If You Give Me Three Days of Light: The Best Collection of Helen Keller

Chapter 25 The Teacher's Story (2)
One morning Alice felt the pain in her throat, which was unbearable.A few days later, not only did the pain not subside, but she had a slight fever. She became thinner and weaker day by day, and her body became tired and weak.She began to cough desperately, and Alice knew what was wrong without the doctor telling her. "Tuberculosis" is a terminal disease that also specifically seeks out the poor.

One wave is not flat, and another wave rises again.A few days later, at dinner, Alice told her husband, "Thomas, we have another baby."

Thomas silently put down the knife and fork, swallowed the food, and asked, "When is it born?"

"I think maybe around Christmas."

Thomas spat disdainfully, "What a cumbersome Christmas present." He slammed down the napkin, turned around and walked out.

Alice let out a long sigh. She understood her husband's impatience. Indeed, everything was so unsatisfactory, her lung disease, Anne's eye disease, and now a baby that cost money.How is life going!

In January 1869, Jimmy was born.Unfortunately, he inherited his mother's physique when he was born, and he had a big tuberculoma on his hip.In the days that followed, Alice was always pale and frowning.People told Anne later how cheerful and laughing her mother was when she was young, but Anne remembered her mother as pale, sleepy, thin, and as silent as a statue.

Anne still had a happy time with her father.He continued to sing, dance and tell happy stories to his daughter.

Once, her father squatted beside her and asked her, "Does it hurt today?"

Annie knew that her father was talking about her eyes, and she didn't want to worry him, so she shook her head.

Thomas held her hand and said, "Come on, my little one! The weather is so nice, I'll take you out for a walk." The father and daughter walked 5 miles to the neighboring town of Xixiang.

Because Thomas heard that there was an ophthalmologist here, he took Annie to see him.

But the doctor shook his head after examining Anne's eyes.On the way home, Thomas knelt down beside Annie, put his arms around her and said, "Baby, don't worry, although this doctor can't take care of your problems, Dad will always find a good doctor to heal your eyes."

He carried Annie on his shoulders. "When you grow up, I will take you back to our hometown - Ireland. Wash your eyes with the water of the Shannon River in Ireland, and it won't hurt anymore. It is the best medicine in the world." Annie's eyes lit up.But how did she know how far it was from Massachusetts, USA to the Shannon River in Ireland.

Thomas took his daughter to the downtown area of ​​the town.In a shop window was a beautiful white straw hat with a light blue lace ribbon hanging down the back.

"Hi!" Anne exclaimed in admiration, pressing the tip of her nose to the window glass.

Thomas looked at his daughter, patted her on the shoulder and walked into the store.

Anne saw the salesman take the hat from the window.After a few minutes Thomas came out and put his hat on Anne's head.This is her first hat in her life!It is as beautiful as the hat on the head of the little fairy in the fairy tale!Wearing the most beautiful hat in the world, she laughed all the way home.

Gradually, Thomas seemed at a loss in the face of the ensuing difficulties. He didn't know how to get rid of the worries and troubles in his heart.Thomas was tormented by heavy burdens and sorrows. He gradually lost his mindfulness and began to learn to drink away his sorrows. He often went home after drinking too much.

Afterwards they had another child, and Alice was dying of illness, skinny, and the baby was noisy and noisy, and she didn't have the extra energy to take care of Anne.

The young Annie didn't understand the ups and downs of the world, and needed the care and love of her family.However, her parents didn't have extra love to nourish and care for her.She gradually became restless and anxious in her heart. Gradually, she began to become irritable and often lost her temper frantically. Anne went from being a happy and innocent little girl to being cranky and irritable, so much so that the neighbors later called her "a nuisance child".

Once, Alice asked Anne to take care of her little sister Mary who was sleeping in the cradle.Annie shook her head, feeling anger coming from her. From the bottom of her heart, she didn't like Mary. Mary took away all the love and affection from her mother.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she shook it vigorously angrily. With a bang, the baby rolled out of the cradle.

That night, her father beat her hard.She gritted her teeth tightly and did not shed a single tear. From then on, the resentment became more like a wildfire, which was hard to quell.

Another time, she reached into the oven to pick up bread and accidentally burned herself.Although it was her own fault, she was furious, grabbed the tongs, picked up the bread, and threw it on the ground.

Seeing Annie angrily ruining their precious rations, the mother could only moan helplessly: "Annie, Annie..."

Annie liked to watch her father shave every morning.Foam wrapped beard, how fun.On this day, Annie watched for a while, and she slowly moved her hand to the soap bubbles.

Unfortunately, Thomas was also in a bad mood. He slapped Annie and shouted, "Take your hands away."

This slap ignited Annie's old grudges and grudges, and instantly, like gunpowder exploded, Annie raised the bottles and cans at hand, and threw them viciously at the mirror one by one.The lenses shattered all over the floor, leaving the empty wooden frame trembling.

Faced with Annie's madness, his father was stunned, and he murmured, "Is it haunted by the devil? Is it obsessed with ghosts? Look at what you have done, you broom star, you have brought bad luck for seven years." Annie's heart.Poor Annie became a scapegoat!In fact, Thomas' emotion is not about the broken mirror, but about poverty and disease.The long sleepless night and her father's relentless narration have troubled Anne for many years.

Year after year, Anne's eye disease got worse, Jimmy's tumor grew bigger and bigger, Alice was blinded by the patient, and Thomas was addicted to alcoholism, unable to extricate himself.The situation has come to an end, and it can't get any worse.During these years, Alice barely supported the family.Misery devoured her silently like worms.

Finally, on that day, God took her soul away, and her soul returned to the west, and the house with its collapsed pillars was in a mess.

Sullivan's relatives had to come forward to help and settle a man who was alcoholic and three young children.

The family representative notifies all relatives of a meeting, and relatives who live nearby come to attend.Aunt Ellen offers to adopt Jimmy and baby Mary.

No one took the initiative to take in Annie, because she had a bad temper and eye disease that couldn't be controlled.After some prevarications, everyone decided that cousin John and cousin Su Daxi and cousin would take Anne in.Among his relatives, John is relatively rich. He owns a cigarette factory. Although it is not a big one, it can be regarded as his own boss and sole proprietorship.

"You have no reason, you are just jealous of us." Su Daxi's cousin yelled, but she couldn't shirk her moral responsibility.That afternoon, they had to take Annie home.

Although she was reluctant, Su Daxi's cousin did her best to treat this unexpected guest kindly, but little Annie didn't have a correct view of right and wrong. In her heart, she had nothing but inviolable "freedom". So she has to "protect herself". She instinctively, unscrupulously and unreasonably maintains the so-called "freedom".

Over and over again, her brutality scared Mrs. Su Daxi so much that she didn't want to provoke her anymore, so Mrs. Su Daxi just let her go and left her to fend for herself.

For a while afterwards, Anne was very comfortable.She sits under the apple tree and weaves daydreams, lies on the pile of dry straw in a daze, wanders in the fields, from this pasture to that grassland, and goes about her daily life.

One night, John told his wife, "Guess what I saw Annie doing today? She was lying in the grass behind the barn. Her hands were up high, and she was motionless. A little sparrow flew over from the tree and darted around. Annie flew over her, took a look at her and flew away, but Annie still didn’t move. The little sparrow flew back and landed on her finger, and they just looked at each other like old friends for 5 minutes. It's incredible."

Su Daxi's cousin snorted coldly: "What's so strange? Little Bird's friend? She's just a little bird, she's like a wild beast. It's much better to raise a pony or a calf than her. "

John said with emotion: "I do all kinds of evil at home, but I can be so gentle and patient outside."

Autumn is here, school is about to start, and Annie is of age to start school.One day, she found Su Daxi's cousin and asked tremblingly with excitement and excitement, "Can I go to school?"

Su Daxi's cousin sneered, "Stop daydreaming. With your eyes, you will never even think about reading or writing." Annie's wish to go to school fell through.

Christmas is coming soon, John and Su Daxi's cousin enter the large living room in front almost every day with big and small bags.They store their Christmas presents in the front hall, and all the little ones are not allowed to set foot there.Anne, of course, was the only exception--for there was no one in the family to keep her in check--she kept coming and going in and out of the front hall.

One day, she found a very beautiful doll, sitting obediently on a small chair.A pair of deep blue eyes, golden curly hair all over her head, a face made of fine porcelain is bright and pink, and she is wrapped in a floor-length dress trimmed with lace.Anne liked her very much, and from then on, Anne slipped in to look at the doll from time to time.She patted, touched, and kissed the doll.

These encounters before Christmas made her mistakenly believe that this doll belongs to her.

The long-awaited festival finally came, and everyone in the family filed out of the hall.John dressed as Santa Claus to distribute presents.Every little child had a copy, and Anne took one of her presents, and put it aside without looking at it.Because in her eyes there is only the doll, and she is waiting to hold the doll.But John picked it up and gave it to his daughter.

In an instant, Annie stood upright as if frozen.Then she rushed out like a madman, snatched the doll, grabbed the blonde curls, and threw it hard on the ground.By the time John managed to hold her up, she had ruined the festive atmosphere in the family.

So another family meeting was held, but now the relatives couldn't stand Anne, tired of playing the role of a good person,

Aunt Ellen said that Mary was cute and cute. She liked the child and was willing to continue to adopt it.But Jimmy's buttock tumor has become more and more serious, and she can no longer afford the medical expenses.As for Annie?Of course no one is willing to take her in.In the end, the family council decided to send them to the Desborough Asylum, and thereafter have nothing to do with the Sullivan family.

poor house

Guo Lanjie wiped his pen carefully with blotting paper, put away the big book and said, "The information of both of you has been registered. Old Ding, please take Jimmy to the men's dormitory, and I will take Annie to the women's dormitory."

Jimmy understood that this meant that he and Annie would be separated, and he threw himself into Annie's arms and howled loudly.

Feelings rose in Anne that she had never felt before.The love of flesh and blood and blood thicker than water made Anne care about people other than her "self" for the first time.Annie hugged her younger brother tightly and yelled at Guo Lanjie: "No, no! We want to be together."

Guo Lanjie frowned and pondered for a while, finally nodded and said: "Okay! I think Jimmy can live in the female dormitory with you, but you have to promise me that he must wear a small bib."

Wearing a girl's apron?Not so long ago, he managed to get rid of the diaper bag and put on the big boy's trousers!Jimmy couldn't help crying again.Seeing Jimmy's appearance, Guo Lanjie turned his head and couldn't bear to look any further.

Annie's reaction was quick this time, and she understood that this was the only way to keep their siblings inseparable.She hurriedly booed her younger brother: "Okay, if this is the rule that must be followed, I have no choice but to do so."

This is a workhouse in name only, but in fact it is a shelter for the homeless.The helpless elderly, mentally ill, drunks and other degenerates are frequent visitors here.There are no nurses and almost no medical supplies.The state government didn't have enough money for doctors, so the doctors in the town occasionally came to make routine inspections, and walked around the two rectangular houses—the men's dormitory and the women's dormitory.

Annie and Jimmy joined them from all over the world.

On the first night, the Sullivan siblings were arranged in the female dormitory.This dormitory is full of sick old women. Anne doesn't like the atmosphere here. These women are gloomy and lifeless.They lay in bed like ghosts, and when they were not in bed they creaked and rocked for hours in rocking chairs.Their silence and endless rocking of the deck chair disturbed Anne as well.

Most old women didn't care much about the new Sullivans.But there are two old women who become Anne's friends, and Anne feels that they are different, at least they are still "alive".One was Maggie Caro, and she knew how to read!So she acted as Anne's eyes.Read to Annie, and Annie helps the old man hold the book and turn a new page for her.In this way, Maggie Carroll's eyes and Anne's hands complement each other and complement each other.For months, they read book after book, and the experience ignited Anne's desire to read.

Maggie Caro suffered from severe arthritis and was almost paralyzed, making it difficult to get in and out of bed.She often called Annie when she needed to roll over or sit up.This is no matter what she is doing, Annie always rushes to help her.There was also a blind old woman who often held Anne's hand and told Anne some wonderful stories.

Anne's first days in Desburgh were very happy.Although the living environment is not very good, there are often swarms of mice infesting day and night, but they don't take it seriously.Jimmy also made fun of it, often chasing rats with a broom, playing a game of cat and mouse.But here, the siblings have something to eat, they don't have to be separated, they can live under the same roof, each has a bed, and they can move very close together, and she can take care of the younger brother at night.What makes them most happy is that all the employees treat them kindly, and no one bullies or despises them.

She also seldom loses her temper and loses her temper.Once or twice, when she was about to lose her temper, the caretaker said to her, "Just one more yell . . . and your brother will be sent to the men's dormitory."In the days to come, when she thought of this sentence, she would stop her wild and shouting temper.She gradually learned to live in peace.

Winter is coming, and because they don't have thick coats to keep them warm, they have to stay indoors and dare not go out.At the end of the spacious women's dormitory there was a small empty room that was rarely visited, which Annie and Jimmy used as a special playroom.

"How do you... dare to play in this room?" an old woman warned in a very frightened manner.Annie understood her mother-in-law's kindness and persuaded her, she knew that this was the mortuary where dead bodies were kept.

In the poorhouse, after people die, they are pushed into this room together with their beds, waiting to be buried.But Anne shrugged her shoulders and didn't mind. She had tasted the impermanence and bitterness of the world. What is the difference between the life of the living and the life of the dead?What is there to be afraid of? .

One day, Anne found that the cupboard in the hall was full of bundles of old magazines that had been eaten by mice.

"Jimmy, Jimmy, come on! I've found a treasure." She called her brother and dragged out the bundles of magazines and carried them to the morgue, their playroom.Although they are illiterate, they lie on the ground, admiring the pictures in the book and lingering.

Jimmy liked to read the police bulletins in some magazines, and Anne liked to see the ladies in the women's magazines. There are many innocent, rosy-cheeked children playing around their feet.She held the magazine to her fingertips and read it intently with her weak eyesight, but the pictures alone could not make her understand. She used her fingers to caress the words printed on it, over and over again.Suddenly she threw down the magazine angrily, clenched her fists, and beat the floor hard: "I want to study, I want to study now..." The eager desire for knowledge burned her heart, and she burst into tears helplessly.

Finally, spring has come to Desburgh, and the flowers are blooming outside.They could have gone out to play, but Jimmy's tumor grew bigger and bigger, and his condition became heavier every day. He could only rely on crutches, limping up and down in the dormitory.

Annie helped him get dressed each morning, carefully helped him out of bed, adjusted the crutches, and steadied Jimmy. "He can still walk, so it shouldn't be a problem." Looking at her younger brother who was getting seriously ill, Annie couldn't face the reality, so she had to find some reasons to deceive and comfort herself.

One morning Jimmy was crying with pain.The old woman in the next bed raised her head and yelled at Annie impatiently: "You girl, what happened? Aren't you the one who takes care of him? You also let him cry all night, making me unable to sleep."

Annie responded angrily: "Shut up! It's none of your business, old witch."

"You little brat, I wish I could give you a slap."

"Wow!" Anne put her hands on her hips, like a fighting cock.

Jimmy likes to watch the scene. He tried to stand up, but fell back on the bed. "Ouch, it hurts!" He groaned in pain.

Annie comforted him: "It will be fine in a while, don't worry, take a good rest in bed today, and you will be fine tomorrow." However, Jimmy never got out of bed since then.

The administrator of the poorhouse invited a doctor for Jimmy. After the diagnosis, the doctor called Annie to the hall, put his hands on Annie's thin shoulders and told her: "Annie, you have to be mentally prepared. Your brother doesn't have much time."

A chill ran down her spine and turned into pain in her spine. Anne yelled, "Impossible!" She hoarse and screamed, clenched her fists and beat the doctor desperately until someone ran over and dragged her away.

The administrator scolded: "Enough, enough, if you make trouble again, I will send you away immediately." This sentence hit Annie's heart and shocked her.She stood there in a daze as if she had been hit by a sap.

(End of this chapter)