The Seagull and Me (standard:romance, 1707 words)
Author: Mookoo Liang	Added: Feb 14 2006	Views/Reads: 3360/2629	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
I'm submitting this story on the Valentine's Day in 2006 to celebrate ....

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Junior College. For the first time in my life I left my "cozy nest" in 
the mountains, where I had lived for sixteen years. And, with many new 
dreams in my heart, I flew to the "Green Garden" in Jiayi City. 

By the way, Jiayi City is located in the middle of the Jia-Nan Plain.
Though there are no mountains blocking your view, it's impossible for 
you to see any sea or ocean from there. 

In Green Garden, I enjoyed watching beautiful sunsets as much as before.
Frequently I looked through the tall baiyang (poplar) and dawang-yezi 
(palm trees) on campus for a sight of the setting sun. The big setting 
sun looked much bigger here (and more fiery red?) than in my home 
village. Seeing such a splendid burning ball made me homesick, though. 

Two years passed in the twinkling of an eye. As I studied and learned
more, my original "motive" for pursuing a dreamy seagull became less 
strong. I told myself that it was unlikely to see seagulls in Taiwan 
and that they were rare species! Even when (once in a long while) I 
heard the caws of seagulls on the radio, I would rather believe that 
they were just sound effects. How could they be true? 

During my third year in Green Garden, I was given a very interesting
storybook by my xue-jie (a female schoolmate senior to me) named 
Yuchan. It was a Chinese version of Richard Bach's "Jonathan Livingston 
Seagull" -- Ah, how similar the seagulls and the human beings are! In 
either group there are many different members, some being more active 
and admirable than others. And Jonathan Livingston, unlike his 
food-oriented companions, was an idealistic seagull, always trying his 
best to improve his skills in flight. 

"Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect."
I was most impressed by this definition of "heaven" in the book. 
Actually, the phrase "being perfect" had been put into Chinese as 
"wanmei de zhuangtai" (perfect state). I loved this translation, with 
zhuangtai meaning "state" as in "state of mind" "state of affairs" etc. 
(Anyway, I wish to express my gratitude to Sister Yuchan again, for 
such a significant story.) 

Now I had been studying in Green Garden for three years. When the fourth
year came, I was elected chairman of the Youth Writing Association, one 
of the organizations for extracurricular activities in my college. I 
tried to decline the position, thinking that I was not good at writing 
at all. 

"I used to be a cowboy," I said. "And, as you can see, it is extremely
difficult for a cowboy to become a good writer." 

"That's no problem!" The nominator replied, "If you don't write any
longer, you can put all your attention into administration." 

My goodness! Being rather introverted in those days, I was afraid of
administrative work. 

However, I became the chairman and started to do such things as
organizing a formal or informal meeting, inviting professors or guest 
speakers to us, soliciting contributions for the school magazine, 
editing and proofreading the collected pieces of writing which were 
good enough to be published, and even keeping in touch with our 
publisher! Sometimes I got into difficulties. Yet, most of the time, I 
just had to solve the problems that I was faced with. So I did my best 
to improve my "problem solving" skills, like Jonathan the seagull. 

Now I had learned more about administration, and I made quite a few new
friends. The vice-chairperson of the Writing Association was one of my 
favorite schoolmates and helpers. She was a beautiful girl, very 
intelligent, and always kind and helpful to others. Her smiling face, I 
believed, was the most attractive one in the world. Though one year 
younger than I, she was my idol, with too many merits and virtues to 
number. 

She and I often did our "official duties" in the school library. I was
very pleased about that. But I dared not ask for a personal date. It 
was no easy job for me to do so in those days. Nevertheless, I must 
confess that there was a strange power that made me able to notice her 
in the midst of a crowd 100 meters away. And my heart began beating 
fast every time I caught sight of her. 

One day, I stayed alone in the school library reading the essays and
poems submitted for the school magazine. Among the piles of papers I 
found an article beautifully written under the pseudonym of Hai Ou, 
literally meaning "seagull." I was interested in reading it; to my 
surprise, it was written by my vice-chairperson. 

And time kept flying! It came to the end of the first semester of my
fourth year in Green Garden. Just before the winter vacation, my 
classmates and I had a farewell party in the evening. We had a good 
time. After having some cookies and soft drinks, my classmates started 
to share their love stories. Some expressed their desire to take a 
course in "Romance" the next semester, while others said they had to 
repeat the course. I said nothing. As a cowboy growing up in the 
mountains, I told myself, "You'll be back there sooner or later. Why 
not forget about her right now? A cowboy cannot really get hold of any 
seagull." 

======== 

End Notes: 

1. This story is a slightly modified version of its original, Chinese
version with the same title (Haiou Yu Wo), which I wrote 32 years ago 
and published in the literary supplement (Taiwan Fukan) of Taiwan Daily 
on February 1st, 1974, under the pseudonym of "Fan Ying," implying that 
I was just like a small sailing boat in the ocean. 

2. In those days all the students in any of eight Provincial Teachers'
Junior Colleges had to live in the school dormitories except summer or 
winter vacations. Basically, men students were not mixed with women 
students in the same classes; only when attending a school ceremony or 
taking a selective course could we get together with the opposite sex 
in the same hall or classroom. 


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