She Strained With All Her Might. We Heard Cracking Sound, And The Beam Was Lifted A Little

It was a clear day without a cloud in the sky. I was playing house with my sisters upstairs. Mother had gone to the field to pick some eggplants. As she was going out, she told us:

"Make a fire in the clay charcoal stove at eleven." But we were having so much fun that even when the clock struck eleven times, none of stood up. We were totally absorbed in playing.

Casually I looked up at the window. Just that moment, there was a lightning-like flash.

"Oh—" I said. My body staggered. The next moment I was pinned under the house and could not move at all. The harder I tried to escape, the more pain I felt. There was nothing I could do but keep still and watch outside for my chance. Then I saw my two elder sisters outside. I was so glad. In my joy I cried:

"Help me! Help me!"

My voice reached their ears. They immediately came running and tried to pull me out. But the latticed bamboo which supported the earthen wall separated us. Pulled or pushed, it could not be removed.

My eldest sister encouraged me in a faltering voice: "Be patient, will you? Mother and Father will be back soon. I'll bring someone to help us. All right?" and she ran off.

A small portion of the outside world could be seen through the latticed bamboo. I stared hard at it, waiting for Mother and Father.

Some time later, my eldest sister came running, bringing four or five sailors. I was rescued with their help.

Standing outside, I was astonished. Although it had been such a beautiful day, it was now a terrible day, with black clouds twisting and writhing all over the sky. I tottered and tried to walk towards the air raid shelter. Then a low cry came from under the house.

"Help me! — Somebody!"

It was the voice of my younger brother. My eldest sister seemed to be the first one to notice his cry. She immediately went running to the spot and finally pulled him out after removing a lot of roof tiles.

Then a baby's cry came from the opposite direction. It was the voice of my two-year-old sister, trapped under the house, I hurried to the spot and found her crying fiercely, her legs pinned under a huge beam.

Together with the sailors we tried to remove it, but the beam would not move an inch. With pain in her squeezed legs, my sister was crying and wriggling, her arms floundering. What in world should we do — ?

The sailors began to give up. "We cannot make it." Some of my neighbors came to ask for the sailors' help, and they went running away to the nearby crushed house to rescue other buried men. Only we children were left behind.

What in the world was Mother doing in the field? Please, please come back soon. Why didn't Father come back? My little sister's legs would be torn off—. I was completely at a loss, and the only thing I could do was to look around on my tiptoes.

In the distance I saw someone dashing toward us. The person had disheveled hair. It was a woman. She looked naked. A purple colored body, she called out to us in a loud voice.

Oh! —- It was Mother.

"Mother!" we cried out. Everything would be all right now, we felt.

Here and there, the houses began to burst into flames. One of our neighbors appeared from nowhere, and pulled the beam up with all his might and main, trying to remove it from across my sister's legs. But it remained as firm as a rock. He drew a deep breath of disappointment and said in a sincerely sorry tone:

"I'm sorry, but we must give up." He bowed and went away.

A blaze came up quite nearby. Mother's face went ashy pale. Father had not come back yet. Mother was looking down at my little sister. Tiny eyes looked up from below. Mother's eyes looked around, investigating the way the beams were piled up. Then Mother got into an opening left beneath the beam and, placing her right shoulder under a portion of it, bit her lower lip tightly.

"Uhhhhh —"

She strained with all her might. We heard cracking sound, and the beam was lifted a little. My little sister's legs were freed. My eldest sister quickly pulled her out. Mother came out with a leap and hugged her tightly to her breast.

After a while, as if we suddenly realized what had happened, we children burst out crying. At that, Mother sank weakly to the ground.

Then I realized for the first time how my mother looked. She had been hit by the blast as she was picking eggplant to feed us for lunch. She was almost stark naked. Her coat and trousers were burnt and torn to pieces. Her hair had turned to reddish brown and was frizzled and torn as if she had had too strong a permanent. She was burnt all over her body. Her skin was red and greasy. The skin of her right shoulder, the portion which bore and lifted the beam, was gone, revealing raw flesh and scarlet blood which was constantly oozing out.

Mother fell exhausted on the ground. At that moment, Father ran up to us staggering as he came. He had been seriously burned, too.

Mother began to feel pain. After groaning and struggling in agony, she died that night.

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