Boy and the old man

Boy and the old man

This is a story which I put together from several stories imagined and experience with some of my neighbours who were old men. The stroy is about relationship between an old British veteran of the Second World War who lost his wife and a Chinese boy who just moved to the neighbourhood from Hong Kong, then a Crown colony of Great Britain. They were both lonely. The British veteran who just lost his wife and did not have too many friends because many of them had died. The Hong Kong boy just came from Hong Kong and was learning to adjust to this new place, new language and leaving much of his friends and relatives behind. Somehow the two foster an unlikely friendship as they grow together.

The story starts with the old man sitting out on the porch of his house, depressed with teary eyes. Remembering his late wife who passed away a few weeks ago. His son and daughter, some friends and other family members had left and he was feeling more alone then ever, missing his wife.

Next door, a Chinese family from Hong Kong had just moved in during the preparation for Mrs Fields' funeral so Mr Fields hardly realized that he had a new neighbour. Every evening, after eating dinner and watering the garden, he would sit on the rocking chair on his porch, watching kids of the neighbourhood play football in the park across from his house. He couldn't quite remember all their names but he knew which house each came from. He had been living in this neighbourhood every since he and his young wife moved to Australia from Liverpool after the war. He paid the down payment for the house and been paying his mortgage for 30 years. He raised sons and daughter from this house and remember his children who also played in the park.

The neighborhood had changed since he first moved. Holden, Chevolet and Ford had been replaced Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Other people have moved in. Italians, Greeks, Croatians and other East Europeans. Lately there have been some Asian families here. Just two. It did not bother him all that much. They looked like decent people with children and were mostly quite and kept to themselves. He could still remember the Japanese he fought against in Singapore.

Yeung just moved in to the neighborhood and he was not having a good time. He was 6 and did not like school here.

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