the TV Show
+++ This is a fictional story. +++
We were dirt poor.
I have my parents & brothers & sisters. Many brothers & many sisters. I never knew what my parents did for a living. Anyway, there were just so many of us, and we all lived in a truck. Don’t mistake it, not a trailer house like many others. Those were still better, in my view, we really did lived in A TRUCK.
If you slide open the side door, you’ll see unbelievably high loads of handmade furnitures & necessary items piled up, some small spaces in between would actually be where my small brothers & sisters sleep… My parents & I would sleep in the middle of the trunk, between those handmade shelves, where you wouldn’t even able to see from the outside…
One day, my parents said, let’s bring all the stuffs from our “home”. I was like, what the fuck. My brothers & sisters were so dumb. They didn’t even ask why, just followed my parents to carry baskets & baskets of stuffs… our videos, our painting, our remote control… Why would we even have those??? Like we wish that someday we would have a living room & a wall??? Anyway…
So, I followed my brothers & sisters…
Guess what? I walked into a TV studio! Like live show with a bunch of audiences sitting & cheering at the side, a confident host & some strange guests being questioned & put under the microscope! This episode is actually US!!! Called the Rich & the Poor. There is a rich family with their typical items piling at one side, then my family with our stuffs at the other side…
I don’t want to be on the TV!!!!! I do know shame & i don’t want to be under microscope! Even if it earns us money so what? I just turned away and run….
xxx
In between the TV show, my head felt itchy & oily. So, I secretly slipped into a room. For sure no audiences would pay attention on me.
I were into this giant dressing room? bathroom? toilet? Whatever it was, it got everything… many fancy chairs & hair set items & machines like a salon, except much more expensive-looking bottles & makeup were lining up. At the other side, many washing sinks & shower heads… There you go!!! I hurried to turn on one of the tap… shit i was wrong, water showered all over the expensive chairs & items… I didn’t care. I turned off that one & tried another one. Okay this one is right.
The water is warm, and the shampoo smelled so good. My heart was singing. I forgot where i was, just continued to enjoy the wonderful hair-wash. I didn’t ever want it to end…
Then suddenly, a smart-looking well-dressed woman walked right in! She didn’t even looked at me, just checked all the items & got ready real quick. I was shocked & ashamed, so before she could notice what damage i had made, i just quietly made my exit…
xxx
Remember? I was dirt poor, living with my large family in a truck.
But I knew I was different from them, and I didn’t want to be them. So, I thrived very hard, i worked and studied and worked and studied… Eventually I became a college professor.
One time I had an interview. They asked me what I wanted to become when I was a child. Fragment of memories suddenly rushed back to me. I remember I was no more than 3-4 year old, somebody did ask me this question. I opened my childish big round eyes & spoke loudly, “I want to the woman professor or professor or professor of department of department or department….” I thought the more times that I repeated, the more important it will be!
The interviewer quietly told me to tone it down, to say “chief” professor instead of “woman” professor. Also, they told me to tone down your poor childhood.
They didn’t understand, the extreme poverty and being a girl, were the main factors which had driven me to success!!
+++ The end +++