***** Vol.2 Chap.21 Disaster at the train station *****
At long last, May-Ling and her grandpa had finally arrived in Shanghai. She was so worn out and tired from the trip that when they arrived, she was sleeping soundly with one hand hanging on to him. She felt safe being physically connected to him. When the train pulled into the train station, she was still sound asleep. The train whistles were loud and long while pulling into the station, but she heard none of them. The train entered the terminal and pulled into a full stop. Grandpa Chen tried to wake her up, but she was totally out. He had to shake her hard for several minutes before she finally opened one eye.
“May-Ling, May-Ling.”
“Yes, Grandpapa? Where are we?” she said, rubbing her eyes.
“We are at the train station in Shanghai.”
“We are here already?”
“Get all your stuff together. It is time for us to get off.”
She looked around, found her bundle that she hung on for her life. That was all her belongings. As soon as the train pulled into a full stop, chaos ensued. Everyone grabbed their belongings and rushed towards the door. After a long train ride, everyone just wanted to be off. She understood the sentiment well and felt the same as well. She was wondering if anybody would grab more than their share. On that thought, she held on to her precious bundle tightly with her hand.
“May-Ling, hang on to my coat because I am holding on to the other bundle. Hold on tight to my coat and don’t let go.”
“OK, Grandpapa. I won’t let go.”
“Hang on tight because there are many people and I don’t want you to get lost.”
“Yes, Grandpapa.”
Grandpa Chen took his bundle and tried to make his way towards the door with May-Ling hanging on to his coat tail. Everyone was pushing and shoving one another, trying to get one step ahead. A man stepped in front of Grandpa Chen and almost pushed him over. He tried to steady himself. Another heavyset lady squeezed in front of May-Ling, pushing her back. But she hung on to her Grandpapa’s coat for fear of losing him. She was pulling so hard on his coat she almost ripped it apart. She felt people all around her, towering over her. They were so close to her she could smell their awful stench. She felt constricted and almost passed out because of the stench. It took every ounce of energy to keep calm and to hang on to her Grandpapa’s coat. Inside the boxcar, the air had gotten very stale and stank badly. No wonder everyone wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. After a lot more pushing and shoveling, they finally made it out of the boxcar onto the train platform.
“Phew!” They both let out a sigh!
They stepped aside near the edge of the platform to let others rush by them first. Her grandpa also wanted to catch his breath from all the pushing and shoveling inside the train. They found a bench at the side of the walkway and sat there for a while, waiting for the traffic to slow down. Hundreds of passengers filed past them, going every which way. All the arriving passengers were heading towards the exit gate while the departing passengers were holding tickets looking for the proper platform.
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This was the first time that May-Ling had ever been to a big city. She was totally stupefied and awed. As she looked around the terminal, she was dazzled by the size of the terminal. She had never seen so many trains in her whole life. There were all kinds of trains, passenger trains, cargo trains, express trains, and maintenance trains. There were trains pulling all kinds of strange boxcars. Some were rounded like a tube; others were flat. Some were boxy, like the one she was in. They all looked so interesting. She stood there gawking at the trains with her mouth open. There were trains coming and going. Whistles were blown all over the place. She was totally overwhelmed.
For a young villager who had spent the first twelve years in a village and had never been to a city, she never knew that there were so many people in the country. She had never seen so many people in her whole life and had never heard so many dialects spoken around her. She had never witnessed so many trains in one place, so many street vendors peddling their wares along the road, so many buildings in front of her. In fact, she had never seen a skyscraper before or people dressed in western-style suits. She never saw people with makeup on. Everything was new. Everything was strange.
After a five-minute rest, the platform seemed less crowded and Grandpa Chen told her to pick up her precious bundle as they followed the signs and headed for the exit gate. They had hardly gone over two steps when a loud whistle sounded behind them. May-Ling was not expecting that, and she jumped and almost tripped when she missed a step. She turned around and saw a fast express train pulling onto the platform. Immediately, hundreds of passengers filed out, and the platform was instantly filled with hundreds and hundreds of people again.
All the passengers seemed to be in a big hurry. They were pushing and shoveling one another again, trying to rush towards the exit gate. A rough-looking man jumped in front of May-Ling. Her hand slipped and lost her grip on her grandpa’s coat. She tried to duck around the man, but there were people all around her. She had no way to catch up with her grandpa. Yelling to him to wait, her voice was too soft and no one could hear her. All around her there was lots of shouting and yelling. People were calling for their things and others were shouting for porters. Mothers were shouting for their children; and friends were shouting at friends.
Anxiety rushed over her. She tried jumping up and down, but was too little to see her grandpa anywhere. Close to bursting into tears, she thought what a way to start a new life in a new city, but she decided she would not cry. She resolved to find a way to locate her grandpa in this crowd. An inner strength rose in her and she knew she was now alone and she must learn to take care of herself. She tried to follow the traffic, but she was afraid to wander too far and eventually got hopelessly lost. But she did not want to be separated too far from her grandpa as well.
Not knowing what to do, she spotted another bench nearby. She thought if she could make it to that bench, then perhaps she could stand on top of the bench and try to locate her grandpa there. So, she made her way to the side of the platform while dodging the oncoming traffic. One part of her just wanted to sit down and cry, but another part of her told her to get up on the bench and looked for her grandpa. She climbed onto the bench and jumped up and down on the bench, knowing her Grandpapa would never leave her alone. She kept jumping up and down on the bench until, at long last, she spotted her grandpa about a hundred feet from her. He was trying hard to walk against the onslaught of exciting current back to where she was. She was so relieved when she found him. Instead of waiting for him on the bench, she thought it would be easier if she just joined the traffic and walked up to him.
“May-Ling! May-Ling!”
“Grandpapa! Grandpapa!”
They were both relieved when they found one another again.
“Listen. Why don’t we wait a little while longer at the bench until these people are gone?”