know? But then I see that look in her eyes. I realize I need to pay attention.

She then runs towards her brother, who has just kicked the ball to his dad. She is starting to scream, and the closer she gets, the louder and more high-pitched her voice becomes. She makes a final dash in the direction of her brother, and timed with her final scream, releases the little leaves on him and runs away, giggling.